What did you do after School? {UPDATE}

[Pluvia's other account]

Well, what that title said really.

I have absolutely no idea what to do after school. With my 16th drawing ever closer, I realised I'm coming to that stage where I'll have to find a job and move out.

It seems up here that everyone either leaves school and gets a Doctorate within 3 weeks, or just works in the supermarket all their life. But I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do. When I tell this to other people around here, they just say something insulting or put you down.

So, instead of thinking about what I want to do, I've decided to see what others have done, and maybe that'll give me some direction in what to do next.

So well, really, What did you do after School?

UPDATE:

Ok, to give you a better understanding of how it works around here, I'll add our Schooling System.

Holidays

2 Weeks off at Easter.
6 Weeks off from June 1st.
2 Weeks off during October.
2 Weeks off from Christmas Eve.

Primary School

Primary 1 (Age 4-5)
Primary 2-6
Primary 7 (Age 10-11)

High School

1st Year (Age 11-12)
2nd Year (Age 12-13)
3rd Year (Age 13-14)
4th Year, Classed as Seniors, Can leave at end of Year (Age 14-15)
5th Year, School can throw you out if it chooses, get paid for attending (Age 15-16)
6th Year, Final Year (Age 16-17)

1st Year
No Exams in 1st Year. This is, well, just your 1st Year at High School.

2nd Year
This is where you are to be making your Career choices for the future, the Teachers constantly remind you of that. Exams in January/February. These decide what classes you'll be getting into next year.

3rd Year
Get put into 5 classes of your choice, depending on their timeslot. English, Maths and French* are compulsory. Whatever you got in your 2nd Year Exam judges what level you'll be sitting in those classes. Exams this Year, though they are pointless because, no matter what the grade, you'll be in the exact same classes next Year.

*French is no longer compulsory, my Year was the last to have it being compulsory.

4th Year

Same classes as last Year. You sit Exams on them in May, you don't attend School in May, only your Exams. By the end of the year, about 1/3 of the pupils are 16, you can leave School now, or the School can throw you out if it chooses.

5th Year

Get put into 3 classes of your choice. English and Maths are compulsory, French is not. Everyone reaches 16 in this Year, and once your 16, depending on your household income, you can make 0, 10, 20 or 30 Pound a week for attending School every single day. Exams in May, same as 4th Year.

6th Year
Unsure whether or not it's 3 or 5 classes you attend. I think it's 3. English and Maths are no longer compulsory. Out of about 150-200 pupils that were in 1st Year, about 20-40 remain in 6th.

End of Education.

Only a few people get to go to University. (You call it College).

 

[omfgomfg]

i have not graduated yet

 

[pdk]

at least decide what interests you enough that you'd consider it as a career; journalism, photography, programming, hairdressing, whatever

then look into what it takes to land a career in them and decide what route would suit you best from there

 

[digitalmaster287]

Yeah just find out what you like and dislike, try to match that up to a University course and work backwards from there. Or, if you already know what future career you want, try to find out what you would need to do or help to get that job.

 

[Jammer]

Oh, I was thinking this thread would be a "what do you do after school every day" thing. Um, stuff, mostly?

I feel for you, Pluvia. I'm in my senior year of high school and I still have no idea what I want to do. I'm getting tons of college stuff in the mail, but I usually don't even open it, except when I got some stuff from MIT--which is pretty cool--and some college with the initials "CIA" (I thought the Central Intelligence Agency was giving me mail).

I have no plans at all. I don't know what kind of career I'd like to go into. I don't even know what I enjoy doing. I don't even really like making music, and that's my main hobby.

Meh, maybe I'm just depressed right now or something.

But Pluvia, I don't think you have to know what you want to do at this time. You can even go into a college, just take a random major that seems useful, and you'll probably end up just fine. Knowing exactly what you want to do 5 years before you do it is a European/Asian thing, I believe.

 

[Elysium]

After I graduated, I went and enrolled at a community college so I would have time to just take some pre-req classes, and find out what I wanted to do. Now I have my sights on Law School, but if that doesn't work I could always be that weird guy in his mid-forties living in his parents basement playing video games all day until I die of a heart attack from too much fast food. But of course thats plan B, opposed to my future successful Law career. lol

 

[Mini Mic]

Wait you're 15? How many years of school do you have left? I didn't decide what I wanted to do until half way through my final year (this year). Unless your country has some weird system you still have plenty of time to decide. Oh and I plan to go to Uni to study commerce.

 

[Rici]

Well, I graduated from high school last year, and now I'm in the selection procedure for the Dutch Airforces. That selection takes 12 days, but those 12 days are spread out over 6-8 months roughly. So in the meanwhile I work at my grandpa's used car dealership until I can start in the army(which will be in May if I pass all the tests, which I have a pretty good feeling about doing so).

 

[PaperDream]

I agree with Elvsium, I would go to a community college and start taking some basic classes. That's where I'm at now. It's A LOT cheaper each year, you can get some basic credits out of the way while you figure out what you want to do.

