Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
When I ask my British friends what it’s like to educate their children in America, the first issue they cite is the risk of a school shooting.
By contrast, the last school shooting in Britain was in 1996, when a gunman killed 16 primary school children and one teacher. As a result, people called for stricter gun control, and the British government implemented it.
The next question from friends is often about academic performance.
In 2018 (the most recent year for which this study was conducted), International Student Assessment The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has ranked UK 13th in the world for the overall knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in reading, literacy, mathematics and science.
The same assessment ranked American 15-year-olds 25th in the world.
Because countries’ populations and government infrastructures vary widely, it is difficult to make rigorous comparisons between public school systems.
However, feedback from British friends has convinced me that the British system is more child and parent friendly.
There are three main reasons:
British children start school at age four
By law, British children start attending the publicly funded British school system from the age of four..
Most children begin their first full-time education, “preparatory” classes, in the September following their fourth birthday. Research consistently shows that early childhood education benefits children’s academic and social development.
It also reduces a significant financial burden for working parents as they no longer have to pay private childcare fees for babysitters or daycare centers.
The age at which American parents are required to send their children to school varies by state – in New York, for example, the law only requires it from first grade onwards.
School holidays should be spread out in the UK
My friends back in the UK can’t believe that my kids have a full 10 weeks off school this summer.
“What on earth are you going to do with your kids for 10 weeks?” my daughter’s godmother once asked, grimacing when I told her we were paying thousands of dollars for day and overnight camps.
Most children in the UK have six weeks of summer holiday – two weeks at Christmas and two weeks at Easter – and usually one-week ‘half-term’ holidays in February, May and October.
In response to parental dissatisfaction with the length of the standard summer holiday, some education authorities have experimented with shortening it to five days, adding a week to the May half-term holiday and giving children 10 days off for spring break instead of five.
Children wear uniforms
Most British public schools require students to wear uniforms, in contrast to most American public school students, who are free to wear whatever they like to class, within reason.
As a mother of teenagers who spend hours picking out their clothes every morning, I want uniforms to be mandatory nationwide. I’m tired of the endless debates about what clothes are “appropriate” and what aren’t.
Meanwhile, I shudder when I hear about the “elite” group of high school students who wear head-to-toe Lululemon, and I can’t bear to imagine any kid being bullied for wearing Old Navy.
A friend said her child would wear whatever clothes he wanted for a few designated days in the British school calendar, such as the end of term. “The stress of competing over what clothes to wear is huge,” she said.
Not only are uniforms an equalizer, they support a community and team philosophy – kids look more put together in uniform and it’s good training for a career.
Do you have a compelling story that highlights the differences between education in the US and other countries? If you’d like to share it with Business Insider, submit the details below. jridley@businessinsider.com.