US education system

[greg1917]

Can someone give me a brief explanation of the structure of the US education system in schools? Reading over past threads some people mention what look like courses but I have no idea what they refer to.

 

In Scotland for the most part preparatorary school goes from prep 1 to 7, starting at age five and finishing at age 12. Kids then go to senior school, which goes from senior 1 to 6. Seniors 1 and 2 are spent learning basically everything. In S3 and S4 the first proper syllabus is undertaken with externally modulated exams - Standard Grades. Every pupil chooses 8 subjects and sits them over two years, culminating in an external exam marked by the Scottish Qualifications Authority. each subject's exam consists of 2 of 3 papers depending on pupil ability.

 

the three papers are, in order of increasing difficulty, foundation, general, credit. All pupils sit general, better students sit credit and less able pupils sit foundation. marks range from a 1 or a 2 in the credit band, a 3 or a 4 in the general band, a 5 or a 6 in the foundation band and a 7 if u manage to fail foundation (which is really impressive, this almost takes more talent than getting a 1). the advantage of this is that pupils are almost definitely going to elave schol with something , if they fail a credit paper hopefully they can pick up a 3 in the general paper.

 

moving on, in S5, the next stage is the Higher. the majority of students take 5, some brainiacs take 6 and some freaks of nature even choose 7. these are much more versatile than standard grades as you usually sit them over one year although you can choose to sit them over two years. these dont have the same stupid exam system as the standard grades do, here its just a single paper which is graded A B C fail. there are further distinctions - there A1 passes (the best) A2 (slighty below obviously) and so on. a fail at Higher usually results in the awarding of an Intermediate 2 grade, which is above Standard Grade level but below Higher.

 

Advanced Highers follow in the final year of schooling, S6. one can only study an advanced higher if one has achieved a half decent pass at the same subject at Higher level. pretty much exactly the same outlay as higher only the stuff is more advanced.

 

I took maths, english, history, physics and chemistry at higher. i got 5 As, an A1 in physics and chemsitry and an A2 in the rest. In S6 ive taken advanced chemsitry and advancd physics as well as higher economcis to break up my timetable. as for an indication of the level of knowledge, in advanced chemsitry the topics include a basic introduction to quantum mechanics, the laws of thermodynamics etc. advanced physics has things like rotational dynamics, relativistic effects. economcis is just crap and boring and i wish my teacher got run over. by a bus. then another one to make sure.

[blike]

Looks like you are generally referring to highsc

 

K-4 and K-5, the first two years of school, are basically designed to introduce children into a classroom setting. K-4 is not required, but this is when most children begin. Kids are usually around age 4 when they start.

 

After k-5 they enter what we refer to as elementary school. Elementary consists of grades 1-6, each lasting a year. Subjects are usually english, math, some sort of basic science, and history. These classes are at the most basic level. After they finish 6th grade, they go on to what we call middle school, which is grades 7 and 8. These are basically just continuation of classes from elementary school, but some of the brighter students start learning algebra during these years. 9th grade marks the beginning of highschool. During grades 9-12 most students generally take 4 years of english courses, 3 years of mathematics (algebra or higher), 3 years of natural sciences (2 years with lab), 2 years of the same foreign langauge, and four years of electives.

 

Generally, grading is done on a 4.0 scale, with grades A,B,C,D,F. An A is a 4.0, an F is 0.0. It seems like the majority of your grading comes from papers? By this do you mean exams? Or actual papers? Grades here are generally assessed according to the teacher's discretion, usually through exams and papers stretching through the semester.

 

After highschool you can go on to college. I'm not sure how standardized college is across the world, what is your college system like?

[Hitman47]

U.S EDUCATION SUCKS :bs:

[Deslaar]

Originally posted by Hitman47

U.S EDUCATION SUCKS :bs:

All eduation sux, It's contrived to produce "workers". So I say ..."fu** the world"....it's evil!

[greg1917]

Grades are awarded solely on performance in end of year external exams. some subjects have coursework which constitutes a percentage of the overall mark - this is sent away and marked externally as well. For example my advanced higher chemsitry mark depends on my final exam mark (80%) and a project i chose at the start of the year (20%). My Higher economics mark is entirely based on my final exam mark.

 

After this u go on to college or university, university being the preferred option. It depends what uni course u do, theyre all different. for example ive applied to do chemsitry at uni, but theres also loads of other courses like applied chemsitry, biomolecular chemsitry, medicinal chemsitry etc. one course i find stupid is chemical science - this is for people who want to do a course in chemsitry but dont want a chemsitry career at the end, instead they go into business or accountancy or something.

 

Then there are the schemes on offer. Vocations and art subjects have their own set of qualifications but when i chose chemistry i could do either a BSc or an MSci course. BSc means Bachelor of science and was a 4 year course for chemsitry while MSci, Master of Science, was a 5 year course which is fazing out BSc. I applied to St Andrews which I enjoyed when i visited, bit cold being on the North Sea coast tho...

[blike]

Yea, our university system is much like that. Everyone chooses a "major", which is what you are working to get your BS in. Most universities have hundreds of degrees you can earn.

