Ask Lemmy

US - specifically Michigan. The naming convention and splits most commonplace around me seem to be

Kindergarten - 4th grade | “Elementary School”

5th grade - 8th grade | “Middle School”

9th grade - 12th grade (referred to as Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior years) | “High school”

But there is a bit of variance depending on district size. For example my school district downsized. So currently we have

Kindergarten - 6th grade | “Elementary School”

7th grade - 12th grade | “Secondary School”.

The former setup seems to resemble most of what other Americans would recognize.

Regarding “postsecondary education”, at least here, that specifically refers to any education past the standard 12 year education program, be it medical school or trade school or what we call college and many other places call uni/university.

K-5 was elementary, 6-8 was middle school and 9-12 was high school but I was in a small enough area that they merged all three into one building. Nothing like going to the same building and seeing the same teachers for all 13 years.

where I live we have two schools; elementary and middle school/gymnasyum.

The first 4 class of elementary is the "lower", the last 4 class are the "upper" classes.

after that, university or "main school" is where we go

Germany: 4 years elementary school, after that the kids are divided into 3 school categories based on their performance:

Hauptschule 5-9, after that you either start apprenticeship for 3 years and learn a profession, or you continue with Realschule

Realschule 5-10, after that you either start apprenticeship for 3 years and learn a profession or you continue with Gymnasium

Gymnasium 5-12, after that you may apply for university. You can only enroll in university if you have completed grade 12 final exams (called Abitur)

In Germany kids are required to be enrolled in school or in apprenticeship by law until they turn 18

USA, 2

both 1) or 2) are common in the American Midwest but also primary school or grade school for that first stage

US, Florida

When I went to school, we had grades 1-5 at one school (ages 6-10) 6th grade at another, 7th grade at another, 8-9th grade at a 'middle school 'sometimes called "junior high" and grades 10-12 at the high school, compulsory schooling ending at age 17 or 18 unless you failed a year, they didn't allow skipping grades.

When my kids went, there were elementary schools for grades Kindergarten-5 (so ages 5-6 to 10-11) OR K-8, middle school for grades 6-8 if you weren't at a K-8 and high school for grades 9-12.

Ontario Canada Elementary, secondary but it depends on the school. Some are called high school, mine was called secondary school in the 90s but I think it's called a high school these days.

Hong Kong

Kindergarten

Primary (grades 1-6)

Secondary (grades 7-12)

Tertiary / post-secondary / higher education (university)

US. I had Elementary kindergarten-4th (5-10). Middle school was 5th-7th (/10/11-12/13). Junior high was 8th-9th(13/14-15). High school was 10th-12th (15/16-18/19).

Scotland:

Primary school P1-P7 (~5-11) Secondary school S1-S6 (~12-17)

Virginia, USA in the 1980s it was:

K-5 Elementary

6-7 Intermediate

8 was just called 8th grade building or maybe junior high

9-12 High School

From the US, there was some experimental stuff going on when I was in school and I was out in the boonies so k-8 schools with self contained classrooms was the norm and they were called elementary schools. I did kindergarten and first grade normally then there was a change and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades were combined into the same classroom and called primary school. I was in primary school for what would have been 2nd and 3rd grade. 4th through 8th were the normal self contained classrooms in elementary school.

I was in the last class for my elementary school then they combined it with another school that was k-6 and opened a jr highschool that was 7th and 8th. So I didn't go to a jr high or a secondary school but if I were a year younger I would have gone to a jr high. I did go to a primary, an elementary, and a high school.