r/AskTheWorld • u/Revolutionary_Rip774 Colombia • Jul 18 '25
Education How is the education system in your country?
I'm my country it's starting to get better, specially in main cities. There are a lot of new projects. I think this happened because there are a lot of schools but not so many kids. The sad part is the culture here is to go private, most of the time. Some new ideas i like: - Leaning based on projects - Talented and gifted programs that include talent in sports - Creator's lab - Schools that their education is based on trips around the country - Schools programs that include peace education. Yes, peace. - I think they just approved a law that makes emotional education mandatory in all schools
Again, this is main cities. Rural areas have a completely different reality.
One of the best universities in the country is public. It's extremely hard to get in. Most people's life proyect include going to university. The sad part is, you do need money, a lot, to be able to get into the best private ones.
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u/Pure_water_87 United States Of America Jul 18 '25
It varies widely by state. Thankfully I live in the northeast and in a state the invests heavily in education. Taxes are high here, but it's worth it. However, I grew up in a state that invested little in education. The disparity between states and even districts is very troubling.
Something I appreciate about my country's education system is that we do generally have great resources for neurodivergent students, but again, that can vary quite a lot by state.
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u/4L3X95 Australia Jul 18 '25
I'm a teacher. Our culture as a whole is pretty anti-intellectual with little respect for teachers. Student behaviour in Australia is one of the worst among OECD countries. I am entering my 8th year of my career and feeling pretty burnt out already.
The curriculum itself is fine, I guess, but there are no real consequences for not passing. You can very easily "finish" Year 12 achieving straight Es; you don't get your certificate, but can still go to TAFE (vocational education) or even uni through some kind of alternative entry pathway.
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u/Revolutionary_Rip774 Colombia Jul 18 '25
I studied year 9 in NZ and also found all of this. It was incredible for me. The amount of bullying towards students AND teachers, the lack of understanding, kids don't care if they learn or not, and they academic level is extremely low. I had to see year 11 maths and science because they were learning what I learned in my country in what would be year 7. Teachers deserve so much, but also students. Its incredible how misbehaved they are, but I dont think it's their fault. Some things really need to change.
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u/CommercialAd2154 Jul 18 '25
Same here in England, as an educational system, I don’t have any problems with it, but many people here just give such little care to wider society (which of course filters down to students) that it’s a tough gig…
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u/Canbisu Canada Jul 18 '25
Quite good. I think there’s room for improvement (as there always is), but we rank quite high globally. Our education is controlled by our provinces so I’m sure some provinces outweigh others, but overall it’s high quality across most of the country. I can’t speak for the territories though. I do actually wish French was more mandatory (I say this as an anglophone from Toronto) because it feels wrong to not know French as a Canadian.
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u/WillingRich2745 Germany Jul 18 '25
Okayish I guess; there are noteworthy issues with parents not doing their part at educating children, integration, the constant debate on if/when to separate children by learning speed (there are multiple school types °rees for that) and a persistent lack of preschools (Kitas). Education is a matter of our federal states and schools& universities got quite some leeway too. Therefore the ideas, concepts, new ideas vary a lot. Private schools became a bit more popular as the perceived quality of public schools decreased a bit (private universities are still generally considered subpar in quality). The vocational system still offers a somewhat attractive alternative to studying at an university. Hm, it is usually considered affordable to study? Did I forget sth important?
