Spanish School System

One of the most common questions I get asked here is if I'm going to have to repeat the academic year when I return. For some unknown reason the Spaniards are very concerned by my study habits, probably because it makes up quite a large part of their schooling. They see me doodling during Greek and get worried that I'm ruining my future or something. Their eyebrows go up and wrinkle and they ask in worried voices why I'm not studying. I explain to them that there is quite a difference between Spanish schools and American ones. Most of the time they don't understand, and I go back to drawing aliens between my scattered notes.
I frequently get a similar question from back home. They ask me what my schedule's like, if I'm taking any electives, if I've been put in the easy classes, if I have a lot of classes with anyone in specific. Again, I have to explain that there is quite a difference between Spanish and American schools.
So, I'm here to explain to you whatever knowledge I have about the Spanish school system. Most of what I know is fairly hazy and based on whatever I've seen in my own school, so it may not be entirely accurate.
There are three basic levels of schooling, like elementary/middle/high school in America. They are primary, secondary, and bachillerato. Primary is like elementary school, and children are taught up to when they turn twelve. The secondary is four years of mandatory schooling. Bachillerato is two years of optional education that most students opt into taking.
The age cut-off to get into a certain grade is also different. Instead of being at the beginning of the school year, each grade is defined by the year in which everyone is born. Because I'm born in '94 and in the class of '95, which is the equivalent of the junior year, a lot of people think I've been held back. That's another thing- being held back, especially in the final years of secondary school and bachillerato, is exceptionally common. In my school in Malaga I had classmates as old as 22, who still needed to finish two more years to graduate!
One of the things about their school system that Spain is proudest of is the curriculum. Unlike in America, where curriculum varies from state to state and even from school to school, the curriculum is universal. The same subject is taught to the same grade all across the country. What I'm learning about in Philosophy is the same as what my friends in the north of Spain are learning about at any given time of the year. Another part of this set curriculum is that the credit system doesn't exist. Instead, each year has a designated list of classes that each student must take. It's not just one math class this year, one literary class this year, etc. There are no class choices. You don't get to decide what you're going to study. In bachillerato and, to some degree, in secondary, however, you get to choose to take one of three courses: science, social sciences, and humanities. Science, for my year at least, is biology OR technical drawing, math, and chemistry/physics. Social sciences is economics, history, and math. Humanities is history, Latin, and Greek. You choose one of those three choices and that's what you study. That is all the choice you get. All your other classes are mandatory and standard level for your grade, except in languages in certain schools or, if the school offers bilingual, in certain classes like Integrated Projects and Science of the Contemporary World.
School here is also just that- school. For the most part it's purely academic, so sports and most certainly student clubs and activities don't exist through the school. School spirit doesn't really exist, either, as there are no games or matches that students can go to and cheer their classmates on in.
So yeah, that's about it I think. It's astoundingly different from American schools, especially Summit, which is full of school spirit and different levels of classes, but there you have it. Just another thing here that's a change from back home!