The United States government put great emphasis on the importance of education. In fact, the state allots about 40% of the government revenue for educational inputs where most of this 40 % is allocated to secondary education.

    Junior high school varies from state to state. For some states, junior high school takes two years, some three and for some, it would take four to complete. Public and private secondary schools require a standard of two-hour attendance in consideration to the working students. Since the government funds the public schools students may attend without paying anything. Moreover, students from poor families are even exempted from payment of materials, lunches and other expenses. Private school students cost themselves of all the payment. Except for the religious factor, the public and private school system have no significant difference.

    The United States gears up the secondary school curriculum objective towards the holistic development of the students. Courses are designed to contain broad concepts and specialized structure to cater to the enormous potentialities of the students. The courses are conceptualized with the consideration of the possibilities of mobilizing students¡¯ learning performance; ignite enthusiasm, promoting students¡¯ skill development and encouraging personality growth and enhancement. Most secondary schools offer more than 100 types of courses to choose which include compulsory and selective courses. Compulsory courses require students to master the necessary and reasonable knowledge structure to adapt to social demands while optional courses are aimed at enriching the students¡¯ special interest and cultivate personal as well as professional skills.

    The opening of each school curriculum is based on its depth and difficulty, which is categorized as basic, general, and honorary. The number of students per class is based on the total number of students qualified on the basis of meeting the requirements. The basic graduation requirements for low-level courses must be all met before a student is admitted to the senior high school or to the university. This will not only ensure the quality of graduates who have the ability to learn but also ensures the students to have a full grasp for postgraduate opportunities.

General list of Compulsory courses and Disciplines:

    The state, particularly the Department of Education, prescribes the minimum requirements for graduation. Moreover, the Education Department also sets the formula for computing the credits of the students to determine his/her eligibility for graduation. The minimum requirements for graduation are based on the knowledge structure of the compulsory and optional courses taken. Generally, compulsory and elective courses credits must be proportional.

    Generally, the course proportion for elective and compulsory must be 1:4 or 2:5. Meaning, for every 4 compulsory courses, the students must take 1 elective course. The United States focus on personality development of every student as integrated to the compulsory credits of social sciences.ª¥

    The schools require students to complete high school within four years. The students must complete at least six or seven courses a year to be able to enter to the next year level. Students who take advance credits may graduate earlier than the four-year expected time to complete.

    Schools with the ¡°Certificate of Outstanding Graduates¡± require students to actively participate in social activities to have credits. Schools in states such as Indiana require 47 credits from social activities, which also include foreign language learning. Courses should be chosen for the high-grade curriculum. Academic performance should not be lower than the "C" (equivalent to 70 minutes) to be able to take high-grade curriculum. Students who graduate from schools with the Certificate of Outstanding Graduates are often easily admitted to the elite universities.

    Elective credit system reflects a student-centered mode. The school provides only the minimum graduation credits, the right variety of courses, and help in the students¡¯ difficulty. The absence of a unified school curriculum makes the students enjoy some sense of autonomy and even able to mold themselves to become responsible and sensitive to social concerns.

    The United States had no secondary school subject textbooks. The teacher has the autonomy to select the teaching materials. This reflects another aspect of the United States secondary characteristics¡ªacademic freedom of teachers. Usually, American textbooks are not thick but rich in content, described in details and self-learning procedures. American middle school students aimed at learning more about personality development. Most believe that self-discipline rather than relying on textbook is the best way of grasping the basic knowledge or concept.

    In the United States, secondary education is achieved through discovery method where in the teacher and the students explore together the concept to be learned. Strategies to be used may be in the form of field trip, outdoor experiments and many others. Extracurricular assignments and examinations are also included aside from the quizzes and summative tests. Students are also required to write thesis. This mode of teaching, promotes independent thinking, and encourages students to make personal opinion.

Schools in the United States to be accredited are evaluated on the basis of academic performance of students. In addition to test scores, the schools¡¯ quality of operation and the total number of enrollees are also taken in to consideration during the evaluation. School Accreditation aimed to assess the difficulty of the curriculum taught and the comprehensive performance of the school and the students. American society encourages competition among schools thereby emphasizing attention on school rankings. , This practice is not only fair evaluation but also an important strategy to explore and promote students¡¯ potentials and also enabling professional training. As the value of the credit is a comprehensive scientific assessment, it does not seek to avoid the aggressive, low-level elective courses in a bid to score regardless of their own conditions.

American society's standards for assessing students, in addition to academic achievement, would also include very practical capacity, such as leadership, organizational ability, social skills, creative ability, personal skills and potential for development. Prestigious universities have also set their student admission standards which include test results, achievements, extra-curricular activities, recommendations and personal interviews. Each year, students who have exemplified outstanding performance in academics, arts, leadership, extracurricular activities in school and community and in the field of science and research are qualified candidates to receive the prestigious National Presidential Award.

During their free time, American secondary students organize peer teaching. The peer teaching is also recognized as elective course and may be credited upon successful completion. Students¡¯ credits and academic progress are kept in the registrar, which ha the full control over all the students¡¯ records. Schools emphasize the importance of discipline. The code of conduct to be strictly followed in the school is published in a book from distributed to the students and their parents, including also the teachers and the staff. The Code of Conduct Booklet also contains important information such as school activities, credit requirements, registration, attendance and leave, classroom activities, after-school work. It also includes extra-curricular activities, performance assessment, and the use of public property, clothing, hairstyle, language and social deportment, parking rules. Corresponding punishment for any violation is also clearly stated in the handbook. The school also condemns the spread of gang violence, drug addiction, alcoholism, sexual harassment and other social issues. Meanwhile, there are also policies enjoyed by students such as the right to petition those in various powers in the school. School discipline shall be legal; everything is in accordance of law. Any person entering the campus has to be strictly adhered to the schools policies and regulations.

American schools have teachers who can at the same time serve as guidance counselors. Secondary students may seek advice and guidance from their teachers in terms of their emotional, psychological and academic problems. On grave misconduct of students, the school management committee, the principals and teachers, staff, parents, community representatives, and the student concerned are invited to hold a conference to discuss the issue.