Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic U.S. education

Hi!

I'd like to have information about the education in the U.S., in order to use it in an original fic I'm writing.

What I need are the names of the schools and the ages for each one, from the beginning to the end.

And, if possible, can anyone tell me what's the education (college, university or so) needed to become a journalist?
(Always talking about the U.S.A.)

Thanks a lot.
AnnaBtG.

Hmm...I *think* I know what you're looking for...I'll tell you what I did. This is pretty typical i.e. I didn't repeat any grades or anything.

3-4 yrs. old Pre-school
Started Kindergarten when I was 5
6-14 was grade school (or grammar school, same thing) Age group in parentheses
It went: 1st grade (6-7yrs old), 2nd grade (7-8yrs), 3rd grade(8-9yrs), 4th grade(9-10yrs), 5th grade(10-11yrs), 6th grade(11-12yrs), 7th grade(12-13yrs), 8th grade (13-14yrs)
Some schools stop their schooling at 5th grade, and for 6-8th it was called middle school or junior high, and you had to go to a completely different school for that. My school went preschool through 8th grade.

9th-12th grade
9th-"freshman year" (14-15yrs),
10th-"sophomore year" (15-16yrs),
11th-"junior year"(16-17yrs),
12th-"senior year"(17-18yrs) Some grammar schools do have their own high school, too, but it's not too common where I live.

And then college/university (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior). Started when I was 18, hopefully I'll graduate when I'm 22. <g> But there are all sorts of programs...my mom took 7 years to graduate college, my friend took 5, etc. But *typically* it lasts 4 years.

Hope this helps. Ask away if you need anything else...can't help on the journalist front; I'm a chem major
Jen

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

They are also sometimes called Elementary schools.
I think you've got a good idea now of what age students are at each school, so I'll just address this one.

While, as Paul said, it is possible to become a jounalist by studying English, Communications or something like that, at this point nearly all newspapers are looking for graduates with degrees in journalism.

Many colleges and universities have journalism programs supervised by either the Communications or English departments. More rare, and more presitigious, are the actual Schools of Journalism. These are professional schools that offer degrees (undergraduate and graduate) in Journalism and Mass Communication, usually within a certain track (ie Print, Broadcast, Advertising, Public Relations).

I attend the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina, generally accepted to be one of the best in the country. The school's home page is here and it has lots of information you might find useful, like information about what classes are required. Other Universities that have Journalism school's you might want to look at are: Northwestern, Columbia, Missouri and Maryland.

Journalism programs traditionally take four years, and it's rare for someone to get a masters degree or PhD unless they plan to teach. It certainly does happen, but it's not expected.

Though the name on your diploma is important, more important is actual work experience. Internships are cutthroat. Journalism jobs are almost impossible to come by, and internships are the key. We begin applying in September and October for internships for the following summer. A paper like the The Daily Planet would probably receive tens of thousands of applications for 5-10 openings. To be a contender for one of those covetted spots, an applicant would be expected to have a minimum of two previous internships at good-sized papers, plus work on the student newspaper at their school and/or some sort of incredible life experience. Most journalism students believe their work on their student paper or an area paper to be the most important part of their education. If you want more information about internships and/or student newspapers, let me know and I'll give you more information, rather than bombarding you with it now.

Annie

I guess in different parts of the US, we have different names for our schools.


I went to:

preschool: age 3
kindergarten: age 4
elementary school (grades 1-6): from ages 5-11
actually, I have never heard the terms "grammar school" or "lower school"
junior high school (grades 7 and 8): ages 11-13 (I've never heard of "middle school")
high school (grades 9-12): ages 13-17
college: ages 17-21
graduate school: ages 21-22

I was younger than most of my classmates, though, so my ages might be atypical.

I won't even try to answer the journalism question because Paul and Annie answered them thoroughly - and Annie is a reporter, so she is definately the authority (much more so than I am ).

- Alicia

We must have gone to school in neighboring states or something, Alicia I went to kindergarden, elementary school (grades 1-6), junior high school (7-9) and high school (10-12). Never even heard about middle schools until I was an adult. The school district we're in now has them, though, so I expect that my kids will do elementary school (K-5), middle school (6-8) & high school (9-12).

This is what you get when each school district can pick their own format But it does give an author a nice amount of flexibility -- you can choose whichever might suit your plot best.

PJ
who grew up in Pennsylvania

Thank you all FoLCs!

You are very helpful.

AnnaBtG.

This is kind of off topic, but the American public school system is extremely poor, at least in California.

There are so many budget cuts that only schools in rich suburbia can survive. The thing is nowadays, I live in suburbia, Napa County, but I go to the "ghetto" school, in the next town, though the next town used to be my hometown, to me its weird.


Ja-10

There are certainly lots of things I'd want to improve about public schools in this country. But we don't really have an "American public schools" system -- local school districts have a lot of control. That's one of the reasons different areas have junior high vs. middle school. And it also means that some areas get more money than others, and that some areas get better quality teaching than others. The two do not always correlate

Around here we've got charter schools and magnet schools, year-round schools vs. traditional schedule schools... and parents do have some measure of choice. But I know that that's not the norm, country-wide.

PJ

Pam, North Carolina is totally different. I agree there is no American public school system, I was just generalizing.

Our literacy rate compared to other developed countries, is well let's just say we don't match up. And I blame it entirely on my high school, j/k.

I don't understand California's governor, a Mr. Davis, he spends more money on building prisons, while cutting the budget for education. The budget cuts are also aimed at the poorer school districts. The parents in a rich town, or suburbia, help out the schools there, because they have the extra money to do so. Not to sound racist or anything, mainly whites live in the suburbs, especially in Napa County, or the Mexicans who pick their crops for the wine. I know this because most of my neighbors are white.

Let's just say California's in bad shape.


Ja-10

That's nice...people aren't that nice around here. I was lucky enough to go to a private school...otherwise, we've got one magnet school, and then at least half the public school buildings are portables. It's just a mess down here. And then they made some sort of, uh... zoning (?) rule last year to help integrate the schools better...different races tend to clump at different high schools.

Jen