If you don’t live in the U.K., what unimportant thing does your school system obsess over?

[Flynnstone]

In the U.K. policing uniform takes up a disproportionate amount of time. What is the equivalent pointless thing where you’re from?

Here in Italy
Stationery, similar to France upthread.
And also different exercise books with types of lines for handwriting or different squared sizes etc.

In the first year of primary school (age 6), they learn to write firstly in capital letters, then in lower case letters and then in joined up writing all in the space of 9 months!! They are only allowed to move to using pens, once they have mastered handwriting😂

This is why we’re moving back there next year!

I won’t say it didn’t contribute to our decision to return!

I’m slightly in love with the stationery stuff, although it reminds me of why I wouldn’t have wanted a child in the French education system…

School discos here as well 🪩😂

My friend's son's French stationery list included a lodestone for science lessons! They'd only arrived in France the week before school started so she trekked various supermarkets making sure he had absolutely everything right. But she said he never used it as far as she could discover.

I hope they don't spell it like that!

Also South Africa. The stationery list is immense, and every single item - every pencil, every sharpener, has to be labelled with a plastic label with the child's name, and weirdly school name and badge. All of this has to be brought in on the first day along with 4 reams of paper, plasters, hand soap, tissues... This blows my mind because we pay fees (this is a Government school but we still pay fees) - why not just add the cost of paper to the fees and do a bulk order? It would be so much simpler and cheaper.

Every exercise book has to be brought home and wrapped in plastic in the first week.

They are quite anti-shoes? Our preschool preferred the kids to go barefoot as much as possible. All good except there were chickens and ducks, rabbits and tortoise free-ranging in the playground, so it got a bit messy. they do wear shoes now but not for rugby, which is a very mucky affair.

Policing uniform here too.
Very pointless silly things in a government secondary school in a slightly lower than average (not well off) demographic, like a tiny logo on a sock or a plain tshirt under a polo for warmth.

I'm in Austria.
Someone from Germany has already mentioned this: the obsession with the fucking school rucksacks (Schulranzen).
You are supposed to go and get them fitted properly, they cost around €200 - 300 a pop. More people were starting to buy them more cheaply online without having them fitted and so there were campaigns about this basically telling parents how they were damaging their children for life etc. Yet a primary school child is carrying next to nothing in it - a pencil case, a reading book and maybe one book for homework plus a snack for the mid-morning break.
It's a racket if you ask me.

We also have the crazy lists of stationery mentioned by others. At middle school they have to have two exercise books for each subject for homework which are rotated. So one week one book will be handed in and the next week the next will be handed in giving the teachers longer to mark the books. This means that at the end of the year each book has only a handful of pages used and for the next year they have to buy new exercise books. All exercise books have to have their own plastic covers too in specified colours.
Most of the schools specify which type of pens or pencils you have to buy (usually staedtler - can't have people buying cheap crap).
There are some government funds for people who can't afford all this stuff but as usual, for those who fall just above the income level for help, it's a major stretch each year.

So then does Australia effectively offer a fully selective education system ! I also know that in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne there are 'Grammar' Schools which are called 'Selective High schools' . I am also aware that the Australian state even give parents a subsidy to educate their children Privately which I think is 'Fantastic' . In the UK we have Socialist driven nonsense charging VAT on Fees. I also fear, that if we have another Labour or Socialist Coalition after the next General Election, that Grammar Schools will be in the Firing Line !

What happens if you dont throw a birthday party for your child? Do they still get invited to all the others or is that seen as opting out? Or do you pretty much HAVE to have a big party every year to avoid being a social outcast? surely there are only so many times the kids want to go bowling!

Same with the countries that do stationery lists - what happens if you just dont buy them? E.g. parents who cant afford it all or just cant be bothered?

Also approximately how many pupils in a class? We were up to about 38 in my a level history one which was ridiculous!

