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Originally posted by DrUg_Tit0 Well, I can compare croatian and the american system for you if you want, as I've been under both. At 7th and 8th grade, you're doing stuff from math that we did at 4th and 5th grade. You don't get subjects like chemistry or physics before high school, while we get them at 7th grade. We don't have any options as far as choosing subjects throughout the high school. We only get to choose some subjects at a university, and even that on later years. We do however have the ability to choose a specific version of the highschool (like linguistic, mathematical etc., or 3-year versions which specialize in a certain area of industry like chemistry or carpentry). In good high schools, the difficulty of the subjects we have are at approximately your college level, so we go directly to the university, while you are wasting 2 years to make up for what you missed earlier.

It all depends on what high school you go to. Some are quite excellent while others have much to be desired. My school for instance had a full International Baccalaureate program plus excellent AP courses and very competant teachers. There should be a national set of standards that all schools should follow. At any rate I think the following article outlines that the real problem with the school system is that there is simply so much disparity in the quality level of schools.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/newstory.cfm?slug=15pisa.h21

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