Schooling in UK or USA

[mesha123]

Hi,

My husband is considering moving to USA due to a work opportunity there.

My Dd is currently in year 4. I am not sure about the education system in USA and whether it is better then UK.

I am quite worried especially because not only it's a new country but also might be difficult for little one to settle down in a new place, new systems and environment.

Any thoughts please?

I would not say catholic schools are all so good. Some are very bare bones.

i would say that if you think your child has any special educational needs, start with public schooling. A lot of privates don't want to deal with it.

SF is such an awful place to live that's why people live in $6 million homes.
Sure that's why people pay $6million to live there.
Even in Frisco that's 4x the median property price.

Info about public elementary schools in SF here.

Schools in CA are funded by property taxes which are based on (1% of) local house prices. Districts with high house prices therefore have the best funded schools.

I think it would depend on how long you would be there for - if its only for a couple of years I wouldn't do it as you would be returning when they should already be in secondary school and you will pmost likely have to take a place at an undersubsribed school, which may not have the best reputation. If you are there much longer term then it mich be acheiveable (unless you would be returning in or around GCSE year).

Nancy Pelosi's husband was the victim of domestic terrorism. Hardly relevant to the OP.

We have friends with children at lovely small (private) schools in SF. There is a good community feel and the parents are friendly.

My DC is in 4th grade in the US. We moved from the UK to US when DC was in year 1 / KG. On a general ĺevel, I've found schools to be more informal, there's no uniforms, less restriction around term time holidays, dc has made good friends, loves the bus ... parent involvement is high but most families enjoy volunteering. There is less rigidity around academic standards or expectations which ìs both good and bad. No Sats, no pointless technical lessons on grammar and reading is a lot broader...so they read what they enjoy rather than being given levelled reading books. But our school district is considered to be academic. It really isn't compared to UK schools.

You will likely find that your DD is ahead in some areas but not in others. But if you stay longer than 3 years and your DD moves to middle school, then transition back to a UK school at that point will be much harder.

Yes, they have lockdown drills. They are not called active shooter drills!! Obviously the risk of gun crime here is higher but millions of parents send their kids to school each year without any ìssue.

Also sport is a big thing at the weekend and even 'non sporty' kids do at least one sport.

You’ve made some very very generic stereotypical statements there. Really avoid ALL Midwestern states. I live in Chicago as a Brit and my child does not say the allegiance. She started at the British international school in Chicago before we moved her to a Chicago public elementary school and she is doing great.

also your statement the US public school system is worse than the UK makes absolutely no sense as there is no US public school system. There are many public school systems across the US and I know many that are better than the Uk and many that are worse.

My friend lived in California (specifically San Francisco) for a while as a child and she went to an international school rather than integrate into the US system. Could that be an option to look into?

Yes, I’ve generalised. Nothing wrong with that at all. And no, at an international British school you won’t say the pledge of allegiance because it’s not a US school and you also would not be taught a US curriculum either. So, she’s at a Chicago elementary school and is doing great, well I’m glad for her, but you have to realise that on average the schools in your State are worse than the average school in the U.K. In addition, there’s not much difference in primary vs elementary…the US really falls behind when the kids get to secondary.

My statement makes perfect sense in terms of US vs U.K. comparison as a whole. Just look at the OECD rankings. Your claim there’s no one system doesn’t matter really. It’s a bit like saying we should ignore the US rankings because it’s an average of 50 States plus PR and ignore the U.K. ranking because it’s an average of 4 countries.

That’s like the OECD ranking Europe as a whole or all of Asia, as you can see it does help much as there will be variations across the countries tithing Europe or Asia.

To give you context, primary and secondary school is managed at city level in the US while in the Uk it is managed at country level of England, Wales, Scotland etc.

In the state of Illinois where I live there are over 800 school districts, ranging from very large or Chicago Public Schools with over 340,000 students to tiny districts with as small as 54 students (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeLand-Weldon_High_School).

Funding in many school districts are higher than the Uk and there are those especially in some southern states that are lower though they also have lower costs eg funding per student in Chicago Public School is about $16k per student while England is about £7k per student so the generic marriage be schools are better funded in the UK than all US is just wrong.

She left the British school 3 years ago and had never had to say the allegiance so you’re just been stereotypical for the shock factor. Fact remains her kids will do fine in the US or UK so stop the scaremongering like British kids somehow do better, they don’t.

I’ve worked with new graduates in both the UK and Us and at no time have I ever said wow these US graduates are so bad compared to British graduates. They will be fine in both.

The pledge of allegiance wasn’t a stereotype, if you go back to my initial post, it’s what freaked out my British DCs when we lived in the US for four years.
And, no the public schools sucked. Really sucked. It hurt my DCs education and I was that relieved when we got back.
I appreciate you’ve worked with new graduates but that’s got to have been a filtered population for both US and U.K.. You’re not seeing the rest of the US or U.K. graduates who don’t get approved to work with you wherever it is you are.

It’s definitely something to be aware of though what I’ve found is majority of gun crime is gang related.

There are issues in the US but there’s also more of a focus on what’s going on in the US than many other countries and it gives the average Brit the impression you’re ducking bullets as you leave the airport.

San Francisco is expensive so it depends on the opportunity your husband has and it it is worth it. Also is this for a few years or a permanent move?

