All of us know that a child from one to three years of age can attend a day nursery and from the age of three, kindergarten. There children experience their first contacts with society, social rules and ethics.
After enrolling in the nine-year elementary school, six-year-olds begin their compulsory school attendance. The school year begins on 1st September and finishes on 30th June. Children gradually learn to read, write and count. Later they get acquainted with the fundamentals of history, geography, the natural sciences and the fine arts. At the end of each school year students get reports with their academic record in both compulsory and elective subjects. Then they have summer holidays. It lasts for two months. Pupils and students look forward on this holidays very much. Naturally, these aren´t the only vacations they have. They also have Christmas, Easter and spring holidays.
In the final year of the elementary school many people face a problem. During this time everybody needs to choose his future occupation. The choice doesn´t depend only on our interests but also on our performance and success at school.
We can choose various options: to study at some secondary school (industrial, medical, economic) or an apprentice training centre, or some art school. One of the alternative secondary schools is Grammar School which prepares its students for university studies. Nowadays there are also private and religious schools. In contrast with the past, more emphasis is placed on foreign language studies as well as computers and economics.
Secondary school studies last four years. At the end of the fourth year students must pass a graduation examination, usually consisting of oral and written parts. Knowledge of four subjects is verified here. The Czech language exam is compulsory, while other subjects are determined either by the institute itself or left to the choice of the student. From each subject a student selects one question which should be answered and discussed for fifteen minutes. If we don´t pass the examination on our first attempt, we are offered a second chance in September.
Students get marks from 1to 5. 1 is the best and 5 is the worst.
If we want to study at a college or university, we must successfully pass the entrance examinations and interviews. The choices are really quite wide-ranging. We can decide whether we will study at a school with a technical, humanistic, economic or some other orientation.