Junior high school problems in the United States

The length of compulsory education in the United States is 13 years, including 1 year of kindergarten, 6 years of elementary school, 2 years of junior high school (grades 7 and 8), and 4 years of high school (grades 9 to 12). We visited two schools, Arizona Junior High School and John North Senior High School. We have read a lot and listened to a lot. After summarizing, we have the following thoughts.

1. Running a school “is rich but not extravagant”.

The school buildings of both schools are warehouse-style bungalows. There is no two-story building and no tall school gate. The place where we were received was also very casual. Arizona Junior High School was in the reading room, and Northern Middle School was in the principal's office. It is said that we are the first education delegation from China. The two schools do not have VIP rooms for reception. The entire reception process is frugal and warm.

There are currently 1,200 students in Arizona Junior High School. Although the school has 34 classrooms, due to the implementation of small class teaching, it cannot accommodate so many students, so it has to cancel winter, summer, and weekend holidays. The students in the school are divided into four batches, with 300 students in each batch. They attend classes for two months, take one month off, and attend schools in rotation. Teachers and students have a break together, and the principal has no vacation. John North Senior High School was founded in 1964, covering an area of ??44 acres (1 acre = 6 city acres), with 55 classrooms, 13 mobile classrooms (taken back by the government after the peak student enrollment period), a theater, a ball game hall, and a swimming pool. , gym, instrumental music room, typing room, science room, labor and technical room, etc., with complete facilities. The library has a collection of 16,000 books, 130 computers, and has established CD-ROM equipment and databases. In addition, the school has 26 consultation telephone numbers open to the public. In October 1997, there were 2,458 registered students and 101 full-time teachers. Teacher salaries are calculated on a 10-month basis, with junior teachers earning US$28,000, intermediate teachers US$42,000, and senior teachers US$54,000. The salary level for school leaders is higher. Teacher and administrative staff salaries account for about 50% of the budget. The total annual funding of the community where North High School is located is US$150 million, including 3% of the school lottery revenue. The annual per-student funding of North High School is US$4,500. There is also a special financial allocation of US$160,000 for school equipment improvement, teacher and library staff training. and funds for various student activities. School education funds mainly come from taxes from governments at all levels, of which state governments account for 45% and local governments account for 55%. Textbooks for American middle school students are free, and meals for some poor students are also free. The principals of the two schools said that their financial power is limited and the school funds are not generous. Of course they have no responsibility for generating revenue.

2. The Community Education Advisory Committee has great authority and great responsibilities.

Arizona Junior High School and North High School belong to two communities, ALV0RD and R1VERS1DE respectively. The community sets up an education advisory committee, which is composed of school inspectors, parents of students, employers, experts and scholars, and the principal is appointed by the community education advisory committee. School work is supervised and led by the Community Education Advisory Committee. Americans believe that a community is a "unified school management area." The Community Education Advisory Committee has the responsibility to develop educational resources in the region and provide them for schools to enjoy, such as using social facilities, hiring experts and scholars to give lectures, recruiting teachers, and supplementing the teaching staff. In addition to more than 850 full-time teachers, the ALV0RD community also has 625 substitute teachers for hire. In addition, the Community Education Advisory Committee also has the functions of social education and family education. ALV0RD Community Superintendent Nancy’s business card clearly bears three mottos on “How to Help Children”: devote yourself fully, speak for the children, and maintain a positive political attitude. The R1VERSIDE community specially printed a booklet titled "Homework Assignment Guidelines and Prospects and Hopes" and distributed it to parents of students from kindergarten to grade 12 in this community. It contains the principles and purposes of homework assignments, as well as students' responsibilities and tasks. The guiding principles for completing homework also provide parents with five practical methods, which are: listen to children; provide time, place and materials for children to do homework and limit the time children watch TV; check the completion of homework; let children Just do your own homework; ways to get in touch with teachers, etc.

3. Curriculum-centered organization of teaching activities

American middle schools, like universities, implement a credit system. Northern Senior High School stipulates that only those who have completed 215 credits can graduate from high school.

Among them, there are 145 credits of compulsory courses and 70 credits of elective courses. Students can also obtain 40 credits by participating in extracurricular activity groups. Of course, students participating in extracurricular activity groups must have satisfactory academic performance (average grade C or above). There are six compulsory courses: English, 40 credits; natural sciences, 30 credits; social sciences, mathematics, and physical education, each worth 20 points; optional art or foreign language, 10 points, and health and wellness, 5 points. Students who successfully pass the ability tests in reading, writing and mathematical methods as well as employment skills training can receive elective course credits. In order to avoid being too loose and too tight, Northern Senior High School also stipulates that each grade must obtain corresponding credits, such as: entering grade 10 At least 50 credits are required, 105 credits are required to enter grade 11, 155 credits are required to enter the first semester of grade 12, and 185 credits are required to enter the second semester. At the same time, it is stipulated that the study of any course cannot be interrupted in the middle of the semester, and students who fail to reach the required credits will be subject to repeating the grade.

