document_title: Federal Communications Commission

question_text: when did the fcc start regulating the internet

question_tokens: when did the fcc start regulating the internet

text: Federal Communications Commission

text: Mission and strategy[edit]

text: The FCC's mission, specified in Section One of the Communications Act of 1934 and amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (amendment to 47 U.S.C. §151) is to "make available so far as possible, to all the people of the United States, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, rapid, efficient, Nationwide, and world-wide wire and radio communication services with adequate facilities at reasonable charges." The Act furthermore provides that the FCC was created "for the purpose of the national defense" and "for the purpose of promoting safety of life and property through the use of wire and radio communications."[6]

text: Consistent with the objectives of the Act as well as the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), the FCC has identified six goals in its 2006–2011 Strategic Plan. These are:

text: Organization and procedures[edit]

text: Commissioners[edit]

text: The FCC is directed by five commissioners appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate for five-year terms, except when filling an unexpired term. The U.S. President designates one of the commissioners to serve as chairman. Only three commissioners may be members of the same political party. None of them may have a financial interest in any FCC-related business.[3][7]

text:
Name
Position
State of Residence
Party
Term Expires

Ajit Pai
Chairman
Kansas
Republican
June 30, 2021

Mignon Clyburn
Commissioner
South Carolina
Democratic
June 30, 2017

Brendan Carr
Virginia
Republican
June 30, 2018

Michael O'Rielly
New York
Republican
June 30, 2019

Jessica Rosenworcel
Connecticut
Democratic
June 30, 2020

text: Importantly, commissioners may continue serving until the appointment of their replacements, but may not serve beyond the end of the next session of Congress following term expiration.[8] In practice, as of 2016 this means that commissioners may serve up to 1 1/2 years beyond the official term expiration dates listed above if no replacement is appointed.

text: Bureaus[edit]

text: The FCC is organized into seven Bureaus,[9] which process applications for licenses and other filings, analyze complaints, conduct investigations, develop and implement regulations, and participate in hearings.

text:
The Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) develops and implements the FCC's consumer policies, including disability access. CGB serves as the public face of the FCC through outreach and education, as well as through their Consumer Center, which is responsible for responding to consumer inquiries and complaints. CGB also maintains collaborative partnerships with state, local, and tribal governments in such areas as emergency preparedness and implementation of new technologies.
The Enforcement Bureau (EB) is responsible for enforcement of provisions of the Communications Act 1934, FCC rules, FCC orders, and terms and conditions of station authorizations. Major areas of enforcement that are handled by the Enforcement Bureau are consumer protection, local competition, public safety, and homeland security.
The International Bureau (IB) develops international policies in telecommunications, such as coordination of frequency allocation and orbital assignments so as to minimize cases of international electromagnetic interference involving U.S. licensees. The International Bureau also oversees FCC compliance with the international Radio Regulations and other international agreements.
The Media Bureau (MB) develops, recommends and administers the policy and licensing programs relating to electronic media, including cable television, broadcast television, and radio in the United States and its territories. The Media Bureau also handles post-licensing matters regarding direct broadcast satellite service.
The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau regulates domestic wireless telecommunications programs and policies, including licensing. The bureau also implements competitive bidding for spectrum auctions and regulates wireless communications services including mobile phones, public safety, and other commercial and private radio services.
The Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) develops policy concerning wire line telecommunications. The Wireline Competition Bureau's main objective is to promote growth and economical investments in wireline technology infrastructure, development, markets, and services.
The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau was launched in 2006 with a focus on critical communications infrastructure.[10]

text: Offices[edit]

text: The FCC has eleven Staff Offices.[9] The FCC's Offices provide support services to the Bureaus.

text:
The Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) is responsible for conducting hearings ordered by the Commission. The hearing function includes acting on interlocutory requests filed in the proceedings such as petitions to intervene, petitions to enlarge issues, and contested discovery requests. An Administrative Law Judge, appointed under the Administrative Procedure Act, presides at the hearing during which documents and sworn testimony are received in evidence, and witnesses are cross-examined. At the conclusion of the evidentiary phase of a proceeding, the presiding Administrative Law Judge writes and issues an Initial Decision which may be appealed to the Commission.
The Office of Communications Business Opportunities (OCBO) promotes telecommunications business opportunities for small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses. OCBO works with entrepreneurs, industry, public interest organizations, individuals, and others to provide information about FCC policies, increase ownership and employment opportunities, foster a diversity of voices and viewpoints over the airwaves, and encourage participation in FCC proceedings.
The Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) advises the Commission concerning engineering matters.

Its chief role is to manage the electromagnetic spectrum, specifically frequency allocation and spectrum usage. OET conducts technical studies of advanced phases of terrestrial and space communications and administers FCC rules regarding radio devices, experimental radio services, and industrial, scientific, and medical equipment.
OET organizes the Technical Advisory Council, a committee of FCC advisors from major telecommunication and media corporations.
OET operates the Equipment Authorization Branch, which has the task of overseeing equipment authorization for all devices using the electromagnetic energy from 9 kHz to 300 GHz. OET maintains an electronic database of all Certified equipment which can be easily accessed by the public.

The Office of General Counsel serves as the chief legal adviser to the Commission. The General Counsel also represents the Commission in litigation in United States federal courts, recommends decisions in adjudicatory matters before the Commission, assists the Commission in its decision making capacity and performs a variety of legal functions regarding internal and other administrative matters.
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recommends policies to prevent fraud in agency operations. The Inspector General recommends corrective action where appropriate, referring criminal matters to the United States Department of Justice for potential prosecution.
The Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) is the FCC's liaison to the United States Congress, providing lawmakers with information about FCC regulations. OLA also prepares FCC witnesses for Congressional hearings, and helps create FCC responses to legislative proposals and Congressional inquiries. In addition, OLA is a liaison to other federal agencies, as well as state and local governments.
The Office of the Managing Director (OMD) is responsible for the administration and management of the FCC, including the agency's budget, personnel, security, contracts, and publications.
The Office of Media Relations (OMR) is responsible for the dissemination of Commission announcements, orders, proceedings, and other information per media requests. OMR manages the FCC Daily Digest, website, and Audio Visual Center.
The Office of the Secretary (OSEC) oversees the receipt and distribution of documents filed by the public through electronic and paper filing systems and the FCC Library collection. In addition, OSEC publishes legal notices of Commission decisions in the Federal Register and the FCC Record.
The Office of Strategic Planning & Policy Analysis (OSP), essentially a think tank within the FCC, identifies policy objectives for the agency. OSP works closely with the FCC Chairman and is responsible for monitoring the state of the communications industry to identify trends, issues and overall industry health. OSP acts as expert consultants to the Commission in areas of economic, business, and market analysis. The Office also reviews legal trends and developments not necessarily related to current FCC proceedings, such as intellectual property law, the Internet, and electronic commerce. Previously OSP was called the Office of Plans and Policy (OPP). OSP is also the home of the FCC's Chief Economist and the Chief Technologist.
The Office of Workplace Diversity (OWD) develops policy to provide a full and fair opportunity for all employees, regardless of non-merit factors such as race, religion, gender, color, age, disability, sexual orientation or national origin, to carry out their duties in the workplace free from unlawful discriminatory treatment, including sexual harassment and retaliation for engaging in legally protected activities.

text: Headquarters[edit]

text: The FCC leases space in the Portals building in southwest Washington, D.C. Construction of the Portals building was scheduled to begin on March 1, 1996. In January 1996 the General Services Administration signed a lease with the building's owners, agreeing to let the FCC lease 450,000 square feet (42,000 m2) of space in Portals for 20 years, at a cost of $17.3 million per year in 1996 dollars. Prior to its current arrangement, the FCC had space in six buildings by 19th Street NW and M Street NW. The FCC first solicited bids for a new headquarters complex in 1989. In 1991 the GSA selected the Portals site. The FCC had wanted to move into a more expensive area along Pennsylvania Avenue.[11]

text: History[edit]

text: Communications Act of 1934[edit]

text: In 1934, Congress passed the Communications Act, which abolished the Federal Radio Commission and transferred jurisdiction over radio licensing to a new Federal Communications Commission, including in it also the telecommunications jurisdiction previously handled by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Title II of the Communications Act focused on telecommunications using many concepts borrowed from railroad legislation and Title III contained provisions very similar to the Radio Act of 1927.

text: Report on Chain Broadcasting[edit]

text: In 1940, the Federal Communications Commission issued the "Report on Chain Broadcasting" which was led by new FCC Chairman James Lawrence Fly (and Telford Taylor as general counsel). The major point in the report was the breakup of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), which ultimately led to the creation of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), but there were two other important points. One was network option time, the culprit here being the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). The report limited the amount of time during the day and at what times the networks may broadcast. Previously a network could demand any time it wanted from an affiliate. The second concerned artist bureaus. The networks served as both agents and employers of artists, which was a conflict of interest the report rectified.[12]

text: Freeze of 1948[edit]

text: In assigning television stations to various cities after World War II, the FCC found that it placed many stations too close to each other, resulting in interference. At the same time, it became clear that the designated VHF channels, 2 through 13, were inadequate for nationwide television service. As a result, the FCC stopped giving out construction permits for new licenses in October 1948, under the direction of chairman Rosel H. Hyde. Most expected this "Freeze" to last six months, but as the allocation of channels to the emerging UHF technology and the eagerly awaited possibilities of color television were debated, the FCC's re-allocation map of stations did not come until April 1952, with July 1, 1952, as the official beginning of licensing new stations.

