General Pattern of Education in the USA

General Pattern of Education in the USA

The general pattern of education in the USA is an eight-year elementary school, followed by a four-year high school. This has been called 8—4 plan organization. It is proceeded, in many localities, by nursery schools and kindergartens. It is followed by a four-year college and professional schools. This traditional pattern, however, has been varied in many different ways. The 6—3— 3 plan consists of a six-year elementary school, a three-year junior high school, and a three-year senior high school. Another variation is a 6—6 plan organization, with a six-year elementary school followed by a six-year secondary school.American education provides a program for children, beginning at the age of 6 and continuing up to the age of 16 in some of the states, and to 18 in others.
The elementary school in the United States 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”.

There is no single governmental agency to prescribe for the American school system, different types of organization and of curriculum are tried out.
The length of the school year varies among the states. Wide variation exists also in the length of the school day. A common practice is to have school in session from 9:00 to 12:00 in the morning and from 1:00 to 3:30 in the afternoon, Monday through Friday. The school day for the lower grades is often from 30 minutes to an hour shorter. Most schools require some homework to be done by elementary pupils. Elementary Schools, High Schools and Institutions of Higher Learning

Higher Education Institutions

It has become common for the college program to be divided into broad fields,such as languages and literature,the social sciences,the sciences and mathematics, and the fine arts.Many colleges require all freshmen and sophomores to take one or two full-year courses in each of three fields.Certain Courses,such as English or history,may be required for all,with some election permitted in the other fields.
Higher educational institutions usually are governed by a board of regents or a board of trustees.
The executive head of a college or a university is usually called the president. The various colleges or schools which take up a university are headed by deans. Within a school or college there may be departments according to subject matter fields, each of which may be headed by a professor who is designated as department head or chairman. Other members of the faculty hold academic ranks, such as instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor. Graduate students who give some part-time service may be designated as graduate assistants or fellows.
Professional education in fields such as agriculture, dentistry, law, engineering, medicine, pharmacy, teaching, etc. is pursued in professional schools which may be part of a university or may be separate institutions which confine their instruction to a single profession. Often two, three, or four years of pre-professional liberal arts education are required before admission to a professional school. Three to five years of specialized training lead to professional degrees such as Doctor of Medicine, Bachelor of Law, etc.

Education in England

Education in England is overseen by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. At a local level the local authorities take responsibility for implementing policy for public education and state schools.

Full-time education is compulsory for all children aged between 5 and 16 (inclusive). Students may then continue their secondary studies for a further two years (sixth form), leading most typically to an A level qualification, although other qualifications and courses exist, including GNVQ and the International Baccalaureate. The leaving age for compulsory education was raised to 18 by the Education and Skills Act 2008. The change will take effect in 2013 for 17 year olds and 2015 for 18 year olds.^[7] State-provided schools are free of charge to students, and there is also a tradition of independent schooling, but parents may choose to educate their children by any suitable means.

Higher education typically begins with a 3-year Bachelor's Degree. Postgraduate degrees include Master's Degrees, either taught or by research, and Doctor of Philosophy, a research degree that usually takes at least 3 years. Universities require a Royal Charter in order to issue degrees, and all but one are financed by the state with a low level of fees for students.

// [edit] Primary and secondary education

The school year begins on the 1st of September. Education is compulsory for all children from the term after their fifth birthday to the last Friday in June of the school year in which they turn 16.^[8] This will be raised in 2013 to the year in which they turn 17 and in 2015 to the year in which they turn 18.^[7]

[edit] The state-funded school system

State-run schools and colleges are financed through national taxation, and take pupils free of charge between the ages of 3 and 18. The schools may levy charges for activities such as swimming, theatre visits and field trips, provided the charges are voluntary, thus ensuring that those who cannot afford to pay are allowed to participate in such events. Approximately 93% of English schoolchildren attend such schools.

A significant minority of state-funded schools are faith schools, which are attached to religious groups, most often the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church. There are also a small number of state-funded boarding schools, which typically charge for board but not tuition.

Nearly 90% of state-funded secondary schools are specialist schools, receiving extra funding to develop one or more subjects in which the school specialises.

[edit] School years

The table below describes the most common patterns for schooling in the state sector in England:

Age on 1st Sept	Year	Curriculum stage	Schools
	Nursery	Foundation Stage	Nursery school
	Reception	Infant school	Primary school	First school
	Year 1	Key Stage 1
	Year 2
	Year 3	Key Stage 2	Junior school
	Year 4
	Year 5	Middle school
	Year 6
	Year 7	Key Stage 3	Secondary school	Secondary school with Sixth Form
	Year 8
	Year 9	Upper school
	Year 10	Key Stage 4 / GCSE
	Year 11
	Year 12	Sixth Form / A-level	Sixth form college
	Year 13

In the vast majority of cases, pupils progress from primary to secondary levels at age 11; in some areas either or both of the primary and secondary levels are further subdivided. A few areas have three-tier education systems with an intermediate middle level from age 9 to 13.

