Chapter 4: Schools as the Workplace for Students and Teachers

Theoretically creating a school takes a lot of consideration when it comes to the little details. Schools in the United States are very complicated and have many positions crucial to the proper functioning of the school. In the build a school project, Homer Academy was created to give students interested in an outdoor career an opportunity to get prepared for what they will encounter. While this is far fetched from any school in the U.S. today, it resembled some of the key characteristics that are necessary in a healthy functioning school.

The staff for Homer Academy would consist of regular teachers who are qualified in math, science, social studies, etc... as well as professionals. Game wardens and Forest Rangers, for example, would be present at times to teach the students about their job and responsibilities. This is similar to that of U.S. schools because teachers must be specially qualified to teacher their concentrations. On occasion, some schools have professionals come in and give a presentation to the class, or some schools may give to opportunity to shadow a worker. In contrast, Homer Academy is more specialized in the outdoors, so more teachers will be needed to teach recreational courses such as rafting, hiking, biking, etc... while most American schools do not have that ability.

Our group did not discuss the relationship of the school district to the state because there was no school district. Homer Academy was a private school with a small number of board members who made decisions for the school. However, in the U.S. public schools are mandated by the state because the funding is a huge part of the state's budget.

Even though Homer Academy is a private school, the federal government still has jurisdiction over it. Every school in America must abide by the constitution and its laws. The U.S. Congress is made up of the House of Representatives, and the Senate. Each year there are multiple education bills and statues initiated and approved by both the house and the senate (the president must then sign it into effect). Both Homer Academy and U.S. schools are influenced by these laws.

Homer Academy is a private school, so tuition for students of surrounding towns is payed for by tax payers. If students are not in the surrounding towns, they will need to pay for tuition and room and board. This is the same for private schools in the U.S. as well because at Erskine Academy (my high school) there were seven surrounding towns that payed for the tuition of the students from those towns; however, students who did not reside in those towns needed to pay tuition. In contrast, public schools in America are state and federally funded by all tax payers of the state.