 

For the first year or two of college MOST universities have "General Education" requirements, usually called "liberal arts". These requirements mandate that you have to take 2 semesters of english, math, science, world perspectives, and social sciences, and one semester of art. These are in place to give students a broader education. The last two years are usually spent doing the coursework for your degree.

 

After you earn your degree you can go on for another two years to earn your masters. If you wish to get a PhD or some other advanced degree you have to apply to graduate schools.

[Firedragon52]

Elementary consists of grades 1-6, each lasting a year. Subjects are usually english, math, some sort of basic science, and history. These classes are at the most basic level. After they finish 6th grade, they go on to what we call middle school, which is grades 7 and 8. These are basically just continuation of classes from elementary school, but some of the brighter students start learning algebra during these years. 9th grade marks the beginning of highschool.

Let me elaborate to further show the diversity that is the US educational system. In blike's region, the above may be true. But, at what grade elementary, middle, and high school begin differs from region to region. And whether a student is going to a private or public school.

 

For public schools, it usually depends largely on the population of that particular region. I'm assuming that, if he is from a public school, Blike is from a smaller town, whose schools could fit grades 1-6.

 

I live in a more (I'm assuming) urban (or rather sub-urban) setting in which:

Elementary School is Kindergarten - 4th grade

Middle School is 5th - 8th grade

High School is 9th - 12th grade

[Reina]

In New York City school is broken up as:

 

Elementary School: K-5

Middle School: 6-8

High School: 9-12

[Lance]

All eduation sux, It's contrived to produce "workers". So I say ..."fu** the world"....it's evil!

 

No, no its cookie-cutter factory workers and soldiers.

 

 

Mmmmmm.....cookies.

[Kyle]

I live in a small town in NY and we have the same divisions between Elementary, Middle and High School (public) as Firedragon listed. Our grading varies greatly between teachers. Some base it primarily on exams, others homework, some stress class participation.

 

We work off of a percent scale, not 4.0 or letter system; a 65% is failing. Also, as one more deviation from what blike described, in High School we are required to take 4 years of Social Studies and 3 of the same foreign language.

[CPL.Luke]

I think blike just described the percentage system with what we recieve as our GPA (grade point average)

 

in CT and I believe most of the country, a student recieves either a letter or a percent grade for each of his assignments. These are eventually averaged out at the end of the semester or quarter to produce a final grade. This is given in terms of A's,B's,C's,D's and F's F's qualifying as anything below 60% (sometimes 65%) C is seventies, B is 80's etc.

 

now to some up your average grade, your grade is summed up as a GPA which is as Blike described it

[Reina]

In New York City we dont get letter grades, our grades are numerical, e.g., 80, 90, etc., anything under 65% is failing.

[ydoaPs]

In New York City we dont get letter grades, our grades are numerical, e.g., 80, 90, etc., anything under 65% is failing.

that's crap. a 70% is failing here.

[radiohead]

The american education is needlessly bland and very generalized IMHO. I hate english, I know how to write fine (on paper and computer), yet I still have to take English. I make 100's in it, yet they are, you are not smart enough, you must still take it...

[CPL.Luke]

yourdad what state is that in?

[Glider]

The american education is needlessly bland and very generalized IMHO. I hate english, I know how to write fine (on paper and computer), yet I still have to take English. I make 100's in it, yet they are, you are not smart enough, you must still take it...

The word 'English' should be capitalised.

 

"I know how to write English well

 

"...yet they are, you are not smart enough, you must still take it..."

This is not a sentence. "Yet they tell me I am not smart enough, (so/ therefore) I must still take it" is better.

 

[Reina]

that's crap. a 70% is failing here.

 

LOL well in public school its 65% but when i was in catholic school, anything under 70% was failing so i guess it depends on the type of school system your in.

[-Demosthenes-]

I hate english, I know how to write fine (on paper and computer), yet I still have to take English. I make 100's in it, yet they are, you are not smart enough, you must still take it...

Haha, after like 3rd grade it's like the same class over and over and over again all the way into 12th grade if you take normal classes. I don't know how many times I memorized those stupid prepisitions or underlined the freaking subject of a sentence over the last 8 years. Is it that complicated? Do they think we'll forget the language if we don't take a class every year on it?

LOL well in public school its 65%

Here it's 59% and you're failing... weird.

[Reina]

Haha' date=' after like 3rd grade it's like the same class over and over and over again all the way into 12th grade if you take normal classes. I don't know how many times I memorized those stupid prepisitions or underlined the freaking subject of a sentence over the last 8 years. Is it that complicated? Do they think we'll forget the language if we don't take a class every year on it?

 

Here it's 59% and you're failing... weird.[/quote']

 

59%??? That is toooooo low.

[Commie_Pinko]

You could always have stated, "I know how to write finely."

[Bio-Hazard]

The U.S. education consists of grade school, middle school, high school, and then college, university

 

However, the big difference compared to many different countries is that we spend an extra two years in highschool. However, the whole process is slowed down unlike european children who graduate at 16.