Expat in USA

You’re probably new to the US and if you have kids or you’re a teenager yourself there are things you should know about the American education system. Education is mandatory if later in your life you want to be able to talk to someone you meet or if you want to consider a carrier in a certain niche.

Royce Hal, UCLA

This is why we’ve been thinking of the 6 simplest things you should consider about your eduction while you’re in the US.

1. Be fluent in English. This is the first thing you should consider. If math or geometry may not be such a big deal if you or your children can’t speak English fluently, history and science could be. This is where you should start taking lessons to improve it.
2. Public education is guaranteed. All you need to do is to find out which school takes care of your area. Get their phone number or pay them a visit to inform you or your kids will attend. Public schools are usually funded by property taxes.
3. Go private. If you think the public education system is not what you need private schools or private tutors may be what you’re looking for. Private schools have all different kind of fees considering the type of student they’re accepting, exceptionally gifted, special needs and so on. A private tutor however, will probably charge you from $10 to $20 per hour.
4. Grading scale. If you were used to getting grades from 1 to 10 things are changed in the US. Percentages from 0 to 100 and letter grades (F to A – highest) are being used here. The grading scales usually differ from school to school but usually they are like that
   
   If a D is usually a passing grade, in states like Texas or Virginia for example a kid with a D failed. This is why you need to make sure you ask the school about their grading system.
5. Transportation. I’m not going to give you tips how to take your kid to school in a safe way. I just want to tell you that for a young child if it won’t take him only few minutes to school when he is expected to walk, public schools usually have a door-to-door bus service (yes those yellow buses).
6. Higher education usually consists of attending colleges and universities which are decentralized institutions in the US and students have to apply by filling in a common application. Depending upon the type of school and program, annual tuition can vary from $15,000 to as high as $40,000, and usually the majority of students are considering student loans.

These are just some quick and simple things you need to know about the educational system in the United States and if you would like to read more, here is the No Child Left Behind act, that George W Bush signed in 2001.