"How Are the Schools in America Compared to Other countries?"

By: Sigal L.

(An American Citizen)

 

      Schools in the U.S are different throughout the country. There are Private Schools and Public Schools. Some schools are all year round and others are just part of the year. However, most schools are not all year round.      

      For example, the schools I attend is a Public School that runs between August through May. Its name is Webb Bridge Middle School. I'm only in it for the rest of year, and will then be going going to a different school because I will then be in High School.

      There are three different schools you must attend. Elementary School is first which is six years, Kindergarten to Fifth Grade, and the Middle School which is from Sixth Grade to Eighth Grade- what I'm in now. Finally the last school you must attend is High School which is from Ninth Grade to Tenth Grade. Once you graduate from High School you are around seventeen or eighteen years old and can apply to a collage to go to. Most people do but is not something you must do. It does, however, help you in many ways in life such as getting a job and having a good career. To graduate collage and get your degree you must attend for a least four years. After that you can stop or keep going if you would like or if the career you chose requires more schooling like becoming a doctor. 

      Back to regular school (Elementary, Middle, and High School) you must attend it because it is a law. It is normally five days a week; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and then Saturday and Sunday is the weekend with no school. 

      To give a feel on how a school day runs I will use myself as an example.

      First, school goes for seven hours a day. There are eight periods in each day that are each fifty minutes long. Classes include; Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, and either Reading or a World Language with the choice of French, Spanish, Latin, or Chinese. That is five periods right there. Then there are connections or electives which are things like Art, Forensic Science, Health, Physical Education(PE/Gym), Band, Orchestra, Chorus, Video Journalism, etc. For these you have two different ones each quarter. Now you are up to seven periods. The last one is just one for lunch and gives you time to do any type of work you want, like maybe homework or studying. Lunch is thirty minutes long and the other twenty minutes is the working time.

      Holidays and Breaks also happen. Now the school doesn't give every student off for every type of religious holiday because then there would be to many breaks, but you can miss school if it's your own religious holiday-that would be an excused absence. The school gives breaks throughout the year. There is  a Thanksgiving week long break, a Winter Break that is two weeks long, and a Spring Break. These are the major breaks. There are then some breaks that gives you a four day weekend one day being a teacher workday, the weekend, and then a day that celebrates an important day or person for the U.S.

      The school year is August through May, split into two semester with each semester containing two quarters which adds up to four quarters. Then when the last day of school (May twenty-second) comes around there are roughly about three months of summer and then you go back to school in August to the next grade and enter a new school year

 

 

Hi my name is jay I am eleven years old. I live in israel in a small town called Atlit which is near Haifa. I would like to right back to you on the letter you wrote to our blog

 

                        In Israel there are private schools and public schools. Most children go to public schools. Schools run between September through June. In the public schools there are between six to eight lessons per day, The main subjects are: Hebrew, math, English, bible, science, sports, and sometimes an extra language such as Arab or French. Some public schools are religious. In these schools there are extra lessons for religion and bible and they also pray in the morning. For the Jewish schools, holidays are according to the Jewish calendar. In December we have one week holiday. In September we have Jewish new year and a few more holidays, which are about two weeks holiday. and in April we have the longest holiday which is two and a half weeks. The Arab schools are divided to three: Muslim, Christian, and Druze. Their holidays are part of their religious calendar.

 

                        The school system starts at the age of six, up until eighteen and is divided in this way:  Students attend in middle school from ages six to twelve. From ages twelve to fifteen there are three years of junior high, and from fifteen to eighteen they attend high school. By law you have to  attend school for nine years. At the age of eighteen you have to go to the army. Boys have to go for three years and girls have to go for two years. After that if you wish to keep studying you can go to university.

  

                     The school that I attend is a private school in a spirit of dialogue. It is called Meitar. Meitar believes in dialogue between the teachers and the students. We don't have a fixed schedule, the students decide on what classes they want to attend. Classes range from: Hebrew , soccer ,math, science, art, cooking, baking, music, English and more, from which we have to choose and commit to the ones we like. The school starts officially at 8:00 AM with a morning meeting of about half an hour, in which we talk about important things about the school and sometimes about Israel. And at the end of the day each group organizes and tidies the area that belongs to them.

 

                     Our school starts at the age of five and is up until the age of fourteen. The children are divided into three groups: the young group is from five to eight years old. The elementary group is from  nine to twelve years old and the oldest group is from twelve to fourteen years old.