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Yes, that's really interesting question Marmel, as determined by classes in other countries? in Russia, respectively, as well as in the UK. A, B, C, D, e and so on. That means 1A, 1B...... Or, respectively, 11 And 11 A B .... as in others?
It's called "parallel classes," but I am not sure whether anyone else uses this particular system;
"Typically about 1,000 children studied in one Soviet secondary school. Levels of education comprised 10 classes from the first to the tenth. And each class was divided into several parallel classes. They were numbered like 9 "A", 9 "B", 9 "V" and so on for parallel classes of the ninth class in this case. Usually a parallel class was also called just class. So, in one parallel class, like 9 "A" for instance, some 30 to 40 children of the same age studied together, while 9 "B" was a separate group of children, that had lessons in another time and place, although it had the same education program."
( Keep in mind that in the US students don't stay in the same school for 12 years, they keep on changing them, from elementary (K-5th) to Middle School ( 6-8th grade) and High School (9-12th grade))
It's called "parallel classes," but I am not sure whether anyone else uses this particular system;
"Typically about 1,000 children studied in one Soviet secondary school. Levels of education comprised 10 classes from the first to the tenth. And each class was divided into several parallel classes. They were numbered like 9 "A", 9 "B", 9 "V" and so on for parallel classes of the ninth class in this case. Usually a parallel class was also called just class. So, in one parallel class, like 9 "A" for instance, some 30 to 40 children of the same age studied together, while 9 "B" was a separate group of children, that had lessons in another time and place, although it had the same education program."
( Keep in mind that in the US students don't stay in the same school for 12 years, they keep on changing them, from elementary (K-5th) to Middle School ( 6-8th grade) and High School (9-12th grade))
Speaking of weather, Acajack, schools often close if it's extremely hot (like 42C or higher).
It was 35C but felt like 45+C with the humidex/heat index for several days here last week (the last week of school), and my kids' school did not close. And it is not air conditioned. Kids went outside for recess and lunch anyway but of course things were closely monitored for water intake, heat stroke and sun burn.
The school system in the Canadian province of Quebec, as with most things, is different from the rest of the country. In Canada, education is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the provinces, but no province goes as far as Quebec does in doing its own thing.
For starters, Quebec has a subsidized preschool daycare system (7 dollars a day – but with other subsidies and tax deductions it is close to being free). This does not exist elsewhere in Canada. Attendance is not mandatory but most kids go anyway. Though not the original intent this system (called Centres de la petite enfance or CPE which means Early Chidhood Centres) is more or less evolving into the first level of the public school system. The CPE day is not super-structured but kids do learn their ABCs there, to count to ten, to get dressed by themselves to go outside, etc., before they enter the regular elementary school system. Kids who do not speak French at home also learn the basics of French there and so are not completely lost when they arrive at “real” school and often don’t need special second language classes.
Elementary school starts with maternelle (kindergarten) at age 5. Attendance is not mandatory at this age but pretty much all of the kids go anyway.
Elementary school starts at Grade 1 when most kids are 6. Physical education is mandatory pretty much everywhere I am sure. The second language taught in French-language schools is of course English – it starts right away in Grade 1. (Used to be Grade 3 but this was moved up to Grade 1 five or ten years ago.) The vast majority of kids go to public elementary schools (even the upper classes) and private preschool or elementary is only a small phenomenon.
The school day at my kids’ school runs from 8:10 am to 3:30 pm. They have two 15-minute recesses and 80 minutes for lunch.
Elementary school runs to Grade 6 and most kids are 12 when they finish.
Secondary (high) school starts in Grade 7 which is known as secondaire 1 or première secondaire.
High school always ends at secondaire 5/cinquième secondaire which would be the equivalent of Grade 11 in the rest of North America. Most kids are 16 (sometimes 17) when they graduate high school in Quebec. Which is quite young by North American standards.
High school in Quebec is somewhat similar to the rest of Canad and the States but is even less rah-rah-rah “be true to your school!”, “High School Musical” style. For example, jackets and other clothing with the school name and logo on them are not really that common.
Sports are still very present, both intramural and extramural, as are other activities outside the educational program that could be called extra-curricular.
After high school, Quebec has an extensive public junior college system called CEGEP which pretty much everyone goes to also. It is close to free (150 dollars a year) and depending on whether you are a) learning a technical trade or b) destined for university, you will spend three (technical) or two (pre-university) years there. I find you end up in a college-style environment fairly young in Quebec, sometimes at 16.
