Well, to put it simply, the American public school system sucks. We are 17th in the rank of educational performance, in a system solely focused on standardized testing. Anyway, here's a brief description:
There are public, private, and home schools in America; 87% of us attend public schools. Prior to colleges and university, students attend both primary and secondary school for a total of 12 years.
Preschool: Kids can start as early as 3 years old and are usually finished with preschool by the time they turn 5 years old.
Elementary School: (Kindergarten until 5th grade) This is basically primary school. Kids are usually 5 years old when they first enroll and are done with primary education by the time they are 11 years old.
Middle School: (6th grade until 8th grade) This is basically secondary school, with students at age 11 completing their time here when they are 14 years old.
High School: (9th grade until 12th grade) Lots of state standardized testing as well as the national SAT / ACT. SAT is typically more popular with students but they can take either or both. Once a teen's done with high school, they graduate and move on to higher education.
Our grading system runs on a GPA scale and letter-grade system (A-F) with A being exceptional and F being terrible. These scales measure our academic achievement. We've also got the typical academic transcript, which is extremely vital for universities and college admissions.
As for a typical public school day, this usually depends on the school itself. Some schools start at 7-7:30 AM while others begin at 9 AM. Some end at 2 PM, 3:30 PM, or as late as 4 PM. Mine starts at 8 AM and ends at 3:30 PM.
We get the usual breaks too, like spring & summer & winter break. Overall, our public school education system is failing and stressing students out. It's extremely flawed, but it's what we've got.
Note: Sorry if this went far beyond "brief," but this is basically how our public school system works. This can also apply for private schools, too.
