The American educational system is very different from the Polish educational system. Here is very general overview of the basics of the American educational system.

Elementary school in the U.S. has nine grades (kindergarten- 8th grade). School is mandatory from the age of 5. To enter kindergarten, a child is put through a type of entrance testing which tests the child's communication and motor skills. Parents do not choose the school there child goes to, but the child must go to the school that is closest to the place where they live. Classes in elementary school usually start around 8am and end at 3pm (except for kindergarten which lasts only a few hours) and each day lasts the same amount of time. If a teacher of a certain class does not come then the class isn't cancelled but a substitute teacher is called in. Elementary school classes consist of general subjects plus one "miscellaneous" such as art, music, technology, etc. There are some quite obvious differences in comparison with the Polish system of education. American subjects are much more general than Polish subjects. The subject of "science" contains the basics of physics, chemistry and biology; the subject of "social studies" covers history, civics, geography. No foreign languages are taught in elementary school. Religion is also not taught in school.

A child goes through elementary school system rather easily and automatically. It rarely ever happens for a child to be held behind. A child can pass on to the next grade even if their grades are very low because there is no formal requirement for advancement to the next grade.

Once a child finishes elementary school, then they go on to high school which is again chosen for them. Entrance into high school is simply based upon a continuation of the child's education (schooling is mandatory to the age of 16). There are no entrance exams of any kind. High schools have no specific profile, all teach general knowledge.

High school lasts four years and is a mixture of mandatory classes and so-called "electives". "Electives" are classes which are based upon a student's choice. These are probably the only classes that are close to the Polish system of profiled classes since electives reflect the interests of the student. Mandatory classes comprise of one year of a fine art (photography, ceramics, etc), two years of a foreign language, four years of English, four years of mathematics, three years of science, three of social studies. Classes in high school are more specific than in elementary school. For example, three years of science are mandatory, but the classes themselves are in biology, chemistry and physics. Subjects are divided into the so-called "1-2 system". This means that classes were labeled, for example, chemistry 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8. These numbers meant what year of high school these classes were meant for, so "1-2" was for the first year and so on. The numbers also show the level of difficulty of the given subject so again "1-2" is the basic level and so on.

If classes are not passed during a given year, the student has to take it over the next year until he/she passes it. There are no consequences in not passing a subject. The most important thing is to have all the mandatory classes passed before finishing high school.

American high schools put a big emphasis on clubs and sports and there are many to choose from and there is hardly any student that is not a part of some club or sport. Clubs range from theater and band to basket weaving and agriculture. Sports range from the American favorite of football to golf and badminton.

After finishing high school, the student is awarded a diploma. There are no grades on the diploma, it is mostly just a decorative certificate.