There's a little bit of social engineering in Welsh language schools in Wales as well, like you say sometimes its seen as a way to avoid pupils with ESL/additional needs etc. There isnt the same competition for places though because all children are entitled to go to a Welsh language school if they want, it just might be slightly further away than the nearest English language one (or in some cases vice versa).

Not true everywhere, I'm afraid. I know lots of schools where it's blazer, shirt & tie, proper trousers/skirt of correct length. We are more lenient with footwear - as long as it's all black, trainers are okay. Private schools don't allow trainers, though.

Ontario doesn't have a list like Quebec either from my experience.

I see someone else from Sweden has already commented, but yeah not being able to ask for money, I sent a pack up for our daughters first trip, they were so offended as may as well have sent a bag of dog poo. I do very much like the no shoes indoors rule.

I was talking about England - not the whole of the U.K. Thanks to PPs for calling this out. I’m sorry.
The obsession on uniform doesn’t come from the average person, it’s just something we have to suck up. Similarly for the mantra that attendance solves every issue that would cause poor attendance (we do rewards here too. Oh, you made half your class sick and couldn’t concentrate much either? Here, have an award).

I’ve never heard of the enforced play dates before. Calling it homework puts it into some perspective though (the hours I’ve spent trekking to shops or wading through Amazon to address some bonkers homework from school). School overreach here are things like wearing blazers on your journey from school (wherever that may be) and more recently I heard of a school advising parents put trackers on their children (secondary) as the school was banning all phones (dumb phones and smart phones) which meant children weren’t allowed to have them for onward journeys after school to activities.

I am an academic in the UK and took my two DCs to the US when I went on sabbatical.
They both missed the second summer half term and luckily both schools were ok with it - neither were over subscribed and DC1 was Y6 so they couldn't say much! I knew of a family at the primary school that had gone to their home country in the EU for longer.
Then I was ill and I had to delay my return so DH took DC1 home to start Y7 and I stayed in the US where DC2 did 6-7 weeks of US elementary school.
I had seen aaallll these videos of massive supply lists in US schools but we were in a very well off school district (mainly academics and the university was very expensive) and the class sizes were small (20 IIRC) and parents didn't need to provide any supplies, school got them all for us.

We live in France and my son is going into CE2 next month. Fountain pen is firmly on the list among many, many other things.
You’ll find me over the next month scanning the shelves of Action and Bureau Vallée and ticking things off my boys lists! 😂

I think this is a great idea. We live in an area with lots of woodland and people walk their dogs... so the kids all go into school with shitty shoes... the little ones still sit on the matt. So basically on a shit covered carpet!

Ireland and having to learn and pass Irish (Gaeilge) in order to attend most 3rd level (degree) courses.

Honestly, it’s completely ridiculous as very few people speak it outside the Gaeltacht region. Most parents don’t speak it at all and the poor kids struggle to grasp the weird grammar rules.

In fact, it only serves to benefit a tiny minority of students who learn Irish at home and therefore whizz through the Junior and Leaving Cert exams. Everyone else is effectively penalised.

Let the kids choose what languages they want to study and give them more options. Choosing between Spanish and French is not much of a choice! DS chose to learn Chinese during his Transition Year but he can’t carry that on despite being quite good at it.

The sooner they stop making Irish compulsory the better!!

It is not normally circulating through the whole class. More having play dates with others than you normally play with rather than play date with everyone.

No, I didn’t think it was everywhere which is why I said in my kids schools. But I’ve never seen a Daily Mail sad face type story in Scotland about how a kid is refused access to their education because of a haircut or their mum having to buy them cheap shoes.

Schools are of course different but across the board I think there is a general difference in tone between Scotland and England in this regard.

Not wanting to throw a party is not an issue. There’s no rules that you have to only rules for if you do.

In my kids schools they are a maximum of 22 in a class, though in my youngest they are 16ish.

This is my dream thread, thank you for starting it!

I thought we were the only British family who did that. I used to love getting all my french stationery!