adding to jen's info...
grades 1-6 are called grammar school, or sometimes lower school (that's usually when grades 1-12 are all connected in one system)
grades 7 and 8 (and sometimes 9) are called middle school.
grades 9-12 (or sometimes 10, 11, and 12) are high school.
college is 4 years. there are several ways to become a journalist.
you can get a college degree in english, journalism, communication, media studies, or something along those lines and intern at a paper. then you can just work your way up.
you can also go for a master's degree or even a ph.d in one of those subjects and then work from there. i'd expect doctorates to be rare, though.
journalism schools and schools with journalism programs aren't the most common, but there are enough of them out there.
college is usually 4 years, with another one or possibly two for a master's degree. sometimes you can do a combined program that lets you graduate in 5 years with a college degree (a ba in this case) and a master's degree at the same time.
hope that helps.
Paul