text: Other FCC actions hurt the fledgling DuMont and ABC networks. American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) forced television coaxial cable users to rent additional radio long lines, discriminating against DuMont, which had no radio network operation. DuMont and ABC protested AT&T's television policies to the FCC, which regulated AT&T's long-line charges, but the commission took no action. The result was that financially marginal DuMont was spending as much in long-line charge as CBS or NBC while using only about 10 to 15 percent of the time and mileage of either larger network.[13]

text: The FCC's "Sixth Report & Order" ended the Freeze. It would take five years for the U.S. to grow from 108 stations to more than 550. New stations came on line slowly, only five by the end of November 1952. The Sixth Report and Order required some existing TV stations to change channels, but only a few existing VHF stations were required to move to UHF, and a handful of VHF channels were deleted altogether in smaller media markets like Peoria, Fresno, Bakersfield and Fort Wayne, Indiana to create markets which were UHF "islands." The report also set aside a number of channels for the newly emerging field of educational television, which hindered struggling ABC and DuMont's quest for affiliates in the more desirable markets where VHF channels were reserved for non-commercial use.

text: The Sixth Report and Order also provided for the "intermixture" of VHF and UHF channels in most markets; UHF transmitters in the 1950s were not yet powerful enough, nor receivers sensitive enough (if they included UHF tuners at all - they were not formally required until the 1960s All-Channel Receiver Act), to make UHF viable against entrenched VHF stations. In markets where there were no VHF stations and UHF was the only TV service available, UHF survived. In other markets, which were too small to financially support a television station, too close to VHF outlets in nearby cities, or where UHF was forced to compete with more than one well-established VHF station, UHF had little chance for success.

text: Denver had been the largest U.S. city without a TV station by 1952. Senator Edwin Johnson (D-Colorado), chair of the Senate's Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, had made it his personal mission to make Denver the first post-Freeze station. The Senator had pressured the FCC, and proved ultimately successful as the first new station (a VHF station) came on-line a remarkable ten days after the Commission formally announced the first post-Freeze construction permits. KFEL (now KWGN-TV)'s first regular telecast was on July 21, 1952.[14][15]

text: Telecommunications Act of 1996[edit]

text: In 1996, Congress enacted the Telecommunications Act of 1996, in the wake of the break-up of AT&T resulting from the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust suit against AT&T. The legislation attempted to create more competition in local telephone service by requiring Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers to provide access to their facilities for Competitive Local Exchange Carriers. This policy has thus far had limited success and much criticism.[16]

text: The development of the Internet, cable services and wireless services has raised questions whether new legislative initiates are needed as to competition in what has come to be called 'broadband' services. Congress has monitored developments but as of 2009 has not undertaken a major revision of applicable regulation. The Local Community Radio Act in the 111th Congress has gotten out of committee and will go before the house floor with bi-partisan support,[17] and unanimous support of the FCC.[18]

text: By passing the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress also eliminated the cap on the number of radio stations any one entity could own nationwide and also substantially loosened local radio station ownership restrictions. Substantial radio consolidation followed.[19] Restrictions on ownership of television stations were also loosened.[20] Public comments to the FCC indicated that the public largely believed that the severe consolidation of media ownership had resulted in harm to diversity, localism, and competition in media, and was harmful to the public interest.[21]

text: Modernization of the FCC's information technology systems[edit]

text: David A. Bray joined the Commission in 2013 as Chief Information Officer and quickly announced goals of modernizing the FCC's legacy information technology (IT) systems, citing 200 different systems for only 1750 people a situation he found "perplexing".[22][23] These efforts later were documented in a 2015 Harvard Case Study.[24][25] In 2017, Christine Calvosa replaced Bray as the CIO of FCC.

text: Past chairs and notable commissioners[edit]

text: A complete list of commissioners is available on the FCC website.[26] In addition, Frieda B. Hennock (D-NY) was the first female commissioner of the FCC.

text: Media policy[edit]

text: Broadcast television and radio[edit]

text: The FCC regulates broadcast stations, repeater stations as well as commercial broadcasting operators who operate and repair certain radiotelephone, television and radio stations. Broadcast licenses are to be renewed if the station meets the "public interest, convenience, or necessity".[citation needed] The FCC's enforcement powers include fines and broadcast license revocation (see FCC MB Docket 04-232). Burden of proof would be on the complainant in a petition to deny. Fewer than 1% of station renewals are not immediately granted, and only a small fraction of those are ultimately denied.[citation needed]

text: Cable and satellite[edit]

text: The FCC first promulgated rules for cable television in 1965, with cable and satellite television now regulated by the FCC under Title VI of the Communications Act. Congress added Title VI in the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, and made substantial modifications to Title VI in the Cable Television and Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992. Further modifications to promote cross-modal competition (telephone, video, etc.) were made in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, leading to the current regulatory structure.[27]

text: Content regulation and indecency[edit]

text: Broadcast television and radio stations are subject to FCC regulations including restrictions against indecency or obscenity. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held, beginning soon after the passage of the Communications Act of 1934, that the inherent scarcity of radio spectrum allows the government to impose some types of content restrictions on broadcast license holders notwithstanding the First Amendment.[28] Cable and satellite providers are also subject to some content regulations under Title VI of the Communications Act such as the prohibition on obscenity, although the limitations are not as restrictive compared to broadcast stations.[29]

text: The 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States accelerated an already ongoing shift in the FCC towards a decidedly more market-oriented stance. A number of regulations felt to be outdated were removed, most controversially the Fairness Doctrine in 1987.

text: In terms of indecency fines, there was no action taken by the FCC on the case FCC v. Pacifica until 1987, about ten years after the landmark United States Supreme Court decision that defined the power of the FCC over indecent material as applied to broadcasting.[30][31]

text: After the 1990s had passed, the FCC began to increase its censorship and enforcement of indecency regulations in the early 2000s to include a response to the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" that occurred during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII.[32]

text: Then on June 15, 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 sponsored by then-Senator Sam Brownback (now Governor of Kansas), a former broadcaster himself, and endorsed by Congressman Fred Upton of Michigan who authored a similar bill in the United States House of Representatives. The new law stiffens the penalties for each violation of the Act. The Federal Communications Commission will be able to impose fines in the amount of $325,000 for each violation by each station that violates decency standards. The legislation raised the fine ten times over the previous maximum of $32,500 per violation.[33][34]

text: Media ownership[edit]

text: The FCC has established rules limiting the national share of media ownership of broadcast television or radio stations. It has also established cross-ownership rules limiting ownership of a newspaper and broadcast station in the same market, in order to ensure a diversity of viewpoints in each market and serve the needs of each local market.

text: Diversity[edit]

text: With the major demographic shifts occurring in the country in terms of the racial-ethnic composition of the population, the FCC has been criticized for ignoring the issue of decreasing racial-ethnic diversity of the media. This includes charges that the FCC has been watering down the limited affirmative action regulations it had on the books, including no longer requiring stations to make public their data on their minority staffing and hiring. In the second half of 2006, groups such as the National Hispanic Media Coalition, the National Latino Media Council, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the National Institute for Latino Policy, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and others held town hall meetings[35] in California, New York and Texas on media diversity as its effects Latinos and minority communities. They documented widespread and deeply felt community concerns about the negative effects of media concentration and consolidation on racial-ethnic diversity in staffing and programming.[36] At these Latino town hall meetings, the issue of the FCC's lax monitoring of obscene and pornographic material in Spanish-language radio and the lack of racial and national-origin diversity among Latino staff in Spanish-language television were other major themes.

text: President Barack Obama appointed Mark Lloyd to the FCC in the newly created post of Associate General Counsel/Chief Diversity Officer.[37][38]

text: Localism[edit]

text: After being successful in opening the FM band as a superior alternative to the AM band by allowing colleges and other schools to start ten-watt LPFM stations, the FCC banned new ones around 1980.[citation needed]

text: Numerous controversies have surrounded the city of license concept as the internet has made it possible to broadcast a single signal to every owned station in the nation at once, particularly when Clear Channel, now IHeartMedia, became the largest FM broadcasting corporation in the US after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 became law - owning over 1200 stations at its peak. As part of its license to buy more radio stations, Clear Channel was forced to divest all TV stations.

text: Digital television transition[edit]

text: To facilitate the adoption of digital television, the FCC issued a second digital TV (DTV) channel to each holder of an analog TV station license. All stations were required to buy and install all new equipment (transmitters, TV antennas, and even entirely new broadcast towers), and operate for years on both channels. Each licensee was required to return one of their two channels following the end of the digital television transition.

text: After delaying the original deadlines of 2006, 2008, and eventually February 17, 2009, on concerns about elderly and rural folk, on June 12, 2009 all full-power analog terrestrial TV licenses in the U.S. were terminated as part of the DTV transition, leaving terrestrial television available only from digital channels and a few low-power LPTV stations. To help U.S. consumers through the conversion, Congress established a federally sponsored DTV Converter Box Coupon Program for two free converters per household.

text: Wireline policy[edit]

text: The FCC regulates telecommunications services under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. Title II imposes common carrier regulation under which carriers offering their services to the general public must provide services to all customers and may not discriminate based on the identity of the customer or the content of the communication. This is similar to and adapted from regulation of transportation providers (railroad, airline, shipping, etc.) and some public utilities. Wireless carriers providing telecommunications services are also generally subject to Title II regulation except as exempted by the FCC.[39]

text: Telephone[edit]

text: The FCC regulates interstate telephone services under Title II. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major legislative reform since the 1934 Act and took several steps to de-regulate the telephone market and promote competition in both the local and long-distance marketplace.

text: From monopoly to competition[edit]

text: The important relationship of the FCC and the American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) Company evolved over the decades. For many years, the FCC and state officials agreed to regulate the telephone system as a natural monopoly.[40] The FCC controlled telephone rates and imposed other restrictions under Title II to limit the profits of AT&T and ensure nondiscriminatory pricing.

