School Daze

I learned kind of early that the word School doesn’t have quite the same meaning in both Ukraine and America. I first realized this when I asked a young women which school she attended. She gave me a strange look and stated matter of factly that she finished school and that she was now attending University.

Let me discuss school in America initially and then I shall talk about the modest amount that I know about education in Ukraine. It is important to recognize that when I discuss school in America that the circumstances can be different from state to state or even town to town. In the U.S. most children attend public school that is funded by property taxes. These are taxes that are levied on real estate such as private homes and land by municipalities. Child education is compulsory usually until the age of 16 or so. I started school (kindergarten) at age 5. These days children will usually start preschool between ages 3-4. Some children will attend preschool for more than one year. After kindergarten the next step would be Elementary School which is also known as Grade School. This is usually attended from grades 1-5 or 1-6. A student would say “I’m in first grade” rather that “I’m in grade 1.” In grade school, I was first introduced to the infectious disease of Cooties. I learned that this could be caught by touching a person of the opposite sex that was approximately the same age as me. I think most of my friends stopped using this phrase after the age of 10 but it scared me so I just concentrated on baseball and stayed away from girls until I was twenty-five. I also learned at this time that if I stepped on a (sidewalk) crack that I would break my mother’s back. I was very careful where I stepped. Intermediate School (A.K.A. Middle School or Junior High) would follow usually to the eighth grade. High School would typically be attended for grades 9-12. Students would normally be 14-18 years of age at this time. High School is also called secondary school. In High School someone in the 9th grade is called a freshman, 10th grade a sophomore, 11th grade a junior and 12th grade a senior. At this time I found out about another devastating disease called senioritis. This is a disabling ailment that inflicts high school seniors. Most occurrences of senioritis have a tendency to start after college applications have been mailed. Symptoms usually include skipping class, idleness, a lack of studying and being apathetic all the time. The only known cure is an event known as graduation day. Post secondary school in America is called college. A student could attend a local 2 year community college in hopes of acquiring an Associates Degree (A.A.) or attending a 4 year college or university to get a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.S.). In college, students are also referred to being in their freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years. Up to High School, education is publicly funded but students would have to pay for college themselves. However, there are many different sources to get funding for college including scholarships and government loans and grants.  The government aid is usually need based. Following college someone would attend Graduate School or a Professional School to study Law, Medicine etc. A principal would be the head of the school up to secondary school while the head of a college is called a dean.

             My understanding of education in Ukraine is very limited. I believe that while Americans use the word school for any education; in Ukraine it is only used up to High School. After that someone would say that they are attending University. Ukrainians that are attending University do not like it when you refer to them using the word school. Also it seems like there are places that have Academy or Institute in their names. This would be a little unusual in America. While there are well known schools such as the U.S. Naval Academy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology most post secondary schools in America just have college or university in the name.

A word to the wise, if you know someone in Ukraine who works at a school but also attends University; you should never make the mistake of saying something about attending school. I have made this mistake in the past but now it is actually amusing to see the reaction. 

Posted by John