UNDERSTANDING HOW EDUCATION EVOLVES FOR MY STUDENTS

The Hungarian high school fair is very similar and equivalent to an American college fair. Each high school participates in multiple fairs to showcase their school and the unique opportunities offered. Twenty-five to fifty schools attend these events that attract eighth-grade students along with their homeroom teacher. The students pass from booth to booth, hearing presentations and collecting information. The students take the information home to discuss with their parents. Once the family selects the schools that they are interested in, then interviews and appointments to attend open lessons are scheduled.

I also learned that students must be accepted into the high school and acceptance is based on a point system. The school determines it’s admission point criteria based on the 8th grade national exam scores, the student’s middle school overall GPA, and the school’s specific requirements. Yes!!! All of this to apply to attend high school!

Another unique feature about Hungarian high schools is that many of the schools specialize in subjects such as art, performing arts, technology and computer sciences, language, health sciences, environmental services and architecture.

My school, Pannonhalmi, is a regular high school that prepares students for university. While the school does not offer a specialized curriculum, two things make it attractive. Students with learning disabilities are welcome here. Although we are not a bilingual school, we offer classes in multiple languages in addition to English. We now offer Chinese, Russian and Spanish. We are blessed that so many of our children are quite interested in languages, and this has led to a beautiful, increasingly diverse student population speaking many languages confidently.