Explain your education system

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Good idea!

I'll add that in Queensland, Australia, the beginning of schooling is slightly different, and is about to change.

Children who are four years old as of 1 January 2006 have the option of attending preschool in that year.
Children who are five years old at that time must attend Grade One (first year of primary school).

From 2007, the rules change...
Children who are 4½ to 5½ years old on 1 Jan 2007 have the option of attending a Preparatory year.
Children who are 5½ to 6½ years old on 1 Jan 2007 must attend grade one.
The new preparatory year is 5 full days a week, unlike the 2½ days a week for preschool.

Another difference in Qld is that secondary starts with year 8, rather than year 7.

Other points to highlight about the Australian system:

• Primary and Secondary schooling is compulsory for children under 15 years old.
• Primary and Secondary school is 6 hours a day (9am to 3pm), five days a week (Monday to Friday), 38(??) weeks a year (February to June, July to December).
• Year 12 is the last year of school. It's referred to as "Senior" (in Qld, at least), and most people are 17 or 18 years old when they finish school.
• In tertiary study (university), students are "expected" to dedicate roughly 40 hours a week to their studies, but contact hours (lectures, tutorials, and practicals) might be less than half that time.

It's been a while since I was at school, and I don't have school-aged kids so I'm not certain about some of those figures...

 

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The United States usually has a "K-12" system, broken down into the following

"Elementary school" K-6th grade (ages 4-12)
"Middle school" 7th & 8th grades (ages 12-14)
"High school" 9th-12th grades (ages 14-18)

I'm not sure if the U.S. specifies compulsory education by the number of years in school. Usually it's required up to the age of 18, and I'm not sure if it entails any amount of years required. Maybe the laws are set for the state level; the 18 and under law applies at least for here in California.

"College" sometimes called university 1st year 2nd year etc... usually 4 yrs to B.S. or B.A. (ages 18-22,23 typically)
"Grad school" studies for MS, PhD, MD (or combination as frequently done so in programs) usually takes 4-6 years.

We hardly use the term 'primary' 'secondary' or 'tertiary' to designate school level, although I've seen the term used in Canada.

 

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Let's see. In Germany most enter school at age 6 I think. Elementary school is then four years. After that education is usually divided into three different groups:
1) "Hauptschule" for six years or
2) "Realschule" for six years or
3) "Gymnasium" for nine years.
Only graduates from the Gymnasium can enter University (no "College" in Germany). Sometimes it is possibly to enter "Realschule" coming from "Hauptschule" or entering "Gymnasium" coming from "Realschule", depending on marks.
Going to school to at least the tenth class is compulsory.

In university there used to be only graduate (Diploma) and undergraduate (nothing). Depending on area it takes around 4-6 years to get a diploma (most get their diploma at age 25-26). In natural sciences it is usually longer (5-6 sometimes longer) in humanistic sciences it is usually on the lower end. In natural sciences around 0,5-1 year is dedicated to the diploma thesis, which includes experiments and writing.

Now they have adopted a new Bachelor/Master system. In this system it takes around 3 years to get a bachelor (around age 22) and further 2 years for a masters degree. Due to the change the whole system is now more school-like (as compared to the more practical oriented, self-tutoring style before). Possibly resembling the US system a little bit.

Usually a Ph.D is only possible after either diploma or master. In some cases bachelors are allowed an probation time of one year and are then evaluated whether to be fit for Ph.D or not (probably rather similar to the honours as described in the above posts).
In natural sciences Ph.D. is assumed to take three years, but can be significantly longer.

