Public high school

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.

A public high school is a secondary school that is financed by tax revenues and other government-collected revenues, and administered exclusively by, and at the discretion of, state and local officials. The modifier "high", as applied to the noun "school", seems to have been arisen in the popular vocabulary to distinguish secondary schools from primary, or elementary, schools. In the United States, grade levels beginning in 9th grade and ending in 12th grade are commonly referred to with qualitative, rather than numerical, names. These are: "freshman" for 9th grade, "sophomore" for 10th grade, "junior" for 11th grade and "senior" for 12th grade. These terms are used more often to refer to each successive year in the university curriculum.

1 Public Schools and Private Schools compared
2 Contemporary Solutions to the Historical Problem of Racial Segregation
3 The "public" mission of public high schools
4 Public high schools, government supervision, and the communities they serve
5 Programs at public high schools
6 See also

[edit] Public Schools and Private Schools compared

Public education, on its surface, appears to encourage an acceptance of diversity more common than in private schools, because, ostensibly no one can be denied, by the government as opposed to their peers, access to the services provided by and in public high schools. Access is considered superior because public-school attendees benefit from government subsidies, and thereby usually obtain an education less expensively than their private-school, tuition-paying, counterparts do.

Often, though, private schools develop out of a basic need to preserve religious or aspirational homogeneity, as a vehicle for superior attainment in the educational setting and context, and both of these fundamental qualities are often seen as negatived by the typical public high school regime. At public high schools, overt aspects of religious education are forbidden under the U.S. Constitution and its Establishment clause, while aspirational homogeneity is contrary to the public nature and mission of public high schools. Private high school education however can be more advanced than the ordinary public high school education.

Nevertheless, at many public high schools, it is possible to obtain an adequate secondary school education, even a university preparatory education. Since control of the public high school system's process is highly politicized, so too is attendance at one. Thereby, public high schools have produced many of the nation's most successful graduates of the best universities, and have produced leaders in all sectors of society. But presently, a national debate continues as to whether public schools are a government entitlement program, to be perpetuated and expanded as a flourishing and vital benefit of an advanced society--or as a decaying feature of the welfare state, to be cycled down and ultimately extinguished as the overall societal condition improves, and private-school enrollment increases. Experiments with school vouchers have arisen around the country out of a belief in the superiority of private schools, and the desire for access to them. The reality is, that depending on the individual student, a public-school education could even be superior to a private-school education. This is because a complexity of factors combine to determine the quality each individual student ultimately accrues from his or her high school education. In the final analysis, at present, the stagnant quality of the perception of the improvement in the quality of public schools suggests that it is unlikely that this debate will be resolved at any time in the near future.

[edit] Contemporary Solutions to the Historical Problem of Racial Segregation

Within the public-school system in the United States, historically, challenges to a racially segregationist status quo have (in many cases successfully) been made, specifically being that against segregation).

In the public-school system, curriculum guidelines are determined by the state and county government, though each school may have a certain amount of latitude to determine its own curriculum based on these guidelines.

[edit] The "public" mission of public high schools

The "public" purpose of the typical public high school is twofold: (1) primarily and mainly to prepare its graduates to enter the labor force; and, (2) also to prepare a segment, usually a minority, of its students, to continue on to post-secondary education (i.e. vocational school or technical school, community college or junior college, and university).

At present it remains indeterminate whether social conflicts between elements of these two groups result in a diminishment in overall quality of individual educational attainment and experience. The presence of such conflict may be an impetus for the development of, and support for, University-preparatory schools, wherein all, rather than only a portion, of the students enrolled aspire to attend university.

[edit] Public high schools, government supervision, and the communities they serve

Public high schools, like their private counterparts, provide open forums for communication between students, teachers, administration, and parents, but subject to the limitations specified above. The format of these schools nevertheless provide for interaction (albeit government-supervised) between students and teachers, thus providing an opportunity for public-school students to interact with adults beyond their immediate family.

[edit] Programs at public high schools

Public schools may offer a variety of programs, including magnet programs (which allow students to study the basics of a given career or career field) or International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (a rigorous academic program). There are several levels of coursework, as well, including regular or average coursework (taught on the high school level), advanced or honors coursework (taught on an advanced high school level), Advanced Placement (college-level work taught in a high school setting and offering tests at the end of the academic year that give high school students the opportunity to earn college credit), dual enrollment (college courses made available to high school students at taxpayer expense, and wherein a grade that is considered passing results in high-school and post-secondary credit), and remedial classes (for students who need extra attention to meet benchmarks).

Notwithstanding criticisms levelled at public high schools, many do provide a variety of extra-curricular activities. And, many public high schools provide both curricular and extra-curricular services that are on a par with some private schools. In any event, these activities allow students to form friendships with people they might not otherwise meet, and to pursue or further develop interests. Some national clubs and activities available to most schools include: