EDUCATION. SPEAKING OF EDUCATION

Speaking of Education

Lynn Visson

What is a second-year high school or college student called? What kind of degree does a graduate student receive after a year or two of study? The terms used in the US frequently cause confusion for Russian students and translators because the American educational system differs considerably from that of England and Russia. Even terms that in literal translation at first glance may seem identical represent quite different concepts and institutions. The number of years of school for elementary school and начальная школа differ; a Russian high school student does not write а курсовая работа, while their American counterparts are quite used to "term papers," and the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) exams for getting into college do not correspond to a "конкурс." То avoid such confusion, aside from idioms and colloquialisms terms will be explained rather than translated

Let's start at the beginning. A small child may go to a nursery school or day care center, a kindergarten (детский сад) or attend a preschool group such as a playgroup. The day care center can provide care throughout the workday, while the other institutions generally provide care for only a few hours a day. At the age of six the child (for simplicity's sake "he" instead of "he or she" is used throughout this article) starts attending elementary school, which runs from first to sixth grade. While elementary school education is compulsory, the small minority of parents who for religious or political reasons do not want their children to attend school may give them home schooling, teaching at home while ensuring that the children are learning the same basic subjects taught in the school system. The required elementary and high school/ secondary school curriculum/a varies a good deal from state to state; the curriculum lists all subjects to be taught and the number of hours devoted to each, along with a schedule for the completion of the material in each course. Despite the variations, all elementary schools teach basic reading, writing and elementary mathematics skills.

A highly talented student may enroll in a school for gifted children. If, on the other hand, he needs special assistance, he may study at a school providing remedial work to catch up with the other students, or at a school providing special assistance programs for children with various kinds of learning deficiencies.

An educational institution such as a high school or college may be restricted to only boys or girls, or it may be coed (coeducational), accepting both. A school in which the student lives is a boarding school. And high school students are called exactly that - students. The word pupils which was formerly used for elementary school students is now rather outdated.

The school may be public or private. Public schools are run by city and state Boards of Education, not by the Federal government. Public schools are free while private schools charge fees for tuition. Or a child may attend a school run by a religious group or organization, such as a Catholic parochial school, in which many of the teachers are priests or nuns. Such religious schools provide the full program of required subjects in addition to instruction in religion. In 40 states there are also charter schools, independent public schools designed and operated by educators, parents and community leaders. These receive charters from the state to offer innovative and experimental programs of study.

After finishing elementary school a child will start junior high school (also known as middle school - the names and systems vary from state to state) in the seventh grade and continue through the eighth or ninth. From the ninth or tenth through the twelfth grade he attends high school. (And a tenth-grader will say, "I'm in the tenth grade," never "I'm in the tenth class") Upon successful completion of twelfth grade he is awarded a high school diploma.

Both elementary and high schools are headed by a principal, and instruction is given by teachers. In high school there is a homeroom teacher for each class. Here administrative manners are attended to and attendance is taken. The students then move from classroom to classroom for each class period. The English teacher has her own classroom, the history teacher another room, and the chemistry teacher usually gives instruction in the laboratory.

Students are given homework, assignments to be done at home and handed in to the teacher the next day. If the student starts cutting classes we say that he is playing hooky (прогуливает уроки). In that case even if he crams (зубрит) for his final exams he is likely not to pass (сдать) but rather to fail/flunk the exam (провалиться на экзамене), test or quiz (контрольная работа). The verb can be used both to mean that the student has not passed the exam or that the teacher did not pass the student:

Anne failed/flunked the test. She needed 65 to pass (обычно в США нужно набирать 65 баллов, чтобы сдать экзамен) but since she only got 62 the teacher failed/flunked her.

If the student answers all the questions correctly - "got everything right" - we can say that "he aced the exam" (сдал блестяще/с блеском).

In both high school and college, exams are written, not oral. Grades usually go from "A" to "F," corresponding to the Russian system of 5 to 0. Many exams are graded from 1 to 100 (a perfect score), and the student gets a certain number of points for each correct answer. A very good student gets excellent grades or high marks (these terms are synonymous). The teacher may require a mid-term or a final exam and/or term paper, a fairly long composition usually involving library research. Report cards with the student's' grades and teachers' comments are usually sent home every semester for signature by parents.