State-funded nursery education is available from the age of 3, and may be full-time or part-time. If registered with a state school attendance is compulsory beginning with the term following the child's 5th birthday. Children can be enrolled in the reception year in September of that school year thus beginning school at age 4 or 4.5. Unless the student chooses to stay within the education system school attendance ends on the last Friday in June during the academic year in which a student attains the age of 16.^[8]

Under the National Curriculum system, all pupils undergo Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) towards the ends of Key Stage 2 in core subjects, but not foundation subjects, where teacher assessment is used. They normally take GCSE exams in the last two years of Key Stage 4, but may take other Level 2 qualifications, such as GNVQ. Former tests at the end of Key Stage 3 were abandoned after the 2008 tests, when severe problems emerged concerning the marking procedures. Now at Key Stages 1 and 3, assessment is by teacher assessment against the National Curriculum Attainment Targets for all subjects. Tests results for schools are published, and are an important measure of their performance.^[9][10]

Historically, years 7 to 12/13 used to be known as 'first form' to 'lower/upper sixth form'. There now exists a common parallel terminology for sixth form only: 'year 12/lower 6th' and 'year 13/upper 6th'. The use of the term 'sixth form' reflects its distinct, voluntary nature and situation as the A-level years. Even more historically, this arose from the system in public schools, where all forms were divided into Lower, Upper, and sometimes Middle sections. Year 7 is equivalent to 'Upper Third Form', Year 8 would have been known as 'Lower Fourth', and so on. In some private schools such as Withington Girls' School, this way of counting the years (Lower fourth, Upper fourth, Lower Fifth etc) is still used.

[edit] Curriculum

Main article: National Curriculum

All maintained schools in England are required to follow the National Curriculum, which is made up of twelve subjects.^[11] The core subjects—English, Mathematics and Science—are compulsory for all students aged 5 to 16. The other foundation subjects are compulsory at one or more Key Stages:

• Art & Design
• Citizenship
• Design & Technology
• Geography
• History
• Information & Communication Technology
• Modern Foreign Languages
• Music
• Physical Education

In addition, other statutory subjects are not covered by the National Curriculum, including Religious Education in all year groups, and Career education, Sex education and Work-related learning at secondary age.^[11]

[edit] School governance

Almost all state-funded schools in England are maintained schools, which receive their funding from LAs, and are required to follow the national curriculum. In such schools, all teachers are employed under the nationally-agreed School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document.

Since 1998, there have been 4 main types of maintained school in England:^[12][13][14]

• community schools (formerly county schools), in which the LA employs the schools' staff, owns the schools' lands and buildings and has primary responsibility for admissions.

St Barnabas Church of England Primary School, Oxford

• voluntary controlled schools, which are almost always church schools, with the lands and buildings often owned by a charitable foundation. However, the LA employs the schools' staff and has primary responsibility for admissions.
• voluntary aided schools, linked to a variety of organisations. They can be faith schools (often the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church), or non-denominational schools, such as those linked to London Livery Companies. The charitable foundation contributes towards the capital costs of the school, and appoints a majority of the school governors. The governing body employs the staff and has primary responsibility for admissions.^[15]
• foundation schools, in which the governing body employs the staff and has primary responsibility for admissions. The school land and buildings are owned by the governing body or by a charitable foundation. The Foundation appoints a minority of governors. Many of these schools were formerly grant maintained schools. In 2005 the Labour government proposed allowing all schools to become Foundation schools if they wished.

There are also a smaller number of City Technology Colleges and academies, which are secondary schools funded and monitored directly by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.^[16]

All state-funded schools are regularly inspected by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), which publishes reports of the quality of education at each school. Schools judged by Ofsted to be providing an inadequate standard of education may be placed in special measures, which may include replacing the governing body and senior staff.

[edit] Secondary schools by intake

See also: List of grammar schools in England

Wetherby High School, a typical former secondary modern school in Wetherby, West Yorkshire

English secondary schools are mostly comprehensive, except in a few areas that retain a form of the previous selective system (the Tripartite System), with students selected for grammar school by the Eleven plus exam. There are also a number of isolated fully selective grammar schools, and a few dozen partially selective schools. Specialist schools may also select up to 10% of their intake for aptitude in the specialism, though relatively few of them have taken up this option. Also, intakes of comprehensive schools can vary widely, especially in urban areas with several schools.^[17]

Sir Peter Newsam, Chief Schools Adjudicator 1999–2002, has argued that English schools can be divided into 8 types (with some overlap) based on the ability range of their intake:

1. "super-selective": almost all of the intake from the top 10%. These are the few highly selective grammar schools that dominate school performance tables.
2. "selective": almost all of the intake from the top 25%. These include grammar schools in areas where the Tripartite system survives.
3. "comprehensive (plus)": admit children of all abilities, but concentrated in the top 50%. These include partially selective schools and a few high-status faith schools in areas without selection.
4. comprehensive: intake with an ability distribution matching the population. These schools are most common in rural areas and small towns with no nearby selection, but a few occur in urban areas.
5. "comprehensive (minus)": admit children of all abilities, but with few in the top 25%. These include comprehensive schools with nearby selective schools "skimming" the intake.
6. secondary modern: hardly any of the intake in the top 25%, but an even distribution of the rest. These include non-selective schools in areas where the Tripartite system survives.
7. "secondary modern (minus)": no pupils in the top 25% and 10–15% in the next 25%. These schools are most common in urban areas where alternatives of types 1–5 are available.
8. "sub-secondary modern": intake heavily weighted toward the low end of the ability range.

