Most countries don’t share America’s school schedule. Foreign countries arrange their school schedules according to their different seasonal patterns and cultural habits. In the 2013-14 school year, Northwest hosted 205 school days. Let’s see how we compare to the rest of the world.

China

• China has an average class size of 21 students per class, a reasonable figure considering China’s larger population
• In China the school day starts at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 5:00 p.m. and the longer school days are justified by a two hour lunch period
• Formal education in China ends after only nine years

Iran

• Iranian students attend school for 10 months out of the year
• Males and females are taught separately and only by teachers of their gender
• From age five, Iranian students must pass an exam at the end of each school year to move on to the next grade level

Brazil

• Brazil has a much shorter school day with students only attending from 7 a.m. to noon
• Lunch is thought of as the most important meal of the day in Brazil and so the school day is cut off earlier
• The majority of schools require uniforms to be worn

Russia

• Entire month of June is designated for exams
• The year is divided into trimesters
• The autumn break (Thanksgiving Break in the U.S.) in Russian schools is twice as long as those of U.S. schools

France

• French students get two weeks of rest after every seven weeks of school
• French schools will always have school on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and will choose to have half a day of classes on Wednesday morning or Saturday afternoon
• Religious apparell of any kind are prohibited in school