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American Educational System Now and Then
In the United States, there is compulsory, free education for twelve years from kindergarten up to high school. The funding of the public school system comes from property taxes and students are placed in a school near their homes. There is generally school busing available if the school is not within walking distance from the home. Books are generally provided depending on the policy of a school district. For students from low-income families, there is a nutritional program including free breakfast and lunches. The public schools of today is well known of their comprehensiveness in educational services including special education for the developmentally disabled (low intelligence) to the physically handicapped. There is also a gifted and talent programs for unusually bright students with measured high intelligence.

It is widely accepted that the teaching of the "three R's" (reading, writing and arithmetic) is the primary mission of schools in general. In the public schools in the United States today, teaching is a complicated matter. In addition to the teaching of the "three Rˇ¦s" the public schools were forced into meeting the emotional needs of the students, resulting from the pain and sufferings sustained from the dissolution of many American families. The school students today are complex people because they generally come from broken or dysfunctional families. Their emotional baggage from their families of origin distracts these students, and they are unable to learn. Services like school based medical-mental clinics are instituted to help high school students with contraception and counseling.

The teachers union also made the matter of education a very complex one. Critics of the public schools believe the teachers union is only concerned about the financial benefits of their profession instead of working for the best interest of the students. They believe there is an inherent conflict of interests when teachers began to unionize. It is common that teachers go on strike upon the beginning of a new school year to demand a higher paid, therefore directly impacting the quality of their studentsˇ¦ education from the start of the new term. Public schools in the United States have been criticized appropriately as the oldest remaining monopoly in America. The administrative structure of the public schools grew and grew and made the school "top-heavy" with the managerial functions taking more priority over the education of the students. When the teachers unionized, "professionals" began to make educational decisions for the students and the wishes and desires of parents began to take a second place.

To counter this monopoly of education, many States and counties have begun to consider the merits of private schools as viable alternatives to public schools. School choice becomes an important political issue in educational reform in the United States. School choice gives parents the freedom to choose the school that their child may attend. Parents become in control of the choice of school instead of under the mercy of their school districts. Generally, home schooling (home education), charter schools and school voucher constitute the instruments for parental choice in education. A voucher program has been used in some counties in the State of Minnesota, where each student is given the yearly educational money in form of vouchers so he or she can choose any school, public or private based on the chose of the student. Research seems to indicate this voucher program benefits minority in the lower-economic sector. With this finding, many states have begun to consider this voucher program and at this writing when presidential primaries are being considered, educational reform is the buss word. In additional to the voucher program, there is the charter school (schools not under the public school system, but accept tax money for operation,) program and the resulting streamlining of public schools to increase academic performance. The bottom-line appears to be the improvement of the quality of teachers, public or private with the presence of competition for quality among schools. If this public school monopoly can be broken, many critics believe, true competition will take place thus benefiting the students. This is an American consumer oriented philosophy applied in the public school system.

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Moral Education in the Public Schools in the United States

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Introduction &
The Early American Settlers

Early American Leaders and the Resources of Moral Values

American Educational System Now and Then

Moral Education in the Public Schools in the United States

Failure of Moral Education in the Public Schools in the Post-Modern Era

Specific Moral Issues in Education for Consideration

A Future View of Moral Education in the United States

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