This ranking is reflected in performance tables, and thus the schools' attractiveness to parents.^[18][19]

[edit] Independent schools

This section requires expansion.

Main article: Independent school (UK)

Approximately 7% of English schoolchildren attend privately run independent schools.^[4]

Education at independent schools is usually chargeable. Such schools, some of which are boarding schools, cover primary and secondary education and charge between £3000 to £30000 per year^{[citation needed]}. Some schools offer scholarships for those with particular skills or aptitudes or bursaries to allow less well-off students to attend.

[edit] Education otherwise than by schooling

The Education Act requires parents to ensure their children are educated either by attending school or otherwise. Increasing numbers of parents are choosing the otherwise option.^[20][21][22] This style of education is often referred to as Elective Home Education.^[23] The education can take many different forms^[24] ranging from homeschooling where a school style curriculum is followed at home to unschooling where any semblance of structure in the educational provision is abandoned. Parents do not need permission to educate their own children. There is no requirement to follow the National Curriculum or to give formal lessons. Parents do not need to be qualified teachers, or to follow school hours or terms.^[25] Parents who choose to educate their children otherwise than at school have to finance the education provision themselves.

[edit] Further education and higher education

Shrewsbury Sixth Form College in Shropshire.

Both state schools and independent schools take the GCSE examinations, which mark the end of compulsory education. Above school leaving age, the independent and state sectors are similarly structured. In the 16-18 age group, "sixth-form" education is not compulsory.

[edit] Further education

Students will typically study in either the Sixth Form of a School, a Sixth form college, or a further education college. These courses can also be studied by adults over 18. This sector is referred to as Further Education. All 16-18 students are encouraged (this is only mandatory in some institutions) to study Key Skills in Communication, Application of Number and Information Technology.

[edit] Higher education

The chapel of King's College, Cambridge University.

Students normally enter University from 18 onwards and study for an Academic Degree. Apart from a single private university, all undergraduate education is largely state financed (with tuition fees set at a maximum index-linked £3,145 per year, repayable after graduation contingent on attaining a certain level of income, and with the state paying all fees for students from the poorest backgrounds), and UK students are generally entitled to student loans for maintenance. The state does not control syllabuses, but it does influence admission procedures. Unlike most degrees, the state still has control over teacher training courses, and uses Ofsted inspectors to maintain standards.^[26]

The typical first degree offered at British universities is the Bachelor's degree (typically three years). Many institutions now offer an undergraduate Master's degree as a first degree, typically lasting four years. During a first degree students are known as undergraduates. The difference in fees between undergraduate and traditional postgraduate Master's degrees (and the possibility of securing LEA funding for the former) makes taking an undergraduate Master's degree as a first degree a more attractive option, although the novelty of undergraduate Master's degrees means that the relative educational merit of the two is currently unclear.

Some universities offer a vocationally-based Foundation degree, typically two years in length for those students who hope to continue to take a first degree but wish to remain in employment.

[edit] Postgraduate education

Students who have completed a first degree are eligible to undertake a postgraduate degree, which includes:

• Master's degree (typically taken in one year)
• Doctorate degree (typically taken in three years)

Postgraduate education is not automatically financed by the State, and so admission is in practice highly competitive.

[edit] Specialist qualifications

• Education: Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), Certificate in Education (Cert Ed), C&G 7407 or Bachelor of Education (BA or BEd), most of which also incorporate Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).
• Law: Bachelor of Laws LL.B.
• Medicine: Bachelors of Medicine and Surgery studied at Medical school (United Kingdom)
• Business: Master of Business Administration MBA.

[edit] Fees

Undergraduates pay up to £3000 per annum (capped) in top-up fees and Postgraduates typically pay £3000 per annum however some institutions charge more. There are numerous bursaries (awarded to low income applicants) to offset the undergraduate fees, and for postgraduates, full scholarships are available for most subjects which are awarded competitively. Differing arrangements apply to English students studying in Scotland and Scottish / Welsh students studying in England. Non UK students at English universities are charged differing amounts, often in the region of £5000 - £20000 per annum^{[citation needed]} for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. The actual amount differs by institution and subject with the lab based subjects charging a greater amount.

[edit] Adult education

Adult education, Continuing education or Lifelong learning is offered to students of all ages. These can include the vocational qualifications mentioned above and also:

• Access programme one or two year courses to allow adults access to university.
• Open University a distance learning program which can result in a Degree.
• Workers' Educational Association

A large number of semi-recreational courses, with or without qualifications, are made available by Local Education Authorities under the guise of Adult Education, such as holiday languages, crafts and yacht navigation.

System of education in Russia

Education system in Russia is similar to European and American education systems:

2 cycle education system:

• undergraduate level of education System in Russia: Bachelor degree,
• postgraduate level of education System in Russia: Master degree and Ph.D.

Credit transfer system.

Academic exchange programs on basis of ECTS (European Credit Transfer System).

European diploma supplement.

There is one difference between Russian and European education systems: 5-year engineer / Specialist programs.

Russia joined to Bolonia agreement (Integrating process of developing common European education system). So, the number of non-degree programs in Russia is decreasing.

Being a holder of the Secondary School Certificate or an equivalent, you can study through all levels, starting from Bachelor to Doctoral Studies.

A degree or diploma holder of any higher school can be admitted to a successive learning level after accreditation of his/her prior learning. The university can offer you instruction either in Russian or in English.