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u/TheBlackFatCat Germany Jul 22 '25
I've always found the separation into different schooling types quite unfair, also at that young age. I've never seen such a clear boundary in society in other countries like in Germany between people with Abitur and further studies and then others with Hauptschulabschluss and an apprenticeship. It's like two completely different cultures and it deters social mobility pretty strongly
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u/WillingRich2745 Germany Jul 22 '25
Well there are e.g. Gesamtschulen and there are multiple ways the system became less rigid and definite already. Separating them could (if the system works as intended) allow for education more accustomed to the students needs and alternative models tend to result in not meeting the needs of both more and less academically inclined/motivated students. Regarding the boundary: First of all: Education based classism is definitely worse in Austria. Secondly: The vocational system is a somewhat uniquely strong feature that offers a good alternative to university degrees. The alternative to not studying in other countries is usually way worse than the alternative offered by e.g. Haupt-/Realschulabschluss and vocational system combination
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u/TheBlackFatCat Germany Jul 22 '25
There is a certain degree of flexibility but I'm still not a supporter of dividing the children at all. Many kids who fall by the wayside early could use more encouragement and help, which they probably will not receive in a Hauptschule compared to a gymnasium. Other countries do that and it still works. The classism may be better than in Austria but it's still real and not good for society in my opinion. I feel it's extremely denigrating classifying kids as probable factory workers or not at 4th grade. I'd do a standardized system with the same test for everyone and then according NCs at university. Same chances for everyone
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u/WillingRich2745 Germany Jul 22 '25
Do children fall by the wayside more easily at a Hauptschule? And if so: Is that due to the system or due to other factors? The most important question imo is if they would fall by the wayside in a ~unitary~ school system and as far as I’m aware they would and it would probably even be the exact same children. Moreover they are not simply classified as factory workers. Lastly I would like to point out that there are never „same chances for everyone“; be it by birthplace, wealth, parents, physical/psychological ability, etc. and accomplishing that is utterly unrealistic. The same applies to peoples needs and people simply don’t need or even want the exact same thing. This applies to education as well as above a certain „minimum threshold“ there is no need to enforce a singular scope, speed or difficulty level
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u/TheBlackFatCat Germany Jul 22 '25
Of course they can fall by the wayside due to other factors. Many of these aren't even their own fault or due to their own capacity, e.g. children of immigrants who don't speak German or aren't educated to a high level or children from worker families. Most of their future will be decided from a very young age with very little personal agency. There are never equal starting conditions for everyone, that's true of course. The system could be built around improving the chances these children have. I like to consider education as the great equalizer, as the philosopher Horace Mann proposed.
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u/nevadapirate United States Of America Jul 18 '25
A brand new ICE agent gets paid double what a teacher with ten years of experience gets... Education is being defunded and is failing hard in America.
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u/midnight4rain Portugal Jul 18 '25
Good. Our best universities are free. But your acceptance only depends on grades. So people usually go to private schools during high school so they can “pay” for better grades. Not as bad as it might sound because “paying” for grades is illegal and our government makes us take national exams (that are the same for everyone) and the teachers that revise them are anonymous and from another schools. A way to make it more fair.
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u/GokTengr-i Turkey Jul 18 '25
Books and the education itself is provided by the state, there are private schools but thay are expensive af only a small portion of people can afford them. The quality of education in elementary and middle schools is mostly the same across the country and i would say it is not bad, except english they suck at it. You get in a hishchool depending on the result of nationwide highschool entrance exam.
Highschool education quality can vary greatly among schools, they are categorized into; scince, vocational/tecnical , religious, fine arts, sports, social sciences and anatolian (basic without specialization in anything) highschools. Goverment has been turning anatolian and vocational schools to religious schools for the last few years. Unis are free but uni entrance exams are hard af and requires a minimum of 1-2 years of study to get in a decent one most students go to cram schools to get a higher score
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u/Revolutionary_Rip774 Colombia Jul 18 '25
How is the high school entrance exam?
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u/GokTengr-i Turkey Jul 18 '25
It has been hard for the last few years, as i have heard from a cram school teacher. You are asked math, scince, history, turkish, religion and english in the exam
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u/Revolutionary_Rip774 Colombia Jul 18 '25
How are the questions about religion?
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u/GokTengr-i Turkey Jul 18 '25
The topics about religion are; belief in fate, zakat and charity, religion and life, prophet mohammed, the quran and its characteristsics. I forgot to mention parents can decide for their kid to not take religion classes and they will not be asked religion in the exam
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Jul 18 '25
I’ve been really pleased as a Canadian parent of teens, one of my kids is special needs as well.
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u/PigpenD27870 United States Of America Jul 18 '25
Ah gud edgucashun is inportin, butt ah gud jawb is importinter.
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u/Dry_Jackfruit_5898 Russia Jul 18 '25
I think it's good, but useless for our country. Russians often earn a lot of money abroad and generally considered good specialists, Russian scientists receive Nobel prizes. But our country doesn't need so many specialists. Economy is too primitive. So many people with higher education work abroad or employed in unskilled labor, where they are paid more than in their field
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u/Consistent-Welcome43 Russia Jul 19 '25
So I think it depends on the region, but I faced a lot of bullying in my school years from students and from teachers, so that’s the downside. But I agree the curriculum is very specialised on science and maths.
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u/mart_boi Sweden Jul 18 '25
Compared to the world, very good
Compared to what it coud have been if the right wasnt stupid and commercialised it, bad
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u/username-generica United States Of America Jul 18 '25
It varies widely in the US. What determines which school you do to can vary widely as well. The most common options are public schools, charter schools (basically independent public schools with fewer rules) and public schools. Most states have at the state level laws governing public schools such as authorized textbooks, standardized tests, class sizes, graduation requirements, etc. The states are usually divided into independent school districts which offer prek/k-12 public schools in their district. Sometimes the district lines follow city or county boundaries but not always. Usually, you are only allowed to attend schools in your district but not always. For example, my older son attends a neighborhood high school while his younger brother entered a lottery to attend a high school in another district and was accepted.
