1. How can you characterize the organization of school education in the USA?
2. What groups can schools in the USA be divided into?
3. What subjects are taught at schools?
4. At what age do children study at a high school?
5. What education do high schools give?
6. What colleges does a university in the USA usually have?
7. What are the ways to continue education in the USA?
8. What program has a technical or a vocational school?
9. What degrees are offered at universities in the USA?
10. What are the main universities in the USA?
The Heart of Russian Education
Moscow University is by right regarded the oldest Russian university. It was established in 1755. The foundation of a university in Moscow became possible only due to the efforts of Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov (1711-1765), the outstanding Russian scholar and scientist, a person of encyclopedic learning. In 1940, on the occasion of its 185th Anniversary, Moscow University was named after M.V. Lomonosov.
To conform to Lomonosovs scheme, Moscow University opened three faculties, those of philosophy, law and medicine. The students would start their course at the faculty of philosophy where they received a solid education in natural sciences and the humanities. They could then go on specializing in law, medicine or further their course at the faculty of philosophy. Unlike the universities in the West, Moscow University did not have the faculty of theology, which accounts for the existence in Russia of a special system of education for the Russian clergy.
Moscow University played an outstanding role in spreading and popularizing scientific and scholarly knowledge. Members of the general public were allowed to attend lectures delivered by Moscow University professors or be present while the students were debating different issues. In April, 1756 a printing facility and a bookshop opened on the premises of Moscow University in Mokhovaya Street. Thus began the development of book publishing in Russia. There and then the University launched the first civic periodical publication known as Moskovskiye Vedomosti (Moscow Gazette), and starting from January, 1760 they began the magazine Poleznoye Razvlecheniye (Useful Entertainment). For ten years, from 1779 to 1789, the print shop was headed by the graduate of the University grammar school, a prominent Russian representative of the Enlightenment, N.I.Novikov.
A year after the inception of the University, the library opened its doors wide. Over a hundred years it remained the only public library in Moscow.
The work of Moscow University as an enlightener of the public helped set up on its basis and with the participation of the professors and the tutors such major centres of Russian culture as Kazan grammar school (from 1804 - Kazan University), the Academy of the fine arts in St. Petersburg (until 1764 it was affiliated to Moscow University), the Maly theatre and others.
Oxford University
Oxford is a unique and historic institution. As the oldest English-speaking University in the world, it can lay claim to nine centuries of continuous existence. There is no clear date of foundation, but teaching existed at Oxford in some form in 1096 and developed rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.
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In the 13th century, rioting between town and gown (townspeople and students) hastened the establishment of primitive halls of residence. These were succeeded by the first of Oxford's colleges, which began as medieval 'halls of residence' or endowed houses under the supervision of a Master. University, Balliol and Merton Colleges, established between 1249 and 1264, are the oldest.
Less than a century later, Oxford had achieved eminence above every other seat of learning, and won the praises of popes, kings and sages by virtue of its antiquity, curriculum, doctrine and privileges. In 1355, Edward III paid tribute to the University for its invaluable contribution to learning; he also commented on the services rendered to the state by distinguished Oxford graduates.
Oxford early on became a centre for lively controversy, with scholars involved in religious and political disputes.
In the late 17th century, the Oxford philosopher John Locke, suspected of treason, was forced to flee the country. The 18th century, when Oxford was said to have forsaken port for politics, was also an era of scientific discovery and religious revival. Edmund Halley, Professor of Geometry, predicted the return of the comet that bears his name; John and Charles Wesley's prayer meetings laid the foundations of the Methodist Society.
From 1878, academic halls were established for women, who became members of the University in 1920. Since 1974, all but one of Oxford's 39 colleges has changed their statutes to admit both men and women. St Hilda's remains the only women's college.
During the 20th century, Oxford added to its humanistic core a major new research capacity in the natural and applied sciences, including medicine. In so doing, it has enhanced and strengthened its traditional role as an international focus for learning and a forum for intellectual debate.
The University of Oxford's total student population numbers over 17,000 now.
Almost a quarter of these students are from overseas, and more than 130 nationalities are represented among our student body.
Over 5,600 students are engaged in postgraduate work. Of these, around 3,000 are working in the arts and humanities.
Every year 16,500 people take part in courses offered by the University's Department for Continuing Education.
The admissions office is in contact with more than 5,000 schools and colleges across the UK, and the admissions staff visits a school, college or Higher Education Fair nearly every working day of the year.