The credit system results in class classification based on subjects. The classes in Northern Senior High School are named after language and literature classes, mathematics classes, natural science classes, social science classes, and foreign language classes. The number of students in each class ranges from 32 to 33. If you change classes, you must follow the prescribed procedures. The United States is a country of immigrants, and Riverside is only 200 kilometers away from the Mexican border. Students at Northern High School come from various colors and come from different countries. Among them, Hispanic students account for 41%, black students account for 14%, Asian students account for 5%, white students account for 38%, and other students account for 2%. There are many foreign language classes, including French, German, contemporary Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Spanish and Chinese.

The credit system enables the examination system to adapt to the needs of students. Although it was summer when we visited Northern High School, the school has prepared examination plans for various subjects from September 1998 to June 1999. We can see that When it comes to the Chinese subject test questions, they focus on listening and are much less difficult than our country's English courses.

The United States does not have a baton for the college entrance examination, and students do not have the pressure to take the college entrance examination. However, the "1997-1998 Profile" of Northern High School disclosed the quality of their school: 55% of high school graduates are college students, of which 20% are undergraduates and 35% are second-year college students. In the 1995-96 national SAT test results, 196 students from Northern High School took the test. The Chinese and math scores were gradually lower than the community, state and national averages.

4. Take special measures to meet the learning requirements of different types of students.

In China, we already know that some primary and secondary school students in the United States have low levels of Chinese and mathematics, have difficulty reading and writing, and cannot do calculations without calculators. This time in the United States, seeing is believing. The two schools we visited both have a learning disability class. This is a mixed class that specially accommodates students of all grades with poor IQs who cannot keep up with work. It is equipped with specialized teachers and classrooms and provides the most basic learning content so that They can learn and grow.

U.S. law stipulates that teenagers over the age of 16 and under the age of 18 cannot be employed unless they hold a labor skills training certificate issued by the school. The elective courses of Northern High School include vocational education courses. The school provides art information, business marketing, environment and industrial technology, health and leisure, and government services (i.e. office automation), allowing students to choose at will. Students must complete the required course hours and complete You can get 10 credits for practical operation tasks, and at the same time, you can receive a labor skills training certificate from the school's specialized agency.

For students whose academic performance is not optimal but who have potential for academic development, Northern High School allows them to participate in AVID courses, which are designed to motivate students, teach them necessary learning skills, and provide them with individual guidance.

For students with excellent academic performance, North High School allows them to take college preparatory courses through the AP program, which encourages smart students to use their imagination in subjects and allows students to earn credits in special subjects. Graduate high school early, and select the best students in grades 11-12 to study "high school-university courses" directly at RCC College or UCR University.

It is worth mentioning the International Baccalaureate Program (IB) implemented by North High School.

The IB program was designed by the International School of Geneva in 1962. It is a form of high school-university course study. High school students pass the 6 course examinations prescribed by IB (linguistics, sociology, experimental science, mathematics, etc.) and write A 4,000-word research paper and participation in exchange activities in a theoretical subject can lead to an IB diploma. This diploma is recognized by education departments in more than 40 countries. Many universities award students with various honorary titles based on IB test scores. , allowing students to complete a four-year bachelor's degree in a shorter period of time, thereby reducing the cost of studying for a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science. Regrettably, although Northern High School became the 19th school in California licensed to carry out the 1B program as early as 1987, only 10 people obtained the International Baccalaureate diploma in 1997, and 8 people respectively in 1996 and 1995. and 9 people.

