In Russia and other post-Soviet countries, there is a very ambiguous attitude towards the American system of secondary education. Some believe that it is in many ways superior to the Russian one, while others are sure that US schools have many shortcomings, therefore they criticize the American grading system, the lack of a school uniform and other distinctive features.
In the USA there are no strict uniform standards for all educational institutions, and everything depends on the local government. A school in California may be different from a school in Virginia or Illinois. However, the general aspects are the same everywhere.
As for the Russian and American education systems, quite a lot of differences can be noted between them.
US grades
If in Russia a five-point scale (actually a four-point scale, since in practice one is usually not set) for assessing knowledge is adopted, where the highest result is “5”, then in the USA everything is somewhat different. Grades in American schools are the first letters of Latinalphabet from "A" to "F".
The letter “A” is considered to be an excellent result, and the worst result, respectively, is “F”. Statistically, the majority of students achieve "B" and "C", that is, "above average" and "average".
Also sometimes three more letters are used: "P" - pass, "S" - satisfactory, "N" - "fail".
No school uniform
Besides American grades, another difference is the absence of school uniforms and any formal attire in most educational institutions.
In Russia, the first thing that comes to mind at the word "school" is the form: the traditional "black top, white bottom", puffy bows for girls and other attributes. In the US, this is not accepted, and even on the first day of the school year, students come in whatever they want. All that is required of schoolchildren is the observance of certain rules: not very short skirts, the absence of obscene inscriptions and prints on clothes, closed shoulders. Most students dress simply and comfortably: jeans, T-shirts, loose sweaters and athletic shoes.
Choice of Items
For a Russian school, this sounds unrealistic, because every student must attend all the subjects established by the program without fail. But America has a different system. At the beginning of the year, students have the right to choose which subjects they want to study. Of course, there are also compulsory disciplines - these are mathematics, English, natural sciences. Other subjects and their level of difficulty studentchooses independently and, based on this, forms his own schedule of classes.