After that, university is basically like it is in the rest of North America. Contrary to France, where it is more like a high school diploma, a baccalauréat in Quebec is a bachelor’s degree from a university. And then you have master’s and PhDs.
Getting back to elementary and secondary, the school year generally starts in the last week of August. There are only two long breaks during the year: approx. two weeks at Christmas and one week “March” break in, you guessed it, March. There is no long break for the Toussaint (All Saint’s Day – Nov. 1) like they have in France. This holiday is not even widely celebrated in Quebec.
The school year always ends of the last weekday before June 24 – St-Jean-Baptiste Day, which is a big holiday in Quebec. Students get a minimum of two solid months of summer holidays. Sometimes it is 9 weeks.
Going to private school is much more common in high school in Quebec. Probably 15-20% of all high school kids in the province go to private high schools. This is where the skimming of the upper class and higher performing students (sometimes but not always both) happens.
Most private schools in Quebec were originally run by religious orders (Catholic) and have been around a long time. Most are not particularly religious anymore and many are completely secular but retain the old Catholic “Saint-“ name. With some exception, tuition to the private schools is quite cheap (think 3000 dollars a year), thanks to subsidies from the government which agree to fund them partially in exchange for the private schools following the government’s program to the letter (albeit in an enriched form) and allowing in promising students from less well-off backgrounds.
School attendance is legally mandatory until age 16.
Quebec school boards also employ big yellow school buses, but not at all schools since in some schools all kids live close by and are walkers. In high school in the largest cities it is not uncommon for kids to travel to and from school on public transit.
Interesting points, and really refreshing that nobody has been bashing anybody else yet ...
I think thats because every school system is different but at the end of the day the education is leading to the same thing in every country and that is a bright future for our nations children.
Grading system: 1 - 10 subdivided with intervals of one decimal place (1.1 to 9.9). Anything 5.5 or up is a pass. It's extremely rare to get a 10 (0.5% occurance rate) or 9 (1.5% occurance rate) as a 10 would imply absolute perfection and this is generally considered unattainable (except for multiple choice exams with zero mistakes but this is very uncommon). Therefore, the equivalent of an "A" would be a 7.5 - 8. When I was younger I didn't quite understand this difference and I would be in awe of "straight A students" in the US because you would have to be an absolute genius to be a "straight 10 student" lol A 1 is usually only given to students who didn't hand anything in.
School system:
As you can see, secondary school is divided into three main levels: VMBO (further subdivided into 4 levels), HAVO and VWO. VMBO is the lowest level and VWO is the highest. After that comes tertiary education, also divided into three levels: MBO, HBO and WO (WO = University). There is a strong seperation between primary school and secondary school. As the image shows, primary education is at the same level for all students. The grades are called "groups" and it starts with Group 1 (age 4) and ends with Group 8 (age 12). After that, you go on to secondary school (which level depends on your abilities), where the grades are called "classes" and it starts with Class 1 and ends with Class 4/5/6 (depending on your level). In the image, the arrows in between the levels indicate that it is possible for students to transfer to a higher level once they've completed the lower level. A lot of motivated students do this.
The VMBO, HAVO and VWO are further divided into several different 'profiles'. I don't remember exactly how it works for VMBO (I did VWO myself which is very different) but for HAVO and VWO, all students choose a certain profile at the end of their third year. There are four different profiles (I am going to quote Wikipedia here for a moment):
Economie en Maatschappij (E&M; literally, "economy and society") emphasizes social sciences, economics, and history. The mathematics classes focus on statistics and stochastics. This profile prepares for management and business administration.
Natuur en Gezondheid (N&G; literally, "nature and health") emphasizes biology and natural sciences. The mathematics classes focus on algebra, geometry and calculus. This profile is necessary to attend medical training.
Natuur en Techniek (N&T; literally, "nature and technology") emphasizes natural sciences. The mathematics classes focus on algebra, geometry and calculus. This profile is necessary to attend technological and natural science training.
VWO is divided into Atheneum and Gymnasium (they're at the same level but Gymnasium includes Latin and Greek).
