School system in the U S A ?
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- PuFFi
I'm a student Switzerland, and I need to do a presentation about the school system of the United States.
And I would be interested of getting the opinion of people studying or that have studied in this system.
- Mimio0
Public, private or universities?
- PuFFi0
the whole thing, because here you only go to private school if you miss the public school. To go to univerity you need a certificat from a specific level.
- atomica0
The public school systems of the USA, at least the one's I've attended through out my life are great. They try their best to put forth a well rounded curriculum in about an 8 hour day for 9 months of the year. Alot of the high schools offer vocational and job related studies and some have focuses leaning more technical or more creative arts and literature. Around here they also try and give you a good idea of the cultures that exist outside of the region, bringing in students from other countries, adding culture studies into foreign language classes etc. On that note though, I will say language teachings lack a bit compared to what I've seen from other countries. We tend to learn our native language the whole time, and a year or two of one chosen foriegn language, which if we tried, couldn't speak to survive half the time once we've graduated. I don't think the schools are nearly as bad as some outlets like to protest. Parenting in the states is a whole other story.
- PuFFi0
any other, thanks
- pascii0
you can check the ETHZ library. i once saw a good book with the facts there
- supes0
what are your questions?
do you understand how our system works? it is a broad topic!
there is preschool for ages 3-4 (optional, private unless you are very poor and qualify for gov't subsidized)
then elementary school (ages 5-12) Kintergarden-5th grade
then middle school (ages 12-14)
6th grade-8th gradethen high school (9th grade - 12th grade, ages 14-18)
public school is mandatory. or you can opt out and pay for private school.
- Soler0
This is really lengthy but here goes...
I don't know where atomica grew up... I'm sure that experience is real. It is diverse throughout the country.Let me tell you how it is in suburban Denver. I went to a private, college prep highschool (5k a year US), while my older sisters went to public school. We couldn't have had a more different education. My highschool was basically the equivalent of a university. For them, it was a cake walk where class was next-to-optional and you could take bowling for P.E. and watch a movie for english class.
They stuggled in the universities after highschool a little bit. I quit after the first year because I felt that it was a waste of time- They were taching college freshman how to structure sentences.
So, I went to art school to learn a trade. i think most universities and highschools are dumbing down the curriculum to save money and make it easy for everyone to get a degree.
Of course, any one who is motivated can extract a good education almost anywhere in the US, but how many extremely motivated 16 year olds do you know? People take the easy way out mostly.
Hope that helps
- PuFFi0
Thank you very much it's really nice of you to have spent some time for me.