Those who would like to take courses in Russian must be fluent in Russian and present the Russian Language State Certificate as evidence. The most effective way in reaching this goal is to take the one year Preparatory Course.

London

New York City

New York City, the most populous city in the United States since 1790,^[2] is the hub of the New York metropolitan area, one of the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, it exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment. As host of United Nations headquarters, New York is also an important center for international affairs.

With a large harbor located on the Atlantic coast of the Northeastern United States, the city consists of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. The city's estimated population exceeds 8.2 million people^[1] living in just under 305 square miles (790 km²),^[3][4][5][6] making New York City the most densely populated major city in the United States. The New York metropolitan area's population is also the nation's largest, estimated at 18.8 million people over 6,720 square miles (17,400 km²).^[7]

New York is notable among American cities for its high use and 24-hour availability of mass transit, and for the overall density and diversity of its population. In 2005, nearly 170 languages were spoken in the city and 36% of its population was born outside the United States.^[8][9] The city is sometimes referred to as "The City that Never Sleeps", while other nicknames include Gotham^[10] and the Big Apple.^[11]

New York was founded as a commercial trading post by the Dutch in 1624. The settlement was called New Amsterdam until 1664 when the colony came under British control.^[12] New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790.^[13]

Many neighborhoods and landmarks in the city have become world-famous. The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wall Street, in Lower Manhattan, has been a dominant global financial center since World War II and is home to the New York Stock Exchange. The city has been home to several of the tallest buildings in the world, including the Empire State Building and the twin towers of the former World Trade Center.

New York is the birthplace of many cultural movements, including the Harlem Renaissance in literature and visual art, abstract expressionism (also known as the New York School) in painting, and hip hop,^[14] punk,^[15] salsa, disco and Tin Pan Alley in music. It is the home of Broadway theater.

// History

Main article: History of New York City

Lower Manhattan in 1660, when it was part of New Amsterdam. North is to the right.

The region was inhabited by about 5,000 Lenape Native Americans at the time of its European discovery in 1524^[16] by Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian explorer in the service of the French crown, who called it "Nouvelle Angoulême" (New Angoulême).^[17] European settlement began with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement, later called "Nieuw Amsterdam" (New Amsterdam), on the southern tip of Manhattan in 1614. Dutch colonial Director-General Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from the Lenape in 1626 for a value of 60 guilders (about $1000 in 2006);^[18] a legend, now disproved, says that Manhattan was purchased for $24 worth of glass beads.^[19][20] In 1664, the English conquered the city and renamed it "New York" after the English Duke of York and Albany.^[21] At the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War the Dutch gained control of Run (a much more valuable asset at the time) in exchange for the English controlling New Amsterdam (New York) in North America. By 1700, the Lenape population had diminished to 200.^[22]

New York City grew in importance as a trading port while under British rule. The city hosted the seminal John Peter Zenger trial in 1735, helping to establish the freedom of the press in North America. In 1754, Columbia University was founded under charter by George II of Great Britain as King's College in Lower Manhattan.^[23] The Stamp Act Congress met in New York in October of 1765.

The city emerged as the theater for a series of major battles known as the New York Campaign during the American Revolutionary War. After the Battle of Fort Washington in upper Manhattan in 1776 the city became the British military and political base of operations in North America until military occupation ended in 1783. The assembly of the Congress of the Confederation made New York City the national capital shortly thereafter; the Constitution of the United States was ratified and in 1789 the first President of the United States, George Washington, was inaugurated there; the first United States Congress assembled for the first time in 1789, and the United States Bill of Rights drafted; all at Federal Hall on Wall Street.^[24] By 1790, New York City had surpassed Philadelphia as the largest city in the United States.

In the 19th century, the city was transformed by immigration and development. A visionary development proposal, the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, expanded the city street grid to encompass all of Manhattan, and the 1819 opening of the Erie Canal connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the North American interior.^[25] Local politics fell under the domination of Tammany Hall, a political machine supported by Irish immigrants.^[26] Public-minded members of the old merchant aristocracy lobbied for the establishment of Central Park, which became the first landscaped park in an American city in 1857. A significant free-black population also existed in Manhattan, as well as in Brooklyn. Slaves had been held in New York through 1827, but during the 1830s New York became a center of interracial abolitionist activism in the North.

Mulberry Street, on Manhattan's Lower East Side, circa 1900

Anger at military conscription during the American Civil War (1861–1865) led to the Draft Riots of 1863, one of the worst incidents of civil unrest in American history.^[27] In 1898, the modern City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then an independent city), the County of New York (which then included parts of the Bronx), the County of Richmond, and the western portion of the County of Queens.^[28] The opening of the New York City Subway in 1904 helped bind the new city together. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication. However, this development did not come without a price. In 1904, the steamship General Slocum caught fire in the East River, killing 1,021 people on board. In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the city's worst industrial disaster, took the lives of 146 garment workers and spurred the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and major improvements in factory safety standards.^[29]

