There are primary schools,secondary schools and universities in Hong Kong. Primary school is somethings like the elementary school in the US, it's only for the kids who are between the age of 5~12 to study in. It is for 6 years. Secondary school is just like the High School in the US, it's for the teenagers to study in and that's what I'm studying in right now. It usually be 5~7 years, depends on how you are being well in the Certificate Examination. However, some of the crappy students just cut off their study or being expelled by the school after the 3rd year(Form 3/Secondary 3). Anyway, the students who are 2 years younger than me can study in secondary school for 6 years. There's no plenty of universities in Hong Kong but just 8 of them so that not all of the students in Hong Kong can get into them. Just some of the outstanding students in Hong Kong who can surpass the A-Level examination possibly get into them. Both Certificates examination and A-Level examination are bothering the students very much. Actually the school life in secondary school(high school) isn't really a nice experience for the nerdy students who wanna study in universities since they have to pay for it.(pardon my rude expression) I'm one of them... Anyway, there's another side for being a secondary school student if you don't mind to be expelled after the 5th year(Form 5/Secondary 5)......(to be continuous)
Here's how the schools go in Wisconsin: We start out at preschool (not completely mandatory) and that is around age 4. We then have K-6 (kindergarten - 6th grade). This is an elementary school. Some schools are K-5 and the sixth graders are at the middle school. Some schools, smaller cities also have K-8. Then it is middle school/junior high (5/6-8). Then it is high school (9-12). People can then either continue on to a two year trade school (electric, plumming, something with your hands etc.) or a 4 year school (pretty much any degree you can imagine). There are something like 12 public schools in our state and 6 or 7 private schools. Pretty much anyone can go to college if they work hard enough.
Yeah, what LeetPCUser said will pretty much be across the board here in the U.S. I am interested in seeing what the education system is in other countries though..