What subjects do American students take?

Question

I have always been curious about what subjects are available in American schools - at elementary, middle and high school level. A few years ago, my family had an American exchange student board with us and she was explaining all the subjects she had the option of taking and my mind was bamboozled. Would anyone mind taking the time to run through some of the subjects with me so that I might have a thorough understanding of this confusing curriculum? Additionally, if you could explain each subject, that's be good, as some aren't exactly explanatory. I'd like a comprehensive list of subjects at all school levels so that I don't feel like such a fool when talking to my American friends.

Answer 1

http://www.acsc.net/curriculum/INDEX.htm

Answer 2

Elementary schools all teach the very basics: the alphabet, colors, numbers, animals, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and other basic reading and math related things.

Middle schools bring in more work. Language Arts is generally the same throughout (read books, write papers, analyze text) with increasing difficulty. Math is kinda the same (new functions, forumulas, and equations) with increasing difficulty. The Sciences include units like geology, weather, chemical reactions, and the basics of the periodic table. In social studies, 6th grade studies Europe and South America, 7th is Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, and 8th is a dumbed down version of US History.

High school gets more complicated, as students choose elective classes more suited to what they want to do in life. Where I'm from, we are also on a block schedule. In a block schedule, you take 4 classes each semester, each 1 1/2 hours long each day. You switch classes midway. So we cram 1 years worth material into 1/2 a year. Electives vary greatly and are more specific towards what the student wants to learn. Foreign language is mandatory, however, and you must take at least 2 classes in the one you choose. Most schools offer Spanish, French, and German, although I know some that offer Japanese. Core classes go like this:

Freshman year:

-Earth Science

-World History

-English 1

-Algebra 1 or Geometry

Sophomore:

-Biology

-Civics and Economics

-English 2

-Geometry or Algebra 2

Junior:

-Chemistry

-US History

-English 3

-Algebra 2 or Advanced Functions and modeling or Pre-calculus

Senior

-Physics

-No history class is mandatory, although Euro history and Government and politics are offered

-English 4

-AFM, Pre calc, Calulus, Calculus AB, Calculus BC

There also are Honors and Advanced Placement forms of these classes, where GPA is changed. In honors an A is a 5.0 and in AP an A is a 6.0. These are harder.

Hope this helps give you some insight :)

Answer 3

Oh gosh!

I can't remember them all! lol

It'd take me forever trying to remember them ALL...

Okay these are all the Advanced Placement (AP) classes offered at my high school. My high school offers the most AP classes than any other high school in my county here in Florida. You can get college credit for taking an AP class. I took 5 of them the rest of my classes were honors courses which are also advanced courses.

AP Courses-

AP U.S. Government

AP English Literature

AP U.S. History

AP European History

AP Studio Art

AP Spanish Language

AP Art History

AP French Language

AP Biology

AP German Language

AP Calculus AB

AP Macroeconomics

AP Calculus BC

AP Music Theory

AP Chemistry

AP Psychology

AP English Language  

AP Statistics

AP World History

AP Human Geography

AP Physics B

AP Environmental Science

Plus, every high school is different. Some high schools offer courses that others do not. It strongly depends on on the number of students in attendance. Like my high school is small, it has around 2,000 kids in attendance.

Here's my high schools curriculum guide. Scroll down some and you'll come across all our courses.

http://www.fwbvikings.com/PDF/08-09%20cu...

Plus here's our website.

http://www.fwbvikings.com/

Take a look around, you can see all the clubs, activities, and sports my school offers.