text: In the 1960s, the FCC began allowing other long-distance companies, namely MCI, to offer specialized services. In the 1970s, the FCC allowed other companies to expand offerings to the public.[41] A lawsuit in 1982 led by the Justice Department after AT&T underpriced other companies, resulted in the Breakup of the Bell System from AT&T. Beginning in 1984, the FCC implemented a new goal that all long-distance companies had equal access to the local phone companies' customers.[42] Effective January 1, 1984, the Bell System’s many member-companies were variously merged into seven independent "Regional Holding Companies", also known as Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), or "Baby Bells". This divestiture reduced the book value of AT&T by approximately 70%.[43]

text: Internet[edit]

text: The FCC initially exempted "information services" such as broadband Internet access from regulation under Title II. The FCC held that information services were distinct from telecommunications services that are subject to common carrier regulation.

text: However, Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 required the FCC to help accelerate deployment of "advanced telecommunications capability" which included high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video, and to regularly assess its availability. In August 2015, the FCC said that nearly 55 million Americans did not have access to broadband capable of delivering high-quality voice, data, graphics and video offerings.[44]

text: On February 26, 2015, the FCC reclassified broadband Internet access as a telecommunications service, thus subjecting it to Title II regulation, although several exemptions were also created. The reclassification was done in order to give the FCC a legal basis for imposing net neutrality rules (see below), after earlier attempts to impose such rules on an "information service" had been overturned in court.

text: Net neutrality[edit]

text: In 2005, the FCC formally established the following principles: To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice; Consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement; Consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network; Consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers. However, broadband providers were permitted to engage in "reasonable network management."[citation needed]

text: On August 1, 2008 the FCC formally voted 3-to-2 to uphold a complaint against Comcast, the largest cable company in the US, ruling that it had illegally inhibited users of its high-speed Internet service from using file-sharing software. The FCC imposed no fine, but required Comcast to end such blocking in 2008. FCC chairman Kevin J. Martin said the order was meant to set a precedent that Internet providers, and indeed all communications companies, could not prevent customers from using their networks the way they see fit unless there is a good reason. In an interview Martin stated that "We are preserving the open character of the Internet" and "We are saying that network operators can't block people from getting access to any content and any applications." Martin's successor, Julius Genachowski has maintained that the FCC has no plans to regulate the internet, saying: "I've been clear repeatedly that we're not going to regulate the Internet."[45] The Comcast case highlighted broader issues of whether new legislation is needed to force Internet providers to maintain net neutrality, i.e. treat all uses of their networks equally. The legal complaint against Comcast related to BitTorrent, software that is commonly used for downloading larger files.[46]

text: In December 2010, the FCC revised the principles from the original Internet policy statement and adopted the Open Internet Order consisting of three rules[47] regarding the Internet: Transparency. Fixed and mobile broadband providers must disclose the network management practices, performance characteristics, and terms and conditions of their broadband services; No blocking. Fixed broadband providers may not block lawful content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices; mobile broadband providers may not block lawful websites, or block applications that compete with their voice or video telephony services; and No unreasonable discrimination.

text: After setbacks in court, in April 2014 the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding a path forward for The Open Internet Order. On November 10, 2014, President Obama recommended the FCC reclassify broadband Internet service as a telecommunications service in order to preserve net neutrality.[48][49][50]

text: On February 26, 2015, the FCC ruled in favor of net neutrality by applying Title II (common carrier) of the Communications Act of 1934 and Section 706 of the Telecommunications act of 1996 to the Internet.[51][52][53]

text: The rules prompted debate about the applicability of First Amendment protections to Internet service providers and edge providers. Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai said the Open Internet Order "posed a special danger" to "First Amendment speech, freedom of expression, [and] even freedom of association."[54] Democratic member and then-Chairman Tom Wheeler said in response that the rules were "no more a plan to regulate the Internet than the First Amendment is a plan to regulate free speech. They both stand for the same concept."[55] According a Washington Post poll, 81% of Americans supported net neutrality in 2014. According to the poll, 81% of Democrats and 85% of Republicans said they opposed fast lanes.[56]

text: On March 12, 2015, the FCC released the specific details of the net neutrality rules.[57][58][59] On April 13, 2015, the FCC published the final rule on its new "Net Neutrality" regulations.[60][61]

text: On April 27, 2017, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai released a draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would revise the legal foundation for the agency's Open Internet regulations. The NPRM will be voted on at the May 18th Open Meeting.[62]

text: NSA wiretapping[edit]

text: When it emerged in 2006 that AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon may have broken U.S. laws by aiding the National Security Agency in possible illegal wiretapping of its customers, Congressional representatives called for an FCC investigation into whether or not those companies broke the law. The FCC declined to investigate, however, claiming that it could not investigate due to the classified nature of the program– a move that provoked the criticism of members of Congress.

text: "Today the watchdog agency that oversees the country's telecommunications industry refused to investigate the nation's largest phone companies' reported disclosure of phone records to the NSA," said Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) in response to the decision. "The FCC, which oversees the protection of consumer privacy under the Communications Act of 1934, has taken a pass at investigating what is estimated to be the nation's largest violation of consumer privacy ever to occur. If the oversight body that monitors our nation's communications is stepping aside then Congress must step in."[63]

text: Wireless policy[edit]

text: The FCC regulates all non-Federal uses of radio frequency spectrum in the United States under Title III of the Communications Act of 1934. In addition to over-the-air broadcast television and radio stations, this includes commercial mobile (i.e., mobile phone) services, amateur radio, citizen's band radio, theatrical wireless microphone installations, and a very wide variety of other services. Use of radio spectrum by U.S. federal government agencies is coordinated by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, an agency within the Department of Commerce.

text: Commercial mobile service[edit]

text: Commercial mobile radio service (CMRS) providers, including all mobile phone carriers, are subject to spectrum and wireless regulations under Title III (similar to broadcasters) as well as common carrier regulations under Title II (similar to wireline telephone carriers), except as provided by the FCC.[64]

text: Spectrum auctions[edit]

text: Beginning in 1994, the FCC has usually assigned commercial spectrum licenses through the use of competitive bidding, i.e., spectrum auctions. These auctions have raised tens of billions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury, and the FCC's auction approach is now widely emulated throughout the world. The FCC typically obtains spectrum for auction that has been reclaimed from other uses, such as spectrum returned by television broadcasters after the digital television transition, or spectrum made available by federal agencies able to shift their operations to other bands.

text: Unlicensed spectrum[edit]

text: Normally, any intentional radio transmission requires an FCC license pursuant to Title III. However, in recent decades the FCC has also opened some spectrum bands for unlicensed operations, typically restricting them to low power levels conducive to short-range applications. This has facilitated the development of a very wide range of common technologies from wireless garage door openers, cordless phones, and baby monitors to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth among others. However, unlicensed devices — like most radio transmission equipment — must still receive technical approval from the FCC before being sold into the marketplace, including to ensure that such devices cannot be modified by end users to increase transmit power above FCC limits.

text: White spaces[edit]

text: "White spaces" are radio frequencies that went unused after the federally mandated transformation of analog TV signal to digital. On October 15, 2008, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced his support for the unlicensed use of white spaces. Martin said he was "hoping to take advantage of utilizing these airwaves for broadband services to allow for unlicensed technologies and new innovations in that space."[65]

text: Google, Microsoft and other companies are vying for the use of this white-space to support innovation in Wi-Fi technology. Broadcasters and wireless microphone manufacturers fear that the use of white space would "disrupt their broadcasts and the signals used in sports events and concerts."[66] Cell phone providers such as T-Mobile USA have mounted pressure on the FCC to instead offer up the white space for sale to boost competition and market leverage.

text: On November 4, 2008, the FCC commissioners unanimously agreed to open up unused broadcast TV spectrum for unlicensed use.[67][68]

text: Amateur radio[edit]

text: Amateur radio operators in the United States must be licensed by the FCC before transmitting. While the FCC maintains control of the written testing standards, it no longer administers the exams, having delegated that function to private volunteer organizations.[69] No amateur license class still requires examination in Morse code; neither the FCC nor the volunteer organizations still test code skills for amateur licenses (commercial license examiners do test code skills for the Radiotelegraph Operator license).

text: Broadcasting tower database[edit]

text: An FCC database provides information about the height and year built of broadcasting towers in the US.[70] It does not contain information about the structural types of towers or about the height of towers used by Federal agencies, such as most NDBs, LORAN-C transmission towers or VLF transmission facilities of the US Navy, or about most towers not used for transmission like the BREN Tower. These are instead tracked by the Federal Aviation Administration as obstructions to air navigation.