If you speak any languages other than English, you might want to consider studying abroad. Or even if you only speak English you could study in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, or America.

 

[pokeman800]

Well, since im 14, I haven't been all the way through school. But im thinking of going to college and become a lawyer (I could be Pheonix Wright, lol).

 

[Xsyven]

I'm in my sophomore year of college. I have no idea what I'm doing yet.

I don't know how the college system works in Scotland, but here, you have two years that you can honestly just waste away, fulfilling general education requirements and such.

 

[Fireflare]

hmm i don't know what i'm going to do after shool either...i want to do something with computers but my math is terrible XD

 

[Eor]

I'm planning on going to Texas Tech (or Midwestern or Sam Houston for backup schools) and major in political science, then spend the rest of my life in fast food because you can't get a job with that degree. It's like being an English Major, but harder with less reward

 

[Jammer]

Well, Eor, I'm sure Political Science majors have some use. I mean, you'd probably be the person to talk to when election time comes around.

 

[Xsyven]

Well, Eor, I'm sure Political Science majors have some use. I mean, you'd probably be the person to talk to when election time comes around.

And that'll get him money... how?

I took a Political Science class this year. I dropped it. Eor, you're a brave man.

 

[Tobi-]

I stayed after for Track conditioning. Man I tell you im so out of shape right now.

We had to pratice in moderatly cold weather, and do plydromatics. they are when you run the 200 full speed...6 times.

When practice was over I couldnt even move. Felt like my left leg was going to twist and tear apart. I'm still sore.

 

[Jammer]

High School

2nd Year (Age 12-13)

2nd Year
This is where you are to be making your Career choices for the future, the Teachers constantly remind you of that. Exams in January/February. These decide what classes you'll be getting into next year.

Wow...

Things you do when you're 12 or 13 years old make a huge impact on what you will be doing for the rest of your life when you live in Scotland.

I'd say it's a bad system, but it might just be so different from what I'm used to that I can't see its merits.

Nevermind; I think it's a bad system.

Pluvia, what do you think of the American system, where what you do is chosen by you, and not by tests or experts? Do you think it's better or worse? Or just different?

 

[Pluvia's other account]

Wait, elaborate a bit.

I don't know how it works over there fully.

 

[Tobi-]

Wait, elaborate a bit.

I don't know how it works over there fully.

Btw, Happy Birthday by the way.

 

[Pluvia's other account]

Btw, Happy Birthday by the way.

Thanks.

 

[Luigi Ka-master]

Wait, elaborate a bit.

I don't know how it works over there fully.

in most schools here, the average person graduates from Highschool at 17. from there you can pretty much do whatever you want, assuming you got decent grades in classes.

this is of course a very condensed version of what happens lol

 

[inside]

I'm still in school, I stayed an extra year to get some more experience in the work force with co-op...

 

[Pluvia's other account]

in most schools here, the average person graduates from Highschool at 17. from there you can pretty much do whatever you want, assuming you got decent grades in classes.

this is of course a very condensed version of what happens lol

Well, you can choose what you want to do, but you have to decide mostly in 2nd Year, when you're choosing your classes.

I couldn't decide back then, and I still have no idea what to do next. Did I want to be a Journalist? Work in Medicine? Work with Computers? I Didn't know, so just I picked Media Studies, Biology and Computing.

Apparently it doesn't work like that, you need all your classes to concentrate on one subject. e.g. To work somewhere good in Medicine, you need to take Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

So basically I'll have these grades, but will have nothing good to do with them.

That's why I made this topic, to see what other people did after School.

 

[Jammer]

In the states, at least in my high school, you pretty much choose whatever classes you want to take. You can choose regents (normal), honors, or AP (advanced placement: college level) classes. You usually have to maintain a 90 average in the class to be in the honors or AP classes.

There's very, very little "aptitude" testing, or whatever you call tests that decide what classes you'll be in. I think there was one IQ test we took around eighth grade, but we were never even given the results.

It's much more flexible than most school systems, but it's also a lot less standardized, but I don't know how that's a bad thing.

But education in the states isn't really that good compared to many countries, so we must be doing a lot of stuff wrong.

 

[Rici]

It's WAY different over here. When you go to Elementary School you have some tests which test on what level you are on things like logical thinking, if you're good at learning and stuff like that. Basically these are somewhat "how smart you are" tests. Then you go to High School, but we have different levels of teaching here. We have VMBO, which is basis level(mostly for the not so smart kids), HAVO, which is a higher level(done by most), and VWO, which is an even higher level which you need to go to an university. FYI, VMBO takes 4 years, HAVO 5 years, and VWO 6 years to complete. Also, after your second year you get to choose a 'profile'. This is how you choose your classes. First you decide if you want French or German as second language(you have to choose between one of these), then you choose a so called profile, and we have 4 of those:
Nature and Technique
Nature and Health
Economics and Social(studies)
Culture and Social(studies)

N&T has these classes:
Math B1,2( 3 different levels of math over here, you got C which is the easiest, then A, then B)
Physics 1,2
Chemistry 1,2

N&H has these:
Math B1
Physics 1
Biology
Chemistry 1

E&S:
Economics
Geography
M&O(sort of a social study combined with business)
History
Math A1,2

C&S:
Art 2,3
M&O
Both French and German
Math A1
History

BTW, every profile has some standard classes which include:
Dutch
English
Gymnastics
CKV(culture learning thing< is total bull****)
Social class(something like that, don't really know how to translate it)

And THEN you need to choose an extra class, but that's all free choice.

