Grade schools are required to be attended by anyone from the age of 4 – 18. Grade 1 starts on the year with the student’s 6th birthday. 4 or younger being pre-k, and 5 years old being kindergarten. Grade school is divided into 3 divisions. Grades 1-4 is elementary, grades 5-8 is Junior High, and grades 9-12 is High. There will also be options for those with developmental problems to be in a special education school that would be provided for by the county.
Grade schools will be given a number rather than a name. Since the school system is nationalized, this will prevent two schools from being identified as the same. This will be based on the county code (a number based in alphabetical order), and a 5 digit number afterwards based on the postal code. Therefore, the first county in alphabetical order will be given an 01 (if more than 9 counties), or a 1 (if less than 10 counties). Therefore, a school might be identified at 01-15222.
At grade 1, the student will receive the Essentials kit. This will include the backpack, computer, and eBook devices. They will also receive a water bottle, Tray eject tool, and an SD card adapter. All of these items will be free and intended to last the entire 12 years of grade school. Since Kal-OS (the Kaldan Standard) is capable on working on 10-15 year old computers, these should therefore last as long as the student receives a good quality computer. This will be assured by the NSC. At grades 1, 5, and 9 – the student will receive a new PDA. This is because the PDA might not have as good of a lifespan as the computer. Since there needs to be a standard, all PDAs will be Android based, and will receive some customization to support the apps that is needed on the PDA.
Courses
There is no point in going to school if there are no courses to learn. Since the education system will be nationalized, and all of the schools offer the same courses, the courses is as follows:
Grades 1-4
- Art
- English
- Library
- Lunch
- Math
- Physical Education
- Science
- Social Studies
Grades 5-8
- Elective
- English
- Language (Available Choice of Student)
- Lunch
- Math
- Personal Finance
- Physical Education
- Science
Grades 9-12
- Elective 1
- Elective 2
- Language (Available Choice of Student)
- Lunch
- Martial Arts
- Math
- Science
- Study Hall
Course Description
Art is intended to introduce the student to learning various arts such as painting, drawing, and even music. The choice of the art class will be the choice of the student (upon availability). While not technically an elective, the student does have some say in what they wish to learn here.
Electives will be courses the student may choose for themselves based on interest they may have. In Junior High, they will have one elective, and Senior High, they will have 2 electives. This will be done in a manner that education is still on the forefront. Any elective not chosen will be considered as a study hall period, and the student will be in the library, however – electives are recommended, and in Senior High, an elective can be chosen to learn a trade.
English as the name suggests is intended to focus on learning the components of the English language. Early on, they will be taught script even though it isn’t used much with the prevalence of the computer keyboard. They will be fast tracked for these portions of the English language as nowadays – script does not seem much importance with the exception of signing their name. With that said, the first year will be devoted to script whereas the student would have learn the alphabet, and how to print in Kindergarten.
Language is to learn a second language. This would depend on what the school can acquire, but it would be intended to learning a global trade language. These languages can be spoken, and understood by many people who knows a second or third language. One example might be Spanish, or French.
Library is will teach the student how to use the library system including researching where a book might be located, and going to check to see if the book is available. They will also learn how to checkout books, and learn to return them on time. The student will be encouraged to reading so they will enjoy it. And while Library is in grades 1-4, all other grade schools will be expected to have a library as well, just not a dedicated class to learn how to use one.
Lunch is technically not a class, but will still take a 45 minute time slot, and therefore will be positioned as if it was a class. Ministry of Education will require nutritional foods, so there will be no junk foods served, and there will be no vending machines neither – again to promote healthy eating. So while not a class in itself, it is one to teach something.
Martial Arts will be a self-defense course that the student will be required to take. This will be in place of general physical education. The actual martial art will depend on what’s available in the area, but students will be expected to spend their later 4 years of education learning the martial art provided.
Math is a part of the STEM focus of education. With that said, all grades will have math as a requisite to learning how to compete in the global stage. Elementary will learn the basics. Junior High will learn more advanced math such as exponents to Algebra, and Senior High will learn maths such as geometry, calculus, and trigonometry.
Personal Finance is as the name suggests – personal finance. They will learn how to open a bank account, use the debit card, and make transactions. They will understand the consequences of using a credit card, and loans to pay for things. They will also learn base rate vs their rate. This will allow the student be financially literate, and able to do their own accounting for themselves.
Physical Education is a requirement in early school, but an elective in grades 5-12. Physical education will be designed to promote healthy living, and keeping up with the joy of physical performance in further on through their adult life.
Science will be as the name applies – science. One will learn the basics in Elementary, and more advanced things like computer science, and basics in engineering in the higher grades. Computer programming will be considered as an elective.
Social Studies will be the study of society, and the basics of how to interact with it. Elementary will teach the essentials such as learning the basics of the Constitution, learning how local and national laws are made, and so on. Social studies can be taught in 4 years, and will not need to focus anymore time on it than necessary. Instead in Junior High, personal finance will become more important.