#schoolsystem

She arrived one day twitchy, shoulders hunched beneath a weight too heavy for twelve. Her eyes scanned the room, not looking for anyone, but broadcasting something wild and unfiltered.

I watched her,

Quiet and cautious, muttering to her surroundings But I saw the beacon

where they saw the flaw..and tried to shape her

with scratches and bite marks ADHD, they’d say

"she cant stay, or be tamed" but only I saw the strange grace of someone not quite synced with the world around her.

She left, and I was struck by the thought: her download was never complete, running a different kind of code, at odds with the programs all around her. No wonder she ran she was a puzzle piece forced into the wrong box.

I saw her that day, but I was too young to know what to do, how to help. Maybe seeing is what matters the first language of care but I still wonder if she felt it, if the moment landed. If she did, I think I’d know her still.

Some systems are built to contain when they should be wild, to smooth out the rough edges instead of letting someone explore the far borders of the map.

If there’s a crime here, it is not in the glitch but in the hands that tried to overwrite her wild syntax with their own order.

I hope, wherever she is, her code is running free.

I am very confused about the American schoolsystem, so I am going to explain the Dutch schoolsystem in the hope that someone explains the American one in a way I can understand. Lets go!

Age 4 & 5: Groep 1 & 2, here you are at school, but you do stuff like play, colour and that sort of basic stuff. You are not required to go at 4, but you have to from age 5.

Age 6 & 7: Groep 3 & 4, here you learn how to read, basic math and how to write and spell correctly, all that stuff.

Age 8, 9, 10, 11: Groep 5, 6,7 & 8, from groep 5 you have subjects such as history, geography & science. In groep 8 you take the CITO test, this is to establish to which level of education you go.

Groep 1 till 8 we call basisschool

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The results from your CITO along with a reccomendadtion of your teacher will tell you if you go to a special help school, KADER, MAVO, HAVO, VWO or Gymnasium.

This is from low to high, the higher you get the smarter you are, may seem a bit weird, but this is to make sure everyone can learn on their own level surrounded by people who understand the same.

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KADER & MAVO: 

Age 12 & 13: In the 1 & 2 klas you get all the subjects and at the end of klas 2 you pick which direction you can go in. Either science (NT or NG) or social (EM or CM).  

Age 14 & 15: In klas 3 & 4 you only get the subjects you pick and you graduate in klas 4.

HAVO:

Age 12, 13, 14: In the 1,2 & 3 klas you get all the subjects and you pick at the end of class three which direction you want to go in, again you can pick from NT, NG, Em or CM.

Age 15 & 16: In klas 4 & 5 you only get the sujects you picked and you graduate in klas 5.

VWO & Gymnasium:

Age 12, 13 & 14: In the 1, 2 & 3 klas you get all the subjects you and at the end of klas 3 you pick from NT, NG, EM or CM, but an extra foreign language is required. Gymnasium is exatly the same, but you have to take ancient Greek and Latin in these years and you can pick them as the required foreign language.

Age 15, 16 & 17: You only get the subjects you picked and you graduate at the end of klas 6.

We call all of this middelbare school

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NT is Natuur & Techniek, which means Nature and Technology, this is sciency and can be combinated with NG, but not with EM or CM.

NG is Natuur & Gezondheid, which means Nature and Healtj, this is also sciency and can be combinated with NT, but not with EM or CM.

EM is Economie & Maatschappij, which means Economy and Society, this is stuff like Economics and History and this can be combinated with CM, but not with NT or NG.

CM is Cultuur & Maarschappij, which means Culture and Society, this is History and an Art subject is required, this can be combinated with EM, but not with NT or NG.

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Age 16, 17 & 18: After KADER you can learn a craft/job, this is mostly stuff with your hands like farmer or baker, but also other stuff (I’m not really emerged in this stuff since I’m doing VWO, so take this with a grain of salt.) There are four routes you can take, all are different some are more theorethical others more practical and some combined with more of one or the other.

My cousin is becoming a farmer, so that’s what I know most about here, oops lol.

Age 16, 17 & 18: After MAVO you can do a MBO, this is further education and the jobs you are prepared for here are a bit more advances than those after KADER, a friend is becoming an assistand Vet for example.

