UK School vs Generic USA School ... (...Re: Question for British ...)

[Steve]

---  "Mike" <mcrudele78 at ...> wrote:

> 
> Mike:
> The Charter school I worked for runs things a little differently. 
> They call Kindergarten through 2nd grade their "Primary School" 
> kids ...
> 
> Grades 3 through 5 were called "Elementary School" and Grades 
> 6, 7, and 8 were called the "Junior Academy". That's as high 
> as the school went. All of these grades got out at 4:00 pm at 
> this school.
> 
> ...

bboyminn:

For what it's worth, I probably went to the most generically
structured American school.

Kindergarten - half day or every other day 

1st through 6th grade - 'Grade' school, full day. Sometimes
referred to as Primary School but most often simply 'Grade
School'. 

7th and 8th grade - Junior High School or middle school

9th through 12th grade - High School - Freshman, Sophomore, 
Junior, and Senior

The next level was different back then, but now Community
Colleges are a combination of Academic, Trade, and Technical
schools. As others have pointed out, you can get a two 
year Associate Degree in a general academic area like business,
Liberal Arts, or general science. You can study technical areas
like computer programming, and computer repair. Or, you can study
technical trades like automotive, construction, manufacturing,
or trades in the service sector.

A parallel path to that would be either a state four year 
college or university, with state colleges being more minor 
institutions of higher learning and therefore cheaper, and 
state university meaning THE State University, which is a 
larger, more prominent, prestigious, and expensive school, or
a private college or university. Private colleges and 
universities are usually considered the best and the most 
expensive. 

Usually, you are required to carry 16 credit hours per
semester to be considered full time and to graduate in four
years. I took 12 credit hours and was still considered a full
time student. Less that 12 credit hours was considered part
time.

Typical classes like Math, business, etc... are 3 to 4 credit
hours each. On rare occasion an upper level class might be
5 credit hours. Physical education classes and minor general
information classes were typically 1 to 2 credit hours. I
think I had accumulated something like 220 credit hours when
I graduated from state college.

Middle school in the USA seems to be the most variable. In
some cases it is grades 6 through 8, in other cases, it is
grades 7 through 9, or as above, in my case, simply 7th and
8th grade.

School alter their middle school for a variety of reasons.
Some are trying to get kids of similar maturity levels 
together. For other schools, it is simply a matter of logistics.
The break the grades apart according to how much room they
have and where they have it. It should be noted that to greater
and lesser extents, USA schools try to keep grade, junior/middle,
and high school students apart. In larger school systems, that
mean separate buildings at different locations. In smaller 
schools, they are usually in separate parts of the same large 
building complex.

Another unique part of USA schools is that in 'grade' school,
you have one teacher teaching all subjects. As soon as you
enter junior or middle school, it is structured more like
high school where you have one separate teacher for each
subject plus study hall periods.  

I'm under the impression that someone who completes 5th FORM
(for lack of a better distinction) in the UK, has the equivalent
of a high school diploma in the USA. What are now referred to 
as upper and lower 6th Form are the UK equivalent of college 
preparation courses.

In the USA, high school students choose a course of study that
either leads to college or leads to trades while they are
still in high school. Those wishing to go to college choose
the courses necessary to gain college admittance. Those not
wishing to go to college most likely concentrate on less
demanding and more trade oriented classes. So, I think in
that sense, we (in the USA) have rolled upper and lower 6th
form into the general curriculum of our four year high school. 

Now days modern USA high schools have AP or Advanced Placement 
classes where high school level students can go to the local
college as part of their high school education. The college 
classes they take count both toward a college degree and 
toward their high school diploma. One advantage to the students
is that the State pays for those college classes. Many students
are able to make substantial in-roads toward their college 
degree while still in high school. 

The UK system doesn't seem that different from the USA 
system, they just use different terminology and a slightly
different structure. Though it does seem that the UK system
emphasizes subjects like history, literature, and English
more strongly. In the USA, if you plan to go on to college,
the emphasis is usually on business or science. It seems
the USA system, especially for those intent on going to 
college, the emphasis seems to concentrated on making money,
whereas the UK system seems to be more about gaining general
knowledge and perspective on the world. 

Just a few long rambling thoughts.

Steve/bboyminn