Education System - UK compared to US?

[AngelnSteve 0]

I'm trying to bring my 15 year old daughter to the US (NC) but my ex-wife is concerned about the education system in the US. Does anyone have any experience of the differences - both good and bad?

Apologies if this the wrong forum.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Is there something she is especially concerned about?

One difference is that in the UK, students declare their intent to study a particular subject much earlier, at age 16 I believe, after the GCSE test. Then they forgo language, say, and study only math and chemistry.

The US system is based more on a liberal arts model, where students continue to study a broad range of subjects so they are more exposed to different things. Of course, there is some flexibility to study something more deeply if desired - my high school for instance offered advanced chemistry, calculus, etc. and if the student was interested and had the prerequisites they could take the class. Many school also offer "Advance Placement" courses which is meant to be the first year or semester of university. I entered uni with 15 credits already, awarded to me from the results of my Advance Placement exams.

I see a lot of UK people think that their college, age 16-18 is somehow equivalent to the first 2 years of uni in the US, and that is not true.

[AngelnSteve 0]

Thanks for the reply, I believe she may consider the US system inadequate compared to the UK system and grounds therefore not to permit my daughter to move.

Edited September 4, 2012 by AngelnSteve

[Empress of Groovy 373]

You may want to ask a mod to move this to the UK subforum.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Well I would venture to guess that her ideas about what is inadequate is based on misinformation. Why don't you ask her what she is concerned about?

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I'm trying to bring my 15 year old daughter to the US (NC) but my ex-wife is concerned about the education system in the US. Does anyone have any experience of the differences - both good and bad?

Apologies if this the wrong forum.

School quality is primarily based on location. Have you established exactly where you plan to live? Based on your address you can look up the school district and its ratings.

If quality is low and your family is flexible, it may be worth moving to an address with a high quality school. Alternatively, there are private schools. I personally have no experience with the public school system because I went to private school.

Given you would be paying tuition for only 3 years it might be worth considering.

Edited September 4, 2012 by Sousuke

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

A lot of British people have this bias that US schools are inferior and it is not always true. Having experienced both primary and secondary education in both countries, my US school was in some ways superior to my UK school, although this was 25-30 years ago. Your comparisons are going to vary dramatically, however, depending on what schools you are comparing both in the US and UK

[Xanax 349]

US schools are funded by the area they are in I believe.

So if you live in a "poor" area the school generally isn't as good- teachers, facilities etc.

School's are not federally funded like other parts of the world so their are great disparities with the quality of the education.

I would look at 1) where you are planning to live and review the neighborhood schools, 2) review private options if you can , 3) compare what your daughter wants to get out of the school to what the school can offer IE/ if she wants to go to beauty school and just finish HS and get her HS diploma or if she wants to study medicine - those things will help you determine between what schooling options are available and appropriate.

Lastly, I just want to say, I had the same notion when I came here about the schools but was pleasantly surprised by the standard in my area, however I went to a less fortunate area of California to visit new family and saw some schools there and there was great disparity between what was offered and the caliber of students each establishment produced. So it really really does depend on the area. I would also have your daughter do some testing at the school she is looking to go into, she may test ahead. I know the UK schooling system is generally quite good so she may end up in the year above

[Anh map 2,098]

I'm trying to bring my 15 year old daughter to the US (NC) but my ex-wife is concerned about the education system in the US. Does anyone have any experience of the differences - both good and bad?

Apologies if this the wrong forum.

What school system / area in North Carolina? It can vary greatly.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Topic has been moved from the Off Topic Forum to the UK Regional forum as a more useful location for the OP to get the requested information.

[SBB 74]

US schools are funded by the area they are in I believe.

So if you live in a "poor" area the school generally isn't as good- teachers, facilities etc.

School's are not federally funded like other parts of the world so their are great disparities with the quality of the education.

I would look at 1) where you are planning to live and review the neighborhood schools, 2) review private options if you can , 3) compare what your daughter wants to get out of the school to what the school can offer IE/ if she wants to go to beauty school and just finish HS and get her HS diploma or if she wants to study medicine - those things will help you determine between what schooling options are available and appropriate.