Yeah the allegiance FREAKED them out, pease carry on with the attention seeking shock posts.

So what you’re saying is the average American child is so bad compared to the average British child? Really????

Well glad you’re back in the UK where your children can bloom to their full potential as opposed to the horrible American system which would have limited them right?

On what basis are you claiming that the schools in Illinois are worse than the schools in England?

You can't just keep saying OECD, unless you have some data that is devolved to the state level.

If you don't understand how massively education varies by locality in the US then you really shouldn't be making such sweeping statements.

I moved from the UK to the US at age 13 and went to middle and then high school in a small town not far from San Francisco (albeit 15 years ago), and there is a huuuuge variety of schools and the city has changed a lot in that time and not for the better (I still love it though). in general I rate UK education, for all its faults, to be of a much higher standard. So much focus on process rather than content in the states. I pondered moving back there in my mid twenties but didn't want my children educated in the States long term. A few years would be a great experience for them though. Education aside, the impact of active shooter drills, metal detectors and the overbearing patriotism would play a big role in my decision in terms of whether it is culturally the environment you want for your child. There is so much more to consider than education - health insurance and income should be huge considerations given the impact it will have on your quality of life in the states, particularly in a state like california.

Here’s the data.

I love how you continue to miss and ignore the point, there is NO US school system so that OECD data misses a lot given the variance across states and cities. Illinois alone has over 800 school districts so there is no way to say all Illinois schools are bad as that is absolute hogwash.

The equivalent will be trying to compare against all schools in Asia.

We moved to the USA when my children were 4 and 7. Came back 2 years later. The schooling we experienced - Pacific NW - wasn't very good. About 18 months behind the UK with low expectations. Everything was very inward looking ... it was like the rest of the world didn't exist. Also, so much time off. 13 weeks in summer plus additional weeks here and there, public holidays for so many reasons and random closures (ie they closed the school for the equivalent of parents' evening). Oh and they closed the school for a dusting of snow ... actually more ridiculous than this country! And then they can end the school year early if they run out of money! I'm glad we only stayed two years!!!!

Illinois is average compared to US, US average is lower than the U.K. average.
www.nationsreportcard.gov/profiles/stateprofile/overview/IL

If you don't understand how massively education varies by locality in the US then you really shouldn't be making such sweeping statements.

I do, but short of drilling down into cities and what not, there is nothing wrong with generalising at a regional level.

Lol,
Perception vs. Reality
Despite the low scores dating back decades, some Americans see no problem with the state of U.S. education. In 2008, nearly half of those who participated in an Associated Press poll said that American students’ achievement test scores were the same as or better than those of children in other industrialized nations. However, 90% of them recognized that education helps economic growth.

The truth is that the U.S. ranks near the bottom in a survey of students’ math skills in 30 industrialized countries. Instead of knowing and confronting the facts, many Americans are in denial. In fact, the same survey showed that while one-third believed their schools were excellent, only one-sixth believed the same of any other schools. The states that are poorest have lower education scores. This cycle creates structural inequality.

Re being behind yes the US starts later than the UK but speeds up by middle school and high school. So yes if you’re comparing 1-2 years it may seem one is more advanced but if you’re comparing end to end not necessarily. Eg a Chinese education frontloads the work in primary and secondary school and university is a breeze but US university education is more intense. So long as of saying they will not graduate being so stupid compared to British kids like you’re trying to insinuate it’s just different approaches that’s all.

I dont know about the snow part but different areas deal with it differently, many cities deal with major snow better than the UK, some cities who are not used to snow don’t eg light snow in Atlanta creates chaos while Chicago or Boston will march through 8 feet of snow without blinking. Again that does not apply to San Francisco where OP is asking about.

yes summer breaks are longer than UK but less breaks during the school year so evens out and the Us does summer camps way batter than the Uk so kids are kept busy during the summer breaks. Again a matter of preference not Uk is better.

Yes maybe the law says schools can close if no funds but in reality they will move heaven and hell to provide funds and prevent closing down same as joe they say every year debt limit yet they still end up approving it so not really a point.

Glad you’re back in the UK and happy there. I see pros and cons to both countries and I’m happy in the US. If I had to return to the Uk I would and it’s not the end of the world.

Yeah and you continue to ignore the variation across school districts lol

well according to your OECD ranking the Us does education better than Australia, France, Sweden and many other countries so I guess they are not doing too bad.

Anyway @mesha123 this has descended into the normal America this UK that shit show arguments so maybe commit to a short time first and see if you’re not comfortable stay in the UK.

You will not get a proper answer on posts like this, same on quora and Reddit etc.

I’m not ignoring variation across school districts. The facts are you can’t compare a specific school district in the US to a specific Academy Trust in U.K. That data doesn’t exist. But you can compare a US state to the US average and then to the U.K. average. You’re arguing that because we can’t drill down, we should just ignore the overall data we do have. That’s really silly imho.

Kind of like saying can’t compare gun crime in US to U.K. at all because it’s neighbourhood specific. We all know there’s variability, but the big picture is that gun crime (and schools) are worse in the US than in the U.K.

US schools are not terrible, but the OP is asking about U.K. vs US. So it’s not pertinent to talk about Asia or France.