 

ok...nonetold here about te crappy british 'education' drill...here goes

the poor child has to begin the indoctrination at 4-5 at INFANTS school....then this moves onto PRIMARY school, which goes on till 11 years old. then po kid gets shunted to the high rise open prison complex--SECONDARY school....
now. actually 'secondary' school is not a good term class -wise--asin class middel calss working class...get me. so for example hen i did the PRIMARY school exam the '11 PLUS' ...the 'choie was between 3 types of school:
secondary--which is where most of thew working class kids went and tose who didn't pass the 11 plus. the bottom. it was the losers school, in the way it is set up--ie, the shitty culture who invents this bolloks

then you had 'TECHNICAL' school. tis was considered all-right-ish. not exaaaactly a fail...but. could o better

rhen you have at the near-top of the class-tree, theee 'GRAMMAR school'...noice the reference to grammar. you know speakin all middle clarrrse. knowing english etc. most middle class kids went to that

then you have the 'COMPREHENSIVE' school whihc is a bit what its like now. where you have got all types togther

and at the very vewy top, we have 'PUBLIC' schools. tis is really for te fuk off rich
who can afford to send their golden chillen to Eton etc for pwoper education. learn how to be leaders of men.

in the ;latter scools the classes are eg., 1st year, 2nd year, 3rd, 4th 5th and then 6th form were--you've guessed it your a 16 year old swot

then it may be college which is a place for those who didn't get their 'A Levels at school' can do them at college. you have GCSEs and Alevels. the latter are what can get the swots into the 'better' UNiversities......like Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester.....
when there it is for DEgrees, where you can get 1st Class Honours, or 2nd or 3rd

then MA, then PHd, then Doctorate, then Professorship..? that's it

 

South Africa Education System: *cough* well back before the new goverment chanegd it to its present crappy state. Will probably revert to old system soon anyway.
Preschool - Grade 7 (ave age of grade 1 is 7)
Grade 8 - Grade 12
Our Grade 11 and 12 year is just the final "year" split between two years to prepare for our matric finals. The smarter of us go for the full matriculation and is required to apply for tertiary education at the University level. The stupid ones try qualify for Senior Certificates which gets them into colledges where they get to work with hands and follow less intellectual persuits.
A post matric level also exists which is on par with the British A level.
Then the whole system mirrors the Australian system.

 

In Alaska, elementary school starts at age six, not age four.

 

My education began when I was in my mother's womb: that is when I realized life.

Then came birth till K-12, then junior high and senior high.

I worked hard from then on until I eventually returned to school five years later at a neighborhood community college. From there the outside world began to open up to me.

One day, one of my best friends said to me: "Why don't we transfer and continue our education full-time at this university?" Without hesitation I agreed.

Since then I have continued my higher education at over nine different colleges and universities throughout the world and have been a teacher at four of them. It has been a very rewarding experience that is continuing to this day and I can see no other way of life that I would rather do. Been there: done that.

 

in new zealand:

preschool is optional, but most children attend from age 3 or 4
primary school starts for most children at 5 years old(not compulsary until age six, or age seven if more than 3km from the nearest school/bus route)
primary school goes for six years
children may then attend an intermediate school(years 7&8) or a college(joint intermediate and highschool)
schooling then continues at highschool with year 13 being the final(and optional) year
children may leave school ot 16, (or 15 if they have fulltime employment arranged.)

starting at year 11(third year of highschool) student begin NCEA based on the scottish system. this requirs students to earn a certion number of credits to pass the year, including a certain amount in numeracy and literacy.

after highschool, students may attend a university or polytech for higher education.

 

k-6 Elementary
7-9 Junior High
10-12 High School

Marks here are based on percent averages, until "University" (GPA system) which we use in the same context as Australians. Community colleges are referred to as just 'colleges'.

It's more of an indoctrination system than an educational one. But hey.. we do learn to write and avoid work!

 

In the Republic Of Ireland

The child starts of in playschool (4-6)

Primary School follows (5-13 (not compulsory until age six)) Its Junior Infants, Senior Infants then 1st-6th class

Secondary school 13-19 (most are out a 18, those who wish to repeat 6th year) This time its 1st-6th year (transition year (4th year) is not compulsory)
The state exams are taken at the end of 3rd year (Junior Cert), at 16 one can leave and at the end of 6th (Leaving Cert, compulsory to do 6 subjects has to include maths, Irish, English and 3 other subjects).