Midtown Manhattan, New York City, from Rockefeller Center, 1932

In the 1920s, New York City was a major destination for African Americans during the Great Migration from the American South. By 1916, New York City was home to the largest urban African diaspora in North America. The Harlem Renaissance flourished during the era of Prohibition, coincident with a larger economic boom that saw the skyline develop with the construction of competing skyscrapers. New York City became the most populous urbanized area in the world in early 1920s, overtaking London, and the metropolitan area surpassed the 10 million mark in early 1930s becoming the first megacity in human history.^[30] The difficult years of the Great Depression saw the election of reformer Fiorello LaGuardia as mayor and the fall of Tammany Hall after eighty years of political dominance.^[31]

Returning World War II veterans and immigrants from Europe created a postwar economic boom and the development of huge housing tracts in eastern Queens. New York emerged from the war unscathed and the leading city of the world, with Wall Street leading America's ascendance as the world's dominant economic power, the United Nations headquarters (completed in 1950) emphasizing New York's political influence, and the rise of abstract expressionism in the city precipitating New York's displacement of Paris as the center of the art world.^[32]

The pre-9/11 skyline of Lower Manhattan, August 2001

In the 1960s, New York suffered from economic problems, rising crime rates and racial tension, which reached a peak in the 1970s. In the 1980s, resurgence in the financial industry improved the city's fiscal health. By the 1990s, racial tensions had calmed, crime rates dropped dramatically, and waves of new immigrants arrived from Asia and Latin America. Important new sectors, such as Silicon Alley, emerged in the city's economy and New York's population reached an all-time high in the 2000 census.

The city was one of the sites of the September 11, 2001 attacks, when nearly 3,000 people died in the destruction of the World Trade Center.^[33] A new 1 World Trade Center (previously known as the Freedom Tower), along with a memorial and three other office towers, will be built on the site and is scheduled for completion in 2013.^[34] On December 19, 2006, the first steel columns were installed in the building's foundation. Three other high-rise office buildings are planned for the site along Greenwich Street, and they will surround the World Trade Center Memorial, which is under construction. The area will also be home to a museum dedicated to the history of the site.

Geography

Main articles: Geography of New York City and Geography of New York Harbor

Satellite image showing the core of the New York metropolitan area. Over 10 million people live in the imaged area.

New York City is located in the Northeastern United States, in southeastern New York State, approximately halfway between Washington, D.C. and Boston.^[35] The location at the mouth of the Hudson River, which feeds into a naturally sheltered harbor and then into the Atlantic Ocean, has helped the city grow in significance as a trading city. Much of New York is built on the three islands of Manhattan, Staten Island, and Long Island, making land scarce and encouraging a high population density.

The Hudson River flows through the Hudson Valley into New York Bay. Between New York City and Troy, New York, the river is an estuary.^[36] The Hudson separates the city from New Jersey. The East River, actually a tidal strait, flows from Long Island Sound and separates the Bronx and Manhattan from Long Island. The Harlem River, another tidal strait between the East and Hudson Rivers, separates Manhattan from the Bronx.

The city's land has been altered considerably by human intervention, with substantial land reclamation along the waterfronts since Dutch colonial times. Reclamation is most notable in Lower Manhattan, with developments such as Battery Park City in the 1970s and 1980s.^[37] Some of the natural variations in topography have been evened out, particularly in Manhattan.^[38]

The city's land area is estimated at 304.8 square miles (789 km²).^[3][4] New York City's total area is 468.9 square miles (1,214 km²). 164.1 square miles (425 km²) of this is water and 304.8 square miles (789 km²) is land. The highest point in the city is Todt Hill on Staten Island, which at 409.8 feet (124.9 m) above sea level is the highest point on the Eastern Seaboard south of Maine.^[39] The summit of the ridge is largely covered in woodlands as part of the Staten Island Greenbelt.^[40]

Climate

Under the Köppen climate classification, New York City has a humid subtropical climate and enjoys an average of 234 sunshine days annually.^[41] It's the northernmost major city in North America that features a humid subtropical climate using the 0 °C (American scientist standard) isotherm as criteria.

Summers are typically hot and humid with average high temperatures of 79 – 84 °F (26 – 29 °C) and lows of 63 – 69 °F (17 – 21 °C), however temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average of 16 – 19 days each summer and can exceed 100 °F (38 °C) every 4-6 years.^[42]. Winters are cold, and prevailing wind patterns that blow offshore somewhat minimizes the influence of the Atlantic Ocean. Yet, the Atlantic Ocean keeps the city warmer in the winter than inland North American cities located at similar latitudes such as Chicago, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. The average temperature in January, New York City's coldest month, is 32 °F (0 °C). However temperatures in winter could for few days be as low as 10s to 20s °F (−12 to −6 °C) and for a few days be as high as 50s or 60s °F (~10–15 °C).^[43] Spring and autumn are erratic, and could range from chilly to warm, although they are usually pleasantly mild with low humidity.^[44]

New York City receives 49.7 inches (1,260 mm) of precipitation annually, which is fairly spread throughout the year. Average winter snowfall is about 24.4 inches (62 cm), but this often varies considerably from year to year, and snow cover usually remains very short.^[41] Hurricanes and tropical storms are very rare in New York area, but not unheard of.

