How does the education system work in the US ?
When I talk to US people, they did highschool, junior high,
college, university, they did a minor, or major.
Nothing comparable here in Europe.
So if I want to become a plumber what education i must follow to be a qualified plumber ?
or a philosopher ?
or a photographer ?
or a flight attendant ?
or a diplomat ?
or an architect ?
or a ships captain ?
Zweistein, I’ll take a stab at explaining.
In the U.S. an elementary education is typically years one through five, although in some areas the elementary includes year six. Middle school is typically years six, seven and eight, although if it is years seven eight and nine (because the sixth year was still at the elementary level) then it’s probably called a Junior High. Junior High and Middle School are different names for the years between elementary education and High School. High School is usually years nine, ten, eleven and twelve, although as you already know from above sometimes the ninth year students are at a Junior High, or to add to the confusion the area where we live has a separate ninth year campus.
After high school there are a number of options, including but not limited to; trade school (plumbing) with a certification exam and apprenticeship, junior college which offers two year associate degrees, (While there is no degree plan for a flight attendant, when I applied to an airline years ago, they required an associates or equivalent of two years at college.), university (architect, diplomat, philosopher, ships captain).
At university there are different types of degrees, bachelor’s (if attending full time, about four years), master’s (if attending full time, about five years), and doctorate (if attending full time, eight years or more). You also mentioned major’s and minors. A major is a designation of a field of study in which a student specializes and receives a degree. Similarly, a minor is designating a field of study in which a student specializes, but less so than a major. For example, one might major in elementary education and minor in spanish or special education so that they are more marketable when they graduate because there is a greater demand for bilingual teachers or teachers trained to educate the learning disabled.
Of course it’s not that clear cut either. All three of the ships captains I’ve met had university and military or coast guard service, but this may have been particular to the industry in which I worked. Yes, you can plan to become a diplomat and choose an education plan at a university for that purpose. However, we have diplomats who serve where they are simply because of who they know, or who they are or where in the past.
Hope this helps a bit,
Abby
I once looked into becoming a plumber, at a point in my life when I thought it was more noble to serve the state with my body rather than my mind.
One thing I learned was that, like many trades, it is still a relatively closed vocation. You could learn how to do it (not that I did) but you couldn’t really get a good job without belonging to a union and you couldn’t just go down to the union and sign up. You needed some time as an apprentice and journeyman, all of which required someone (a union member) to act, effectively, as a sponsor. And union members would naturally give preference to friends and relations.
Of course it’s not absolutely closed. You could hire on with a company willing to take you through your apprenticeship – but how do you get hired just on your desire? Again, you need to know somebody.
On the other hand you can just call yourself a plumber and hang out your shingle. It’s a little tougher to get started that way but it can be done.
So when I couldn’t get into the plumber’s union I became a longshoreman.
To be a plumber, you can go to technical/vocational schools, you can hire on as an apprentice (usually with someone who knows you), etc. - but there are union problems in a lot of places, as noted by pluto.
The only real ways to support yourself as a philosopher (AFAIK) are 1) academia - teach, in other words 2) books, etc. - closely related to 1 and 3) working in some other field while pursuing philosophy in your spare time. If you want to go into academia, you’ll go to college (majoring in philosophy) and then graduate school (for a Ph.D.) and then hope like hell you can get a (preferably tenure-track) job in some school somewhere. Publish or perish, earn tenure, settle into a routine of teaching, occasional publishing, and university politics.
If you just want to do it as a hobby, go about it any way you want; the education you’ll need will apply to what you get paid to do, not what you do in your spare time.**
There are actual photographers on this list who can answer this better than I can.**
As I understand it - and this could be out of date, since it’s based on my aunt’s experience - you apply, and they train you. You need some college, usually. Oh, and there are some schools that offer courses for things like this - booking agent, etc. - but I’ve no idea how useful those places actually are. **
Yikes. Leave this one to the better-qualified-to-answer, but I’d say - college, connections, hope.**
College, followed by graduate school in architecture.**
Join the Navy. You’ll need a college degree to be a ship’s captain (I think), plus a whole bunch of other stuff - courses, experience, good ratings, whatever - that you’ll get while in the Navy.
Someone else can probably chime in with more info on a lot of the professions listed here; the academic route is the one I’m most familiar with.
Slight confusion here,
When you leave high school how old are you? it looks like you are saying year twelve but I assume this is year twelve of education so that would mean maybe 16 or 17 years old ?
Another thing that surprises me is that it takes 4 years for a BA and five for a BA Hons whereas in the UK this is three years full time.
Some degrees are longer such as architecture, medical, and legal but they are usually integrated into a working and training package.
I was able to do a part-time degree hons in five years(actually it was four years because I had other certificates) and hold down a full time job, and this is quite usual.
In the UK our education as far as trades goes involves going to night classes plus one day a week in college, so you work fulltime and apply what you learned at college.
Our minimum level of certification for a trade is usually City and Guilds levels 2 and 3 which have their origins in the medieval trades guilds, this system can take you up to degree level(level 5 or 6 I think) but usually stops way short of this.
What equivalent do you have in the US ?
Beyond City and Guilds we have National certificates, Ordinary and Higher which are well on the way to design level and can be counted toward degree modules.
Most tradespersons only go as far as Ordinary National Certificates(ONC), which take two years of nightschool on top of the trade training, Higher National Certificates (HNC)adds another two years to that.
We have another system called National Vocational Qualifications(NVQ’s) which are supposed to be improvements on the ONC & HNC but they are definately not, they are in fact a major step backwards (since the trainer only has to follow a package and actually needs no specialist knowledge of the subject being taught!!), this from someone who has to deliver such training.
Most high school graduates in the US are 18. I knew a couple who graduated at 16. They were smart.
It really depends on the program. Many people can get a bachelor’s in English in three years, but a bachelor’s in Engineering may take closer to five. The average is four.
Depends on the school. That’s why you need to shop around.
I don’t think there is an “official” guild-type system recognized in the US, but many unions have tiered certification processes.
I don’t know how the trades work here, so I can’t answer anything about that. But I do know how the school system works, just entering another part of it this year.
Elementary school: Kindergarten through grade 8, although a couple places have middle school for either 6,7,8 or just 7&8. Kindergarten is a year before grade 1. I forget what happens there 
but it’s pretty basic. Learn to respect others, tie your shoes, and get used to the school’s learning environment.
High School: This is different depending on which province you’re in. I’ll speak from an Ontario point of view. We have from grade 9 to grade 13 (OAC), which is being replaced with a four year program very soon. The OAC year isn’t mandatory; colleges will accept grade 12 education. Our universities (again, in Ontario), require six OAC classes to enter. For example, the program I’m going into, Computer Science, requires English, Calculus, Algebra/Geometry (one course there), and the top three marks of the rest of the OAC classes.
University: A Major degree requires three years to complete, and a Honours degree requires four years. Again, I don’t really know about colleges or trades.
Oops, really long post. Hope this helped!