I've done HAVO with N&T and Art 3 FYI (Art 2,3 has more art history, Art 3 doesn't have that)

And ever all this you go to college or a university which all have different levels of teaching again(when you have VMBO you only can do MBO, which again, is basic teaching, HAVO only can do HBO, which is a higher level of teaching, and VWO can go to university).

So now you all know how the Dutch school system works. And it works pretty well in my opinion.

 

[PaperDream]

America doesn't necessarily have a bad system of education, there are a few problems, but I would say a lot of the problem isn't with the system but the situation America is in now (growing numbers of ESL students, the need for the abolition of the Dept. of Education)

I'm studying to be a teacher myself, and I am really interested in Montessori schools, which I think create the best environment, but they require some sort of direction, which is what seems to be the main issue here right now...

So back to Pluvia; if you say only a few people get to go to university, then again I would say a study abroad would be a good thing to do. It's like a free semester/year to get away from things, live in another part of the planet, and maybe find out what you want to do.

Otherwise, I don't really know what kinds of options you have.

 

[Mrs. Bahamut]

Finish the requirements over there and then study abroad in the US or somewhere else. Take out student loans and pay them off after you graduate. I love Scotland, but it's way different than any other place! I think you'd enjoy the US. Scots and Americans seem to get along pretty well. If you come here, come to Texas. It's big and spacious....way different than the UK! (I used to live in Aberdeen)

 

[Keku]

The education system here is really different from most countries, although according to the research done in 2003 by PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), it's definitely working well as we scored #1. Here's a little summary about it:

First of all, the schools are all public and all free (not counting universities and such, which cost a bit, but not NEARLY as much as college for example). Not only the entrance, but the school provides you the books, pens and erasers and so on. Most schools also have their own catering-kitchen that serve free lunch each day. If not, it's transported from somewhere else. Having a free system has it's costs though, our tax rates are relatively high. All schools are bound by an annual nationwide educational plan (provided by the educational ministry), which covers roughly the things that are supposed to be teached in schools.

At the age of 7, children go to primary school, which lasts 6 years. Everybody attends it, period. There's a thing called "duty to learn" until you're 18. After that, there's upper primary school, lasting 3 years. Unless you're bailing a quite a bunch of classes, this one is obligatory aswell. After the two primary schools, people have to make a choice between the professional school and "high school", officially upper secondary school. Simply and roughly put, 50% of the less intelligent people attend professional school, and the rest go to high school. Yeah, flame me about that one but in 80% of the cases it's true. Of course, there a lot of exceptions but I just said that to give you a hunch about it.

Both, the professional school and the high school, last another three years. After the pro-school you're practically ready to get a job. On the contrary, after high school you only have a fancy hat (called graduate-hat, a white thing you get in the graduation ceremony) and a diploma with grades. After both of these you can apply to higher schools again. After pro-school, your choices are the high school and the higher vocational school, whereas after the high school you can either go to the pro school, the higher vocational school or a university. That's basically the whole thing. Oh, and I didn't mention yet that lunch is free in both, high school and pro-school aswell.

The idea of the free and public school-system is to ensure that everyone starts at the same line. I really like it here, because it's so flexible. You can always change your choices and if you don't end up liking the job of a doctor, you can study something completely else.

I'm on my second year of high school myself, and I've really little plans for thereafter. Nothing seems to really get me interested, but I've thought about studying dentology or technology in a university. People say that no problem, you still have time to think about it, but I honestly don't feel like I'd figure anything out in the following year. We'll see - obligation is a good motivator after all.

 

[cF=)]

High school - Done
College - Almost Done
Smoking trees - Always
University - Applying next year

I'll be 18 years old for a few days when I'll enter University... isn't it awesome ? Y/N

 

[Jammer]

It looks like Finland is number one. I would have guessed that either Norway, Sweden, or Finland has the best school system. I don't know why; it just seems natural.

When I become President of the United States, Keku, we're copying your school system (with some aspects of other high-ranking school systems as well). There would be a bit of cultural clash, since the US has a very "equal opportunity" and not "equality" mindset, like European countries have.

 

[Keku]

It looks like Finland is number one. I would have guessed that either Norway, Sweden, or Finland has the best school system. I don't know why; it just seems natural.

When I become President of the United States, Keku, we're copying your school system (with some aspects of other high-ranking school systems as well). There would be a bit of cultural clash, since the US has a very "equal opportunity" and not "equality" mindset, like European countries have.

Hehe, go for it. Perhaps I'd vote for you. You'd probably get all the votes from the Finglish people living out there in Michigan.