Lastly, I just want to say, I had the same notion when I came here about the schools but was pleasantly surprised by the standard in my area, however I went to a less fortunate area of California to visit new family and saw some schools there and there was great disparity between what was offered and the caliber of students each establishment produced. So it really really does depend on the area. I would also have your daughter do some testing at the school she is looking to go into, she may test ahead. I know the UK schooling system is generally quite good so she may end up in the year above

The problems of schools in poor districts are largely unrelated to funding as few of said districts are actually "underfunded" in any meaningful sense. Washington DC public schools spend tons of money per pupil and still suck. Check http://www.state.nj.us/education/guide/2012/ for some data from my home state of New Jersey. Compare a poor district like Newark, Camden, or Irvington with a fancy suburban district like Millburn, Bernards Township, or New Providence and you'll see that per pupil costs are frequently lower in the richer districts. Poor districts tend to have worse teachers because the good teachers would rather teach well behaved and eager students in rich, suburban districts than deal with the disciplinary problems and safety hazards inherent in teaching in poor, urban ones.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

The problems of schools in poor districts are largely unrelated to funding as few of said districts are actually "underfunded" in any meaningful sense. Washington DC public schools spend tons of money per pupil and still suck. Check http://www.state.nj.us/education/guide/2012/ for some data from my home state of New Jersey. Compare a poor district like Newark, Camden, or Irvington with a fancy suburban district like Millburn, Bernards Township, or New Providence and you'll see that per pupil costs are frequently lower in the richer districts. Poor districts tend to have worse teachers because the good teachers would rather teach well behaved and eager students in rich, suburban districts than deal with the disciplinary problems and safety hazards inherent in teaching in poor, urban ones.

Having been a teacher, I don't agree if you are blaming under-performance on the teachers. I've been the white teacher in an all black ghetto school and taught the richest kids in town at another. There's a lot more to it than the teacher.

[SBB 74]

Having been a teacher, I don't agree if you are blaming under-performance on the teachers. I've been the white teacher in an all black ghetto school and taught the richest kids in town at another. There's a lot more to it than the teacher.

I'm not blaming the teachers and my experience has led me to believe that good students make good schools and not the other way around, but a good teacher is more likely to be able to get the job teaching APs in a rich suburb and less likely to have to teach remedial classes in the ghetto unless he chooses to. That having been said, the major point I was making is that the reasons that poor districts provide poor educations has little to do with funding.

[Holly2234 66]

Like others have said, a lot of it is really down to the area she lives in the UK and where she will be in the US to how much different it will be for her.

From comparing my school experiences (poor part of Nottingham) to my husbands (mixed town in Upstate NY) they were drastically different. It took me until almost 20 to get a maths GCSE! It was part my fault, part the teachers and partly the way it was run. My husband learnt a lot at school and has happier memories than i do. But im not sure that theyre even comparable in a fair way.

Why not check out the schools local to you and see how theyre doing compared to the one she is at now.

[LauraDP 10]

Is your daughter's mother's concern about the quality of the education your daughter will receive in the US? Or is it about flexibility of her returning from the US to the UK with US qualifications?

If the latter, then perhaps you could investigate the possibility of your daughter studying for the International Baccalaureate. My husband spent most of his High School years in the US and, having been in a US public school, my in-laws moved him to an International School for a couple of years so that he could then resume studying for the IB when they returned to the UK (which was in his last year of High School) so that ensured flexibility. I appreciate that my husband was being educated in Washington DC where this option was more readily available than it perhaps is in other areas of the US but it may be worth investigating if this is the mother's concern.

As we will be relocating to the US with our four sons (aged 3, 5, 6 and 9), researching education and schools is a priority of ours but that is in terms of where to enrol them and which county / district will suit them best. The education systems are different, yes, undoubtedly so but I think it is too "black and white" to be dismissive of the quality of a US education compared to a UK education as both systems have their qualities and their flaws. My advice, therefore, would be to research the High School and even Colleges in the area you will be moving your daughter to in order to be able to present her mother with hard facts and statistics to demonstrate that your daughter will in fact be receiving a good quality education which is at least comparable to the education she is currently receiving.

Best wishes

Laura