20. The largest metropolitan cities

Most Americans live in urban setting today. By 1990 – 80% lived in metropolitan areas. Strong economic & social currents encourage the continued concentration of the urban population which otherwise might disperse into more sparsely settled areas. Creation of large metropolitan markets for goods, services, jobs acts as a magnet for further growth. Industrial revolution – increasing number of unneeded farmers. Largest cities: New York(has always been the gateway to the US. It is the nation’s largest city and leader in business, finance ,fashion and arts.5 botough: Manhattan, The Bronx, Qu, Brooklyn and Richmond. M- the heart of the city. Br-the richest in population. The Bronx is residential part of the city.), Los Angeles ,Chicago(the 2^nd largest city. The centre of the country, the most important Great Lakes port. An important centre of culture and science. It is the seat of the University of CH. And of several institutions. Is known for its sky-scrapers) Boston, Dallas, Denver, Baltimore, Washington,D.C., (was created to be the seat of government. Only industry is government. The White House where the US`s president lives and works, the Capitol, the home of the US congress and the supreme court are all here), San Francisco, Phoenix, Houston. Today cities are overpopulated & people try to relocate from them to suburbs.

21. The American city

By about 1918, half of the United States population lived in cities and metropolitan areas; by 1990, almost 80 percent lived in such places. Strong economic and social currents encourage the continued concentration of the urban population which otherwise might disperse into more sparsely settled areas. The creation of large metropolitan markets for goods, services and jobs acts as a magnet for further growth. In addition, as farming has become more mechanized over the last half century, increasing numbers of unneeded farm workers have followed those who earlier sought better lives in urban areas. There are many activities which can only thrive in

central locations with large populations. These include manufacturing, business and government administration, large-scale cultural and retail activities, and a whole host of service occupations.

Despite this, many central city areas have experienced a decrease in population since the mid-1960s, as suburbs grew. This loss is not the result of people's returning to live on farms or in villages. It is a product of Americans' increasing prosperity and of their desire to own a piece of land.

The growth of American cities between 1860 and 1960 has always been viewed in the United States with feelings of both pride and dismay. The city is a product of the machine age; it is a creation of the industrialization which produced much of the country's wealth and strength. Much that is best and most innovative in education, culture, and political and social thought results from the intellectual exchange and excitement which city life makes possible. On the other hand, poverty, overcrowding, social conflict and criminal violence are also much more common in cities than in rural areas. Demands for social services which go beyond the ability of the cities to provide have, over time, created problems which make living in the cities less attractive.

The response of many city dwellers has been to relocate from the city center to less heavily populated areas at the edge of the city. These areas, known as "suburbs," have combined elements of both urban and rural living, and have blurred the dividing line between city and countryside. Many business and manufacturing firms have moved to these suburbs, attracted by lower taxes, low land prices, and the growing labor pool and retail markets there.

Older distinctions between city and suburb, central business district and suburban shopping area, and even city slum and single home residential district are not very useful today. This is because these places are no longer relatively independent. The suburban rings around all central cities must be regarded as part of the urban structure. Central cities and their suburbs together form metropolitan regions and must be considered economic and social wholes. Highways have been constructed to make travel from city to suburb easier, and the provision of social services has been extended, so that living in a suburb is nearly as convenient as living in a city, and yet the problems of overcrowding and crime are much less serious.

Meeting the needs of these expanding outer rings of metropolitan areas requires more complex systems of urban government. A variety of urban governmental forms, often distinguished by whether they are headed by an elected individual (mayor), a hired manager or a council of elected officials, is being tried to determine which is most effective at meeting modern urban/suburban needs.

Also as a result of the expansion of these suburban rings, many metropolitan areas have grown so large in recent decades that they have overlapped, and have begun to merge. This new urban network has been called "megalopolis" by French geographer Jean Gottman. He identified the largest of these as occupying an area on the Atlantic seaboard from north of Boston, through New York, south to Washington, D.C.—"Bosnywash." This megalopolis contains more than one-sixth

of the entire United States population. It is bound together by many economic and social relationships. It is estimated that by the year 2000, 80 percent of Americans will live in 28 or so of these megalopolises.

As many of America's urban dwellers have moved to the suburban rings in search of greater privacy, cleaner air and less social conflict, a pattern of urban living has emerged which is in sharp contrast to that in cities in other industrialized countries. Elsewhere in the world because of the advantages which city life can offer, city centers—or inner cities—are regarded as the most desirable living space and are occupied by the most affluent groups. In the United States, many in the wealthy and the middle class have moved to the periphery. As a result, cities have lost tax money that these groups paid to provide needed services. The lessening of services further encourages those who can afford to move outside the city limits to do so, and the city centers are perceived as among the least desirable areas to live.

