Schoolsystems

  • Hi everybody! :sun:


    I would like to know how the schoolsystems in your countrys work.


    So it is in germany:


    With 6 years you go for 4 years to the elementary.
    After you have finished the 4th class, there are 3 schools you can choose: Hauptschule (for the stupids. [hehe]), Realschule (the middle clever people) and the Gymnasium (for clever pupils. That's where I go to school. [But I'm not clever...höhö... [hehe]])
    On the Hauptschule you go there until you've finshed 9th class. The Realschule you have finished after 10 years of learning and to the Gymnasium you have to go 13 years and then you've got your Abitur and only with your Abitur you can study on an university.
    School starts here at 7:45 am and ends at 1 or 2 pm. Well for me, in the higher classes they've got much more lessons.


    I think that's all. :einfall:


    hoping for answers :P
    ~cobra~


  • Well ~cobra~, are you realle shure about this system in Germany? AFAIK it depends from the 16 differen counties we have. Your description is valid for your county only :-).


    Additionally you have in parallel to the system you described the so called Gesamtschule, where all folks are educated up to the 8th, 9th or 10th class (depends form the county, naturallly). Only after that period yo can join a secondary school. Hopefully not only a gymnasium.


    The expression Gymnasium is one of these false friends, which means in english a totally different thing than in the german language. In the english sense of the wording it is a sporting area, AFAIK. In the german sense its a secondary school.


    All the best
    Klaas

  • Germanies school system sounds quite patronising, sorry if you like it though...
    Er you have 3 years in infant school
    4 years in junior school
    5 years in high school
    2/3(3 if you kept back a year) years in college(optional)
    and then university differ on what course you do, my sister is going into medicine which can go up to 7 years!

  • what do you mean by patronising? because we distinguish between good and not so good pupils?


    Well, as klaas mentioned we also have these comprehensive schools where everyone can go and they try to teach quick and slow learners all at once. But in my eyes that's a silly thing to do, at least if you allow everyone to go there.


    We have so many pupils who don't want to learn in school and when you put them in one class with the ones who want to learn, they pull them all down. Believe me, I've been there.


    Maybe it might sound that way, when Cobra describs it, but the general idea is to fit the pupils needs better. There is no sence in demanding too much of the ones who learn very slowly. And there is also no sence to have the very clever ones work slower, because a lot of talented people turn out as rebels, when they don't have enough challenges and are simply bored with lessons.


    True, there are a lot of mistakes, where pupils are sorted in the wrong school (by the way, in my province they are discussing it the parents should continue to have a say where there children will go to school - a recommendation of the teachers in elementary school is made and might be binding in the future)
    If parents believe that their children are underrated, they often go to one of those comprehensive schools.

  • I wouldn't say race has much to do with it, but yeah it does sound patronising in the way that i segregates everyone into their own groups. But saying that british schools have different classes that segregate people depending on intelligence, but i think making schools for each group sounds a bit too much of a fuss.

  • There is much discussion these days how to reform the whole german school system because it is quite old. I think, it was introduced around 1900 or even earlier, so it really is a bit antiquated. ;-) (Its just the same with our health and unemployment incurence, these systems are "broken" as well because they haven't been improved for so many yeras.) Only the idea of the Gesamtschule (which would be a comprehensive school) is a bit newer, from around the '60s I believe. It might have been a good idea to try and teach all pupils together -- so the good ones spur on the not so good ones -- but it doesn't seem to work too good -- most times it seems to be the other way around.


    And then there is the problem that in every federal state the school system differs, e.g. in the eastern states there are only 12 years for Gymnasium but here it is 13. But when you get your Abitur (university-entrance diploma) it is valid in all 16 states. Ther is much historical difference between the way the school works in the different states.


    And then there was this "Pisa study" when evereybody suddenly realised that -- oh my god -- our children are sooo dumb, compared to the other european countries! ;-) Everybody (politicians mainly) suddenly went crazy and put forward new ideas how to do it better in the future, but most of them were just silly.


