{"id":18881,"date":"2025-06-25T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/?p=18881"},"modified":"2025-06-17T10:22:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T14:22:31","slug":"italian-vs-american-high-schools-tough-exams-and-18th-birthday-jubilees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/italian-vs-american-high-schools-tough-exams-and-18th-birthday-jubilees\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian vs. American High Schools: Tough Exams, and 18th Birthday Jubilees"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"18881\" class=\"elementor elementor-18881\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-bf83778 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"bf83778\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-1508cf7\" data-id=\"1508cf7\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8cf6ea6 elementor-align-center elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"8cf6ea6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/?p=18890\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Italian Translation<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-02c82be elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"02c82be\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-c6c7334\" data-id=\"c6c7334\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8e8246a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"8e8246a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>By Gabriel Harmetz<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have you ever dreamed of ditching your American high school for an Italian <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">liceo<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">? Let\u2019s dive into the world of Italian <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">scuole superiori<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and compare them to American high schools.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">American high schools cover four years (grades 9\u201312, ages 14\u201318), with public, private, or charter schools. We tackle core subjects\u2014English, mathematics, science, history\u2014, pick electives like dance or coding, and join clubs and sports teams, to diversify our experience. Here, students dash between classrooms, juggling lockers and chaotic hallways.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Italy, on the other hand,\u00a0 stretches high school to five years (ages 14\u201319), and it\u2019s stricter and more focused. At 13, students are already forced to choose a track, like U.S. students do for their college major:<\/span><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Liceo<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Brainy, with several options: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Classico<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Latin, Greek), <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientifico<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (mathematics, sciences), or <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Linguistico<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (languages). Most graduates (80+%) will attend university.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Istituto Tecnico<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: teaches skills for accounting or tech, and it can lead to college (or not).<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Istituto Professionale<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Trains for jobs like cooking or car repair.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Italian students stay in one classroom all day with the same 20\u201330 classmates for five years, which creates deep bonds. It is the teachers who swap in and out! Also, school runs Monday through Saturday (only some score a five-day week).\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><b>Grading<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">American grades use an A\u2013F scale (90\u2013100 = A). Teachers might tweak grades, toss extra credit, or meet parents to boost a student\u2019s GPA. Flunk a subject? Retake it or try summer school\u2014repeating a year is rare and just offered as a suggestion. Grades blend homework, quizzes, and tests.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Italy\u2019s 10-point scale sets 6 as passing. Top <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">licei<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> love to deflate grades to push the students, and give grades only\u00a0 from 2 to 8, including weird ones like 5\u00bd, 6-, 7+ etc. No extra credit\u2014students must work hard. Flunk a subject (5 or below)? September reparatory exams offer a comeback. Bomb those, or fail three+ subjects, and\u2026 the dreaded <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bocciatura<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (repeating the year) looms, mandated by the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">professori<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p><p><b>Teaching Style<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">American schools try to mix interactive lectures, projects, and chats, encouraging creativity. Teachers often feel like mentors, and multiple-choice tests are common. Clubs and sports keep the fun alive.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Italian teaching demands memorizing and mastering material. Lectures pack heavy info, requiring 3\u20134 hours of daily study. Multiple choice is unheard of: tests are in the form of essays or <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">interrogazioni<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014oral exams where students are quizzed while standing up in front of everyone. The focus is only on academics; extracurriculars are a separate thing.<\/span><\/p><p><b>Big Tests<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-18886 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/chrome_DGO58F9jMS.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"587\" height=\"245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/chrome_DGO58F9jMS.png 964w, https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/chrome_DGO58F9jMS-300x124.png 300w, https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/chrome_DGO58F9jMS-768x319.png 768w, https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/chrome_DGO58F9jMS-24x10.png 24w, https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/chrome_DGO58F9jMS-36x15.png 36w, https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/chrome_DGO58F9jMS-48x20.png 48w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 587px) 100vw, 587px\" \/><\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Italy\u2019s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Esame di Maturit\u00e0<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at age 18-19 is really intense: two written tests (Italian, plus one track-specific), an oral exam that includes all subjects, and credits from past years. A <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Commissione di Maturit\u00e0<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014teachers hailing from far-off regions to ensure impartiality \u2014 spooks students with their stern, unfamiliar faces. Scored out of 100 (60 to pass), it unlocks a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Diploma di Maturit\u00e0<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with top scores (81\u2013100) helping secure spots in the more elite college programs. It can only be taken once per year, and if you fail, you need to retake the whole last year of high school, not just the exam itself.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The US SAT (400\u20131600) and ACT (1\u201336) hit junior or senior year, testing reading, math, and science for college applications, not graduation. Multiple-choice-heavy, they\u2019re retakeable. Killer scores (1400+ SAT, 30+ ACT) help college applications, but the high school diploma itself is not tied to them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><b>The Big 18<img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-18885 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/chrome_bdhfovwvKx.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"348\" height=\"228\" srcset=\"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/chrome_bdhfovwvKx.png 447w, https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/chrome_bdhfovwvKx-300x196.png 300w, https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/chrome_bdhfovwvKx-24x16.png 24w, https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/chrome_bdhfovwvKx-36x24.png 36w, https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/chrome_bdhfovwvKx-48x31.png 48w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 348px) 100vw, 348px\" \/><\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Italian 18th birthdays, usually celebrated in the fourth or fifth year of high school, are a huge deal\u2014 maybe because the right to driving, marriage, booze, and voting all suddenly unlock at age 18! People tend to throw mega parties.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the US, 18 means voting and contracts, but driving (16\u201317) and drinking (21) are spread out, so 18th birthdays feel calmer, and it is Prom or graduation that steals the glory.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Italian Translation By Gabriel Harmetz Have you ever dreamed of ditching your American high school for an Italian liceo? Let\u2019s dive into the world of Italian scuole superiori and compare&#8230;<a href=\"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/italian-vs-american-high-schools-tough-exams-and-18th-birthday-jubilees\/\" class=\"more-link\" title=\"Read More\" >Read More <i class=\"fa fa-chevron-circle-right\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18881"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18881"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18901,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18881\/revisions\/18901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/italianlanguagefoundation.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}