AmerLisa

I would like more than one week at Easter as well. There are pros and cons to both.

kins

Where we live the best weather by far is in summer so a long holiday then suits us perfectly.

I would like the schools to have a week's break in October though. They're all pretty tired at this stage and we've still got a couple of weeks to go till Thanksgiving.

transatlantic_chap

Yeah, we just had half term -- a nice break for everyone.

notonuksoil

My experiences US v's UK schools (sorry if its a bit long winded)

My eldest is now in 11th grade in the US, she started school in the UK at a tiny village school with a total of around 200 kids in the whole school reception to year 6.
She was reading and writing, knew her 2, 3, 5, and 10 times table, basic addition and subtraction at the end of her reception year. We moved to the US at the end of this year and she was age ready for kindergarten here, she was tested by the school and asked to recite the alphabet, count to 20 and pick out colours and shapes - we were told she had passed and was ready for kindergarten!
After a discussion with my daughter, the principle, the teacher and the school district it was decided to move her up to 1st grade.

She completed 1st and 2nd grade at the large local elementary school in a school district considered very good with consistently excellent results. There were 650+ kids in grades 1-5.

We then returned to the UK where she went back into her old class at the local village school, she had fallen behind her peer group from her reception class but caught up fairly quickly. She did year 3 and year 4 in the UK then we came back to the US - again same school she did 1st and 2nd grade.

She was tested AGAIN, math and english as they wanted to put her into 4th grade because of her age (April birthday), she actually tested at a 7th grade math level so went back into 5th grade with the friends she made in 1st and 2nd grade to help with the transition.

I've found the early years elementary education in her UK school was far superior to what she got here in the US. However as she has moved through middle school and onto high school the education here in the US seems to be more comprehensive (maybe as she is in honours and AP classes ?) She keeps in touch with her friends in the UK and her best friend was here two weeks ago, they were comparing what they were both doing. It seems that my daughters calculus class is more on a par with an A level syllabus than the year 11 course that her friend was currently doing in the UK. Also here in the US she has more options as far as subject choices and electives compared to her friends in the UK.

transatlantic_chap

Thanks for the post! I prefer long-winded!

The narrow focus of UK secondary education does concern me. I guess it depends on the child. If someone knows what they want to focus on, then the A-Level system is perfectly sensible. Seems like those kids are in the minority, though. It's more often the case that kids have to pick their subjects and then they are sort of setting themselves up for a narrowly focus education, whether they want one or not. I like the broad range of subjects in the US, which persists even into university. At my UK university I studied just the one subject for four years (more or less). I like that in the US you can take more of a spread of subjects.

So the consensus seems to be that the UK system is good for the early years, but that is less effective as things progress...

Sally Redux

On the other hand, doing two more years of General Ed at university can be tiresome if you really want to concentrate on your major.

notonuksoil

We are currently doing the "looking at colleges" thing. She is undecided if she wants to go to college here in the US or back in the UK. Having spoken to 3 or four Uni's in the UK they have all told us she will have to do a foundation year first before moving onto the degree course - so 4 yrs for a degree here in the US or 1 yr foundation course then 3 yrs to do the degree in the UK paying overseas students rate.

Cost is a huge issue here in the US I guess we will have to wait and see what scholarships/aid etc she gets offered here

Sally Redux

Why does she need to do the foundation year?

notonuksoil

Basically if she wants to do a science based degree in the UK they said a US HS Diploma wasn't enough to get her a place on a degree course she would HAVE to do a foundation year first. The foundation course I guess is a mix of an AP course here and an A level in the UK more subject specific maybe. Shes looking at either an engineering or TV production degree.

Sally Redux

Thanks...I was panicking a bit when you said that, but I don't think my daughter needs that for the subjects she's looking at. Good luck with your plans.

Bob

I thought more and more kids were doing AS levels in the UK these days?

Basically half a A level, so that could double up the subjects, or change subjects a year in if they feel they don't like it any more.

notonuksoil

I'd call the Uni's that you are looking at in the UK and check.

We spoke to UAL (university of the Arts London) at a college open night here in NY they required her to take a foundation year before enrolling on a BA Hons course in Film and TV. They said if she was doing an arts (fashion/drawing/art) based course she could go straight onto the degree course based on her portfolio but all other degree courses required US students to do the foundation year first.

I then called two other Uni's and got the same reply both were for BSc courses.

Sally Redux

They seem to list requirements in terms of a minimum GPA, SAT results & AP classes on the websites - but maybe I do need to check.

Bob

Thing is, they say that but when you're being serious about going to the place, it's surprising how many drop that requirement when they realise they'll be getting a international student fee.

Their whole attitude seems to change a lot with all that money up front.

MarylandNed

Not just state to state. Within many states, the individual counties actually run the schools. So there can be differences between one county school system and the next even within the same state (e.g. start/end times can differ within different counties in the same state) although each has to enforce state standards. And, of course, as you say, individual schools differ from each other. But that's because it's the PEOPLE who make or break a school. If you have good a good principal and good teachers, you'll more than likely have a good school.

I have found the opposite to be true. Because marks are awarded for every assignment and piece of homework, students who are not academic (or who don't test well) can receive a large percentage of their final grade from stuff done in the classroom or at home (where they can obtain help from parents and siblings). At middle school, my son finished one year with an overall "A" in Algebra 1 even though he obtained a "D" in the final exam! I went to the teacher and asked if he seriously thought my son understood Algebra 1 and was ready to take on Geometry! In the end I had him repeat Algebra 1 the following year. This time he was bored by the homework assignments so didn't score as well there but did much better on the final exam. He got a "B" on the final exam and an overall "B" for the year. So he understood much more but ended up with a lower overall grade!