text: Criticism for use of proprietary standards[edit]

text: The FCC has been criticized for ignoring international open standards, and instead choosing proprietary closed standards, or allowing communications companies to do so and implement the anticompetitive practice of vendor lock-in, thereby preventing a free market.[citation needed]

text: In the case of digital TV, it chose the ATSC standard, even though DVB was already in use around the world, including DVB-S satellite TV in the U.S. Unlike competing standards, the ATSC system is encumbered by numerous patents, and therefore royalties that make TV sets and DTV converters much more expensive than in the rest of the world. Additionally, the claimed benefit of better reception in rural areas is more than negated in urban areas by multipath interference, which other systems are nearly immune to. It also cannot be received while in motion for this reason, while all other systems can, even without dedicated mobile TV signals or receivers.[citation needed]

text: For digital radio, the FCC chose proprietary HD Radio, which crowds the existing FM broadcast band and even AM broadcast band with in-band adjacent-channel sidebands, which create noise in other stations. This is in contrast to worldwide DAB, which uses unused TV channels in the VHF band III range. This too has patent fees, while DAB does not. While there has been some effort by iBiquity to lower them,[71] the fees for HD Radio are still an enormous expense when converting each station, and this fee structure presents a potentially high cost barrier to entry for community radio and other non-commercial educational stations when entering the HD Radio market.[72]

text: Satellite radio (also called SDARS by the FCC) uses two proprietary standards instead of DAB-S, which requires users to change equipment when switching from one provider to the other, and prevents other competitors from offering new choices as stations can do on terrestrial radio. Had the FCC picked DAB-T for terrestrial radio, no separate satellite receiver would have been needed at all, and the only difference from DAB receivers in the rest of the world would be the need to tune S band instead of L band.[citation needed]

text: In mobile telephony, the FCC abandoned the "any lawful device" principle decided against AT&T landlines, and has instead allowed each mobile phone company to dictate what its customers can use.[73][74]

text: Public consultation[edit]

text: As the public interest standard has always been important to the FCC when determining and shaping policy, so too has the relevance of public involvement in U.S. communication policy making.[75] The FCC Record is the comprehensive compilation of decisions, reports, public notices, and other documents of the FCC, published since 1986.[76][77]

text: History of the issue[edit]

text: 1927 Radio Act[edit]

text: In the 1927 Radio Act, which was formulated by the predecessor of the FCC (the Federal Radio Commission), section 4(k) stipulated that the commission was authorized to hold hearings for the purpose of developing a greater understanding of the issues for which rules were being crafted. Section 4(k) stated that:

text: Thus, it is clear that public consultation, or at least consultation with outside bodies was regarded as central to the Commission's job from early on. Though it should not be surprising, the Act also stipulated that the Commission should verbally communicate with those being assigned licenses. Section 11 of the Act noted:

text: Public hearings[edit]

text: As early as 1927, there is evidence that public hearings were indeed held; among them, hearings to assess the expansion of the radio broadcast band.[78] At these early hearings, the goal of having a broad range of viewpoints presented was evident, as not only broadcasters, but also radio engineers and manufacturers were in attendance. Numerous groups representing the general public appeared at the hearings as well, including amateur radio operators and inventors as well as representatives of radio listeners' organizations. Interestingly,

text: Including members of the general public in the discussion was regarded (or at least articulated) as very important to the Commission's deliberations. In fact, FCC Commissioner Bellows noted at the time that "it is the radio listener we must consider above everyone else."[78] Though there were numerous representatives of the general public at the hearing, some expressing their opinions to the commission verbally, overall there was not a great turnout of everyday listeners at the hearings.

text: Though not a constant fixture of the communications policy-making process, public hearings were occasionally organized as a part of various deliberation processes as the years progressed. For example, seven years after the enactment of the Radio Act, the Communications Act of 1934 was passed, creating the FCC. That year the Federal Government's National Recovery Agency (associated with the New Deal period) held public hearings as a part of its deliberations over the creation of new broadcasting codes.[79]

text: A few years later[when?], the FCC held hearings to address early cross-ownership issues; specifically, whether newspaper companies owning radio stations was in the public interest.[80] These "newspaper divorcement hearings" were held between 1941 and 1944, though it appears that these hearings were geared mostly towards discussion by industry stakeholders. Around the same time, the Commission held hearings as a part of its evaluation of the national television standard,[81] and in 1958 held additional hearings on the television network broadcasting rules.[82] Though public hearings were organized somewhat infrequently, there was an obvious public appeal. In his now famous "vast wasteland" speech in 1961, FCC Chairman Newton Minow noted that the commission would hold a "well advertised public hearing" in each community to assure broadcasters were serving the public interest,[83] clearly a move to reconnect the Commission with the public interest (at least rhetorically).

text: In popular culture[edit]

text: In "PTV", the 14th episode of season four of the animated TV series Family Guy, first broadcast on November 6, 2005, the FCC censors the opening credits of the Dick Van Dyke Show, blacking out both "Dick" and "Dyke", because of their alternate meanings of "penis" and "lesbian". They also censor local behavior in Quahog, Rhode Island, blasting an air horn to cover words deemed objectionable and regulating how many shakes of his penis a man is allowed after urinating. Peter, Brian and Stewie sing a song about the FCC, which ends with "They may just be neurotic or possibly psychotic / They're the fellas at the freakin' FCC!"


document_title: The Best of Me (film)

question_text: where was the movie the best of me filmed

root

text: The Best of Me (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: Dawson Cole works on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana. One day, an explosion on the job nearly kills him, throwing him into the water. Days after recovering, Dawson learns that his close friend and surrogate father, Tuck Hostetler, has died and returns home for the first time in almost twenty years to carry out Tuck's final wishes. When he arrives at his house, Dawson is surprised to find that Tuck also arranged for Dawson's high school girlfriend, Amanda Collier, to join him. After more than twenty years of separation, Amanda is now married to Frank Reynolds and has a son, while Dawson has remained single.

tag: p

text: Dawson was born into a notorious backwoods criminal family with an abusive father and more than a dozen abusive cousins. In flashbacks, it is revealed that as a teenager, he ran away from his father's home and stayed overnight in Tuck Hostetler's garage. Tuck, a local mechanic who had lost his wife a few years ago, allows Dawson to live with him and eventually considers him a son of his own.

text: During this time, Amanda and Dawson, two high school seniors, start dating and quickly fall in love with one another. The day of their high school senior prom, Dawson's father and cousins savagely beat up Tuck and ruin his garden and the tulips his wife planted with their truck. Furious, an upset Dawson goes to his father's house with the intent of killing him with Tuck's rifle. Instead, Bobbie, Dawson's cousin and best friend, is accidentally killed with the rifle in a rough scuffle between Dawson and his father. Dawson is arrested and cooperates with the authorities, leading to a police raid on the Coles' property and all the other Coles are arrested. In exchange for a lighter sentence, Dawson testifies against his father and cousins. However, Dawson is not given the chance for parole before four years and he decides to cut ties with Amanda to allow her to move on with her life and to follow her ambitious dreams of becoming a lawyer.

text: Meanwhile in the present, Amanda and Dawson meet with Tuck's lawyer and learn that they are to scatter Tuck's ashes at a cottage he owned with his wife. The lawyer hands them separate letters that Tuck wrote to them individually in the hospital. Broken and hurt, Amanda has no plans on spending any time with Dawson, but she changes her mind after reading Tuck's letter.

text: Dawson and Amanda eventually reconcile and spend a passionate night together at Tuck's cottage. Although they are still deeply in love with each other, Dawson and Amanda agree that she must return to her family, despite her strained marriage. Her husband became an alcoholic after the death of their young daughter, Bea, many years ago.

text: Dawson meets with Bobbie's old girlfriend and apologizes for killing the father of her unborn child. She consoles Dawson by telling him that Bobbie's death was not his fault, and she thanks him for anonymously sending money in the mail over the years to support her son. She then confesses to Dawson that her son Aaron is in trouble by hanging out with the Coles and living with Dawson's horrible and abusive father. Dawson drives to his father's filthy property to persuade Aaron to leave with him. He confronts his father and tells him that he's a coward and a weak old man.

text: In the meantime, Amanda tells her husband that their marriage is broken and that she wants to leave. She then calls Dawson and leaves him a voicemail, professing her love to him.

text: Later in the night, Amanda receives a call from the hospital. Her son was in a very serious car accident and needs a heart transplant in order to survive. Amanda is devastated and cannot imagine losing her other child. Miraculously, a heart donor is found the same night and the heart transplant surgery is a success.

text: The next morning, Amanda wakes up from a dream in which she saw Dawson sitting on the edge of her bed, watching her sleep. Her mother arrives and somberly informs Amanda that Dawson has died. He was attacked the previous night by his cousins at a railroad crossing after listening to her voicemail, and is ultimately shot in the chest by his father. Amanda crumples to the floor in huge sobs. Grief-stricken, she attends his small funeral along with her mother, Bobbie's old girlfriend and Aaron.

text: One year later, Amanda is a new divorcee and is finally realizing her teenage dreams by working at a paralegal office focused on helping children. She receives a call from her son in college who just found out that his heart donor was Dawson Cole.

text: She later visits Tuck's cottage and finds a heartfelt letter written by Dawson the day of his death, expressing his profound love for her and how the best days of his life had always been with her. She then walks into the garden, and is taken aback; Dawson had restored it to its original beauty. Amanda sits on the wooden bench in the garden, taking in the moment as she realizes that Dawson had given her the best of himself.

text: In an alternate ending on the DVD, Amanda leaves her husband and she and Dawson get together and enjoy walking through Tuck's garden and the end credits roll.

text: Cast[edit]

text: James Marsden as Dawson Cole[4]

tag: ul

text: Luke Bracey as young Dawson[5]

text: Michelle Monaghan as Amanda Collier-Reynolds[6]

text: Liana Liberato as young Amanda[7]

text:
Sebastian Arcelus as Frank Reynolds[8]
Gerald McRaney as Tuck Hostetler[8]
Sean Bridgers as Tommy Cole
Rob Mello as Ted Cole
Hunter Burke as Abee Cole
Jon Tenney as Harvey Collier[9]
Caroline Goodall as Evelyn
Ian Nelson as Jared Reynolds
Schuyler Fisk as Older April
Robby Rasmussen as Bobby Cole / Aaron Cole
Julia Lashae as Clara

