sabro said:
So is the main difference is that in Europe, schools filter the kids out, with only the most capable advancing to higher levels? What proportion of the population generally earns a HS diploma? (I'm thinking that if 10% fail each year at each level, then the attrition rate is probably high)
Of course, some people of fail more than once. I am not sure what percentage of the population manage to graduate from university, but the failure rate is especially high at university because there is no entrance exam, it is free and everyone can attend. So at least one third of the people who enter fail in the first year because they are not capable enough, and another third in the first of second year (or both) because they are not prepared enough (lack of motivation, lack of study, too many parties, etc.). For others it's the difficulty to adapt to a new lifestyle - in Northern Europe, most uni students rent a student room rather than stay at their parents, so they have to learn to live, shop, cook, do the washing, wake up, etc. all by themselves, often for the first time in their life. Some also suffer from depression from stress (high pressure due to high failure rate), or loneliness (as they may study far away from their family and highscool friends). Other students change their mind about what they want to study or just quit in the middle of the year (anyway it's free). In my university, out of 600 students who joined one faculty, about 300 failed in the first year, 200 in the second, then it was more or less stable for the 2 or 3 remaining years.
I was also under the impression- which may be mistaken, that at some point students are sorted into vocational and academic tracks- with only the higher scoring students taking the academic tracks.
That's right. The educational system is divided in 3 : academic (also called "general education"), technical (for electrician, mechanics, etc.), and vocational (for other manual jobs or some artistic jobs).
The US system is highly inclusive-- with everyone- capable or not- in a college prep track.
Maybe that is why the level must be lower for everyone to be able to follow.
There are tests that they have to take, including an exit exam-- which includes language, writing, reading comprehension and math (through Algebra).
So just English and maths ? What about literature, grammar, proverbs, idioms, etc. in English ? We had to study that even for foreign languages.
Our overall attrition rate is about 10%, although many "drop out" and earn a diploma through continuation schools or take an equivalent exam.
Same in Europe.
Most students take two years of foreign language (I can only speak for California, as education varies from state to state), two years of science, World and US history and mathematics including Algebra and Geometry.
Most students take 6 years of 2 foreign languages and 2 to 4 years of 1 or 2 more foreign languages. Usually the level in final grade is hard enough for native speakers of those languages having trouble passing the test themselves. I have heard that in non-English speaking countries, English tests in some schools can be more difficult than those for native speakers in the US (or Australia).
The EU has decided that from now on (this yera, next year ?) elementary school students from grade 1 will have to study at least 2 foreign (European) languages in every EU countries. My elementary school already had 2 years of foreign languages in 5th and 6th grade (although very basic compared to highschool).
All students must take 6 years or history, geography AND science. History is divided by period for each year (per grade : antiquity => middle ages => European renaissance and colonisation => 18th c. enlightenment, American and French revolution, ideological changes in society, etc. => 19th c. and industrialisation => 20th c. WWI, WWII, holocaust, post-modernism, etc. + brief history of arts for each of these period). In one year (2 to 4h/week) of studying the 18th century enlightement and philosophers, there is enough time to go in quite a lot of details, as you can imagine.
So basically, if a 11th grader doesn't who is Voltaire or Goethe, can't explain the socio-economic factors that startled the Us or Frenc revolution, or can't make the difference between a Classical and Baroque building or painting, there is no chance that person can pass the exam for history. As it's a minor subject, it's ok to fail once (not twice in consecutive years in school I went to) if that student doesn't fail any other subject. Each student also had to make a 1 to 2 hour oral presentation about a particular topic and write an essay about anotjer topic (not only in history class, but some other subjects like mother-tongue or main foreign language too).
In my school, Geography included also geology (1 year), and (macro-)economics (2 years).
Science includes physics, biology and (from 9th grade usually) chemistry. Students usually have an average of 4h/week, with options allowing up to 8h/week in higher grades.
I wouldn't rate these courses as detailed-- they tend to emphasize critical thinking over rote memorization.
The European system emphasizes both, with critical thinking becoming more important in higher grades.