During the fall semester of twelfth grade, the student who wants to continue his education applies to several colleges and universities. The only difference between these two types of institutions is that a university always has graduate programs, while a college may have only a four-year liberal arts undergraduate program. Both colleges and universities are institutions of higher learning with a four-year "liberal arts" program culminating in a Bachelor's Degree, either a BA (Bachelor of Arts) or BS (Bachelor of Science). The kind of degree is stated on the student's college diploma.

A student who wants to receive technical training for a field such as electronic technology or carpentry can apply to a vocational school. If he does not want to go through a full four-year liberal arts program at a college or university, the student can apply to a two-year community college or junior college. These institutions are much less demanding of students both in terms of admission requirements and the program of studyю

Note the following terms:

a high school ninth-grader or a first-year college student is a "freshman."

a high school tenth-grader or a second-year college student is a "sophomore."

a high school eleventh-grader or a third-year college student is a "junior."

a high school twelfth-grader or a fourth-year college student is a "senior."

And a college student is in his second or third "year," never "course."

A college student is known as an undergraduate, while someone continuing his studies in a graduate school program is a graduate student. The term post-graduate is much more common in the UK than in the US, though Americans may talk about post-graduate work, meaning any course of study in graduate school. Like high schools, colleges and universities are either public/state/municipal (free) or private (charge tuition).

The application process for admission to college can be long and arduous, particularly if the student wants to attend one of the top private colleges such as Harvard or Yale. The college's admissions committee first considers the student's grades (the list of courses and grades, for both high school and college, is known as a transcript.) Also very important for admission are extracurricular activities including participation in various clubs, sports activities and school athletic teams and community service. The latter might include volunteering at a soup kitchen or helping to tutor children in overcrowded schools. The applicant is asked to write essays on various subjects to show his intellectual abilities and interests and must have letters of recommendation from his teachers and other people who know him well. He must also have high scores on the SAT examinations. This is not a competitive exam for admission to a university; it consists of a series of questions in English and mathematics designed to test the student's aptitude rather than his knowledge and achievement. A personal interview may also be required. A student who has been accepted by a college is accepted by or admitted to that institution, e.g. Fred was accepted by/admitted to Harvard, but was rejected by/didn't get into Columbia.

Students applying to private colleges and universities may also apply for financial/ scholarship assistance/aid, which may cover tuition, housing (the cost of a dormitory room and other expenses) in full or in part. Loans are another form of financial assistance, and many students work part-time to help put themselves through college (pay for their expenses). A graduate student may have а ТА (teaching assistantship) teaching several hours a week, or a research assistantship, helping a professor with   a   research   project.   City   and   state universities, which are public institutions, charge much lower fees or no tuition at all.

At the beginning of his first term/semester (these are synonyms) he will have an "orientation week" before college classes begin. If he is living in a dormitory (known colloquially as dorm) he will get to know his roommate and other students in the building. Deans, administrators, professors, and older students will introduce him to life on the college campus, the facilities available to him within the university and nearby. He must register for courses which he chooses from the course catalogue which lists all the courses and seminars offered by the various departments. While some universities have Divisions, e.g. "Division of the Humanities," most American universities have only departments. A department is headed by a chairman, e.g. the chairman of the history department. A student is registered for or enrolled in a course. If he is a full-time student in a degree program, he considered to be matriculated; a student taking a few courses but not enrolled in a degree program is non-matriculated. He may sign up to take evening courses. A student who received his course materials and examinations in the mail is taking correspondence courses, though today these are mostly conducted on-line.

While the courses of study in American educational institutions differ, most colleges and universities require a basic/introductory (core) course in the natural sciences, the humanities and the social sciences. These may include a survey course, generally a lecture course providing broad coverage of a considerable amount of material or a lengthy time period, e.g. "A Survey of French Literature, 1200-2000," or "Introductory Biology." These and other courses will meet the distribution requirements - the number of courses which are mandatory in the humanities, social sciences or natural sciences. Each college course is worth a certain number of credits, corresponding to the number of hours a week the course is taught. A three-hour a week course is thus worth three credits, and the student must have a minimum number of credits in order to graduate.

After his first year the student is likely to take more seminars and smaller lecture courses rather than the broad survey courses he took as a freshman. In his second year of study the college student usually will have to choose/ declare a major or field of concentration, his field of specialization in which he will have to take a required number of courses. He may choose a second field, in which he will have to take a smaller number of courses, known as his minor. If he wishes to specialize in two subjects of equal interest to him (e.g., French and Italian, or history and government), this is a double major. The student can also take (слушать) optional (not required) courses known as electives. If he attends the lectures but does not take exams or write papers for a course, he is an auditor.

