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The United States: Deaf People in a Pluralistic Society Donald F. Moores, Margery S. Miller, and Edward Corbett TH E UN I T E D STAT E S is a federated republic of 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and several territories. The 48 contiguous states and District of Columbia stretch across North America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Geographically, it is the third largest country in the world, after Russia and Canada. With more than 300,000,000 inhabitants, it is also the third most populous country in the world, after China and India. Because of natural population increase and immigration, the United States has had a higher population growth than other developed countries, increasing from approximately 180,000,000 people in 1960 to 300,000,000 in 2005. The annual rate of growth currently is approximately 3,000,000 people. The population is clustered in heavily urban and suburban areas, with 4 of the 50 states— California, Texas, New York, and Florida in that order—containing close to 100 million inhabitants , or roughly one-third of the total population. Texas more than doubled and Florida more than tripled its population from 1960 to 2005. The United States is a multicultural, multiethnic, and multiracial nation. As such, its demographic composition is complex, and reporting by the U.S. Census Bureau takes several forms. The Census Bureau’s Population Profile of the United States: 2005 (Census Bureau, 2005) estimated that, in 2004, 80% of the population was White, 13% was Black or African American, 4% was Asian, 1.5% was American Indian and Alaska Native, and 0.3% was Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. The Hispanic population, which is multiracial, is estimated to be 14% of the U.S. population. A small percentage of people self-identified with two or more races. It should be noted that all data are self-reported. AMERICAN EDUCATION There are approximately 50,000,000 children ages 5 to 18 enrolled in public schools and 5,000,000 in private schools. Although there is some variation, usually there are three quite distinct school settings and levels: elementary school (kindergarten through Grades 5 or 6), middle school or junior high school (Grade 6 or 7 through Grade 8 or 9), and high school (Grade 9 or 10 through Grade 12). Because education is not mentioned explicitly in the American Constitution, primary responsibility rests with the individual states. The federal government has been involved in education almost from the beginning of the union, and its involvement has increased substantially in recent years, but education still is primarily a state responsibility. Unlike many countries that have uniform, nationwide curricula, there is wide variation in curricula in the 332 United States from one state to another. Federal law requires that each state have rigorous standards of learning for each grade and that there be testing at different points, but the standards of learning and the testing vary from one state to another. The states allow each school district—which may consist of a town, city, or county—to develop its own curriculum consistent with the standards of learning, but testing is the same within each state. The goals of American education have changed over the centuries, reflecting developments in technology, immigration, demography, and evolving societal values. As in many countries, there has been disagreement over whether education should be child centered or content centered . The prevailing philosophy in the 20th century was known as progressive education, which promoted a child-centered curriculum based on problem solving and the needs and motivation of the child. Teachers acted as guides to learning, evidencing flexibility and acceptance. The counter philosophy favored the traditional, highly structured, teachercontrolled , content-centered curriculum, which emphasized rote learning, memorization, and a defined sequence of instruction. Progressive education was never without critics; critics argued that educational standards were lax and achievement was low. Concern peaked temporarily before 1960, when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite, and some elements of American education were restructured in response, but the changes were not dramatic or long-lasting. Significant efforts to fundamentally change American education did not begin until the 1980s. Spurred by reports of declining academic achievement over a period of more than 20 years, several reports were disseminated, with A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform (National Commission for Excellence in Education, 1983) having the greatest effect. The commission stated that “the educational foundations of our society are...

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