The Pros and Cons of Secondary School

A school is an educational establishment designed to offer learning places and learning environments to students under the guidance of qualified teachers. Most developed countries now have centralized systems of public education, which can be either mandatory or optional. In such systems, students move through a prescribed number of schools based on their performance in school. The nature of school varies across different countries; some have religious education while others lay emphasis on academics.

Primary school children usually study subjects such as reading, writing, math and science; in other words, kids learn how to read, write and do math. After primary school, kids start attending primary school again. In some countries, primary school continues until the child reaches the age of seven while in others, the course continues till the child turns nine. The length of this initial period of secondary school education also varies by country. Still, in many developing countries, the age for starting high school continues from six to eight.

In primary school, kids continue studying subjects like social science, geography, mathematics, English and science for about two years. On completion of this course, they move on to the elementary school, where they continue to study for another two years. In most cases, kids pass this exam, if they score more than ninety percent in the test. After this, kids are free to join any primary school for any number of years, where they study independently at whatever pace they wish to.

In high school, kids study for one year either separately or in a group, depending on the institution. There are now some developments taking place in secondary school system that allow for the admission of kids even without completion of primary school; such measures are taken to bridge the gap between those who have started attending secondary school and those who have not. In some instances, kids are accepted straight into primary school, though this is not the usual practice.

International comparisons show that achievement of any particular criterion, such as getting straight A’s in secondary school, holds constant irrespective of what country that school is in. The only notable exception from this generalization is the achievement rate of school students studying in U.S. schools compared to those in other countries, wherein the school system is much more advanced than in most other countries. This suggests that parents and school systems in the United States focus on teaching creativity and leadership qualities more than overall academic scores.

Many parents want their children to gain confidence in their academic performances and to excel in the academic fields in which they study. For this, primary school offers a sort of preparatory school education, enabling kids to gain a basic understanding of the academic concepts, and a feel for what happens in this system. And for this reason, parents who have primary school children themselves often think seriously of sending them to secondary school. However, apart from the obvious benefits that secondary school has to offer, there are some risks as well.