Age 17, 18 & 19 (20): After HAVO you can do a HBO, this is more theorethical than a MBO and more jobs that you can do, examples of these jobs are Accountant, administrator, manager, someone who works in an ambulance. That sort of stuff.

Age 18, 19 & 20 (21) + 21 & 22 (23):  After VWO or Gymnasium you can go to a university. You first have to get a Batchelor and that takes 3 to 4 years and after that you can get a Masters which is an additional 2 years. Here it is almost only theory, the jobs on this level is doctor, lawyer and all that. You don’t study for a job, but a field in which there are multiple jobs you can get. Most don’t do what they studied for, my dad is an achitect for how things are supposed to work inside of the Douane (Dutch border control) while he studied computer stuff.

We don’t have a collective name for this, but you could all call it a vervolgopleiding.

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You are required to go to school until you are 18 after that you don’t have to do any of it and you can just work, but before you can quit you have to have a middelbareschool diploma before you are no longer required to learn.

There are many oppertunities to go up or down if you feel the level you are learning on is too easy of difficult and they are trying to make it easier to switch.

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As I announced in a previous post, here is the first project of mine.

When you teach children, you build the future. Basically.

That is why this project, Tron, is of great importance for me.

The current construct (so far it is only a model) is supposed to provide students with the possibility and ressources to learn as much as they like, and, most important, what they like. Of course, some classes will be neccessary, but most will be the choice of the students. They shall be able to choose every topic they like, be it as specifically or uncommon as it can be. This is supposed to let them learn most efficient without putting too much stress and pressure on them, since there is little that fulfils you as much as to live your passion.

It is meant for students from age ten or eleven to ensure that they have basic knowledge and skills like reading, writing and simple math. They can choose which and what classes they attend and how much supervision from a teacher they want. The students should be tested individually because it is not possible to compare two people in one test when one has the focus on engeneering and the other one on micro biology. That should ensure that they can learn and work in a way that works out best for them.

It would be totally voluntarily, so probably most of the students would be the ones who currently have problems to learn in the traditional school system.

Slovak education system isn’t difficult to understand even though it’s different than american or british. Here in Slovakia, we have kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, gymnasiums, and high schools. 

  In America (I think), how we call it, translation of how we call it

Kindergarten is for children from 3 to 5/6 years. Children arrive sometime between 7:00am and 9:00am, they leave from 3:00pm to 6:00pm. They have breakfast at home, but in kindergarten they have desiata – a small meal between breakfast and lunch, lunch, and olovrant – a small meal between lunch and dinner. Children in kindergartens play most of the time, but they also learn some basic stuff (days of the week, moths, etc.), they sing some songs, they draw, sometimes they go on a walk… After lunch children have to sleep for cca 2 hours. Every child have to bring his own pajama and pillow.

Children from kindergarten on a walk:

Elementary school is for children from 6/7 years to 15 years. The 1st class begins 8:00 or 8:15 (it’s up to school). The 6th class ends sometime between 13:20 and 13:40 (it depends on the length between classes). Children in first grade learn how to read, write, basic math, English, arts, gymnastics, ethical education/religious education (parents choose), music education. In higher grades more classes are added – chemistry, biology, German/Spanish language, geography, Slovak language and literature, history, IT, Civic education, physics...

Children in each grade are divided into classes (eg. 1.A, 1.B, 1.C, 1.D) and they have their home classroom, where they spend most of the time and teachers come to them. 

In ordinary classroom there is about 20 children. In some schools children are divided to smaller groups by their skills for subjects like math and languages.

1st grade timetable:

9th grade timetable:

After 5 years in elementary you can decide to go to 8 year gymnasium (there are 4 year gymnasiums too, but they are not that common). Many people want to go to gymnasium but not everyone will get there – you have to pass admission test. People say that gymnasiums are harder, not everyone can do it, gymnasiums are considered as prestigious schools. Some gymnasiums specialize on some subject (eg. Math or languages) so students learn in that class a lot more.

4th grade of gymnasium = 9th grade of elementary school timetable:

Middle school is after 9 years of elementary school and it’s for children from 15/16 years to 19 years – graduation. I think every middle school has a specialization on something.