What are the educational characteristics of public high schools for students studying in the United States in 2023?

The United States has high-quality teaching standards and is an ideal country for many students studying abroad. It is favored by many students. Public high schools in the United States are also where many students apply to study abroad. So in 2023 What are the educational characteristics of public high schools studying in the United States? Follow me and take a look!

Characteristics of education in American public high schools

1. Students go to classes, teachers sit in classes, there are no fixed classes, and there is no unified curriculum

Studying abroad in American public high schools The basic teaching model is a class teaching system, but it is different from domestic middle schools where students sit in classes and teachers sit in classes. Teachers in American middle schools are arranged in fixed classrooms. Their names and the courses they teach are posted on the teacher's door. The classroom is the office, and the podium is the desk. Daily lesson preparation and homework correction are done here. Because classes are divided, students do not have fixed classes. Because of the freedom to choose courses, there is no unified class schedule, only a personalized class schedule of your own choice. Basic education in the United States does everything possible to meet the needs of students' subjective development, active development, personality development, specialty development, and differential development. Therefore, teachers do not choose students, but students choose courses and teachers. Students are always in a dominant position and active situation.

2. Guide the development of students’ personality

Public high schools in the United States rarely set rules and regulations that hinder personality development. They neither force students to comply with certain norms and standards nor deliberately let them We should not idolize celebrities, but let students experience and discover by themselves as much as possible. In class, students can behave as they please, speak without raising their hands, and will be encouraged to interrupt and ask questions. They can go to the toilet, borrow stationery, sit, stand, or even sit on the ground without anyone stopping them.

3. Moral education has its own style

1. American public middle schools regard religious education as the basis of school moral education. Belief in religion is the spiritual life of most Americans. Religious teachings contain many values ??and moral concepts in life. However, the Constitution prohibits public schools from conducting religious education and praying. Therefore, schools can only transfer the task of moral education to religion and family. and society, so that young people can subtly receive moral education through worship and prayer under the leadership of their parents.

2. American public middle schools offer relevant courses as a supplement to moral education. Although religious education is prohibited in schools, religious knowledge classes are allowed; in addition, humanities and social science courses such as civics and social studies also involve moral education.

3. American public middle schools use activities as a carrier of moral experience. In addition to off-campus and on-campus experiential moral education activities, one of the highlights is that it relies entirely on the student union (or student self-government) to organize large and small activities, so that students can learn to behave, learn to communicate, learn to do things, etc.

4. American public middle schools regard the establishment of counselors as an important way of moral education. Consultants are not head teachers, but their work is basically similar to that of head teachers in China. The ratio of consultants to students is generally 1:250. The main function of the counselor is to serve as a bridge between the school and students, students and parents, students and teachers, and provide comprehensive guidance to high school exchange students studying in the United States on non-academic issues, involving ideology, moral character, psychology, alcoholism, drug abuse, and violence. , dating, sexual attitudes, etc. These consultants must have professional qualification certificates with a master's degree or above to be hired by the principal.

4. Sports are very popular among students

1. Ensure the importance of sports by strengthening management. There is only one supervisor for other subjects, but there are two supervisors for physical education: one is the director of the physical education department, who is in charge of all physical education teachers in the school and provides academic-level courses included in the curriculum, that is, regular physical education teaching, which is no different from that in China; He is the director of physical education and is responsible for the physical education work of all students in the school and provides sports-level courses as extracurricular sports activities. Academic-level courses are organized and implemented by schools, while sports-level courses are organized and implemented by the sports department of the Education Bureau through sports directors and professional sports coaches.

2. No selection is required to ensure participation. Each school typically has dozens of sports teams, each headed by a professional coach. As long as the venue and other conditions permit, almost all Olympic events have corresponding sports teams; as long as they are interested, boys and girls can join any sports team without any restrictions or selection.

Studying in the United States: Admission requirements, application materials and application procedures for American public high schools in 2022-2023

3. Use professional training to ensure the quality of sports. Students joining the team are all based on interest, but the training must be professional; the coach is not a school academic course teacher, and does not have a teacher qualification certificate, but must be a sports coach specially recruited for each school by the sports department of the Education Bureau. Therefore, just joining the team is equivalent to receiving professional training.

4. Use hardware facilities to ensure the implementation of training. No matter how small a high school is, there must be American football fields, English football fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, etc. The large area of ??the sports area and the regular venues are rare in China.

