School is a main source of education to many students all over the world and can vary in many ways too. Some schools get the chance to host students from different countries for a language class. At our school there are times when we get to host German or Spanish exchange students so that they can experience what our school is like. The thought of hosting exchange students leads right to the idea of a comparison between German schools and American schools. 

     To start off with the comparisons, German schools start at relatively the same time as us at about 7:45, and it then ends at 2:20. To German students their school ends at 14:20, as they use military time in Germany. They also are not forced to wear any sort of uniforms, but their dress code does prohibit sweatpants. Another partial similarity is that they do still have study halls, except they are held in the library at times or in a hallway. 

     Some differences are that German schools offer a larger variety of language classes such as English, French, Latin, Russian, and Spanish. English is a mandatory language class for German students. They have more of a variety due to the important idea of speaking a different language. In our school there are just two language courses: Spanish and German, but they are not fully required. 

     German student Viki is now fluent in English, and is currently learning French. Another difference is the mandatory classes. In American schools the classes that are normally required are English, math, history, biology, art, p.e., and business. In German schools the required classes are German, math, English, French, biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, sociology, history, p.e., ethics, art, music, geography, and computer science, but some classes can be opted out of.

     Another difference that I would consider big is the length of summer break. In German schools their summer break is about six weeks long, whereas ours are about eight to nine weeks. Their other breaks which are for Holidays are around one week, but can vary in length. German schools also do not have a variety of different classes besides the mandatory ones. They have working groups such as hip hop, golf, and standing up for the environment. 

     Although there are some differences between both American and German schools, they still revolve around the main idea of knowledge and education. Some schools might have broader subjects to learn about than others.