A school is an educational establishment designed to offer learning spaces and educational environments specifically for the learning of students under the guidance of qualified instructors. Most countries now have systems of public elementary education, which can be either compulsory or elective. In such systems, students move through a short list of schools, from which they gain entrance. The primary school system in most developed countries offers both primary and secondary schooling. A school offers primary and secondary education as a primary aim to give children a basic knowledge of the world around them and to educate them for further education.
Secondary schooling involves the study of any subjects as designated by the government. Students who are completing the primary school system and wish to continue their education may attend a junior school. This is usually a junior high school, a preparatory school or a secondary school. This allows them to gain knowledge and skill sets that prepare them for further education. Students who wish to complete their higher education may choose to enroll into a college or a university. Many choose to do this after passing their secondary schooling, as it provides them with a wider educational environment to pursue their career aspirations.
For those parents who wish their children to be well-educated and to have a good, high-level education, one important factor to consider is the achievement gap. The achievement gap refers to the difference in performance between pupils who have gone to secondary school and those who have not. We need to address this problem on all levels of schooling in order to guarantee that our children have access to a high-level education. We should start from nursery school, through to secondary school, and then continue to tertiary school. If we see the achievement gap as something that is undesirable, then we could start teaching our children to set goals and to work towards these goals even when they are in school.