Fyi: it’s called post secondary because, I think, UK calls it primary, secondary, and after that is post secondary.
US.
Middle School and Jr. High vary depending on how the grades break.
When I was coming up it was this:
Grade School: 1-6
Jr. High - 7-9
High School - 10-12But when I hit 9th grade, they changed it:
Grade School: 1-5
Middle School: 6-8
High School: 9-12Grade school, didn’t even know that one.
Uk.
Its primary school then secondary school.
Primary school is 6 years “full time” (5/6 years old to 11/12 years old). There are pre-school and “reception” years.
Secondary school is 5 years, with an optional extra 2 years.
Anything beyond secondary school is uni/college/apprenticeship/lifeI found secondary school year 6/7 to cover the majority of the foundation of 2 years at Uni (ie, maths, physics, chemistry had a huge amount of repitition before building on it and specialising).
Heres more info:
https://cdn.roostermarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/school-years-1.pngPrimary is 4-11.
The extra 2 years are no longer optional. You can choose where you do them but you’re not allowed to just not.
My part of the country “pre-school” is called play school. Not sure if that is a national thing though.
I’ve also never heard this post secondary thing OP is on about.
Post secondary is university, college, community college, etc. I hear it all the time on US News.
Romania. We call it primary (1-4), gymnasium (5-8) and lyceum (9-12). They come from French/Latin.
Latin is one of the roots of our language and we underwent a big pro-Latin cultural movement in the 19th century, while French also had a big cultural and educational influence.
Gymnasium and lyceum are both Greek. They did pass through Latin on their way into modern use. Lyceum was the name of Aristotle’s school in Athens.
Texas, US. We called it Elementary (optional Pre-K, required K through 5), Middle (6 through 8), and High (9 through 12). They’re called Primary and Secondary when filling out forms or legal documents.
Also Texas, US (grew up in Lubbock graduated 96) we had Elementary (K-6), Jr High (7-9), and High School (10-12). Now I live in Plano and have kids in school here. The specific area we are in has Elementary (K-5), Middle School (6-8), High School (9-10), and Sr High (11-12). 🤷♂️
Slovakia.
If I am to translate it word-to-word:
Základná škola - Base school (so primary) (9 years) - split into 1st degree (1-4) and 2nd degree (5-9).
Stredná škola - Middle school (2-5 years based on field of study, 4 and 5 year fields are with graduation)Get ready for a twist: Gymnasium (8 or 4 years) - 8 year gymnasium starts after 5th grade of primary school and 4 year after 9th grade. They also replace middle school. It’s not that popular since you basically won’t get any job without college with gymnasium. It’s really just a preparation for college (literally “high school” (Vysoká škola)) (though perhaps better than middle school).
In the US, the names vary a lot by location. Even which grades are included can change based on the local population and how they choose to organize it. My wife and I went to school in the same state, maybe 45 minutes apart, and we did not have the same names or grade delineations.
For me, pre-school and kindergarten are each there own thing. Grades 1-3 were “elementary school”, 4-6 were “middle school”, 7-8 were “junior high”, and 9-12 were “high school”. We called them this based on the actual names of the school buildings. But even by the time I was in junior high, they started moving the 4th grade classes to the elementary school, so I’d assume kids in my own home town might say 1-4 is “elementary”. We didn’t have a “junior high” building. Grades 7 and 8 were still part of the “middle school”, but based on the changes in curriculum and the fact that they were held on a designated side of the building, it was colloquially referred to as “junior high”
US. In my dialect, all three are different.
Middle school: 6-8
Intermediate school: 7-8
Jr High: 7-9
I attended an intermediate school that called itself a jr high, so I can understand the confusion.
For my state in Australia its
Kinder Ages 3-5
Prep Ages 5-6
Primary School Ages 6-12, called Grade 1-6
Secondary/High School Ages 12-18, Called Years 7-12After that you’ve got higher education choices via TAFE or University, theres no cut off ages for that.
School is mandatory from ages 6 To 17.