To enroll in an advanced course a student may first have take a required preliminary course, known as a prerequisite. If a student does not have enough time to finish writing a paper or term paper for a course, he can ask for an extension - extra time for his research. Then he can hand in (сдать) the paper at a later date. In some universities he will be required to write a senior thesis (дипломная работа).

And if he cannot take a scheduled exam because of illness or an emergency situation, he can ask for a make-up exam, i.e. an exam to "make up" what he has missed. (In America students take exams rather than sit for exams, as do British students).

A very good student can receive his bachelor's degree "with honors" (с отличием). There are three such categories for awarding degrees, described with the Latin words for "with highest praise" - summa cum laude, "with high praise" - magna cum laude, and "with praise" - cum laude. Once the student has received his university diploma he is a graduate or an alumnus (alumna, if a woman) of that university. While the grammatically correct English expression is "he was graduated from Yale," and not "he graduated from Yale" the colloquial usage has taken over in standard spoken English.

The head of a university is the President, assisted by a provost and several deans. The provost helps with implementing new programs, fund raising, hiring administrators, and drawing up university policy. The deans have different responsibilities; there may be a "dean of students," a "dean for academic matters," etc.

At the lowest level of the college teaching staff is the Lecturer or Instructor (who can be promoted to the rank of Assistant Professor, several years later to Associate Professor, and lastly to Full Professor. (In casual conversation, however, a student will generally disregard precise academic titles and refer to "my chemistry professor" or "my French teacher" regardless of whether the individual is a lecturer or a full professor).

The goal of anyone moving up the American academic ladder is to get tenure - a permanent, lifetime contract. A teaching position that can lead to tenure is known as a tenure-track position, while one that does not is a non-tenure track position. (The latter are sometimes jokingly called "revolving door positions," since the person holding such a post is automatically replaced every few years.) When a young professor is being considered for tenure he is up for tenure, which he either gets/is granted or doesn't get/is denied.

For example:

"Jane, are you going to France this summer?"

"No way! I'm up for tenure in spring and I've got to finish two articles and go over the proofs of my book that I just got back from the publisher. Last year my friend Jim was denied tenure, and he still hasn't found a teaching post. If I don't get it I'll have to start looking for another job right away."

At various points in his career a college teacher may be given a sabbatical so that he can go on leave to write and publish scholarly works. "Publish or perish" is what all young academics must do: if they do not produce scholarly articles and books of sufficiently high quality they will be denied tenure and will "perish" as academics.

A student who wants to go to graduate school applies to a university graduate department in his chosen field. After a year or two in a Master's degree program, which includes courses, an exam, and often writing a thesis, he will receive a MA (Master of Arts) or a MS (Master of Science) degree. If he decided to stop his graduate studies and not to continue for a Ph.D., his degree is known as a terminal MA. To the American ear this sounds quite odd, because the word "terminal" is used in describing incurable illnesses: "He has terminal lung cancer."

To get a doctoral degree/doctorate/ Ph.D. degree the candidate will have to take a required number of courses in his chosen field, pass a written exam (and possibly an oral one, known as "orals,") and write a doctoral thesis/ dissertation (these are synonymous). He will do so under the supervision of a thesis adviser. Then he will have to defend the thesis/ dissertation, but in America there are no авторефераты, no оппоненты, and dissertation defenses are not open to the public. The successful candidate is then awarded a Ph.D. degree in his specific subject; e.g. "John has a Ph.D./a doctorate/ in Spanish literature."

If a college graduate wants to become a doctor, lawyer, or go into business, he may apply to medical school, law school or business school. These three schools require an undergraduate degree; a student who does not have a bachelor's degree will not be admitted to one of these professional schools. Medical school takes four years, followed by three years of internship and residence; law school involves a three-year program; and business school takes three years.

Some people, however - and they are to be found all over the world - are "eternal students." Many colleges and universities offer so-called "adult education courses" and "extension courses" for older people with an interest in taking a single course in a particular subject. Dozens of retirees, grandmothers and older people sign up for such courses, and it is not at all unusual to see them strolling across campuses next to students who could be their grandchildren. And why not? After all, learning is a life-long process.