This does not mean that those areas are unoccupied. It means that, because of the low rents, newly arrived groups, the members of which are the least educated, least skilled, poorest and least adapted to urban life, move first into the most undesirable living space near the center of the city. Who are these groups?

An important source of urban population growth, especially since 1945, has been the migration to cities of black Americans and Hispanics. Many of these newcomers had been farm workers whose livelihood was lost through the mechanization of farms. They followed the trail of earlier migrants to the city, expecting to find semiskilled factory and service jobs.

Unfortunately, their migration occurred when economic changes were causing a loss of such jobs, many to other countries. The consequence is that all the larger American cities have experienced an increase of relatively unskilled, poor people for whom jobs are not readily available. However, as these people gain skills, get jobs and become more affluent, they, in turn, move outward and their places are taken by a less affluent and more rootless population.

These are only general tendencies and there are many exceptions. For example, during the past two decades cities such as New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco have accomplished major "urban renewal" projects, rebuilding and renovating huge tracts of the central city area, and thus once again attracting businesses and more affluent groups to settle there. In many cities young middle class business and professional families have returned to deteriorating neighborhoods and restored the economic and cultural vitality of the areas. Though it probably represents only a minority trend, this is a hopeful sign for the American cities.

It is only to be expected that the enormous century-long growth of cities should have left many unsolved problems. Most of these problems were not foreseen. Probably they could not have been. Many are the consequences of successes of one sort or another. The noise and congestion of automobile traffic, for example, is a result of almost universal car ownership. Cars fill many city streets which were intended for horse and foot traffic. The federal government has been deeply involved in the fate of the cities since the economic depression of the 1930s. Before that, the role of Washington had simply been to coordinate local efforts. In recent years, the federal government has assisted city governments in coping with the increased costs of services, the loss of tax revenues and the poverty of many residents. In general, ups and downs of the national economy can have a profound effect on city life, and the cities need help to lessen the impact of those ups and downs. In 1965, a Department of Housing and Urban Development was created in the federal government to manage programs concerned with community development and housing needs.

City administrators have tried in recent years to strengthen their abilities to organize the delivery of services. Mayors in many cities have been given wider powers to cope with the magnitude of the problems with which they are faced. One reform effort is the attempt to create metropolitan-wide governments.

Mass production and distribution of necessary goods are best accomplished when many people live together in a community. In this sense, the city is a product of industrialization and trade—the foundations of the modern American economy. Americans live in cities from economic necessity and a desire to enjoy the social and cultural advantages cities offer. At the same time they yearn to own a separate piece of land, to be closer to nature and to be free of the limitations imposed by living too close to others. This dichotomy has been made more difficult by America's extremely rapid change from a rural to an urban society and by the multinational nature of the American society, in which members of many different ethnic groups find themselves living very close to one another—and trying to tolerate and accept one another's different ways of living—in the huge cities of the United States.

The social problems that are products of the rapid growth of urban populations will be alleviated as more and more creative approaches to urban living are found. Urban planning and renewal with a central consideration for human well-being—an unaffordable luxury in the early stages of industrialization—have become the standard in America's post-industrial phase. The outlook for America's cities and for the quality of life for the nearly 80 percent of the American people who live in urban settings is hopeful.

22. Elementary and secondary education Each fall almost 50 million young Americans walk through the doorways of about 100 000 elementary and secondary schools. About 85 % students attend public schools, supported by the Am. taxpayers, the other 15 % attend private schools, for which their families choose to pay special attendance fees. Most public schools are coeducational, girls and boys study together. But a lot of church supported schools are for boys or girls only. There are some laws which regulate ed.; all states require young people to attend school( the age limits vary), some states play a strong role in the selection of learning material for their students. Almost every elementary school provides instructions in these subjects; math., language arts( a subject that includes reading, grammar, composition and literature): science: social studies( includes history, geography and economics), music, art and physical education. The elementary school in the US is generally considered to include the first six or eight grades of the common-school system, depending upon the organization that has been accepted for the secondary school. It has been called the "grade school" or the "grammar school". The elementary school is followed by four years of secondary school, or high school. Often the last two years of elementary and the first years of secondary school are combined into a junior high school. Admission to the American high school is automatic on completion of the elementary school. During the four-year high school program the student studies four or five major subjects per year, and classes in each of these subjects meet for an hour a day, five days a week. In addition, the student usually has classes in physical education, music, and art several times a week. Students are guided by school counselors in choosing electives, which can range from specialized academic to vocational subjects. If he fails a course, he repeats only that course and not the work of the entire year. Students must complete a certain number of courses in order to receive a diploma, or a certificate of graduation.