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: On June 17, 2011, Warner Bros. acquired the film rights to the novel The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks.[10] On March 15, 2012, it was announced that the studio had tapped screenwriter J. Mills Goodloe to adapt the book.[11]

text: On September 27, it was reported that Warner Bros. was in final talks with Michael Hoffman to direct the film, Will Fetters was set to rewrite the screenplay, marking his second adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel, and Denise Di Novi was set to produce the film, along with Sparks and Sparks' agent Theresa Park as co-producers, marking Di Novi's fifth film collaboration with Sparks, Sparks' second time producing a film adaptation of one of his novels and Park's production debut.[12] On July 25, 2013, Relativity Media acquired the distribution rights from Warner Bros., marking the studio's third film adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel.[13] On October 22, Michelle Monaghan was cast to play the female lead Amanda Collier, and Ryan Kavanaugh was to co-produce the film.[6] On October 24, the studio set the film for an October 17, 2014 release.[14]

text: On January 9, 2014, the studio offered James Marsden from the 2004 adaptation of Sparks' 1996 novel The Notebook to play the male lead Dawson Cole, replacing Paul Walker after his death.[4] On January 28, Liana Liberato joined the film's cast as the younger version of Monaghan's character, Amanda Collier.[7] On February 12, Luke Bracey was added to the cast to play the younger version of Marsden's character, Dawson Cole.[5] On March 12, Sebastian Arcelus and Gerald McRaney joined the cast of the film. Arcelus played Frank Reynolds, Amanda's husband and father of her children, while McRaney played Tuck, a widower who takes in young Dawson and becomes a friend and father-figure to him.[8] On March 25, Jon Tenney was added to the cast to play Harvey Collier, the father of Amanda.[9]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Principal photography began on March 6, 2014 in New Orleans, Louisiana for a 42-day shoot.[15][16] On April 30 and May 1 the filming took place in the downtown Covington area. Also filming took place in parts of Pearl River, Louisiana.[17]

text: Post-production[edit]

text: On June 27, 2014, it was announced that composer Aaron Zigman would be scoring the music for the film.[18]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text:
The Best of Me: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Soundtrack album by Various Artists

Released
October 7, 2014 (2014-10-07)[19]

Genre
Country[20]

Label
EMI Nashville, Relativity Music

Singles from The Best of Me: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

"I Did with You"
Released: September 8, 2014[21]

tag: table

text: The soundtrack album for the film, released on October 7, 2014,[22] features original music primarily from the genre of country music, recorded by artists such as Lady Antebellum, Hunter Hayes, David Nail, Colbie Caillat, Kip Moore, Eli Young Band, Eric Paslay, Thompson Square, and Thomas Rhett.[22] "I Did with You" by Lady Antebellum was released on September 8, 2014 as the first promotional single from the soundtrack.[21] The band's other contribution, "Falling for You" is also available on the deluxe edition of their fifth studio album, 747.

text: The titles and performing artists were published by Taste of Country.[20]

text:
No.
Title
Performer(s)
Length

1.
"I Did with You"
Lady Antebellum
3:15

2.
"Dream Girl"
Hunter Hayes
3:39

3.
"Hold On"
SHEL and Gareth Dunlop
3:26

4.
"In Love Again"
Colbie Caillat
3:31

5.
"The Way Things Go"
Thomas Rhett
4:06

6.
"Borrowed Time"
Thompson Square
4:12

7.
"Lead Me"
Kip Moore
3:50

8.
"Love Is a Liar"
Kacey Musgraves
3:15

9.
"Falling for You"
Lady Antebellum
3:54

10.
"Rain from Heaven"
Eric Paslay
3:58

11.
"All the Way"
David Nail
2:56

12.
"Unchanged"
Eli Young Band
3:35

13.
"Sweet Jane"
Cowboy Junkies
3:27

14.
"Crossroads"
Phoebe Hoffman
4:48

text: Commercial performance[edit]

text: The album debuted at number 54 on the Billboard 200, selling 6,200 copies in its first week.[23]

text: Chart performance[edit]

text:
Chart (2014–15)
Peak
position

US Billboard 200
52

US Top Country Albums (Billboard)
11

US Top Soundtracks (Billboard)
4

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: The Best of Me opened in North America on October 17, 2014 across 2,936 theaters. It has grossed $26,766,213 in North America and $9,160,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $35,926,213.[2]

text: In its opening weekend, the film grossed $10,003,827, finishing fifth at the box office behind Fury ($23,702,421), Gone Girl ($17,511,956), The Book of Life ($17,005,218) and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day ($11,456,954), making it the worst opening for a Nicholas Sparks' novel adaptation.[24]

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: The Best of Me has been panned by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 8%, based on 74 reviews, with an average rating of 3.5/10. The site's consensus reads, "At nine films and counting, the line between Nicholas Sparks film fans and detractors is clear, and The Best of Me will change few minds on either side of the divide."[25] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 29 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[26] In CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave The Best of Me an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[24]

text: Home media[edit]

text: The Best of Me was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 3, 2015.


document_title: Do You Hear What I Hear?

question_text: who sang the original version of do you hear what i hear

text: Do You Hear What I Hear?

text: Songwriting[edit]

text: Regney wrote the lyrics for the song, while Shayne composed the music in October 1962.[2] This was an unusual arrangement for the two writers. Usually it was Shayne who wrote the lyrics for their songs while Regney composed the music, as they did when they wrote a song based on the classic children's song "Rain Rain Go Away".[1][2]

text: Regney was inspired to write the lyrics "Said the night wind to the little lamb, 'Do you see what I see?'" and "Pray for peace, people everywhere" after watching babies being pushed in strollers on the sidewalks of New York City.[1] Shayne stated in an interview years later that neither could personally perform the entire song at the time they wrote it because of the emotions surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis.[1] "Our little song broke us up. You must realize there was a threat of nuclear war at the time."[1]

text: Recordings and versions[edit]

text: Original recordings[edit]

text: "Do You Hear What I Hear?" was released shortly after Thanksgiving in 1962.[1] The song was originally recorded for Mercury Records by the Harry Simeone Chorale,[1] a group which had also popularized "The Little Drummer Boy"; and it was released as part of the album "The Wonderful Songs Of Christmas With The Harry Simeone Chorale". As a 45 rpm single, it went on to sell more than a quarter-million copies during the 1962 Christmas holiday season.[1]

text: Bing Crosby made the song into a hit when he recorded his own version of it on October 21, 1963,[4] with the record being released as a single on October 26. Crosby also performed the song on a Bob Hope Christmas television special on December 13 of that year. Over the years, Crosby's recording of the song has been widely played on the radio, and has been available on numerous compilation Christmas albums and compact discs put out by Capitol Records.

text: Cover versions[edit]

text: This section may contain indiscriminate, excessive, or irrelevant examples. Please improve the article by adding more descriptive text and removing less pertinent examples. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for further suggestions. (June 2017)

text: The song was later recorded in diverse ways by hundreds of artists including:

text:
Jack Jones (1964 - The Jack Jones Christmas Album)[5]
Eddie Fisher (1965 - Mary Christmas)[6]
Andy Williams (1965 - Merry Christmas)
Pat Boone[2] (1966 - Christmas is a Comin')
The Joystrings (1966 - Well Seasoned)
Kate Smith[2] (1966 - The Kate Smith Christmas Album)[7]
Ed Ames (1967 - Christmas with Ed Ames)
Anita Bryant (1967 - Christmas with Anita Bryant)
Diahann Carroll (1967)[8]
(appears on various artists' 1995 holiday album Christmas Encore!)[9]
Jim Nabors[2] (1967 - Jim Nabors' Christmas Album)
Perry Como[2] (1968 - The Perry Como Christmas Album)[10]
Robert Goulet[2]
(1968 - Robert Goulet's Wonderful World of Christmas)
Mahalia Jackson[2] (1968 - Christmas with Mahalia)[11]
Johnny Mathis[2] (1969 - Give Me Your Love for Christmas)
Gladys Knight & the Pips (1975 - Bless This House)[12]
The Carpenters (1984 - An Old-Fashioned Christmas)
Hampton String Quartet (1986)
(What if Mozart Wrote Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas)[13]
Whitney Houston[2] (1987)
(for the Special Olympics benefit album A Very Special Christmas)
Anne Murray (1988 - Anne Murray Christmas)[14]
Jose Mari Chan (1990 - Christmas in Our Hearts)
Vince Gill (1993 - Let There Be Peace on Earth)
Bob Hope[2] & Dolores Hope (1993 - Hopes for the Holidays)[15]
John Tesh[2] (1994 - The Choirs of Christmas)
La Bouche (1994 - Bravo Dance X-Mas)
Glen Campbell[2] (1995 - Christmas with Glen Campbell)
Patti LaBelle (1995 - for a Washington, DC Christmas Musical)[16]
(2007 - Miss Patti's Christmas)
David Arkenstone (1997 - Enchantment: A Magical Christmas)[17]
Minimum Wage (1997 - from various artists' holiday album A Punk & Ska Christmas Gone Wrong)
United States Air Force Symphony Orchestra[2]
(1997 - This Is Christmas)[18]
Anthony Way (1997 - The Choirboy's Christmas)[19]
(with St. Paul's Cathedral Choir & English Chamber Orchestra)[20]
Rosie O'Donnell with Elmo (1999 - A Rosie Christmas)[21]
Martina McBride (1999 - White Christmas)
Linda Eder with The Broadway Gospel Choir
(2000 - Christmas Stays the Same)[22]
Kelly Rowland
(2001 - from the Destiny's Child album 8 Days of Christmas)
Mannheim Steamroller (2001 - Christmas Extraordinaire)
Kirk Whalum (2001 - The Christmas Message)
Tropical Flavor Steel Drum Band[2] (2001 - Island Christmas)[23]
South African singer Jo Day
(2002 - for various artists' holiday album The Santa Sessions)[24]
Kenny G[2] (2002 - Wishes: A Holiday Album)
Delta Goodrem
(2002 - for the holiday compilation album The Spirit of Christmas 2002)
Jim Brickman (2003 - Peace)
Larry Norman
(2003 - Christmastime: The Day that a Child Appeared)
(as "Do You See What I See")
Copeland
(2004 - for the holiday compilation album Maybe This Christmas Tree)
Flyleaf (2005 - Do You Hear What I Hear)[25]
Third Day (2006 - Christmas Offerings)
Patti LaBelle, 2007 Miss Patti Christmas.
Carrie Underwood
(2008 - Walmart holiday edition of her album Carnival Ride)
Johnny Cash[26] (recording date unknown, released 2008)
Kristin Chenoweth (2008 - A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas)
Heather Headley (2008 - Do You Hear What I Hear)[27]
Lani Misalucha (2008 - The Gift of Christmas)[28]
Connie Talbot (2008 - Connie Talbot's Christmas Album)
(2009 - Connie Talbot's Holiday Magic)
Kristinia DeBarge (2009)
(for the Special Olympics holiday album A Very Special Christmas 7)
Bob Dylan (2009 - Christmas in the Heart)
Ali Slaight and Theo Tams (2009)
Joey McIntyre (2009)[29] from the album Come Home for Christmas
Susan Boyle with Amber Stassi
(2010 - from Susan Boyle's album The Gift)
Pink Martini (2010 - Joy to the World)
Vanessa Carlton (2011 - Hear the Bells)[30]
Sufjan Stevens (2012 - Silver & Gold)
William Beckett
(2013 - for the holiday compilation album Punk Goes Christmas)
Idina Menzel (2014 - Holiday Wishes)
Home Free Vocal Band (2014 - Full of Cheer ; 2016 - Full of (Even More) Cheer)
Jackie Evancho (2016 - Someday at Christmas)

