American Schools

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Hop-along
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American Schools

Post by Hop-along »

Hi



Im intrested how US schools work in the UK their are school pretty much in every town and they work often in pyramids so the high school which is for ages 11-16 is at the top and then the primar schools 5-11 are in the bottom bit . Some place shave middle schools ages 9-14 so you go to primary age 3-9 then middle then high and at 16 you can leave school or go to 6th form or college for vocational things you would go to college then uni. The school are funded by councils of which there i s one for each county or area of the cpuntry these are not like states as they dont run themselves but tale direction from the goverment.

Is there a list of US schools can anyone tell me about them as one day I would like to teach in the US so want to know how it all works.

Cheers

Hop
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Jaegermeister
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Re: American Schools

Post by Jaegermeister »

Well there are 2 (maybe 3) different kind of schools in the US: Public, Parochial, and Private. Public schools are state funded, and operated by almost every town/city. In very rural areas sometimes there will be regional schools that serve a number of towns, but for the most part, each city has its own public school system. Parorichial schools is a fancy way to say "Catholic" or "Religious". Generally semi-private, they exist partially on state funding, as well as tuition from students that attend. Tuition is somewhat expensive, but still affordable to the average middle income family. Private schools (I believe) recieve little to know government funding, and run solely on the (usually expensive) tuition of the students.



As for classes, there is Pre-schoo, which is just a glorified play group for 3-5 year olds. The traditional "elementary school" starts off with Kindergarten, for 4-5 year olds, and it generally runs until 6th grade (11-12 years old). Then traditionally comes junior high, 7th-8th grade (12-14 years old), though some places replace junior high with a middle school, which runs from 6th-8th grade (11-14). Then comes high school, 9th-12th grade (ages 14-18), after which time you graduate from high school and are eligible to go to college.



Instead of a high school diploma, there is an option for a GED, which I never really learned all that much about, but from what I understand it's a test of knowledge that an average 12th grader would know, and if they pass the recieve a GED certificate, which is the equivalent of a high school diploma and from what I understand equally valid.



Another option for the high school years is vocational training, where you would still go to school and get an education, while at the same time getting vocational skills, such as carpentry, electrical, cosmotological, ect, skills. It's similar in nature to an apprenticeship, though you still leave with a high school diploma, and generally enter whatever career you were apprenticing while you were in school.



There is also Montessori schools, which are pretty uncommon, but from what I've heard gaining in popularity. Instead of the traditional "grades", in which there are goals to be accomplished (for example, basic multiplication and cursive writing* in 3rd grade), the students are broken up into age brackets (3-6, 6-9, 9-12, ect), and are basically allowed to learn independantly. Its not just education, but also personal development skills, such as cleaning up after yourself, ect. It is a much more "hands on" type of learning, as opposed to the traditional book learning method in most school systems. I'm not entirely clear on what Montessori schools do, but I'm sure if you wikipedia/google it, you can find out more information.



The general curriculum for all school systems are: English (Literature as well as writing), History (renamed "Social studies"), Science, Mathematics, Physical Education**, Foreign Language (generally 2 years in high school), Art/Cultural Education (such as Art/Choir/Band), as well as electives such as home economics ("Living skills" it was called), and health education. While not all subjects are taught for all 12 years of the education, Math, Science, History, and English are pretty standard courses for the entire duration of education.



tJ



*Does anyone else think that learning to write in cursive is a complete waste of time/brain cells. I don't even write in cursive anymore. Sure, I write in a script, and not just block lettering, but I maintain that learning to write in cursive was the most useless thing I ever learned. Ever.

**Physical education is largely a joke. In elementary school it is a glorified recess, and then in middle and high school, it was generally dodgeball, football, and basketball. I've yet to hear of anyone who ever learned anything meaningful from a gym class. Even the amount of exercise was questionable, because as I never was very good at football or basketball (preferring swimming and water polo), I made it a point to save my energy for those sports rather waste it on a sport that I didn't enjoy. And I know many others felt similarily, or just didn't like sports in general.
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Hop-along
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Re: American Schools

Post by Hop-along »

Thanks :)

is there a list of alll US schools ?
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Re: American Schools

Post by dna13 »

confusing.... lol! Good idea for asking. I've never thought about it really.
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