The curriculum for students depends on their profile. Certain subjects are obligatory (the "profile subjects") but there are also a number of "free subjects" students can choose according to their interests; for example, a C&M student can take economics, an E&M student can take biology, a N&G student can take French, etc. This means that the classes for each of the "free subjects" can change, you're not always with the same students. Only the "profile subjects" have the same classes because everyone in that class chose the same profile. I hope I'm making sense
The Dutch system is a bit complicated but it's of good quality. It's ranked as the 9th best in the world according to the OECD.
We have pre-school/kindergarten up until the child is around 5-6 before they go on to primary school. Primary school is from prep to grade 6 here and high school is from year 7 to year 12. Up until grade 6, the grade you're in are called grades until high school where your grade starts being called 'year' and 'grade' tends to refer to your academic progress.
High school/secondary school (most high schools are called 'secondary college' here with college being used for high school, instead of university, unlike America) is compulsory here in Victoria until year 10. For people continuing on with school past year 10, they have a choice of two different pathways for the next two years. One is called VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) which gives you an ATAR score (the score that you need to get into university), as it is for people who want to go onto university while VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) is for people who prefer more hands-on work and want to go to TAFE (TAFE is kind of like, a substitute for university) and does not give you an ATAR score.
As for the grading system used in American schools, it's generally from "A" to "F" in all but the earlier elementary years, when my school system (and the others that I knew of) graded students as "U" (unsatisfactory), "S" (satisfactory), or "E" (excellent).
As for the "A" to "F" system, it excludes "E" and usually includes qualifiers ("+" or "-" in with the exception of "A", which has a "-" but no "+", although "A+" is a common expression) and F, which is not qualified at all as it is a failing grade. "F" was anything under 60% in my high school; "D" was generally 60-69%, "C" was 70-79%, "B" 80-89%, and "A" 90% or above. What percentages were qualified depended on the teacher; generally, 88% was a "B+" and 82% a "B-".
Beginning in 6th grade (in the school I went to) and continuing throughout university, the grades of the classes are averaged (weighted for credit, of course) to produce a GPA (grade point average) score. In all my schools it worked as follows:
A 4.0
A- 3.7
B+ 3.3
B 3.0
B- 2.7
C+ 2.3
C 2.0
C- 1.7
D+ 1.3
D 1.0
D- 0.7
F 0.0
One must have a 1.0 GPA to be promoted to the next grade at the high school I attended.
For most students, anything below a "B" or "B-" is considered a poor grade, except perhaps in some especially difficult classes (such as mathematics courses).
What percentage of a teacher's class is determined by assignments or tests and how they are graded is at the discretion of the individual teacher, as is the strictness of the grading. Once, when I was doing poorly in a class, the teacher was so impressed by my paper that she gave me a 117% on it, which alone raised my overall grade for the class. Some teachers are known to be easy graders and others are known for their rigor. Studies have proven that considerable "grade inflation" has taken place over the years, to the point now where teachers are afraid to give students who make something of an effort less than a "B", probably partly out of fear that their parents will come in and complain to them. This even happens at the university level!
Some schools automatically give students taking honor classes an additional one-point advantage for those classes, so it is possible to have a GPA above 4.0. My school did not do this.
Universities principally look at the student's GPA and their ACT or SAT score (two parallel college admissions tests developed by two private corporations), although they also factor in their course load (whether it consisted of easy or difficult classes), extracurricular activities, status as an ethnic minority, etc.
(USA):
Scheduling:
180 days
3 hours for Kindergarten
8-2:30 for Elementary/Middle/Most High Schools
8-3:30 for High schools with 8 classes
30-35 minute lunch, 15 minute break for all of the aforementioned
Middle school: 6 classes
high school: 6-8 classes
Lunch: Bring one's own lunch, or buy at cafeteria (without parent signature, students must stay in campus).
TransportIn descending popularity): Walk, bike, car (in High School, sophomores and older drive themselves)
Very few people ride school buses because proximity of one's residence, rather than academic scores, are the requisites into a certain school.
Discipline: Gum prohibited in Middle Schools (Lest you think these schools are as clean as Singapore, be informed that they are poorly enforced), Tardiness punishable by lunchtime trash cleanup; in High schools, 3 tardiness marks in a semester earns one a detention.
NO uniforms
Cheating results in NO credit, consecutive cheating in Suspension/expulsion.
Consecutive violation of dress code, one-time offence for drugs/alcohol/weapons possession results in expulsion.
