Experience at international schools: American vs. British

[Anonymous]

For those that have lived abroad and sent their kids to international schools, can you speak to your experiences at American vs. British schools vs. others (e.g., French, German)?
Pros/cons, strength of the curriculum, transitioning back to U.S. schools, etc. We're in the early stages if trying to figure out what will be best for our two ES aged kids. Will obviously try to connect with some families at specific schools when we get to that point, but for the moment just trying to get a big picture idea of the differences in the types of international schools and what we should be considering when making the choice. TIA.

[Anonymous]

Simply not feasible to compare so generally. You need to provide an actual location.

[Anonymous]

I think the biggest challenge is curriculum level differences in elementary school and high school exams. Having seen kids switch back and forth between British schools in Britain, British schools abroad, American international schools, and American schools, it can get messy.

British schools start things far earlier than American schools and have younger entry points. If kids transition to American schools, they can end up ahead in the curriculum and not with their age cohort. My friends who had to make the switch back did it early but are now dealing with a very young-for-grade middle schooler in the US.

British curriculum for high school is pretty pointless for American kids in terms of exams, specializing, etc. *unless* you know for sure that your child wants to go to college outside of the US. Same for French and German in HS- it isn’t worth the effort to go to a US university after all that.

The location-specific comment is important to pay attention to. Depending on what city you’re in, a British or American school can actually be neither and is really just a school for expats or rich locals or both, with curriculum somewhere between the two. You need to do your research on curriculum and pay attention to exmissions to contextualize these schools.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, my kids are currently at an American School and it seems to be a school for expats and rich locals.