Generalizing about U.S. education (was: Subject / Object / ?)

Isaac A. Penzev scripsit:

> > In the United States, the education establishment in the
> > public schools (i.e. primary and secondary schools) considers
> > it old-fashioned to teach grammatical concepts such as
> > subject and object and how to analyse a sentence.
>
> Wow! I didn't know the thing were *SO* bad in the States :((((
As I've said many times before:

The U.S. doesn't have a single national curriculum.  It doesn't even have
fifty statewide curricula.  Education is locally controlled, with a *very
few* national rules imposed as a side effect of making funds available or
by courts.  (There are a few states that do impose statewide curricula,
but even so there is usually some flexibility.)  Local control is in the
hands of school boards almost everywhere (NYC has recently become one
of the few exceptions), who are elected non-professionals.  Furthermore,
curricula are being changed constantly.

Consequently, people who claim that "U.S. schools" do or don't do this,
that, or the other are *always* generalizing from extremely limited
evidence, frequently personal experience.  (This includes me.)  There is
a public high school right here in New York City where every student is
taught Latin and Classical Greek, for Ghu's sake.

--
"You're a brave man! Go and break through the           John Cowan
lines, and remember while you're out there              cowan@ccil.org
risking life and limb through shot and shell,           www.ccil.org/~cowan
we'll be in here thinking what a sucker you are!"       www.reutershealth.com
        --Rufus T. Firefly

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