Collage: goes

Higher Cert: 2 years
Ord.Degree: 2-4 years
Higher.Degree: 4 years
Masters: 1 year
Ph.D: I don't know

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Or you can use the ladder system which you can start off at High.Cert and then add on courses. It'll take 4-5 years to get to your high.degree. Thats it.

 

K-6 grades for "elementary" school must be a new system. Elementary school for me was K-5 grades, middle school was 6-8 grades, and high school was 9-12 grades.

The terms "college" and "university" can be broken down even further. There are "state colleges", "junior colleges", and "vocational colleges" (among others). And then there are "state universities", "graduate universites", "magnet universities", and some others I have forgotten. Some of the terms mean the samething, and some have completely different meanings.

The U.S. school system is good, the only thing it's lacking is proper public funding.

 

In Belgium, more specific Flanders (Dutch speaking part of the country) education is divided in 4 parts

• Kleuteronderwijs (toddler school) not compulsory, age 2.5 to 6
• Basisonderwijs or lagere school (basic education or lower school) compulsory, ages 6 to 12
• Secundair onderwijs or middelbare school (secondary education of middle school), is divided in 4 main school categories, which are again divided in different course paths. The 4 main categories are General Secondary Education (Latin, mathematics, Languages, economics...), Art Secondary Education, Technical Secondary Education (mechanics, electricians...), Crafts Secondary Education (masons, butchers, haircutters...). Compulsory till age 18
• Hoger onderwijs (higher education). This is anything beyound secondary education. So Universities (academic bachelors (3 years), masters (4 to 5 years), ph.d...(7 to 9 years)); hoge scholen (~high schools) (professional bachelors (3 to 4 years), 7th or 8th year in middle school, etc...

Those are the main categories. There exist some special things too... but nobody does understand it anyway

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Normally all schools are open, so you don't need to be selected. Fee for university is anually € 507 (for most courses, some exceptions...). If you got a scholar ship, you can study for about € 75 a year. Education is well funded here, America

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In addition to what Duendy has said, I'll comment on the UK system.

Children officially start school at 5, but many send their kids to pre-school (play school / kindergarten etc...).

Now we have the big divide: Socialist Bastards vs. The Rich.

The government provide 'state schools', but discipline is low. You can still do well - many do - however, the best education must be paid for. These are the confusingly named 'Public Schools' - which are far from being public (money and/or grade requirements are often high).

I went to a traditional boarding school and bloody hated it! On reflection though, someone as lazy as me probably would never have learned anything at a state school.

I won't bore you with how we number year groups or classify stuff. What differentiates us from other systems (such as what the French use) is that you can choose what you specialise in at the early age of 16. Some argue that this is a bad thing - as many young people don't really know what they want to do with their lives. At this time, students usually choose three subjects to take on in detail for two years. Really hard working people may take four or maybe even five of these before possibly going to university.

 

Most kids enter the public school sytem at age 5 or 6, and graduate when they are 18 or 19.

In smaller school districts:
K-6 Elementary School
7-12 High School

In larger school Districts:
K-4 Elementary School
5-8 Middle School
9-12 High School

The curriculum is pretty much the same for all students in the school district untill 9th grade, when you start getting the choice between various academic and vocational electives. You can "drop out" of high school when you are 16, but few do since it means poverty and a shitty job.

In the US the term "college" means any institutions of higher education. "University" means colleges that give graduate degrees, though some private universities call thenselves a colleges. The degree scale is:

Associate's degree: 2 years
Bachlor's degree: 4 years
Master's degree: 6 years
Doctorate degree: 8 years

Generally a distinction is often made between Ph.Ds and "proffesional" Doctoral programs (Law, Medicine, and Theology).

 

someone beat me to belgium?!?

drat! i wanted to sound smart too!!!

 

I learned, then I realized most of the stuff I was taut was a complete lie. (Evolution, Philosophy, History, ect, ect...)

 

no wonder you are a deadbeat muslim

 

What ever man.