[hide] Weather averages for New York City (Central Park)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °F (°C)	72 (22)	75 (24)	86 (30)	96 (36)	99 (37)	101 (38)	106 (41)	104 (40)	102 (39)	94 (34)	84 (29)	75 (24)	106 (41)
Average high °F (°C)	38 (3)	41 (5)	50 (10)	61 (16)	71 (22)	79 (26)	84 (29)	82 (28)	75 (24)	64 (18)	53 (12)	43 (6)	62 (17)
Average low °F (°C)	26 (-3)	28 (-2)	35 (2)	44 (7)	54 (12)	63 (17)	69 (21)	68 (20)	60 (16)	50 (10)	41 (5)	32 (0)	48 (9)
Record low °F (°C)	-6 (-21)	-15 (-26)	3 (-16)	12 (-11)	28 (-2)	44 (7)	52 (11)	50 (10)	39 (4)	28 (-2)	7 (-14)	-13 (-25)	-15 (-26)
Precipitation inches (mm)	4.13 (104.9)	3.15 (80)	4.37 (111)	4.28 (108.7)	4.69 (119.1)	3.84 (97.5)	4.62 (117.3)	4.22 (107.2)	4.23 (107.4)	3.85 (97.8)	4.36 (110.7)	3.95 (100.3)	49.7 (1,262.4)
Source: [45]

Environment

Main articles: Environmental issues in New York City and Food and water in New York City

Mass transit use in New York City is the highest in United States and gasoline consumption in the city is at the rate the national average was in the 1920s.^[46] New York City's high rate of transit use saved 1.8 billion gallons of oil in 2006; New York saves half of all the oil saved by transit nationwide.^[47] The city's population density, low automobile use and high transit utility make it among the most energy efficient cities in the United States.^[48] New York City's greenhouse gas emissions are 7.1 metric tons per person compared with the national average of 24.5.^[49] New Yorkers are collectively responsible for one percent of the nation's total greenhouse gas emissions^[49] though comprise 2.7% of the nation's population. The average New Yorker consumes less than half the electricity used by a resident of San Francisco and nearly one-quarter the electricity consumed by a resident of Dallas.^[50]

In recent years the city has focused on reducing its environmental impact. Large amounts of concentrated pollution in New York City led to high incidence of asthma and other respiratory conditions among the city's residents.^[51] The city government is required to purchase only the most energy-efficient equipment for use in city offices and public housing.^[52] New York has the largest clean air diesel-hybrid and compressed natural gas bus fleet in the country, and some of the first hybrid taxis.^[53] The city government was a petitioner in the landmark Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency Supreme Court case forcing the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants. The city is also a leader in the construction of energy-efficient green office buildings, including the Hearst Tower among others.^[54]

New York City is supplied with drinking water by the protected Catskill Mountains watershed.^[55] As a result of the watershed's integrity and undisturbed natural water filtration process, New York is one of only four major cities in the United States with drinking water pure enough not to require purification by water treatment plants.^[56]

Cityscape

View of the Midtown Manhattan skyline from the Empire State Building

Architecture

Main article: Architecture of New York City

The building form most closely associated with New York City is the skyscraper, whose introduction and widespread adoption saw New York buildings shift from the low-scale European tradition to the vertical rise of business districts. As of August 2008, New York City has 5,538 highrise buildings,^[57] with 50 completed skyscrapers taller than 656 feet (200 m). This is more than any other city in United States, and second in the world behind Hong Kong.^[58] Surrounded mostly by water, the city's residential density and high real estate values in commercial districts saw the city amass the largest collection of individual, free-standing office and residential towers in the world.^{[59][not in citation given]}

Brownstone rowhouses in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn

New York has architecturally significant buildings in a wide range of styles. These include the Woolworth Building (1913), an early gothic revival skyscraper built with massively scaled gothic detailing able to be read from street level several hundred feet below. The 1916 Zoning Resolution required setback in new buildings, and restricted towers to a percentage of the lot size, to allow sunlight to reach the streets below.^[60] The Art Deco design of the Chrysler Building (1930), with its tapered top and steel spire, reflected the zoning requirements. The building is considered by many historians and architects to be New York's finest building, with its distinctive ornamentation such as replicas at the corners of the 61st floor of the 1928 Chrysler eagle hood ornaments and V-shaped lighting inserts capped by a steel spire at the tower's crown.^[61] A highly influential example of the international style in the United States is the Seagram Building (1957), distinctive for its facade using visible bronze-toned I-beams to evoke the building's structure. The Condé Nast Building (2000) is an important example of green design in American skyscrapers.^[54]

The character of New York's large residential districts is often defined by the elegant brownstone rowhouses, townhouses, and shabby tenements that were built during a period of rapid expansion from 1870 to 1930.^[62] Stone and brick became the city's building materials of choice after the construction of wood-frame houses was limited in the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1835.^[63] Unlike Paris, which for centuries was built from its own limestone bedrock, New York has always drawn its building stone from a far-flung network of quarries and its stone buildings have a variety of textures and hues.^[64] A distinctive feature of many of the city's buildings is the presence of wooden roof-mounted water towers. In the 1800s, the city required their installation on buildings higher than six stories to prevent the need for excessively high water pressures at lower elevations, which could burst municipal water pipes.^[65] Garden apartments became popular during the 1920s in outlying areas, including Jackson Heights in Queens, which became more accessible with expansion of the subway.^[66]

Parks

Central Park is the most visited city park in the United States.^[67]

