California

California is a state located on the west coast of the United States. It is the most populous state in the U.S., as well as physically the most diverse, with the highest and the lowest points in the lower 48 states located within 150 miles of each other. If California were an independent nation, it would have the fifth largest economy in the world (see economy of California). The state's official nickname is "The Golden State" in reference to California's 1849 Gold Rush. {{ref|origin_of_nickname}} California's U.S. postal abbreviation is CA, and its Associated Press abbreviation is Calif.

Education

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Image:Berkeley glade afternoon.jpg|UC Berkeley

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Image:Stanford campus aerial photo.jpg|Stanford

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Image:USC Bovard Auditorium enh.jpg|USC

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Image:Roycehalluc.JPG|UCLA

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Image:UCSD_lib1024.jpg|UCSD

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Image:Millikan Library.jpg|Caltech

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California's public educational system is supported by a unique constitutional amendment that requires 40% of state revenues to be spent on education.

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The preeminent state university is the University of California, which employs more Nobel Prize winners than any other institution in the world and is considered one of the finest public higher-education systems in the country. The nine general UC campuses are in Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego, Davis, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Riverside, and Merced. The University of California, San Francisco, teaches only graduate health-sciences students, and the Hastings College of Law, also in San Francisco, is one of UC's four law schools. The UC system is intended to accept students from the top 12.5% of college-bound students, and provide most graduate studies and research. The University of California also administers federal laboratories for the Federal Department of Energy: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Related Topics:
University of California - Nobel Prize - Berkeley - Los Angeles - San Diego - Davis - Santa Cruz - Santa Barbara - Irvine - Riverside - Merced - University of California, San Francisco - Hastings College of Law - Federal Department of Energy - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory - Los Alamos National Laboratory

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The California State University system provides education for teachers, the trades, agriculture and industry. With over 400,000 students, the CSU system is the largest university system in the United States. It is intended to accept most college-bound high-school students, while carrying out some research, especially in applied sciences. Lower-division course credits are frequently transferable to the University of California.

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The California Community Colleges system provides vocational education, remedial education, and continuing education programs. It awards certificates and associate degrees. It also provides lower division general-education courses, whose credit units are transferable to the CSU and UC systems. It is composed of 109 colleges organized into 72 districts. The system serves a student population of over 2.9 million.

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Notable private universities include Stanford University, the University of Southern California (USC), and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) (which administers the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA).

Related Topics:
Stanford University - University of Southern California - California Institute of Technology - Jet Propulsion Laboratory - NASA

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California has hundreds more private colleges and universities, including many religious and special-purpose institutions. This leads to many unique entertainment and educational opportunities for residents. For example, Southern California, with one of the highest densities of post-secondary institutions in the world, has a very large base of classically trained vocalists that compete in large choir festivals. Near Los Angeles, there are numerous art and film institutes, including the CalArts Institute.

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Public secondary education consists of high schools that teach elective courses in trades, languages and liberal arts with tracks for gifted, college-bound and industrial arts students. They accept students from roughly age 14 to 18, with mandatory education ceasing at age 16. In many districts, junior high schools or middle schools teach electives with a strong skills-based curriculum, for ages from 11 to 13. Elementary schools teach pure skills, history and social studies, with optional half-day kindergartens beginning at age 5. Mandatory full-time instruction begins at age 6.

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The primary schools are of varying effectiveness. The quality of the local schools depends strongly on the local tax base, and the size of the local administration. In some regions, administrative costs divert a significant amount of educational monies from instructional purposes. In poor regions, literacy rates may fall below 70%. One thing they all have in common is a state mandate to teach fourth grade students about the history of California, including the role of the early missions; most schools implement this by requiring students complete a multiple medium project.

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