There's even one school in the Czech Republic where you can learn how to run a vineyard! If you change your mind about your career while you're in high school, you have to start high school all over. If you had to pick a job in 8th grade, what would you pick?
My gymnazium is special because it has an option for students to start early. Instead of starting 5th grade at their primary school, some students start high school. They stay at the high school for 8 years, so they still graduate with everyone else.
What school looks like every day
My school starts every morning at 8:15, but students usually get there between 8:00 and 8:10. Most students take public transportation by themselves. Some students commute up to one hour to get to school! Some students live too far away and so they stay in dorms during the week and go home on the weekends.
When they get to school, they usually hang out in their classrooms. In the US, teachers have classrooms that they usually decorate with cool and helpful posters. In the Czech Republic, a class of students has a classroom that they decorate with fun pictures and art projects and teachers have boring offices.
Each grade is divided into classes of 30 students that stay together for their whole time at the high school. That means that 30 students take every single one of their classes together for four years! Or, if you're one of my students who started high school early, you take every one of your classes for eight years with the same 30 people.
Class periods are 45 minutes long and there's a 10 minute break in between each class.
