Whatever you do DO NOT LET America’s Education system become like the Swiss.
1. Children attend primary school, like ours, for 5 or 6 years (it varies by Canton). They have 13 weeks of vacation. They have the same teacher for the first three years, then the next three another. The school day varies day to day, but is constant for a semester. On average, a child spends about 20 hours / week in school.
2. in the fifth Grade, THE TEACHER decides whether you will later attend “Real”, “Sek” or “Bez” - the is no such thing as “objective grading”. The first of the three being the lowest secondary level. This is the “Junior High / Middle School level and that teachers assessment will affect you child essentially forever. These last three years and you have the same teacher all three of them.
3. You “*can* move up, but the path is extremely difficult. You basically have to have the knowledge that was not taught to get there.
4. That is the END of state “guaranteed” education (9 years). If you are a very good “Bez” Student, you can go on to “High School”. Otherwise you must find an employer willing to train you for a job and obtain your “diploma”. If you can’t find one willing to train you in a profession you like, or at all, well ...
My youngest must find an employer next year. We were told at a parent / teacher conference that 30% of the Children at the Real level do NOT find an employer.
Any system that knowing allows that many children to NOT receive a full education is a bad one. These children have no chance. We have Diplomas here for “Retail Sales Specialist” (can operate a cash register and stock shelves) - 3 years and requires at least “Sek”, “Gardner” requires “Bez” (they have to learn latin names!!) etc ... So you can imageing what jobs are avaliable for “Real” ....
>Any system that knowing allows that many children to NOT receive a full education is a bad one.
Not all children are capable of achieving a full education. IQ matters.