text: Use in a medley with other songs[edit]

text:
Bobby Lloyd & The Skeletons (1990 - Christmas Party with Eddie G.)(performed as a medley with the rock classic "You Really Got Me")
Vanessa Williams (1996 - Star Bright) (performed in a medley with "Little Drummer Boy")
Moya Brennan (2005 - An Irish Christmas) (in medley with "Don oiche...")

text: Regney said that his favorite version of the song was performed by Robert Goulet: as The New York Times noted, when the singer came to the line "pray for peace, people everywhere," he "almost shouted the words." [31]


document_title: Bal Diwas

question_text: why we celebrate children's day in india

question_tokens: why we celebrate children 's day in india

text: Bal Diwas

text:
Children's Day

Observed by
 India

Type
National

Significance
Birthday of Jawahar Lal Nehru

Date
November 14

Next time
14 November 2018 (2018-11-14)

Frequency
Annual

text: Children's Day is celebrated across India to increase awareness of the rights, care and education of children.[1][2] It is celebrated on 14 November every year on the birth anniversary of the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru also called 'Chacha Nehru'. Nehru is often cited as saying that children should always be carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of the nation and the citizens of tomorrow.[3]

text: History[edit]

text: The celebration of Children's Day in India has its roots back to 1959. Prior to the death of Jawaharlal Nehru, India is celebrating Children's Day on November 20 (the date observed as Universal Children's Day by the United Nations). After the death of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964, it was unanimously decided to celebrate his birthday as or Children's Day in India.[4][5][6][7]


document_title: D-Day (military term)

question_text: where did the term d day come from

question_tokens: where did the term d day come from

text: D-Day (military term)

text: In the military, D-Day is the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. The best known D-Day is during World War II, on June 6, 1944—the day of the Normandy landings—initiating the Western Allied effort to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi Germany. However, many other invasions and operations had a designated D-Day, both before and after that operation.[1]

text: The terms D-Day and H-Hour are used for the day and hour on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. They designate the day and hour of the operation when the day and hour have not yet been determined, or where secrecy is essential. For a given operation, the same D-Day and H-Hour apply for all units participating in it. When used in combination with numbers, and plus or minus signs, these terms indicate the point of time preceding or following a specific action. Thus, H−3 means 3 hours before H-Hour, and D+3 means 3 days after D-Day. (By extension, H+75 minutes is used for H-Hour plus 1 hour and 15 minutes.) Planning papers for large-scale operations are made up in detail long before specific dates are set. Thus, orders are issued for the various steps to be carried out on the D-Day or H-Hour minus or plus a certain number of days, hours, or minutes. At the appropriate time, a subsequent order is issued that states the actual day and times.

text: Other days such as A-Day (Battle of Leyte), L-Day (Battle of Okinawa) etc. have different meanings for the military.

text: Other languages have terms equivalent to D-Day such as "Hari H" (Indonesian),Час Ч (Russian), Dagen D[citation needed] (Swedish), Dan D (Slovenian), E eguna (Basque), Jour J (French), Lá L (Irish), Tag X (German), and Ziua-Z (Romanian). The initial D in D-Day has been given various meanings in the past, while more recently it has obtained the connotation of "Day" itself, thereby creating the phrase "Day-Day", or "Day of Days".[2]

text: History

text: The earliest use of these terms by the United States Army that the U.S. Army Center of Military History has been able to find was during World War I.[3] In Field Order Number 9, First Army, American Expeditionary Forces, dated 7 September 1918: "The First Army will attack at H hour on D day with the object of forcing the evacuation of the St. Mihiel Salient."

text: D-Day for the invasion of Normandy by the Allies was originally set for June 5, 1944, but bad weather and heavy seas caused U.S. Army General Dwight David Eisenhower to delay until June 6 and that date has been popularly referred to ever since by the short title "D-Day". Because of the connotation with the invasion of Normandy, planners of later military operations sometimes avoided the term to prevent confusion. For example, Douglas MacArthur's invasion of Leyte began on "A-Day", and the invasion of Okinawa began on "L-Day". The Allies' proposed invasions of Japan would have begun on "X-Day" (on Kyūshū, scheduled for November 1945) and "Y-Day" (on Honshū, scheduled for March 1946).


question_text: what percent of us adults have a bachelor's degree

question_tokens: what percent of us adults have a bachelor 's degree

text: General attainment of degrees/diplomas[edit]

text:
Educational attainment in the United States (2014)[3]

Education

Age 25 and over

Age 25-29

High school diploma or GED

88.31%

90.83%

Some college

58.57%

64.31%

Associate and/or bachelor's degree

41.89%

44.08%

Bachelor's degree

31.96%

34.04%

Master's and/or doctorate and/or professional degree

11.77%

7.57%

Doctorate and/or professional degree

3.27%

1.70%

Doctorate

1.77%

0.89%

text: In 2003, over four-fifths (85 percent) of all adults 25 years or older reported they had completed at least high school, or obtained a GED/high school equivalency certificate. Over one in four adults (27 percent) had attained at least a bachelor's degree. Both of these measures are all time highs. In 2003, the percentage of the adult population who had completed high school or had not completed high school but obtained a GED increased for the first time since 2000, when it was 84 percent. This increase follows a general trend that the Current Population Survey has shown since educational attainment was first measured in 1947.[2]

text: In 2015, among adults aged 65 and older, 84 percent had either completed high school or more education, or had failed to complete high school but obtained at least a GED certification, compared to 91 percent of adults aged 25 to 34 and 89 percent of adults aged 35 to 44 years or 45 to 64 years. In addition, 27 percent of the population aged 65 and older reported a bachelor's degree or more education compared to 36 percent of adults 25 to 34 years old and 32 percent of adults aged 45 to 64 years.[4]

text: Since 1983 the percentage of people either graduating from high school or failing to complete high school but getting a GED certification has increased from 85% to 88%. The greatest increases in educational attainment were documented in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. In the 1950s and much of the 1960s high school graduates constituted about 50% of those considered adults (25 and above). For young adults aged between 25 and 29, the percentage of either high school graduates or GED obtainers was roughly 50% in 1950 versus 90% today.[2]

text: Gender[edit]

text: For the past fifty years, there has been a gap in the educational achievement of males and females in the United States, but which gender has been disadvantaged has fluctuated over the years. In the 1970s and 1980s, data showed girls trailing behind boys in a variety of academic performance measures, specifically in test scores in math and science.[5]

text: Data in the last twenty years shows the general trend of girls outperforming boys in academic achievement in terms of class grades across all subjects and college graduation rates, but boys scoring higher on standardized tests and being better represented in the higher-paying and more prestigious STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math).[5]

text: Gender gap in literacy[edit]

text: Traditionally, girls have outperformed boys in reading and writing. Although this gap may be minimal in kindergarten, it grows as students continue their education. According to the 2004 National Reading Assessment measured by the US Department of Education, the gap between boys and girls, only slightly noticeable in 4th grade, left boys 14 points behind girls during their 12th grade year.[6] On the 2008 test, female students continued to have higher average reading scores than male students at all three ages. The gap between male and female 4th graders was 7 points in 2008. By 12th grade, there was an 11-point gap between males and females.[6]

text: On the 2002 National Writing Assessment, boys scored on average 17 points lower than girls in 4th grade. The average gap increased to 21 points by 8th grade and widened to 24 points by senior year in high school.[7] In the more recent 2007 National Assessment of Writing Skills, female students continued to score higher than male students, though margins closed slightly from previous assessments. The average score for female eighth-graders was 20 points higher than males, down 1 point from the 2002 score. For twelfth-graders, females outscored males by 18 points as opposed to 24 points in 2002.[8]

text: All of these assessments were conducted on a 100-point scale.[6][7][8]

text: Graduation rates[edit]

text: Overall, women have surpassed men in terms of completing secondary and post-secondary education with the gender gap almost completely reversed. In 2006, 10.3% of males and 8.3% of females dropped out of high school.[9] In 2005/2006, women earned 62% of associate degrees, 58% of bachelor's degrees, 60.0% of master's degrees, and 48.9% of Doctorates.[10]

text: According to recent datawhen?, 55 percent of college students are females and 45 percent are males. From 1995 until 2005, the number of males enrolled in college increased by 18 percent, while the number of female students rose by 27 percent.[11] Males are enrolling in college in greater numbers than ever before, yet fewer than two-thirds of them are graduating with a bachelor's degree. The numbers of both men and women receiving a bachelor's degree have increased significantly, but the increasing rate of female college graduates exceeds the increasing rate for males.[12]

text: In 2007, the United States Census Bureau estimated that 18,423,000 males  over the age of 18 held a bachelor's degree, while 20,501,000 females over the age 18 held one. In addition, fewer males held master's degrees: 6,472,000 males compared to 7,283,000 females. However, more men held professional and doctoral degrees than women. 2,033,000 males held professional degrees compared to 1,079,000, and 1,678,000 males had received a doctoral degree compared to 817,000 females.[13]

text: In 2015, the United States Census Bureau estimated that 36.1% of individuals between the ages of 25 to 34 had a bachelor's degree, with 36.3% in individuals aged 35 to 44, 32% in individuals 45 to 64, and 26.7% in individuals 65 and older.

