Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related question about highschool/college/university

I went to an elementary school that was only Kindergarten through 3rd grade. There was a second elementary school next door that was grades 4 through 6. I know they were different schools because they had different names. I think that system was extremely unique. I've never seen it anywhere else. I didn't attend the second school. My mom moved all four of us kids to a Charter school that was K-12. I attended there for a year. My family moved to another city and I was enrolled in a K-6 elementary school. I then attended junior high, which was 7-9. High school was next. All the high schools in my school district were 10-12. My graduating class had 864 people. I am now attending Utah State University and my major is in the College of Education and Human Services.

Horribly confusing, I know!

Jen

How schools are organized is a state by state matter at most. It can vary school district by district. I haven't heard of any that don't run K-12 with 18 being the last year but how they break it up in that is up to them.

If this is a Early Years story kindergarten didn't used to be standard. I'd imagine that Clark didn't go to one and Lois did. I'm saying that as it would give her a advanced start on education and get her out of the house which fits her parents attitudes.

The first elementary school I went to was one of two in the town. When I went there, both schools were K-6, and took kids from different parts of the town. Sometime in the past 10 years, they've gone to the same setup yours was. The school I went to is now K-3, and the other school is 4-6.

In my area, it's further split up. There was preschool, of course. Then Kindergarten at age 5. Primary school was K-2, elementary was 3-5, middle 6-8, and high school 9-12.

As far as college or university, think of it this way: A college focuses on basic education in a few fields. A university would go into more depth over a wider range. Most universities contain a number of colleges, but if you go to a smaller school, it may be a single college on its own.

That's the technical perspective. In general speach, no one goes "to university." In casual speech, you always go "to college" -- but if your college was part of a university, when someone asks "Where did you go to college?" you'll tell them which university.

There is also homeschooling, where the parents of the child(ren) teach them at home instead of sending them to public education.

However, Homeschoolers tend to follow the guidelines of the state they are in.

Some homeschooled children advance faster than their public school conterparts because they have personalized attention and the schooling tends to be incorporated into every facet of life. The 'loss' of knowledge over summer break tends to not happen to them, because of this.

We had two homeschooled individuals enrolled into the college I went to. Both were 15 years old, but had tested out as high school graduates. Both had well-rounded personalities. And both graduated by the time they were 19.

James

I'm from a rural area, myself. Our school was K-12, meaning it started with kindergarten (children start at age 5) and went through 12th grade (18 years old - highschool graduation). Now it has pre-K, which is for four-year-olds, but there are only a limited number of spots available and so there's a "lottery" to see which kids get to go. When I graduated high school (less than ten years ago) there were between 700 and 800 children in the entire school, and my senior class was 45 people (only 43 of which actually graduated)

At the time, children didn't start changing classes (and having different teachers for each subject) until seventh grade.

Because the school was small, I had the same English teacher in eighth, ninth, eleventh, and part of tenth grades. I had another for part of tenth grade, and another for seventh and twelfth grade. One of these teachers also taught French and drama.

I also had the same math teacher for eighth grade through twelfth.

I also had the same history teacher two years and the same science teacher for eighth, ninth, eleventh and twelfth grades.

The term "college" refers to a University, but also to the smaller "schools" or fields of study. College/School of Business, etc. Generally this is not referenced, and people use the term college for post-secondary education to achieve an associates or bachlor's degree. You would say "I'm going to college after I graduate high school."

I'm glad you mentioned this, James. I was going to mention this too. While I attended public schools growing up, my husband and I decided that homeschooling was the best option for our family.

Definitely true. Some states require yearly standardized testing. Others allow the use of private accredited "umbrella" schools. And in some states, like Virginia, there is also a religious exemption statute for families that feel that homeschooling is part of their religious convictions. HSLDA, Home School Legal Defense, has a website that shows what the homeschool laws are for each state, if anyone were to need that info for potential fanfic info, by the way.

This is definitely one of the benefits I've seen with the kids I know who are homeschooled. Although my kids do swim team in the summer, so I definitely treasure a little break from teaching in the summer. However, we use that time to pursue other kinds of educational endeavors, like lots of "free reading time". I do like that we can vacation at odd times, however. We took our Spring Break in February to do DisneyWorld when it was not so crowded, and so while the school takes their break we work on through.
In any case, I was glad to see some positive attention about homeschooling from someone, as most of what the media usually highlights is abuse situations. I am not attacking the public school system here, so please no one take it that way. I have friends who are teachers and I respect them greatly for what they do.

Just sharing my knowledge of the subject.
Thanks,
Marcy

I have a friend who was homeschooled for a while because they were flunking- it really helped them. But I've also heard of kids who watch old videos all day for their home schooling. It depends entirely on the parents and kids, but I think generally homeschooling is pretty good.

Okay now why I really posted was to tell about my crazy school system (apparantly I'm in a ranting mood today- usually I'm a lurker but whatever) We have TWO kindergarden through second grade schools, a school for third and fourth grade, one for fifth through seventh, one for get this- the eighth grade, and our high school 9-12. Our high school also has a preschool in the building- and there's a class you can take where you help plan activities and such for them- Child psycology two.

To make things more complex there's a catholic private school which is k-6, various other preschools, and one of the k-2 schools is revamping. Next year they will go to various places, including the high school. We've had workers making new walls and doors-apparantly to seperate them from us high schoolers, not that it really does so. Also they'll be taking over a lunch, so we'll change from three to two lunches- for the same number of kids Already lunches are crowded and there are a few kids each lunch who are late back to class- not because they eat slow, but the serving line's too long.

And my town's not really a big one. The whole things a little odd. Before I moved we had a k-6 school, a 7-8 and the high school.

oh, both of these are in MA by the way.

/me blinks. Grammar school? Really? Over here, a grammar school is a state school for 11-18 year olds, and only those who have passed a set of entrance tests may attend - ie, they're for the academically elite. Mostly, they've been replaced by Comprehensives, which take all children irrespective of academic ability.

Yvonne

Yep. It's another one of those usages devised just to confuse people on opposite ends of the pond.

Yes, it's a neverending source of fascination, Rivka. There seem to be so many words which we share but ascribe utterly different meanings to.

Yvonne

Indeed.

Did I ever tell you the story about when my mom was in England (she was 14 or so at the time) and a friend of her dad's asked if she wanted him to knock her up in the morning?

If you're in the mood for a laugh or two, check out this website . For example, under the entry "fag," the author writes: "One of the most amusing e-mails I've had concerning this page was from an American who had arrived at her company's UK offices to be told that the person she was looking for was 'outside blowing a fag'."