A few questions for Americans

[Deleted]

Hey there MMO-champion.


I was born and raised in Europe, Belgium to be more specific, and I never got to learn about the American system too well. There are a few things I never knew about the school system, and I would like to get an answer from real people behind a computer who have experienced said system, rather than an article or webpage.

So for the school-related questions, do you guys have school from 8:30 AM to 4 PM, or do those hours differ? Do you guys, like us Belgians, have only half a schoolday at Wednesday, or is it a full day? As for the matter of the summer vacation, when does it start and when does it end? Is it true you have more than two months, and that your school doesn’t start again September the 1st?

It would be appreciated if you could answer these, and that if you are an American, in which of the 50 states you got your experience, in case answers differ from state to state.

[cashzilla]

i'm canadian but i'm pretty sure it's very similar, and i assume you're talking about elementary school? most schools do 9 to 3:30 or a variation of that within half an hour, monday to friday. wednesday is just like any other day. summer vacation starts at the end of june, usually sometime between the 20th and 30th and lasts for 2 months. school resumes in september after the labour day weekend, which is the first weekend in september meaning school starts sometime between the 1st and around the 7th

assuming you're talking about highschol, my highschool was 8 to 2:15, monday to friday. semester ends around the same time, mid to end june. we go back around the same time, after the first weekend in september

[Notos]

It really depends on the state and even district where you go. My schedule was a block schedule (4 classes per day in an alternating ABAB pattern), and my school started at 8:50 AM and ended at 3:50 PM. Summer holidays began in the middle of may and ended in the middle of August. This was in central Texas.

[edlike]

this was my experience growing up in Florida:


grades k-5: 8:00-3:00
grades 6-8: 9:00-4:00
grades 9-12: 7:00-2:00

every wednesday was 1 hour shorter.

[Darsithis]

The hours differ. It depends on the specific community and school system. My classes started at 7:40am and ran until 3:45 every day, in a block schedule (4 classes a day), but a different high school I went to before that was 9 classes a day and started at 7am. Some school systems run year-round with breaks between and some take the summer off, usually ending late May or early June and starting again in late August or early September. My partner's classes, for instance, are starting up September 11th this year.

This is from Michigan and Illinois and I know it differs elsewhere, but generally not nearly that much.

[nocendi]

For the younger grades, it's typically 8:00AM to 3:00PM, with some variations. For middle school and high school, 4:00PM is pretty common. That being said, in the US a lot of social clubs, athletics, etc is part of the school (where as in Europe it is usually separate organizations), so American kids spend a good amount of school doing non-school things.

As for variations; this is entirely up to the school districts to decide, so it doesn't vary just from state to state, but often also from city to city.

As far as school year; school usually starts around September 1st (labor day), and ends around JUne 1st. So our summer vacations are a little longer than most European countries; however, we have less vacation days in the school year (mostly just Christmas and spring break)

[Thiassi]

It depended on the schools, to alleviate traffic and since school bus drivers run routes for multiple schools, school A would go from 7:30am-2:30pm and school B would go from 8:30am-3:30pm. Really depends on where you live though. Some places have school all year as well opposed to August-May.

[Paloro]

Varies completely on the state and also the particular district you are in.

In Pennsylvania I went to high school from 7:30 - 2:30 M-F with having 9 class periods per day.
We usually got out of school in the beginning to middle of June (depended on how many days were missed due to weather) and started at the end of August/early September.

[Reeve]

51 states? Are you referring to D.C. as the 51st? Or Puerto Rico? There are only 50 states.

But for me growing up in California, school started at 8 AM typically and went until 2 PM/3 PM(don't recall), but it could vary. In 8th grade, I had a special algebra class I took that started at 6:30 AM. My senior year of High School, I'd get out at 11:30 AM because I already had enough credits, due to taking on extra in other years. But 8AM to 2PM/3PM is probably fairly typical.

There's no special "half day Wednesday." But some schools have the same class schedule every day and others do block scheduling. My high school switched from set schedule to block schedule my sophomore year. So I'd have different classes on different days, and some days I'd get out earlier than others because of this.

My summer vacations ran from the middle of June until early September. In Texas, it goes from mid-May to late August. So it varies on the state/district.

[Skarssen]

Its been 18 years since I've been in high school, but times and schedules vary state to state. Some are on year-round schedules and will be in session for roughly 10 weeks and out for 2 weeks before starting again. Others are on a traditional schedule of Aug/Sept - May/June. Most schools I am aware of go something like 0745-1445 or so. I live in Maryland and there is some push here to push start times back an hour.

There are also private schools that have their own individual schedules, but I would say the vast majority of public schools in the country still follow the Aug/Sept through May/June period and a 7-8 hour/day schedule.

[Aertea]

It really varies on a state by state, sometimes even District by District basis. The government has set regulations for the number of hours in a school day, and the number of days per year, otherwise things are left up to the State/Districts.

In PA, most schools run from Labor Day till early to mid June, some extra days are built in to make up for bad weather/emergencies. There is about a 1 week break for Christmas.

I think in TX, they run from early August to Early June, (shorter Summer) but they have a month off for Winter break between semesters.

Hours are fairly standard and usually fall between 7am and 4pm, for about 6-7 hours. Different buildings within the same district will often have these times staggered as it allows for a smaller amount of bus transportation to service the entire district.

[Orcbert]

Hey there MMO-champion.