5. Use the league system to ensure competitive levels. There are points competitions or knockout rounds for different events in different months every year.

Every day after school (usually 2:30 p.m., latest 3:30 p.m.), each team either trains inside the school or competes outside the school. If you win the municipal league, you will participate in the state league, up to the state general league, the national division league and the national major league. Coaches will seize the opportunity to discover stars in the state knockout league. It can be seen that as long as American middle school students participate in sports teams, they have sports meetings almost every day, celebrate sports festivals every day, and receive at least semi-professional training and competition every day.

5. There are many types of courses, more than 100 types

1. It is related to the course management system. The United States implements national recommendations, state-level standards, school district decisions, and curriculum-level management implemented by schools. The state only provides guidance to states. The curriculum standards formulated by states are the main basis for school districts and school curricula. However, when schools implement school district curricula, they have It has the right to offer school-based courses based on the requirements of the credit system and its own advantages and characteristics.

2. Related to basic education goals. Basic education in the United States is concerned with cultivating what kind of people, not what kind of talents. The No Child Left Behind Act, which entrusts the education ideals of the new century in the United States, clearly states that by the end of the twelfth grade, when every student turns 18, he must prepare for college study, productive employment, and meaningful future employment. Get ready for life. Under the guidance of the three-dimensional goal of "admission to higher education + employment + whole person", in order to meet the needs of students for further education, employment and becoming modern people, courses must be comprehensive but small, small and specialized, and specialized and refined, such as housekeeping, cooking, parenting, and carpentry. , welding, agricultural technology, automobile repair, etc., as long as they are skills needed in life and society, comprehensive middle schools almost all offer them accordingly.

3. It is related to the conceptual structure of the course. A subject in American middle schools can be divided into multiple courses based on grade, topic, and difficulty. On the other hand, in order to meet the needs of students' personality development, the required courses must meet the academic standards stipulated by the state education bureau or local school districts, and the elective courses are independently opened by the school. Because the courses are comprehensive, personalized, miniaturized, and there is a lot of room for choice, although the college admission rate is not high in comprehensive high schools, students can show their strengths in sports, calligraphy, painting, speaking, singing, agriculture, industry, and commerce.

4. It is related to American immigrant culture. Today, only 1% of the truly indigenous population in the United States is indigenous. Their schools can all be called international schools. In order to enable all members of society to live in harmony under the Stars and Stripes, first, representatives from all parties should formulate rules that everyone must abide by, and realize the national will through legislation, judiciary, and law enforcement; second, recognize differences and promote self-realization. The comprehensive, personalized, and miniaturized characteristics of the basic education curriculum in the United States are actually the needs and reflection of the multiculturalism of this country with a large number of immigrants.

Application requirements for studying abroad in U.S. public high schools

U.S. junior high schools: grades 7-8 (13-14 years old); senior high schools: grades 9-12 (15-18 years old); Generally speaking, those applying to American high schools can apply for corresponding American courses or upper-level courses. Therefore, domestic students can directly apply to enter the ninth grade of American high schools after completing their second year of junior high school. After completing the third year of junior high school, domestic students can apply to enter the 9th grade or 10th grade courses in American high schools. Domestic students who are in the first year of high school can apply to enter the 10th grade or 11th grade. In order to ensure that they can successfully pass the exam in the United States, domestic students who are in the second year of high school can apply. Excellent universities generally recommend students to apply for admission to American high school 10th or 11th grade courses. In addition, from the perspective of ensuring application and visa requirements, it is best for students applying for high school courses not to be over 18 years old.

1. Educational requirements: Students who have graduated from the second grade of junior high school, graduated from the third grade of junior high school, and are in the first or second grade of high school

2. Age requirements: The minimum age requirement is 14 years old

< p> 3. Academic requirements: average score (average GPA) is 80-90 points or above

4. Language score requirements, TOEFL (TOEFL) and TOEFL Junior (TOEFL JUNIOR)

Application materials for studying abroad in U.S. public high schools:

(1) Transcript; (2) TOEFL score; (3) Letter of recommendation; (4) School application form; (5) School application fee (application fee for each school) Different); (6) Passport copy

Application process for studying abroad in American public high schools:

(1) Study abroad consultation; (2) School selection; (3) Apply to school; (4) ) interview; (5) admission; (6) visa application; (7) pre-departure guidance; (8) admission