Education Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Education Paper - Essay Example In Germany, while the states have the major control, a national coordinating agency keeps a check and ensures a high degree of comparability between the states. In the United States the major control and financial support falls under the jurisdiction of the state and local governments. In Japan, even though the centre has control, the teachers and the school districts are allowed to develop their own curricula as long as they are within the prescribed guidelines (Stevenson & Nerison-Low, n.d). The Japanese curriculum has a balance between academic and non-academic subjects, but they ensure that at least a third of the time at school is spent on subjects such as music, arts and crafts, homemaking, physical education, and special activities such as school clubs. Many elementary schools have their own standard of grading their students. Attendance at high school is not compulsory in Japan. In high school, students are separated into academic and vocational tracks in Japan. The teachers believe that their goal of instruction is exposure and not mastery. In Japan about 175 school periods per year are spent on the Japanese language and about 105 periods each for math’s and science. In Germany, the curriculum guidelines within each state provide a uniform basis for instruction. The guidelines include the content, learning objectives, and instructional periods required of each type of school. In Germany the greatest number of instructional periods is spent in learning the German language and mathematics. Sciences, math’s and language studies take up 27 hours of a total of 40 instructional hours per week (Stevenson & Nerison-Low, n.d). Teachers in Germany have the option to revise and supplement the content of the curriculum depending upon the socio-economic and cultural background of each student. The German educational system is divided into distinct levels (Hyperstudy, 2007). Elementary school is called Grundschule and is preceded by voluntary