text: In 2016/2017, women are projected to earn 64.2% of associate degrees, 59.9% of bachelor's degrees, 62.9% of master's degrees, and 55.5% of Doctorates.[14]

text: Ethnicity and race[edit]

text: While the educational attainment of all races increased during the 1990s, with the gap between African Americans and non-Hispanic whites decreasing, differences between the races remain, especially among those with a bachelor's degree or higher. Asian Americans had the highest educational attainment of any race, followed by whites who had a higher percentage of high school graduates but a lower percentage of college graduates. Persons identifying as Hispanic or Latino, without regard to race, had the lowest educational attainment. The gap was the largest between foreign-born Asian Americans, over half (50.1%) of whom had a bachelor's degree or higher and foreign-born Hispanics, 9.8% of whom had a four-year college degree.[2]

text: Hispanics and Latinos also trailed far behind in terms of graduating from high school; it was the only major group for which high school graduates constituted less than 80% of the population. This large inequality might partially be explained by the influx of uneducated foreign-born Hispanic Americans who had not been offered the chance to complete secondary education in their home country and who had not completed secondary education in the United States.

text: Overall, nearly half (49.8%) of Asian Americans, nearly a third (30%) of non-Hispanic Whites, 17.3% of non-Hispanic Blacks, and just over a tenth (11.4%) of Hispanics or Latinos had a four-year college degree. The same differences decrease significantly at the high school level with 89.4% of non-Hispanic whites, 87.6% of Asian Americans, 80.0% of African Americans, and 57% of Hispanics or Latinos having graduated from high school.[2]

text: The Racial achievement gap in the United States refers to these educational disparities between minority students and Caucasian students. Evidence of the racial achievement gap remains present today because not all groups of students are advancing at the same rates. The racial achievement gap has many individual and economic implications and there have been many efforts in education reform to narrow this gap.

text: Foreign born and immigrants[edit]

text: A trend becomes visible when comparing the foreign-born to the native-born populace of some races. Foreign-born Asian, European, and African immigrants had a higher educational attainment in terms of having earned a four-year college degree than their native-born counterparts. According to the U.S census about 43.8 percent of African immigrants achieved the most college degrees, compared to 42.5 percent of Asian-Americans, 28.9 percent for immigrants from Europe, Russia and Canada and 23.1 percent of the U.S. population as a whole.[15][16][17]

text: The opposite is true on the high school level and among Hispanics, where the dramatically lower educational attainment of the foreign-born population decreased the educational attainment of the general Hispanophone populace, statistically.[2]

text: The percentage of the foreign born with a high school diploma (67 percent) was dramatically lower than that of the native population (88 percent), but paradoxically, the percentage with a bachelor's degree was the same (27 percent)... At the bachelor's level, foreign born Blacks and non-Hispanic Whites fared better than their native counterparts. Foreign-born Hispanics, in contrast, had a smaller proportion with a bachelor's degree than the native population... The low educational attainment of foreign-born Hispanics, who compose more than 50 percent of the Hispanic population, contributes to the low attainment levels of the entire Hispanic population.— US Census Bureau, 2003

text: Only among Hispanics and Latinos was the proportion of college graduates larger among the native born population. In the general population the proportion of persons with a bachelor's degree or higher was the same among the foreign-born and native-born population (27.2%). As stated above fewer foreign born Americans completed high school than native born Americans. Overall, 87.5% of the native born population had graduated from high school, versus 67.2%. Among whites the difference was three percentage points, the same as for African Americans. Among Asian Americans the difference was five percentage points. It was thirty percentage points among Hispanics or Latinos.[2]

text: African immigrants have been among the more highly educated group in the United States since the 1990s.[18][19] This phenomenon is related to the large "brain drain" in Africa.[20]

text: Income[edit]

text: Educational attainment is strongly correlated with income in the United States. Although the incomes of both men and women are associated with higher educational attainment (higher incomes for higher educational attainment), large income gaps linked to race and gender remained at each educational level. In 2003, average incomes ranged from $13,459 for a male high-school dropout to $90,761 for a male with an advanced degree. The most significant average income difference was between those who had some college education or an associate degree and those who had a Bachelor's degree. While those with some college averaged $31,046, those with a bachelor's degree averaged $51,194, over $20,000 (64.9%) a year more.[2]

text:
The second most dramatic difference in average income was between those with a Bachelor's degree with $51,940 and those with an advanced degree who made $72,824, roughly $21,000 (42.2%) more. The least significant difference was between those who had graduated from high school and those who had either some college or an associate degree. Here the difference was a mere $3,766 or 13.8%. The difference between those with a high school diploma ($30,000) and those who did not complete high school ($18,826) was $8,454 or 45%.
Overall, the income in the United States for all sexes, races and levels of educational attainment was $36,308 annually.[2]

text: Even though African immigrants are claimed to have higher educational attainment rates than any other group, they were the hardest hit during the most recent recession beginning in 2007.[21][16][22][23] This shows that race and/or ethnicity may play a role in income levels and job selection.[22]

text:
Criteria

Overall

Less than 9th grade

High school drop-out

High school graduate

Some college

Associate degree

Bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree or more

Master's degree

Professional degree

Doctorate degree

Median individual income
Male, age 25+
$33,517
$15,461
$18,990
$28,763
$35,073
$39,015
$50,916
$55,751
$61,698
$88,530
$73,853

Female, age 25+
$19,679
$9,296
$10,786
$15,962
$21,007
$24,808
$31,309
$35,125
$41,334
$48,536
$53,003

Median household income
$45,016
$18,787
$22,718
$36,835
$45,854
$51,970
$68,728
$73,446
$78,541
$100,000
$96,830

text: SOURCE: US Census Bureau, 2003[24][25]

text: The change in median personal and household income since 1991 also varied greatly with educational attainment. While both the overall median personal and household income increased since 1991, this increase did not take place on all levels of educational attainment. The overall income increased over the course of the 1990s, reaching its high in 1999, but has been decreasing ever since. In 1991 the median household income in the US was $40,873 in 2003 dollars, while the median household income in 2003 was $45,016. In 1999, however, the median household income was $46,236, 2.7% higher than today. While this trend held true for all levels of educational attainment the extent of chorinical fluctuations in income were greatly influenced by educational attainment.[24][25]

text: Overall, the median household and personal income decreased for those with more than a 9th grade education but less than a four-year college degree since 1991. In other words, the median household income decreased for households and individuals at the high school drop-outs and graduate, some-college, and an associate degree level. Income did, however, increase for those with a Bachelor's degree or more. The following table shows the median household income according to the educational attainment of the householder. All data is in 2003 dollars and only applies to householders whose householder is aged twenty-five or older. The highest and lowest points of the median household income are presented in bold face.[24][25]

text:
Year

Overall Median

Less than 9th grade

High school drop-out

High school graduate

Some college

Associate degree

Bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree or more

Master's degree

Professional degree

Doctorate degree

1991
$40,873
$17,414
$23,096
$37,520
$46,296
$52,289
$64,150
$68,845
$72,669
$102,667
$92,614

1993
$40,324
$17,450
$22,523
$35,979
$44,153
$49,622
$64,537
$70,349
$75,645
$109,900
$93,712

1995
$42,235
$18,031
$21,933
$37,609
$44,537
$50,485
$63,357
$69,584
$77,865
$98,302
$95,899

1997
$43,648
$17,762
$22,688
$38,607
$45,734
$51,726
$67,487
$72,338
$77,850
$105,409
$99,699

1999
$46,236
$19,008
$23,977
$39,322
$48,588
$54,282
$70,925
$76,958
$82,097
$110,383
$107,217

2001
$45,300
$18,830
$24,162
$37,468
$47,605
$53,166
$69,796
$75,116
$81,993
$103,918
$96,442

2003
$45,016
$18,787
$22,718
$36,835
$45,854
$51,970
$68,728
$73,446
$78,541
$100,000
$96,830

Average
$43,376
$18,183
$23,013
$37,620
$46,109
$51,934
$66,997
$72,376
$78,094
$104,368
$94,487

text: SOURCE: US Census Bureau, 2003 Yellow indicates the year with the lowest median income while green indicates the year with the highest reported median income.[24]

text: Among the races, educational attainment retains its dramatic effect on average income which varies significantly at each educational level. European Americans (White Americans) had the highest average income at every level of educational attainment. However, the proportion of those having college degrees is greater among Asian Americans than among non-Hispanic whites, and the overall highest average income is found among Asians. All races except Whites ranked last on at least one level with African Americans ranking last on the non-high school, high school and advanced degree level.[2]

text: Asians were second highest on the college graduate level and had the highest overall income among the general population. They also had the lowest average annual income for those with some college education or an associate degree. Racial income difference were also significant at every level of educational attainment with the largest racial inequality being between European and African Americans who did not complete high school and those with advanced college degrees.[2]

text: Overall, European Americans with an advanced degree had the highest average annual income with $74,122. Asian Americans had the second highest with $72,852. Hispanics and African Americans had the lowest annual incomes among those with advanced degrees averaging $67,679 and $59,944 annually. The largest racial inequity was between European Americans with a Bachelor's degree who made $53,185 and Hispanics who made $12,263 or 29.9% less with an average annual income of $40,949.[2] However, Asian Americans as a whole earn more than any other race due to a greater percentage of them being educated overall, an example of Simpson's paradox.