New York City has over 28,000 acres (110 km²) of municipal parkland and 14 miles (23 km) of public beaches.^[68] This parkland is augmented by thousands of acres of Gateway National Recreation Area, part of the National Park system, that lie within city boundaries. The Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, the only wildlife refuge in the National Park System, alone is over 9,000 acres (36 km²) of marsh islands and water taking up most of Jamaica Bay. Manhattan's Central Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, is the most visited city park in the United States with 30 million visitors each year—10 million more than Lincoln Park in Chicago, which is second.^[67] Prospect Park in Brooklyn, also designed by Olmsted and Vaux, has a 90-acre (360,000 m²) meadow.^[69] Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, the city's third largest, was the setting for the 1939 World's Fair and 1964 World's Fair. Over a fifth of the Bronx's area, 7,000 acres (28 km²), is given over to open space and parks, including Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, the Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Gardens.^[70]

Boroughs

Main articles: Borough (New York City) and Neighborhoods of New York City

New York City is composed of five boroughs, an unusual form of government.^[71] Each borough is coextensive with a respective county of New York State as shown below. Throughout the boroughs there are hundreds of distinct neighborhoods, many with a definable history and character to call their own. If the boroughs were each independent cities, four of the boroughs (Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx) would be among the ten most populous cities in the United States.

New York's Five Boroughs at a Glance
Jurisdiction	Population	Land Area
Borough of	County of	estimate for 1 July 2007	square miles	square km
Manhattan	New York	1,620,867
the Bronx	Bronx	1,373,659
Brooklyn	Kings	2,528,050
Queens	Queens	2,270,338
Staten Island	Richmond	481,613
City of New York	8,274,527
State of New York	19,297,729	47,214	122,284
Source: United States Census Bureau[72][73][74]

The five boroughs: The Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island

• The Bronx (Bronx County: Pop. 1,373,659)^[75] is New York City's northernmost borough, the site of Yankee Stadium, home of the New York Yankees, and home to the largest cooperatively owned housing complex in the United States, Co-op City.^[76] Except for a small piece of Manhattan known as Marble Hill, the Bronx is the only section of the city that is part of the United States mainland. It is home to the Bronx Zoo, the largest metropolitan zoo in the United States, which spans 265 acres (1.07 km²) and is home to over 6,000 animals.^[77] The Bronx is the birthplace of rap and hip hop culture.^[14]

• Manhattan (New York County: Pop. 1,620,867)^[75] is the most densely populated borough and home to most of the city's skyscrapers, as well as Central Park. The borough is the financial center of the city and contains the headquarters of many major corporations, the United Nations, as well as a number of important universities, and many cultural attractions, including numerous museums, the Broadway theatre district, Greenwich Village, and Madison Square Garden. Manhattan is loosely divided into Lower, Midtown, and Uptown regions. Uptown Manhattan is divided by Central Park into the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side, and above the park is Harlem.

• Brooklyn (Kings County: Pop. 2,528,050)^[75] is the city's most populous borough and was an independent city until 1898. Brooklyn is known for its cultural, social and ethnic diversity, an independent art scene, distinct neighborhoods and a unique architectural heritage. It is also the only borough outside of Manhattan with a distinct downtown area. The borough features a long beachfront and Coney Island, established in the 1870s as one of the earliest amusement grounds in the country.^[78]

• Queens (Queens County: Pop. 2,270,338)^[75] is geographically the largest borough and the most ethnically diverse county in the United States,^[79] and may overtake Brooklyn as the city's most populous borough due to its growth. Historically a collection of small towns and villages founded by the Dutch, today the borough is largely residential and middle class. It is the only large county in the United States where the median income among African Americans, approximately $52,000 a year, is higher than that of White Americans.^[80] Queens is the site of Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets, and annually hosts the U.S. Open tennis tournament. Additionally, it is home to two of the three major airports serving the New York metropolitan area, LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport. (The third being Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.)

• Staten Island (Richmond County: Pop. 481,613)^[75] is the most suburban in character of the five boroughs. Staten Island is connected to Brooklyn by the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and to Manhattan via the free Staten Island Ferry. The Staten Island Ferry is one of the most popular tourist attractions in New York City as it provides unsurpassed views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and lower Manhattan. Located in central Staten Island, the 25 km² Greenbelt has some 35 miles (56 km) of walking trails and one of the last undisturbed forests in the city. Designated in 1984 to protect the island's natural lands, the Greenbelt comprises seven city parks. The FDR Boardwalk along South Beach is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long, the fourth largest in the world.

Tourism

Main articles: Tourism in New York City and List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City

Times Square has been dubbed "The Crossroads of the World".^[86]

Tourism is important to New York City, with about 47 million foreign and American tourists visiting each year.^[87] Major destinations include the Empire State Building, Ellis Island, Broadway theatre productions, museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other tourist attractions including Central Park, Washington Square Park, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, the Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Garden, luxury shopping along Fifth and Madison Avenues, and events such as the Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village, the Tribeca Film Festival, and free performances in Central Park at Summerstage. The Statue of Liberty is a major tourist attraction and one of the most recognizable icons of the United States.^[88] Many of the city's ethnic enclaves, such as Jackson Heights, Flushing, and Brighton Beach are major shopping destinations for first and second generation Americans up and down the East Coast.

