Hello listeners and welcome back to the English with Neil Learn English podcast.
How is everyone doing today?
I hope you guys are doing good wherever you are.
It is almost Christmas.
So if you celebrate Christmas, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas here from Japan.
In this episode you are going to learn about higher education.
Now, before I get started talking about higher education, I'd like to give you some information about the educational system in America.
You might find it interesting and it might be a little different than your country.
So let's get started.
So usually in America, when families have kids, a lot of the times the parents are busy, so they put their kids or their babies in something called a nursery school.
So in a nursery school there is a teacher there and her job is to take care of the young children, mostly babies.
Then when the kids get a little bit older, starting from age three, they can go to something called a kindergarten, and they usually go to kindergarten for about three years until they're six years old, and then next They go to an elementary school and this is where the primary education starts.
So in America the elementary school is for six years, and usually the kids are between the ages of six all the way to twelve.
After elementary school we enter our second secondary education, and in America we call that middle school.
Some countries say junior high school, but in America we say middle school.
Middle school is for two years.
Middle school we go to high school in high school in America is for four years.
So maybe a little different depending on your country.
So after high school, if you complete high school, you will receive something called high school diploma.
It is proof that you graduated secondary education, and then now today's topic.
So once you graduate from high school and if you want to continue your education, You can go to a college, a university or something called a vocational school.
And these three things are called higher education.
That's what I'm going to explain today.
So let's explain the difference between a college and a university.
Both of these are forms of higher education.
However, colleges are usually more smaller.
They're not as well known.
But you can still get a good education at a college.
These are just smaller institutions.
And another form is a university.
Now, universities are generally more bigger, more well-known.
They have a good reputation.
You might be familiar with universities such as Stanford University or Oxford University, or Yale or Harvard University.
These are big, well-known institutions that have a lot of money and are known globally.
Okay, and this is another form of higher education a college or university.
Okay, now let's talk about college.
You enroll in something called an undergraduate program.
Undergraduate basically means that you're going to study there usually for four years.
Most people finish their undergraduate education in four years.
When you finish you receive something called a bachelor's degree.
A bachelor's degree.
And you get a bachelor's degree.
You can get a degree in pretty much anything that the college or university offers.
So you can get a bachelor's degree in science, a bachelor's degree in art, bachelor's degree in music.
I got my bachelor's degree in Japanese language studies, so there are a lot of options for you to choose from when you get your undergraduate degree.
Okay now, if you'd like to continue, If you want to get more training, or you want to just up your education just a little bit more, you can enroll in something called postgraduate education.
We usually call this graduate school.
In America, we shorten it and we usually say grad school.
Now, when you go to grad school, this usually lasts for a couple of years.
When you finish this form of education, you get something called a master's degree.
Master's degree.
That sounds pretty cool, right?
And some people choose this option.
Some people need more training.
They'd like to get more education so they get their master's degree.
But it doesn't stop there.
If you want to get even more training, more education, You can enroll in a doctoral program.
You can get a doctoral degree and this will give you that title as a doctor.
Okay, so some people choose this option as well to get a doctoral degree.
Now, this is just college.
What i just explained is the college and university system.
However, there's another form, higher education, and that's called vocational education.
Vocational education.
Now, vocational education is a type of education, but it's specialized.
You go to a vocational school, also called a trade school, to learn a special skill.
For example, plumbing.
So a plumber is someone that works with pipes.
You can also go to trade school.
To be a carpenter, people who are carpenters build houses or nurses or mechanics.
These people need specialized training, so they go to a vocational school or a trade school, and these are the general types of higher education.
There's probably more, but these are just the basics.
Okay, in undergraduate education, getting a bachelor's degree, then going getting some graduate education, postgraduate okay, receiving a master's degree, or taking things higher to get a doctoral degree.
This is probably the highest form of education that we have currently.
Okay, so you have a lot of options, lots to choose from.
I think that education is very important.
You don't always have to go to school to get an education.
You can educate yourself in various ways, like listening to podcasts, reading books, attending seminars conferences, having a mentor.
These are all forms of education.
So I believe that we should always be learning.
We should always be striving to learn something new every single day, because it really enriches our lives.
And that is it, everyone.
So I hope you enjoyed today's podcast about higher education.
I look forward to speaking with you in the next one.
Take care, everyone, and talk to you soon.
Peace.
