Like when someone says, “I’m in 11th grade and this happened”, I’m like “nod and smile”. I get confused every single time.
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People usually graduate from high school close to or in their 18th year. The age ranges are somewhat loose, generally speaking.
It depends on what country you are referring to. In the U.S. you can usually add 5 to the grade to get the approximate age. Kindergarten would be grade 0. 0+ 5= 5yrs old. 1st grade, 1+5 = 6 yrs old. Senior year is grade 12. 12 + 5 = 17.
Depending on how early or late in the year can have an impact on the age they start. I graduated at 17, and most of my friends were 18.
There is also a new mandatory remedial at 3rd grade if students don’t read at or above the 3rd grade level by the end of their 3rd year, so it may be more probable to add 6 after the third grade.
grade + 5 or 6 is a quick conversion from grade to age in the US, since most people start grade 0 (kindergarten) at 5 and end at 6. So someone in 11th grade typically started the school year at 16 and then ended the school year at 17.
In my state (California), and I believe similar to many other states, any child who is 6 must be enrolled in school, so pretty much the oldest you’ll see is a kid who turned 6 the summer right before kindergarten, which means turning 19 in the summer after high school. Students must be 5 before September 1 to be enrolled in kindergarten, so the youngest you’ll typically see now is someone who turns 17 right at the start of 12th grade.
As mentioned by others, as a general rule you will graduate high school (grade 12) when 18 years old, and start grade 12 when 17 years old.
You can work backwards to to grade K to 11. K (kindergarten) starts before year 1.
Depending on your birthday (early or late in the year) it can change when you start school, and as mentioned by others one could jump a year/be held back… but what I said above is a good guideline.
In the US public education system. grade is generally but not strictly tied to age. People born between January and August start kindergarten at age 5. For people born September to December, they will start kindergarten between 4-almost-5 and 5-almost-6, depending on the rules of the school district they live in at that point in time. This is often referred to as a “cutoff date” if your school district has a cutoff date of September 30, then a kid who turns 5 on 9/30 this year starts kindergarten this year, but a kid who turns 5 on 10/1 this year starts kindergarten next year. Cutoff dates are usually between 9/1 and 12/31.
Once a child starts kindergarten they will usually advance one grade each year regardless of age going forward. If a child moves to a different school district they are placed based on their grade level at their last school, not their age. So a classroom can end up quite mixed with the kids with those September-to-December birthdays being a birth year apart. A third grade classroom in October might have kids who are 7-almost-8 and kids who are 8-almost-9, but most kids will be 8.
Beyond the standard system, sometimes parents and schools will decide to make adjustments for specific kids. Some children either start kindergarten a year earlier or later, and once enrolled some kids will “skip a grade” and some will “repeat a grade” or “be held back” which adds to the age disparity. This range from common to unheard-of depending on the school district and time period as it is a controversial practice.
Private school systems have a lot more leeway so you are more likely to encounter that 15-year-old college student from a private school than public.
With that, the general brackets include:
Kindergarten 5, 1st grade 6, 2nd grade 7, etc.
Sixth grade 11, 7th grade 12, etc.
High school freshman/9th grade 14
High school senior/12th grade 17
So, on high school graduation most kids are either 17 or 18. But a few might be 16 while some are older.
And on that end of things, public schools will have a maximum age. So a kid who struggles and can’t graduate in 13 years (grade 12 plus kindergarten) gets some extra years of public education trying to get them through high school, then at a certain age—again, district specific but it is usually between 19 and 21—they age out of public school and are on their own to get a GED if they still want it.
Source: attended 12 public schools in 7 districts in 3 states as a child, later was mother of one born in January and one born in September.
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