Cuisine

Main article: Cuisine of New York City

New York's food culture, influenced by the city's immigrants and large number of dining patrons, is diverse. Eastern European and Italian immigrants have made the city famous for bagels, cheesecake, and New York-style pizza. Some 4,000 mobile food vendors licensed by the city, many immigrant-owned, have made Middle Eastern foods such as falafels and kebabs standbys of contemporary New York street food, although hot dogs and pretzels are still the main street fare.^[89] The city is also home to many of the finest haute cuisine restaurants in the United States.^[90] New York City's variety of World cuisines is also diverse. Examples could include Italian, French, Spanish, German, Russian, English, Greek, Moroccan, Chinese, Indian, and Japanese cuisines, as well as the diverse indigenous sort.

Media

Main article: Media in New York City

New York's MTA gives the city a large newspaper readership base.^[91]

New York is a global center for the television, advertising, music, newspaper and book publishing industries and is also the largest media market in North America (followed by Los Angeles, Chicago, and Toronto).^[92]

Some of the city's media conglomerates include Time Warner, the News Corporation, the Hearst Corporation, and Viacom. Seven of the world's top eight global advertising agency networks have their headquarters in New York.^[93] Three of the "Big Four" record labels are also based in the city, as well as in Los Angeles.

One-third of all American independent films are produced in New York.^[94] More than 200 newspapers and 350 consumer magazines have an office in the city^[94] and the book-publishing industry employs about 25,000 people.^[95]

Two of the three national daily newspapers in the United States are New York papers: The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Major tabloid newspapers in the city include The New York Daily News and The New York Post, founded in 1801 by Alexander Hamilton.

The city also has a major ethnic press, with 270 newspapers and magazines published in more than 40 languages.^[96] El Diario La Prensa is New York's largest Spanish-language daily and the oldest in the nation.^[97] The New York Amsterdam News, published in Harlem, is a prominent African American newspaper.

The Village Voice is the largest alternative newspaper.

Rockefeller Center – NBC Studios

The television industry developed in New York and is a significant employer in the city's economy. The four major American broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, are all headquartered in New York.

Many cable channels are based in the city as well, including MTV, Fox News, HBO and Comedy Central. In 2005, there were more than 100 television shows taped in New York City.^[98]

New York is also a major center for non-commercial media. The oldest public-access television channel in the United States is the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, founded in 1971.^[99] WNET is the city's major public television station and a primary provider of national PBS programming. WNYC, a public radio station owned by the city until 1997, has the largest public radio audience in the United States.^[100]

The City of New York operates a public broadcast service, nyctv, that produces several original Emmy Award-winning shows covering music and culture in city neighborhoods, as well as city government.

Accent

The New York City area has a distinctive regional speech pattern called the New York dialect, alternatively known as Brooklynese or New Yorkese. It is often considered to be one of the most recognizable accents within American English.^[101] The classic version of this dialect is centered on middle and working class people of European American descent, and the influx of non-European immigrants in recent decades has led to changes in this distinctive dialect.^[102]

The traditional New York area accent is non-rhotic, so that the sound [ɹ] does not appear at the end of a syllable or immediately before a consonant; hence the pronunciation of the city as "New Yawk".^[102] There is no [ɹ] in words like park [pɔːk] (with vowel raised due to the low-back chain shift), butter [bʌɾə], or here [hiə]. In another feature called the low back chain shift, the [ɔ] vowel sound of words like talk, law, cross, and coffee and the often homophonous [ɔr] in core and more are tensed and usually raised more than in General American.

In the most old-fashioned and extreme versions of the New York dialect, the vowel sounds of words like "girl" and of words like "oil" both become a diphthong [ɜɪ]. This is often misperceived by speakers of other accents as a reversal of the er and oy sounds, so that girl is pronounced "goil" and oil is pronounced "erl"; this leads to the caricature of New Yorkers saying things like "Joizey" (Jersey), "Toidy-Toid Street" (33rd St.) and "terlet" (toilet).^[102] The character Archie Bunker from the 1970s sitcom All in the Family was a good example of a speaker who had this feature. This particular speech pattern is no longer very prevalent.^[102]

Sports

Main article: Sports in New York City

Yankee Stadium was home to the New York Yankees from 1923 to 2008.

New York City has teams in the four major North American professional sports leagues.

New York is one of the few areas of the United States where baseball, rather than American football, remains the most popular sport.^{[citation needed]} There have been fourteen World Series championship series between New York City teams, in matchups called Subway Series. New York is one of only five metro areas (Chicago, Washington-Baltimore, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area being the others) to have two baseball teams. The city's two current Major League Baseball teams are the New York Yankees and the New York Mets, who compete in six games every regular season. The Yankees have enjoyed 26 world titles, while the Mets have taken the Series twice. The city also was once home to the New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants) and the Brooklyn Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers). Both teams moved to California in 1958. There are also two minor league baseball teams in the city, the Staten Island Yankees and Brooklyn Cyclones.

The city is represented in the National Football League by the New York Jets and New York Giants (officially the New York Football Giants), although both teams play their home games in Giants Stadium in nearby New Jersey.

The New York City Marathon is the largest marathon in the world.

The New York Rangers represent the city in the National Hockey League. Within the metro area are two other teams, the New Jersey Devils and the New York Islanders, who play in Long Island. This is the only instance of any metro area having 3 teams within one of the 4 major North American professional sports leagues.

In Association football, New York is repr