    I personally think the whole problem is motivation: If you get a teacher who doesn't care about his pupils and does not challange them to be good, and if you have parents who either can't or won't help you, it's quite difficult to become motivated enough to learn. Learning isn't somthing you can force upon people, they have to want to learn. Every child wants to learn, it is something that is build into our genes. But most times this natural instinct is just wasted...


    Sorry, this has been a rather long posting. ;-)

  • Where I worked lately, the quality of schools in different countries became importand, since collegues of mine had to go abroad are come back from other countries. So we had some know how about schools in different countries. People tried to avoid the USA and especiallily Australia.


    Children which were exellent in australian schools had in fact a very bad education according to the standards of Bremen, a federal state of in the north of Germany. Since a whole group of employees came back from Australiia, this was not only the experienxe of one person.


    Another collegue of mine told mie about a program of visiting schools in another country, organized be the german school the child viists in the moment. They offer schools in different countries. The US has a very bad reputation in their ranking. Due to the schoils experience you learn at a secondary school in the US (like a Gymnasium in Germany) mainly football or chear leading. A year in the USA was described as a 'useless year'


    Klaas

  • I don't want to make a prejudice but if people of the Hauptschule come into our Gymnasium you recognize at once from which school they come. Maybe our school system with the three schools is a bit patrosing but the pupils are good and on the right level aided.
    One of my classmates is now for one school year in the USA and he told us that he wold write very good marks. I know this has to sound arrogant but maybe he's unchallenged because of the american system with their one uniforn school.

  • Quote

    Original von ~Cobra~
    (...) there are 3 schools you can choose: Hauptschule (for the stupids) [hehe] (...)



    hey, hey, hey, please stop for a moment! what do you mean with "hauptschule for the stupids" ?? I mean, okay that was a joke, but I was at the hauptschule since last year, too and I'm not stupid. my 4th class teacher did'nt like me because I came from a foreign country....and I had to go to the hauptschule.....but now I am in the 11th class.
    it doesn't really matter
    and you should know, that there are many stupid pupil at the gymnasium, too [hehe] :D



    puhh....you make me angry^^

  • TH3GiRL! : I'm sorry, i know that's only a prejudice. Of course there aren't only stupid people and on the Gymnasium there are stupid people too. Sorry once more but that's only what i've seen and that's not everything. ;-)

  • ah yes in German a few months ago we was talking bout it, luckly i would be in the Gymnasium. (i'm a boff muwhahah)


    are systems are.. just secondary school, everyone of all abilties go there and they put you in the groups your capabile of.


    Most secondary schools have around 2,000 pupils.


    Unless you are rich you can pay for a private school, which could cost around £2,000 a year.

  • The system in Canada is like this.
    At about age 5 you enter elementary school, which has 8 levels: kindergarten and then grades 1 through 7.
    Then you go to high school for grades 8 to 12.


    In our system, the class always goes as fast as the slowest. There are no divisions based on academic ability. In my case, I was always at the top of the class, grasped concepts very easily, and was able to work quickly, so this made my time at school extremely frustrating and detrimental. As a result of never having to do any real work to succeed, and of skipping most classes in high school, I have developed little work ethic, and see the time I spent there, the good portion of 13 years, as utterly wasted.


    Therefore, I am much in favour of school systems that discriminate based on academic ability. All students should be given the opportunity to have an education, but it does not make sense to force all into the same mould.


    Of course, my situation could have been remedied if my parents had been able to afford to send me to a private school or to have a private tutor, but high-quality (or even adequate) education should not be reserved for the wealthy. (Here, private school costs, per year, about $10000-14000 CAD, which is about €7000-10000 or £5000-7000.)


    It was easy to meet the entrance requirements for university during my last few years of high school, so now I am much happier -- university is a lot more stimulating and challenging :)

  • in england we have 3 years in infants, then 4 years in junior and 5 years in secondary school


    you can then go to college or sixth form if you want to and then move to university


    smart people and stupid people are all thrown into the same school unless your rich then you can pay to go to a private school


    :mad: stinky rich people :shout:

  • in Croatia we have [hehe] 8 years of primary school(startinig at the age of 6-7 [hehe] ), the 3-4 years of high school.........and then ..... in people s choice........if they wanna go 3 college .. = more 4 years........and so on.....
    [hehe] [hehe]