In the most recent Teaching Quality Assessment exercises, Oxford was awarded top marks in six out of nine subjects assessed.
Oxford has been awarded a total of four Queen's Anniversary Prizes, most recently in recognition of the Refugee Studies Centre's pioneering research and innovative training programmes in the study of forced migration and refugees.
Harvard University
Harvard University is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. It was founded in 1636, just 16 years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. Harvard is also one of the richest private universities in the United States, with an endowment of over $4 billion. The main campus is in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The university also has several schools in Boston.
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Harvard has played an important role in American life. Presidents John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy graduated from Harvard. President Rutherford B. Hayes attended Harvard law school.
Educational programme. Harvard's 10 graduate and professional schools are open to both men and women. These schools have over half the university's enrollment the schools of arts and sciences, design, divinity, education, law, and government are on the Cambridge campus. The schools of business administration, dental medicine, medicine, and public health are in Boston.
Many Harvard departments use a tutorial plan. Under the plan, individual students or small groups meet periodically with faculty tutors for instruction in the students' major area of study. Most students who participate in tutorials do not do so until their sophomore year. Most honors candidates in departments with a tutorial plan receive tutorial instruction.
General examinations test the students' grasp of their major field. Students in some fields must pass general examinations to graduate, no matter how high their grades might be. Harvard awards about $ 145 million in financial aid to its students each year. Undergraduates receive about $43 million of this aid.
The Harvard campus. The Harvard Yard is the center of the original college. Dormitories, libraries, and class buildings in a variety of architectural styles stand near this grassy, shaded area. During the Revolutionary War, General George Washington's troops used Massachusetts Hall as barracks, and the provincial legislature met in Harvard Hall.
First-year students live in dormitories in and near the Yard, but most other students live in the 12 residential houses. These houses are modeled after the residential colleges of Oxford and Cambridge universities. Harvard's residential houses are more than places where students eat and sleep. They are also centers for social and educational activities. Each house has its own dining hall, library, and athletic facilities. Faculty members live or eat at the house, permitting students to mix informally with instructors. The 12 residential houses are Adams, Cabot, Currier, Dunster, Eliot, Kirkland, Leverett, Lowell, Mather, North, Quincy, and Winthrop. Dudley House has facilities for students who live at home. All university housing is coeducational.
Harvard has the world's largest university library system. Its collection includes more than 12 million books and pamphlets and many manuscripts, maps, microfilms, slides, and other materials. Museums on the campus include the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology; the Botanical Museum; the Geological Museum; the Mineralogical Museum; the Museum of Comparative Zoology.
Task 1. Read the texts about old universities in the countries and say what they have in common and how they differ?
Task 2. Discuss the system of education in America using this scheme:
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Situations for Discussion on Education in Great Britain, Russia and America
1. Make a presentation on the educational system of Russia, GB and the USA. (school and university education). Be ready to answer your classmates' questions.
2. Compare the educational systems in Russia and GB and the USA. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each system?
3. Discuss the ways the state education system in Russia differs from that in GB and the USA.
4. Compare the private sector of education in Russia, GB and the USA. What are the arguments for and against having a separate system of education for those who can afford to pay for it?
5. One of your professors has just returned from the USA where she/he was on business trip getting acquainted with the USA educational system and the system of teacher training in the USA. Interview him/her.
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6. Discuss the problems that young people face choosing a career in GB. Compare them to the problems young people from Russia have. Speak about the ways students from both countries solve them.
7. A Russian student and an American student are exchanging information on systems of higher education in their countries.
8. A group of university professors from America came to your University. Be a guide to them. Show them your university and tell about the main educational principles and name the characteristic features of your university. Be ready to answer their questions.
9. A student from GB has come to your university on a summer language course. Help him to feel at home. Describe the program, the schedule of the Foreign Languages Department. Explain the difference in instruction process; acquaint him/her with students' life. Act out your talk.
10. Advertise your university /department/ as a place for getting good education.
11. Write an essay: "The system of education in GB."
12. Imagine you want to apply to Cambridge/Oxford for admission. Write the statement of purpose, paying special attention to the fact why you are particularly interested in getting education there.
13. Find some interesting information about students' life and traditions in Oxford and/or Harvard. Discuss it in class.
14. Talk on a topic suggested "A typical day at a British school", "Education in GB".
15. If you are a school principal what would do.
Part IV
