School education in Britain

In Britain, all children have to go to school between the ages of 5 and 16.

In England and Wales, the s    1     that children should study and the levels of achievement they should reach are required by the National Curriculum (全国统一课程). But it does not apply (适用) in Scotland, where each school decides w    2     subjects it will teach.

At 16 students in England and Wales take GCSE examinations. These examinations are t    3     by students of all levels of ability in all subjects. At 18 some students take A-level e    4    , usually in not more than 3 subjects. It is n    5     to have A-levels in order to go to a university.

In Scotland, h    6    , students take different exams — the SCE examinations. A year later, they can take examinations which are c    7     Highers, and then they can either go straight to a university or s    8     another year at school and take the CSYS. In Scotland, the university system is also d    9     from that in England and Wales. Courses usually last 4 years rather t    10     3 years, and students study a larger number of subjects as part of the degree.

During my second month of nursing school, our professor gave us a quiz with a question: “What is the first name of the woman, who cleans the school?” Surely this was some kind of joke. I     1     (see) the cleaning woman before, but how could I know her name? I handed in my paper,     2     (leave) the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. “Absolutely.” said the professor. “You're likely     3     (meet) many people. They all deserve your attention and care.”

I've never forgotten that lesson.