Education
American primary and secondary education (known in the U.S. as K-12, "kindergarten through 12th grade") is decentralized. School systems are operated by state, territorial, and sometimes municipal governments and regulated by the U.S. Department of Education. In general, children are required to attend school or an approved homeschool from the age of five or six (kindergarten or first grade) until they are 18 years old. This often brings students through the 12th grade, the final year of a U.S. high school, but some states and territories allow them to leave school earlier, at age 16 or 17.[447] The U.S. spends more on education per student than any country in the world,[448] an average of $18,614 per year per public elementary and secondary school student in 2020–2021.[449] Among Americans age 25 and older, 92.2% graduated from high school, 62.7% attended some college, 37.7% earned a bachelor's degree, and 14.2% earned a graduate degree.[450] The U.S. literacy rate is near-universal.[180][451] The country has the most Nobel Prize winners of any country, with 411 (having won 413 awards).[452][453]
U.S. tertiary or higher education has earned a global reputation. Many of the world's top universities, as listed by various ranking organizations, are in the United States, including 19 of the top 25.[454][455] American higher education is dominated by state university systems, although the country's many private universities and colleges enroll about 20% of all American students. Local community colleges generally offer coursework and degree programs covering the first two years of college study. They often have more open admission policies, shorter academic programs, and lower tuition.[456]
As for public expenditures on higher education, the U.S. spends more per student than the OECD average, and Americans spend more than all nations in combined public and private spending.[457] Colleges and universities directly funded by the federal government do not charge tuition and are limited to military personnel and government employees, including: the U.S. service academies, the Naval Postgraduate School, and military staff colleges. Despite some student loan forgiveness programs in place,[458] student loan debt increased by 102% between 2010 and 2020,[459] and exceeded $1.7 trillion in 2022.[460]
Culture and society
Americans have traditionally been characterized by a unifying political belief in an "American Creed" emphasizing consent of the governed, liberty, equality under the law, democracy, social equality, property rights, and a preference for limited government.[462][463] Culturally, the country has been described as having the values of individualism and personal autonomy,[464][465] as well as having a strong work ethic,[466] competitiveness,[467] and voluntary altruism towards others.[468][469][470] According to a 2016 study by the Charities Aid Foundation, Americans donated 1.44% of total GDP to charity—the highest rate in the world by a large margin.[471] The United States is home to a wide variety of ethnic groups, traditions, and values.[472][473] It has acquired significant cultural and economic soft power.[474][475]
Nearly all present Americans or their ancestors came from Europe, Africa, or Asia (the "Old World") within the past five centuries.[476] Mainstream American culture is a Western culture largely derived from the traditions of European immigrants with influences from many other sources, such as traditions brought by slaves from Africa.[477] More recent immigration from Asia and especially Latin America has added to a cultural mix that has been described as a homogenizing melting pot, and a heterogeneous salad bowl, with immigrants contributing to, and often assimilating into, mainstream American culture. The American Dream, or the perception that Americans enjoy high social mobility, plays a key role in attracting immigrants.[478][479] Whether this perception is accurate has been a topic of debate.[480][481][482] While mainstream culture holds that the United States is a classless society,[483] scholars identify significant differences between the country's social classes, affecting socialization, language, and values.[484][485] Americans tend to greatly value socioeconomic achievement, but being ordinary or average is promoted by some as a noble condition as well.[486]
The National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities is an agency of the United States federal government that was established in 1965 with the purpose to "develop and promote a broadly conceived national policy of support for the humanities and the arts in the United States, and for institutions which preserve the cultural heritage of the United States."[487] It is composed of four sub-agencies:
- National Endowment for the Arts
- National Endowment for the Humanities
- Institute of Museum and Library Services
- Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities
The United States is considered to have the strongest protections of free speech of any country under the First Amendment,[488] which protects flag desecration, hate speech, blasphemy, and lese-majesty as forms of protected expression.[489][490][491] A 2016 Pew Research Center poll found that Americans were the most supportive of free expression of any polity measured.[492] They are the "most supportive of freedom of the press and the right to use the Internet without government censorship".[493] The U.S. is a socially progressive country[494] with permissive attitudes surrounding human sexuality.[495] LGBT rights in the United States are advanced by global standards.[495][496][497]