Citizenship marks only in Middle School, NO ethics class, Religious instruction PROHIBITED, although student-led prayers and Bible reading are tolerated.
Profanity tolerated. (a skewed system indeed; a tardy but otherwise well behaved child may be heavily penalized while a studious but arrogant and crude student goes off scot-free.
Academics: Gifted and Talented Programme (GATE) available to 4-8 graders who score 95% on OLSAT reasoning Test, have a high IQ, or test in the highest category for both Math and English in the standardized test.
APASS is same as GATE except whereas one can be enrolled in GATE for only one subject (e.g. English), APASS covers all subjects.
Maths: GATE students taking Math take Pre-Algebra in 6th grade (and take Calculus in 11th).
Students passing Pre-Algebra placement test (before 7th grade) take Pre-Algebra in 7th grade (Calculus in 12th).
Students failing Algebra Readiness Test (before 8th grade) take Pre-Algebra in 8th grade (Calculus in College).
Students failing Algebra Readiness Test (before 9th grade) take Pre-Algebra in 9th grade (Calculus in College).
To get into a good college, it is ESSENTIAL that one takes Calculus in 11th or 12th grade.
People who take Calculus in College can technically apply to good colleges, but who would take them as all the other applicants have already taken Calculus?
Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that Maths is the most vital subject in America, contrary to popular myth.
Foreign language is the second most important subject. Start early, or no good colleges will accept you either.
If you take 4-5 years of foreign language, Good Colleges might accept you. If only 1-3 years, NOOOOOOOOO.
Universal or common options for foreign languages: Spanish, French, American Sign Language
Rarely offered:All other languages (like Chinese, German, Japanese, and Korean).
Honours and Advanced Placement programmes are available for High School students in every subject and one need not take Honours for all subjects. One must get an "A" (e.g. 94% or above) in a College Preparatory (regular class) for BOTH semesters to enter Honours/AP course. However, one must attain an 84% or above for BOTH semesters in Honours/AP to continue Honours/AP the following year.
Extracurricular are vital to be accepted into a good college, so even academically excelling students will participate in sports, at least 25 hours (annually) of community service, and orchestra; thus a "nerd" may simultaneously be a "jock" (sorry for derogatory terms)
Testing:Annual State Standards Test on Math, Science, History and English is in multiple choice and rates students as Advanced, Proficient, Basic, Below Basic, and Far Below Basic. These scores do not affect one's transcript/college app and are purely a measure of a school's academic performance.
Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT): 3 subjects: Writing, Math, and Reading. Each subject has a maximum point value of 800. Thus, a perfect score is 2400. Good colleges only take students with scores approaching 2200. Three and a half hours, including 25 minute essay. There exists a similar test called ACT which includes Science as well as the aforementioned subjects. It is equally difficult. Cost: About $25 (all prices in USD)
SAT II: Twenty 1-hour tests in subjects such as English Literature, Science (Biology, Chemistry, etc.), Foreign Languages, and World and American History. Good colleges typically desire only scores above 750 for at least 3 tests. Cost: $18-23
AP Class/Tests: Advanced Placement (AP) Tests are taken in May and also cover a variety of subjects like SAT II but have accompanying classes that are typically one year long and are equivalent in difficulty/material to freshmen college classes. Tests are 3.5-4 hours long. Scores rated on a scale of 1-5. Generally, Good colleges desire 8 tests, most with scores of "5." Cost:$90
Low-income students may take the tests (AP, SAT, SAT II) for free or at a discounted price.
Grades: A=90-100%, B=80-90, C=70-80, D=60-70, F=below 60
Grade Point Average (GPA): For College Prep and most Honours classes: A=4 points, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0. To continue in college prep, a C or better is required for both semesters. For AP and designated Honours classes: A=5, B=4, C=3, D=1, F=0.
GPA formula: Summate the point values corresponding to the letter grade for all of your classes. Then, divide the sum by the number of classes.
Good colleges almost only accept candidates with a GPA of, perhaps, 4.0.
And there you have it. America's educational system, a rigid, elitist reality far different from popular conception. Like Asian countries, people are thus obsessed with tutoring centres to boost their test scores and get into advanced maths.
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Quebec
A 1 is usually only given to students who didn't hand anything in. 
In descending popularity): Walk, bike, car (in High School, sophomores and older drive themselves)