5. Teacher training is a major feature.

Opening the 1998-1999 "Course Catalog" of Northern Senior High School, I was overwhelmed. There are general education courses and general higher education courses; there are traditional two-semester courses and summer school courses; there are required courses and elective courses. The student activity courses are even more diverse, including pottery crafts, painting, calligraphy, drama and literature, performance, stage management, instrumental performance, solo singing, trio singing, cantata, and community organizations. The forms include political and communicative. Academic and event-based. It is worth appreciating that North High School compiles its own North Star school newspaper. It is compiled by the schoolo1 yearbook student organization. It has a lively format and fresh layout. There are 16 pages in one issue, all of which reflect the life of students in the school. The sports competition awards are hung in the office of the physical education teacher of North High School. In the photo, they are proud to have won the first place in the California basketball game. Looking at the essence through the phenomenon, the needs of the students and the fruits of the students' labor reflect the sparks of teachers' wisdom. Northern High School puts the improvement of the professional level of in-service teachers in the school. Priority status, the purpose of teacher training is to enable teachers to continuously improve or strive for excellence in their teaching skills. Among the existing 101 full-time teachers, 46 have a master's degree or equivalent, and 2 have a doctorate. In addition, some teachers are studying for a master's degree or a doctorate. The school stipulates that 7 days are allocated for teacher training every year. The main topics of the 7-day on-the-job training include: diversified teaching methods, student success strategies, allowing students with special needs to succeed, parent education skills, and mastering vocational education skills to cultivate the workforce.

The two schools conduct special evaluations of teachers’ work. The evaluations are conducted by the principals and assistant principals. The evaluation criteria are open and objective. The evaluation rules are jointly formulated by the principals and the teachers’ union. Half of the teachers are evaluated every year. Be evaluated. New teachers must be evaluated every year in the first two years after they are hired.

6. Training students on behavioral norms.

The crime rate among American middle school students is world-famous. Northern High School expressly prohibits students from engaging in 17 activities, such as harming others; carrying and selling weapons and explosives; carrying and selling drugs; helping to arrange or negotiate the sale of prohibited items; stealing, robbery, extortion; lewd or obscene behavior ; Engaging in separatist activities or deliberately undermining school authorities; sexual harassment or assault; intimidating and threatening lower-grade students to commit perjury or retaliating against their testimony; attacking school teachers, etc. There are police patrols on campus. The juvenile crime rate continues to increase, and the age of crime is getting younger and younger. The American public's call for strengthening moral education is becoming increasingly strong. Moral education has become the basic task of public schools. I heard from the principals of the two schools that their basic approach is to regulate students' behavior. Although the methods and methods are somewhat focused, Arizona Junior High School emphasizes the communication between teachers and parents of students in view of the young characteristics of students in grades 7 to 8. When students arrive at school, they will contact their parents immediately. For tutoring students, the teachers of each subject will report the student's performance in class every day and send it to the parents of the students through the school mailbag. Students who have achieved good results will be praised in a timely manner. The school club will award certificates to students who have completed the tasks assigned by the teacher, to students who have attended all classes, and to students who have excellent studies and good moral character. Students at Northern High School have strong adult awareness and a certain degree of self-control. The school has formulated a series of rules, including anti-cheating rules, fully closed campus rules, dress code, rules for dealing with tardiness and truancy, rules for carrying IDs, etc. In addition, North High School has also established policies such as search and seizure, exclusion from classrooms, suspension, suspension, cancellation of credits, and even expulsion. The principals of the two schools said that the comparison of data from the two national teacher surveys in history is more authentic.

Problems considered serious by teachers in 1940 Problems considered serious by teachers in 1990

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Speaking in disorder and taking drugs

Noisy and drunkenness

Running around in the hall and getting pregnant

Cutting the phone cord and committing suicide

Wearing fancy clothes and raping

Mogging and robbing

Chewing gum and fighting

Northern High School has many staff dedicated to student work, including speech experts, Legal counselors, psychologists, youth service counselors, child welfare counselors, security guards, anti-drug teams, etc. However, students with headaches continue to skip school. The U.S. Department of Education once issued a "Guidelines for Combating Truancy". Despite headaches, But there is a difference between catching and not catching, and some methods of catching are different from our practices. The annual statistical report of Northern High School reflects that the student attendance rate has been declining year by year in recent years, but it is better than the national average. The school's dropout rate is also declining and is well below the national dropout rate of 4.9%. Polls show that the parent satisfaction rate at Northern High School is 95%, although the student satisfaction rate is only 88%.

The Riverside School District, to which North Senior High School belongs, once issued a notice to the entire district: In order to cultivate a large number of talents to adapt to the requirements of the 21st century and promote students to all-round success, they have formulated 11 strategies, which have been integrated and summarized as follows: Three strategic ideas: focusing on cultivating children, achieving the aggregation of outstanding teachers and the efforts of all personnel. This is true. However, the success of school education cannot be achieved by the education system alone. The success of education is subject to society. There are many problems in American society, which are reflected in school education, such as students playing truant, committing crimes, low motivation for learning, and low academic performance. This is just one aspect of the social ills. The principals we have come across in American middle schools are loyal. And capable, teachers in American middle schools are dedicated and diligent. In the process of social development and change, the American people will find good solutions to the educational shortcomings of their country.