The main reason why I moved to America was to get the best education that I can get. I was scared to go to school, based on the fact that I couldn't speak the language very well. I went for the first 8 years of school back in Russia and the rest of my education is now continuing in America. I came to find many differences between the school systems in both counties that I had to get used to. .
Schools in Russia are very strict and in my opinion are a lot harder. When a child is six or seven yours old, they have to take a test to see if they can make it into a regular class or an accelerated class. Then there are sub-schools: primary (grades 1-4), secondary (grades 5-9), and senior (grades 10-11.) All sub-schools are inside one building, so it is very hectic inside. School starts on September 1 every year and we have a special assembly prepared in front of school. That is when we see our teacher, chat with our classmates, go inside the school, get into our classroom, find an assigned seat and write down our schedule for our first semester in our "diaries." A diary is something that every student must have, that is where he or she writes down the homework and also where teachers write our marks or grades in it. .
On September 2 is when the classes start. Usually school starts at 8:00am and finishes around 1:30-2:00 pm. Primary school kids have only four classes, secondary kids have five to six, and seniors six to seven classes per day. Classes were 45 minutes long. Russian schools also have a six-day week. Yes, Russian kids go to school on Saturdays. Russian schools have 5-minute breaks between classes and 15-minute break for lunch. After school students have to do classroom duties. Students are paired into groups and they divide the chores between themselves. We have to pick up trash and take it out, erase the blackboard, and also wash floors. All of these things must to be done because there is a night school.