I was born and raised in Europe, Belgium to be more specific, and I never got to learn about the American system too well. There are a few things I never knew about the school system, and I would like to get an answer from real people behind a computer who have experienced said system, rather than an article or webpage.

So for the school-related questions, do you guys have school from 8:30 AM to 4 PM, or do those hours differ? Do you guys, like us Belgians, have only half a schoolday at Wednesday, or is it a full day? As for the matter of the summer vacation, when does it start and when does it end? Is it true you have more than two months, and that your school doesn’t start again September the 1st?

It would be appreciated if you could answer these, and that if you are an American, in which of the 51 states you got your experience, in case answers differ from state to state.

As people are saying, most of the answers to these questions vary by school district. There is no national standard.

There is also summer school for two reasons in many districts. Either as a punishment for those who are not keeping up good grades or for cases where they feel the student will suffer a loss of progress during a long summer break. The second reason is generally used for many special education situations. My son's autistic which thrives on routine. He goes to summer school because it is felt that they would have to 'start over' if there was too big of a gap.

[Gwiez]

Hey there MMO-champion.


I was born and raised in Europe, Belgium to be more specific, and I never got to learn about the American system too well. There are a few things I never knew about the school system, and I would like to get an answer from real people behind a computer who have experienced said system, rather than an article or webpage.

So for the school-related questions, do you guys have school from 8:30 AM to 4 PM, or do those hours differ? Do you guys, like us Belgians, have only half a schoolday at Wednesday, or is it a full day? As for the matter of the summer vacation, when does it start and when does it end? Is it true you have more than two months, and that your school doesn’t start again September the 1st?

It would be appreciated if you could answer these, and that if you are an American, in which of the 50 states you got your experience, in case answers differ from state to state.

Kintergarten (5 years old) is half a day. First through twelfth grade is 8 hours, but they're staggered. 1-5 started the latest in the day (8:30am, IIRC). 6-8 an hour earlier, and 9-12 an hour earlier than that. In 12th grade, if a person was part of a work program (or only had a few classes left), they could leave early.

Summer vacation was about 2.5 months. From about a week or two into June, until the last week of August. It used to not start until after labor day (first Monday in September) but that ended a long time ago. The long summer break isn't universal, but it is the most common. Its not that great because kids forget things.

My experience was in Missouri. And we still only have 50 states, right or wrong, DC doesn't count as a state. Although Puerto Rico is moving towards statehood, with 61% of people voting in their recent plebicite saying they desired statehood.

[Adam Jensen]

School was 8:00AM - 3PM for me, I think. It varies slightly from school to school. Summer was mid May to mid August, and again, varied slightly. My elementary schools stretched into June, my high school typically ended in the middle of May. No regular half days.

Maine, USA.

[GreatOak]

i'm canadian but i'm pretty sure it's very similar, and i assume you're talking about elementary school? most schools do 9 to 3:30 or a variation of that within half an hour, monday to friday. wednesday is just like any other day. summer vacation starts at the end of june, usually sometime between the 20th and 30th and lasts for 2 months. school resumes in september after the labour day weekend, which is the first weekend in september meaning school starts sometime between the 1st and around the 7th

assuming you're talking about highschol, my highschool was 8 to 2:15, monday to friday. semester ends around the same time, mid to end june. we go back around the same time, after the first weekend in september

I'm not Canadian (American in Northern Illinois) but seeing as my schooling followed the exact same schedule I obviously speak for all Canadians and Americans in every state and province when I say that the above description is pretty typical.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Grade 1-5 was 8 AM to 2:30 PM
Grade 6-12 was 8 AM to 3:10 PM

Most schools offer an "after school program" where they have teachers or other responsible adults to watch kids until 5:30ish for parents who can't pick their kids up at school end or don't want them to take the bus and be home alone, or whatever reason.

[raddry]

Guys 8 AM to 2 PM or 3 PM, how I'd like this ... In the french Lycée, it was 5:40 most of the time for me... But that's probably because we usually had a lunch break from 12:15 to 14:00 because you know, french people need 2 hours to eat I guess? ... How about your lunch breaks?

[Reeve]

Guys 8 AM to 2 PM or 3 PM, how I'd like this ... In the french Lycée, it was 5:40 most of the time for me... But that's probably because we usually had a lunch break from 12:15 to 14:00 because you know, french people need 2 hours to eat I guess? ... How about your lunch breaks?

I generally got one 15 minute break and I think a 45 minute lunch.

Edit: I was wrong. It was a 10 minute break and 35 minute lunch. Here's the actual bell schedule of the high school I attended: http://www.oocities.org/westmontptsa...lSchedule.html

[Korgoth]

Each school district will do it differently.

For me it was 8 to 3, Mon-Fri for High School, 8-2:30 for Middle and elementary. One 15min early, then one 30min lunch. No half days regularly, only with special events.

Summer break was early June - early Sept. Winter started the first full week with Christmas and ended the first week after New Years.

[Deleted]

Grade 1-5 was 8 AM to 2:30 PM
Grade 6-12 was 8 AM to 3:10 PM

Most schools offer an "after school program" where they have teachers or other responsible adults to watch kids until 5:30ish for parents who can't pick their kids up at school end or don't want them to take the bus and be home alone, or whatever reason.

I recognize that. My elementary school had such a program for kids so that they could stay at school till 6.