School and education – maturitná otázka

British education

Schooling is compulsory (povinný) from the age of 5 to the age of 16. Children have 11 years of obligatory school altogether. Their school day starts at 9 a.m. and they finish at about 4 p.m. British have just six weeks of summer holiday but they have more holidays during the school year.

Children may attend playgroups (jesle) and kindergartens (školky). At the age of 5 English children start their primary education and when they are 7 years old they move from infant (první stupeň) to junior (druhý stupeň) primary school.

At the age of 11 they attend secondary school. When they are 16, all students have to take GCSE (General Certifikate of Secondary Education). After they can either leave school and start work or go on for vocational training (odborný výcvik). If they want to study at a university, they have to stay two more years as „sixth formers“ and take the A-levels.

Most schools have their uniform that students have to wear.

Public school in Britain are not public (veřejné), they are private and very expensive.

American education

When Americans children finish nursery school (mateřská školka) and kindergarten (školka), they start elementary school (ZŠ) at the age of 6. Then they continue at a junior and senior hight school (SŠ). If they want to go to a university, they are reguired to pass (jsou nuceni složit) SAT exam (Scholastic Aptitude Test).

There are both public and private schools in the States. The rule (pravidlo) is that the more you pay the better education you get.

The most universities are Yale University and Harvard University.

Czech education

In the Czech republich we have 9 years of compulsory education from the age of 6 to 15. We start our education at basic school (ZŠ). There are 2 grades (stupně) of the basic school, in the first children learn to read and write and they have P.E. (tělocvik) and arts. In the second they have more specialized subjects like foreign languages, bilogoy, chemistry.

The academic year (školní rok) starts on 1st September and ends on the 30th June.

There are several breaks during the year - autumn, Cristmas, spring and Easter. The summer holidays are 2 monts long. Most Czech schools are administered by the state and free of charge.

There are many problems at the school:

• cheating (opisování, podvádění)
• bullying (šikana)
• plaing truant (záškoláctví)

When children leave primary school, they can attend grmmar school (gymnázium), apprenticeship centres or vocational or other proffesional schools (economic, medicial school) or art schools (konzervatoře).