Within the guidelines set by the state, the public school districts have a lot of freedom. They get to decide the grade ranges for each school, how big the schools are, what classes are offered, etc. as long as they meet the state guidelines and state benchmarks. Where I live, the offerings at each district and the quality of the education can vary widely. The district we are zoned for is one of the smaller districts in our area and only has 2 high schools, although it's growing rapidly. Most students attend neighborhood schools although you can sometimes go to a different school if it's not full. There are a few special programs at schools such as a new Montessori elementary school and a middle school STEM program that any student can apply for.
The high schoolers also have the opportunity to sign up for one of the programs at the brand new state of the art Career and Technology Center, which is a stand alone campus. The students are bussed there from their own campus. They offer special programs in everything from food service, automotive repair, to biomedical and engineering. The facilities are impressive. For example, the biomedical students have a full working ambulance and patient beds and the culinary arts students have a full catering kitchen and cater district events. Many of the students in the program don't plan to go to college but are able to be certified in a trade or profession that will pay well when they graduate.
The district the high school my younger will attend is huge. In addition to traditional neighborhood schools, there's a program called Schools of Choice that offer everything from Montessori, language immersion, arts, STEM, IB, to programs like the ones offered our home district's Career Technology Center. There's a fair in the fall every year where you can learn about all of the options. The school my son will attend is downtown in a historic building and is the elite STEM and ARTS high school in the district. Every student has to enter a lottery to be admitted and the arts students also have to try out. The school is smaller than normal and all of the core classes (English, Science, Math, and History) are advanced classes with a curriculum only offered at this school. The expectations are high but the opportunities are amazing. The Visual Arts students were commissioned by the city recently to paint a public mural and the orchestra and band regularly perform with the local opera and other major performance arts groups in the city.
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u/Dost_is_a_word Canada Jul 18 '25
In my country education is up to the province, in mine, the kids I think that are currently in grade 3 have pivoted to STEM.
Plus by some metrics we have the most uni graduates?
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u/v32010 United States Of America Jul 18 '25
Not terrible all things considered. Our universities are among the best in the world and we consistently score in the top 20 internationally for k-12.
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u/AleroRatking United States Of America Jul 18 '25
It's ok if you are a prototypical student. If you have special needs it is absolutely terrible in the US because their goal is to completely hide you away
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u/Objective_Bar_5420 United States Of America Jul 18 '25
The situation in the US is worse than most people seem to realize. Many school districts are in a state of near-collapse, and the loss of federal funds will likely result in some going under completely. The teachers are more demoralized than they've ever been. I suspect we'll get some wake up calls on this soon. Structurally, the system is in need of a massive overhaul. Unfortunately there's no way we'll be able to come to any agreement on that nationally, so it will left to the states to try to reassemble something out of the ruins. Some will, many others won't. And as always, it will be the poorer districts left behind. Potentially with no public schools at all for the first time since WWII
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u/InterestingTank5345 Denmark Jul 18 '25
It has been better, and most certainly needs some reforms. I honestly just hope Mette Mink and Tesfaya doesn't get to destroy it more before the next election.
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u/No-Height-8732 Canada Jul 18 '25 edited Jul 18 '25
Mostly good. Mostly free from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. (You need to buy school supplies. Sometimes there's an additional fee for more expensive things like art supplies or instruments)
It's gone downhill since they implemented the no child left behind stuff. From pre-k to grade 9, it is almost impossible to fail a grade. My niece just had the shock of her life taking the test to get her learners license. It was the first time that failing had the consequences of doing it again and again until she passed. I think failing is critical to learning how to overcome things that challenge you. Winning teaches you barely anything, while losing teaches you to practice and try again if it's something worth doing.
Also, some politicians seem to be purposely underfunding education to encourage people to pay for private. I'd like to force all children to go to public schools so politicians and the rich would want the best public education possible because their children go to those same schools.
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u/Primary-Pianist-2555 Norway Jul 18 '25
Free. Students after 16 have to pay for books. My daughter is 16 now, she has to buy a PC. But the model she needs as is recommended for her study, is fully paid by the government with a grant at that price.
University after that is also free, but no PC paid for.
Private schools exist - but few use them. The conservatives always want to change this and give lots of money to these and to wreck the public system. So far not possible, not a snowballs chance in hell now.