Canada:
Elementary: grades 1-8
High School: grades 9-12
Weird. I’m in Nova Scotia and we had elementary (primary to 6th), junior high (grade 7-9) and high school (grade 10-12), then college or university. Didn’t Ontario used to have grade 13 as well?
Which province?
Ontario
Same, but we have middle school where I am. It’s grades 6~8 or just 7 and 8 depending on who you ask.
But primary and secondary are also recognized and used in some official circumstances. Tertiary is something I’ve heard only once, and I’m surprised it doesn’t get used more often.
I went to French immersion, so I also heard a lot of “primary” and “secondary” school. Never heard tertiary, only “post-secondary”
Netherlands:
0.5: Kindergarten - ages 4 and 5
1: Basisschool Onderbouw (elementary part one) - ages 6, 7 and 8.
1.5: Basisschool Bovenbouw (elementary part one) - ages 9, 10, 11, sometimes 12.
2. Middelbare school (High school) - Ages 12 - 16/17/18 depending on what level of education you’re going for.0.5-1.5 is because they are usually all in the same school.
Sweden, none of the above since we are not English native speakers. 😬
Grundskolan (mandatory for 6-15 year olds). Gymnasiet (optional for 16-19 year olds).
Roughly what percentage of people go on to Gymnasiet? Is the next step University of some sort?
Basically everybody attends gymnasiet. Some programs are focused on preparing for higher studies, such as University, other programs at focused on a trade. All programs have a minimum core curriculum of math, Swedish, English etc.
Yes, the next step is University (or some other kind of higher education), or not, if higher education is not your thing.
US. Growing up it was:
- Grade school / elementary school: Kindergarten through Grade 6
- Junior high: Grades 7 & 8
- High school: Grades 9-12
- Undergrad (typically 4 years)
- Grad school (duration depends)
UK:
- Pre-school
- Primary school
- Secondary school (BUT my old HS literally has “high school” in the name so it’s interchangeable with “HS”)
- College (16-18)
- University
It can vary on area though. Some people have middle schools but I’ve no idea what ages they are since I’ve never seen one. Also, some UK people will hear me say “HS” and assume I’m American, not realising some secondary schools are called “high school”
To complicate matters more a “public school” is private.
ETA: I think US grades are off by one to UK “years”. Though I’ve got into arguments with Brits about this I can only reference my own life. So our “Year 7” kids starting high/secondary school are 11yo. I believe that’s 6th grade in the US?
I grew up in an area with middle schools, and went to one, I think they were age 8 to 12. So people went up to secondary school a year later than most regions. I have no idea why it was like that. We also had spam fritters for lunch which no-one else I know from my generation (Gen X) had to endure. We were just fucking weird I guess.
Weirdos make the world interesting. 🙂
I’ve heard of spam fritters but never had one. I’ve eaten a lot of ‘old fashioned’ foods though like toad int’ hole, kippers, removeds, etc.
To add to that, college can sometimes be an alternative to university rather than something which precedes it. And high school can go on until 18. As you say, it can be geographical - I only really have experience of the Scottish system (and even then it’s been a while…)
Republic of China, Taiwan
Kindergarten, Elementary/Primary 1-6 grade, Junior High 7-9, Senior high school 10-12, though most say year 1 junior(7th grade), year 1 senior(10th grade)
I attended a complete high school, means the whole secondary education combined, so we call junior high section 1-3rd grades and senior high section 4-6th grades🤣
I’m going to take this opportunity to re-use the phrase I sent my Chinese friend!
新年快乐 🎉🐉
新年快樂🐲 To you too.🎊
In Mexico they are:
- Preescolar/Kinder/Jardín de niños (Preschool): ages 3-5 years old (can vary from state to state).
- Primaria (Elementary school): 6 years. Ages 6-12.
- Secundaria (Middle school): 3 years. Ages 12-15.
- Preparatoria/Bachillerato (High school): 3 years. Ages 15-18.
- Universidad (University, undergrad education): 2-8 years.
- Posgrado (Postgraduate education): Variable length. In my field a “Maestría” (Master’s degree) is 2 years, and a “Doctorado” (PhD) is 4 years.