23. Higher education Out of the more than three million students who graduate from high school each year, about one million go on for “higher education”. Successful applicants at such colleges are usually chosen on the basis of: high school records; recommendations from high school teachers; the impression they make during interviews at the university; their scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT); The system of higher education in the United States is complex. It comprises four categories of institutions:1.the university, which may contain several colleges for undergraduate students seeking a bachelor's (four-year) degree; one or more graduate schools for those continuing in specialized studies beyond the bachelor's degree to obtain a master's or a doctoral degree; 2.the four-year undergraduate institution-the college-most of which are not part of a university; 3.the technical training institution, at which high school graduates may take courses ranging from six months to four years in duration and learn wide variety of technical skills, from hair styling through business accounting to computer programming; 4. the two-year, or community college, from which students may enter many professions or may transfer to four-year colleges or universities. During the first two years of a student's studies, three-quarters of his studies will be made up of prescribed courses in the humanities, the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the fine arts. The remaining quarter will be "elective" courses selected by the student himself from a very wide range of options. In the third and fourth years, a student will specialize in one or perhaps two subject fields, with the equivalent of a full year of study in a major field and a full year in a number of supporting studies. Any of institutions of higher ed. may be private or public. American universities are most being private. All universities, even state one, are fee-paying. The best-known private universities are the oldest ones in the Northeast, known informally as the Ivy League: include Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Other main universities are California Un., Catholic Un. Of America, Cornell Un., Columbia Un., Chicago Un., Stanford Un. The academic year is usually of 9 month duration, or 2 semesters of 4 and a half month each. Students are classified as freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. A peculiar feature of Un. Life is numerous students unities, fraternities and sororities.

24. Black Slavery America. Civil rights movement. The history of blacks in NA began in August 1619 when a small Dutch warship sailed up the James River to the young English colony of Jamestown, Virginia. In 1619 the Europeans didn’t have the practice of slavery – the complete ownership of one person by another one. But they did have the practice of an indentured service. The 20 Blacks landed from the Dutch ship were viewed as indentured servants. Between 1640 and 1680 Virginia and other southern colonies drifted steadily towards the establishment of a system of slave labor. Blacks were brought to America by ships’ captains who sold them to the highest bidder. In the early 1960s the buyers and sellers sometimes agreed on a period of servitude for black indentured servants. Throughout the 18^th cent. an increasing number of people in Britain and NA spoke out against slave trade. But the wealthy slave owners and slave traders had powerful friends in government and were able to defeat all attempts to end the slave trade. In 1865 when the war ended and Congress passed the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution, which completely abolished slavery. Another amendment the 11^th gave blacks full citizenship rights. For a time many hoped that blacks and whites could live together in a state of equality and tolerance. But local laws and customs were used to deprive blacks of voting rights. However, progress did occur during the difficult years from 1919 to 1950. Individual blacks made breaks through in education, science, sports, entertainment, business, engineering, and most of all in music and arts. At the same time black leaders felt that the people would have to take action to end discrimination of civil rights. One opportunity for action was presented by the arrest of woman named Rosa Parks in Mont Gomery. , Alabama on December 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a city bus. Then there was a boycott. It lasted a year. Cost the city more and more money. A high point of the civil rights movement occurred on August 28, 1964, when 250000 people of all races marched in Washington to demand that the nation keep its pledge of “justice for all’. The civil rights acts of 1964, 1965, 1968 were landmarks in dismantling the legal basis for discrimination.

25 The Native Americans. The story of NA is one that is unique, tragic and inspiring. It’s so because Indians were the original inhabitants of the American continent and experienced every phase of its European settlement. Today NA are full citizens of the USA who are proud to be Americans. However, they are equally proud of their own cultural heritage and though it’s difficult in the modern world. They are trying to protect it. About 60% of Indians in the USA live in large cities and rural areas scattered throughout the country. There is the Indian population in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Minneapolis, Albuquerque, and Chicago. Nearly 40% of NA live in reservations. There are 200 of them. The social and economic conditions in reservations are terrible. There is a high death rate for children and the high suicide rate. The average educational level of all Indians is 5 school years. NA are one of the most deprived and unhappy of majority groups in the US. To improve the quality of life of Indians, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has been created. In recent decades the NA population has been increasing steadily. Today there are about 1,9 million NA (0,8% of population of the US). In 1492 an Italian navigator Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain in search of a sea route to Asia. Thinking he had landed in the Indies, a group of islands east of the coast of Asia. He called the people on the first island “Indians”. They comprised groups of people, spoke over 300 languages , they worshiped the Earth. They were fine crafts workers. In 1570 5 tribes joined to form the democratic nation “League of Iroquois”, run by a council. It was a strong power in the 1600s and 1700s. It sided with the Britain against the French in a war for the dominance of America from 1754 to 1763. The British might not have won that war without the support of the League of the Iroquois. The League stayed strong unit the American Revolution.