The United States Federal Government: Quality and Affordable Education and Childcare - Research Paper Example

Introduction The United s’ federal government has the biggest role as providing quality and affordable childcare and education. The government has also the responsibility of making sure that children in all states are studying in safe places. The federal government has to make sure that all children in the United States access proper medical care and education. The federal government does have a right band responsibility of making sure that all children receive equal and quality services regardless of their race, sex and background. From historical periods up until today, the federal government has worked together with that states government and the local people to help the children achieve proper education (Harvey, 232). The government also has to make sure that the health of children is taken care of. The government has been in the forefront in making sure that all children get quality healthcare. It has established the State children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicare program that makes proper medical care available and accessible to millions of poor chidren. The governments’ provision of education in the United States of America is primarily a responsibility of a State and local community. These two organs are responsible with the establishment of colleges, schools and the curricula to be followed. They are also responsible for drawing the admission requirements of such instituitions. The local states take the biggest responsibility in funding for schools especially the lower schools. In the years 2011-2012, 87.7 percent of the total funding for the secondary and elementary level will be done by the local states. The federal government will fund the rest of the budget though. The federal government uses its agencies to cater for this deficit. Such agencies include the Department of Education, human Services’ head Start program, the school lunch program by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of health (Davies, 134). The education department may have a relatively small share of budgetary allocation in the provision of education but it supplements this by filling the gaps that have been left by the states governments and the local communities. The need to fill these gaps can be traced to the formation of the first Department of Education in the year 1897. It was given the responsibility of collecting information from learning institutions. The information gathered was to be used for establish effectiveness in schools. The Department of education has gone a lot of transition and rebranding but its core purpose and function within the federal government have remained the same. The emphasis on the need to get information on what is ideal for teachers and other policy makers in the enhancement of education has trickled down for the last 130 years to date. In the year 1890, The Second Morrrill Act was passed to give the Office of Education the role of giving support to the first system of universities and land-grant colleges. In the year 1917, following the passage of Smith-Hughes Act, The federal government emphasized on giving aid to schools in order to improve vocational education. The federal government role in improving training on industrial, agricultural and home economics for students in high schools was advanced in the year 1946 following the George-Baarden Act (Frost, 170). The world war 11 increased the involvement of the federal government in the provision of educational support to the states government and the local communities. The 1941 Lanham act and the 1950 Impact aids laws aimed at easing the burden from the local communities and state in the areas affected by military presence. They federal government offered support by payments to schools in the districts. In the year 1944, the GI Bill put in to law the funding of post secondary education by the federal government through offering assistance to colleges and other higher learning institutions. This saw more than 8 million world war 11 survivors join the college (Davies, 152). In the year 1958, the congress enacted the National Education act that would help the united states of amerce students gain education non-technical and scientific fronts. The national Defense Educational Act was formed because of the launching of the Sputnik by the Soviet during the cold war. This united states of America federal government so the need to improve the learning of science, foreign languages and mathematics in both elementary and secondary schools. The federal government hence provided funds to needy students using students support loans programs (Frost, 172). In the year 1980, the federal government started a Cabinet level agency the Department of Education that now operates education programs touching on all educational levels in the United States. The Departments of Education programs on the secondary and elementary servers about 14,000 district schools. They also provide assistance to about 56 milklion school going children attending about 99,000 public schools in the united states as well they take care of students attending about 34,000 private schools. The Department of education is also providing grants, loans and work-study assistance for more about 15 million higher education students. Today, the federal government has made it a goal to promote the students achievement and competitiveness in the world by ensuring quality and equal accessibility to education for children in the United States of America. The federal government achieves this roles by offering leadership roles through the secretary of the department of Education to the national dialogue looking for way on how advance the education. Through this, they focus on raising awareness on the problem challenges and problems facing the nation and latest giving information on successful learning and teaching services (Frost, 175). The federal government has also set down polices that influence education instead of leaving it to the local communities alone. The government has been helpful in supporting child education by working together with the local communities, states and local districts in making sure that the teaching professionals (teachers, trainers, lecturers and support staff) are well supported (Harvey, 234). Conclusion The federal government has had a major role in the provision of education and in the realization of quality and accessible education. The federal government has been in the forefront in the provision of proper medical care to all children regardless of their social and economic (Davies pg134) background. The federal government has made a big role in making sure that the poor have realized equal treatment in schools as well as enjoying quality education. Works cited Harvey, Colin J. Human Rights in the Community: Rights As Agents For Change. Oxford: Hart. 2005. Print. Davies, Martin. The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Social Work. Oxford: Blackwell. 2000. Print. Frost, Nick. Child Welfare: Major Themes in Health and Social Welfare. New York: Taylor and Francis. 2004. Print. Read More