United States
In 1970, there were only a few alternative schools in operation in the United States. They originated to serve a growing population of students who were not experiencing success in the traditional schools. Today there are thousands, and the number continues to grow. The term "alternative" is now used to describe nearly every type of school imaginable, but many share certain distinguishing characteristics:
- Average or smaller classroom size
- Close student-teacher relationship
- Student decision-making and skills gained daily
- More involvement with school activities and around the community
- Diverse curriculum
- Peer guidance and parental involvement
- Prepares for a successful future and students can obtain skills inside and outside the classroom
This type of school is not only intended to accommodate students who are considered at risk of failing academically, but also students of all academic levels and abilities who are better served by a non-traditional program. Many programs are specifically intended for students with special educational needs, but others address primarily social problems that affect students, such as teenage parenthood or homelessness.
Students are typically referred to as at-risk students, and may have one or more of any several reasons such as challenging behavior, a need for special remedial programs, emotional disabilities, or problems that destabilize the student's personal life, such as homelessness or, in the case of migrant farmworkers, moving very frequently.
Read more about this topic: Alternative School
Famous quotes related to united states:
“... when we shall have our amendment to the Constitution of the United States, everyone will think it was always so, just exactly as many young people believe that all the privileges, all the freedom, all the enjoyments which woman now possesses were always hers. They have no idea of how every single inch of ground that she stands upon to-day has been gained by the hard work of some little handful of women of the past.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
“I feel most at home in the United States, not because it is intrinsically a more interesting country, but because no one really belongs there any more than I do. We are all there together in its wholly excellent vacuum.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“In the United States there is more space where nobody is is than where anybody is.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“In the United States, though power corrupts, the expectation of power paralyzes.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)
“Prior to the meeting, there was a prayer. In general, in the United States there was always praying.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)