text: Occupation[edit]

text: The educational attainment varied significantly among the different types of occupations. The highest occupational attainment was among those in the Professional and related fields followed by those Business, Management and financial related occupations. The professional/managerial fields were the only two occupational fields where college graduates with a Bachelor's degree or higher represented the majority. Among professional occupations, 99.1% of the population graduated from high school, 90.2% had some college education or an associate degree and over two thirds, 68.2% had a Bachelor's degree or higher.[2]

text: Business and managerial occupations were second with 97.8% having graduated from high school, 79.5% having some college or an associate degree and just over half, 53.4% having a Bachelor's degree or higher. While nearly all employment fields feature a population where over 80% had graduated from high school with over a third having some college education or an Associate degree, the fields relating to agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and transportation did not. These, often described as blue collar, fields featured a labor force where less than a tenth of the population had a Bachelor's degree or higher, less than half had some college or an Associates, and less than 80% had graduated from high school.[2]

text: Overall, the least educated occupational field was agriculture, ranking last on all educational levels. Here 55.4% had graduated from high school, roughly one fifth (20.8%) had some college education or an associate degree and 6.8% had a Bachelor's degree or higher. While the largest occupational field, that consisting of professionals and relating occupations was also the largest field, the fields with lower educational attainment combined were larger than the professional and managerial fields combined. Overall, 38.02% were employed in the professional and managerial fields while 61.89% were employed in the other white and blue collar fields were those with a bachelor's degree or higher constituted less than a third of the work force.[2]

text: Geography[edit]

text: Educational attainment among the population aged 25 and above varied rather slightly with geography region. The population of the Northeastern United States, which had the smallest population of any region with thirty-six million residents, had the highest percentage of high-school and college graduates. The western United States had the highest percentage of those with some college or an associate degree and ranked second for college graduates. The South which had by far the largest population with roughly sixty-six million people had the lowest educational attainment at every level.[2]

text: The proportion of high school graduates was the largest in the Midwest while the proportion of those with some college or an associate degree was the second and that of those with a Bachelor's degree or higher was the third largest of any region.

text: Social class and education[edit]

text: Educational attainment is one of the primary indicators of social class in the United States.[26] While the American social class system is a vaguely defined concept with many contradicting theories,[27][28] educational attainment emerges as one of the top assessments of social class. Not only is a high educational attainment a status symbol by itself, but it is also very closely related to the other two main indicators of social class: occupation and income. A graduate degree and the roughly seven to eight years of post-secondary education serve as the main requirement for entering the "professions" and becoming part of the professional middle class.[26]

text: Education is a major key in becoming a more privileged member of the American middle class.[26][28] Overall, educational attainment is the main entrance barrier into more privileged parts of the middle class as it is not only of high value but is also the requirement for becoming a professional and earning the corresponding income.[26] This corresponding income is typically significantly higher than that of someone without this higher level of educational attainment in the United States. Exceptions include some entrepreneurs who can rank anywhere in the class system but are usually not referred to as professional middle class unless they are of the professions.

text: In the United States, it is also important to differentiate between the statistical middle class, often defined as consisting of those who are neither rich nor poor, and the professional middle class. Recent research has shown that not only is the statistical middle of society (those with income roughly 80% to 120% of the national median or members of the mid-quintile) no longer able to afford the lifestyle indicative of the middle class,[29] but there also seems to be a widening income gap in between those who may be described as being middle class.

text: Education is not only the main requirement for becoming a member of the professional middle class, it is also key to a comfortable lifestyle and economic security.[26] Those in the statistical middle may have to fear lay-offs and cost-cutting downsizing as well as out-sourcing, while some of those in the professional middle class are less subject to economic fluctuations and are more likely to enjoy upper-middle range incomes even in the face of recessions. Increasingly however even the professional middle class is facing lay-offs and job elimination due to downsizing and replacement of full-time workers with part-time workers—this is particularly evident in colleges and universities where, by 2009, half of the faculty were part-time; another 25% were full-time but with short-term contracts, thus showing that advanced education is not necessarily associated with high salaries and economic stability.[30]

text:
Academic class models

Dennis Gilbert, 2002

William Thompson & Joseph Hickey, 2005

Leonard Beeghley, 2004

Class

Typical characteristics

Class

Typical characteristics

Class

Typical characteristics

Capitalist class (1%)

Top-level executives, high-rung politicians, heirs. Ivy League education common.

Upper class (1%)

Top-level executives, celebrities, heirs; income of $500,000+ common. Ivy league education common.

The super-rich (0.9%)

Multi-millionaires whose incomes commonly exceed $350,000; includes celebrities and powerful executives/politicians. Ivy League education common.

Upper middle class[1] (15%)

Highly-educated (often with graduate degrees), most commonly salaried, professionals and middle management with large work autonomy.

Upper middle class[1] (15%)

Highly-educated (often with graduate degrees) professionals & managers with household incomes varying from the high 5-figure range to commonly above $100,000.

The rich (5%)

Households with net worth of $1 million or more; largely in the form of home equity. Generally have college degrees.

Middle class (plurality/majority?; ca. 46%)

College-educated workers with considerably higher-than-average incomes and compensation; a man making $57,000 and a woman making $40,000 may be typical.

Lower middle class (30%)

Semi-professionals and craftsmen with a roughly average standard of living. Most have some college education and are white-collar.

Lower middle class (32%)

Semi-professionals and craftsmen with some work autonomy; household incomes commonly range from $35,000 to $75,000. Typically, some college education.

Working class (30%)

Clerical and most blue-collar workers whose work is highly routinized. Standard of living varies depending on number of income earners, but is commonly just adequate. High school education.

Working class (32%)

Clerical, pink- and blue-collar workers with often low job security; common household incomes range from $16,000 to $30,000. High school education.

Working class(ca. 40–45%)

Blue-collar workers and those whose jobs are highly routinized with low economic security; a man making $40,000 and a woman making $26,000 may be typical. High school education.

Working poor (13%)

Service, low-rung clerical and some blue-collar workers. High economic insecurity and risk of poverty. Some high school education.

Lower class (ca. 14–20%)

Those who occupy poorly-paid positions or rely on government transfers. Some high school education.

Underclass (12%)

Those with limited or no participation in the labor force. Reliant on government transfers. Some high school education.

The poor (ca. 12%)

Those living below the poverty line with limited to no participation in the labor force; a household income of $18,000 may be typical. Some high school education.

References:  Gilbert, D. (2002) The American Class Structure: In An Age of Growing Inequality. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, ISBN 0534541100. (see also Gilbert Model);
Thompson, W. & Hickey, J. (2005). Society in Focus. Boston, MA: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon; Beeghley, L. (2004). The Structure of Social Stratification in the United States. Boston, MA: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon.
1 The upper middle class may also be referred to as "Professional class" Ehrenreich, B. (1989). The Inner Life of the Middle Class. NY, NY: Harper-Collins.

text: Educational attainment in social theory[edit]

text: Bourdieu and cultural capital[edit]

text: Many scholars have studied educational attainment in the US as a form of social reproduction and stratification. In 1977, Pierre Bourdieu presented the idea that education leads to social reproduction and a stratified society by honoring the cultural capital of elite classes. Students who possess the valued cultural capital, according to Bourdieu, are rewarded with high academic achievement.[31]

text: When elite class members enter the workforce, they are channeled into high paying jobs and powerful positions within society, while those who did not achieve the same level of academic success fall into subordinate occupations and status levels. By rewarding the desired cultural capital with high academic achievement, upper classes are able and prepared to reach higher levels of educational attainment. Members of the working class, on the other hand, are not rewarded for their cultural capital in schools, and are instead socialized for working class jobs.

text: Lareau and concerted cultivation[edit]

text: Annette Lareau also addresses the factors that lead to social stratification in educational attainment. Lareau's idea of concerted cultivation refers to an active involvement of parents in a child's learning and development experiences by creating and controlling organized activities for their children. According to Lareau, middle-class parents engage in concerted cultivation to teach their children, while lower- and working-class parents do not. Laureau further explains that schools firmly encourage and expect parents to use concerted cultivation as a child-rearing strategy.[32]

text: The child-rearing practices of lower- and working-class families thus do not comply with the standards of educational institutions. As a result, lower- and working-class students develop a sense of "distance, distrust, and constraint" in educational institutions, while children of middle-class families gain a sense of entitlement. These differences in child-rearing practices lead to children of lower- and working-class families to lack the necessary life skills that the children of the middle class possess, further isolating them from educational opportunities. In the United States, education attainment typically is viewed as a sign of social status.

text: Collins and credentialism[edit]

text: Randall Collins contributed the idea of credentialism to the study of class-based differences in educational attainment. Collins maintains that public schools are socializing institutions that teach and reward middle-class values of competition and achievement. In this view, elites are selectively separated from other students and placed into prestigious schools and colleges, where they are trained to hold positions of power.[33]

text: By teaching middle-class culture through the public education system, the elite class ensures a monopoly over positions of power, while others acquire the credentials to compete in a subordinate job market and economy. In this way, schools of medicine, law, and elite institutions have remained closed to members of lower classes.