Education
Primary School
Children start school at 6 years of age. They enter primary school that lasts for 10 years. During these years they learn about many different topics, such as science, art, literature, history, basic psychology and sociology and many practical skills. The goal of elementary school is to introduce kids to as many different kinds of skills and knowledge as possible, to help them figure out what they like and what they’re best at.
Moles are known to be a species with long life spans that ages slowly, with population that has a low amount of deaths and also births. This means fewer children in schools, smaller classes, and a better chance for teachers to focus more on each individual child in their class.
First 5 years are simpler and teach children the most important basics about the world and life. Here, everyone gets taught the same things the same way. There is no grading here, and whatever extra work kids want to do is optional. They are expected to learn the basics, just as reading, writing, basic math, basic everyday science, geography and history. They are taught to build good working habits and start learning basic about how to treat others and deal with one’s own emotions. Classes are focused on discussing things in the terms of simple everyday situations.
In the next 5 years classes get progressively more advanced. Children start learning more in-depth details about a wider variety of topics. Here it becomes more important what children are good at or more interested in. They aren’t guided as much as they were for the first four years and are encouraged to do more work on their own. They are encouraged to do extra work about the topics they are more interested in. Now, they are observed and graded by teachers on how well they do in certain areas. This is used more as a guideline to keep track of what a certain kid is better at. This doesn’t rely on tests, or achieving a certain amount of points - grades are more like a teacher’s observations and they don’t get told to children publicly in class. They only get discussed with children and possibly their parents in private. Kids are more encouraged to get more focused on subjects and skills they’re good at, and cut back on things they don’t like.
In the last two years, everyone should have some basic idea of what kind of things they excel at. Now they can switch some of the subjects they dislike for extra topics on the ones they do like.
Secondary School
After finishing primary school, children enter secondary school. These are more specialized and divided into schools that focus more on science, others that focus more on art, some that focus more on practical crafts and so on.
Whatever you were good at in primary school will almost certainly be what you will go to secondary school for. If you were the best at chemistry, you will go to the school that focuses more on natural sciences, if you were a more artsy type, you will go to the school that will teach you more about art and so on.
Now, alongside school it is tradition that children start working their first job with their parents. While school will teach them many valuable lessons, they will learn much more and much faster working on a real position in a real life job. Of course, they will at first be tasked with simpler tasks, and will watch and learn as they go.
Grading in secondary school is different. Now, grades at school don’t matter too much when you’re already involved in a real job. Parents are now the ones more responsible to teach you all you need to work at your new place of work. However, children aren’t expected to be just stuck with whatever their parents do. They are still very much encouraged to do their own thing, learn and explore the specific topics they themselves are the most interested in. They do all this as part of their school work which is assessed by their teachers. Here they still don’t get specific . Slapping a 1 or 3 or 5 on a paper and calling it a day isn’t very helpful. Instead, they consult their teachers about their research, and teachers tell them what they did well, and what more they could do better next time.
During high school they will get occasional tests or assignments that will encourage the children to do a lot of their own research and critical thinking, rather than just repeating what they read in a textbook. In the test you will be allowed to have all of your books, internet and other resources that you want, but questions will be ridiculously complicated, so none of it will help you if you don’t know what you’re doing and where to look for help with answering the questions.
School Year
Before we move on, let's also take a look at how school time is organized. A school year last from the beginning of the calendar year to the end, with two major holidays, and some small ones.
A week in primary school is 5 days long, with classes taking place in the morning, between 2-10. Classes may last up to 6 hours, together with after school classes or additional activities, but are usually shorter, especially in forst 4 years. Any time between 2-10 children are welcome at school to use the library to do schoolwork and study in peace. They regularly have 3 days off each week, the first two days or the week and the last day. They also get days off during each lantenrfest, that is first four days of each month.
Classes get more intense in secondary school. Now kids will spend 4 days in school, with classes lasting up to 7 hours with an hour break in between. These classes will take place in second to sixth day of the week, after two free days at the start of each week, leaving two more days for kids to work alongside their parents. Same as in primary school, the four days of lanternfest each month are free days for students.
The first major holiday takes place in the time of midsummer, which is last two weeks of V. month and first two weeks of VI. month. This is time for kids to take time off from school, go on vacations with their family or friends and live care free though the time when it would be too hot to do much studying or sckool work anyway. During this time however, they are still free to come to school each day from 2-10, if they for some reason want to do more school work, or, you know, hang out at the library and just read in an airconditioned space.
The second major vacation comes at the end of the year, during the month of rainy season. Before that the school year ends, so kids can now truly take time off and rest through the rainy season. They won't be able to do much of any studying during this time anyway, but they won't be able to do anything really fun either so that's too bad. But either way, this is their time off, before they start the new school year.
After School
After finishing school, moles would have officially reached adulthood. They will start out by working alongside their parents in the same, or similar job their parents have. But for many, this isn’t the end. It’s good to have a job and stability to start out, but that doesn’t mean you should stop learning. From here, young moles can decide to stick with the job given to them by their parents and get better at it, or maybe even learn something completely new and change their career later on.
This can be achieved through many different ways. The most common one is, of course, taking classes. Look for any schools in your area that offer classes on any topic you may be interested in - from languages to computer science and anything in between. You should be able to find anything from beginner classes to more advanced ones, but this can depend on what district you’re in. People don’t come here to learn only for work or to get a new job, many like to attend classes to learn new skills just for fun or hobbies.
If your district doesn’t have a school that would offer a class you want, there are many options online as well. Many applications and online classes offer easily accessible lessons for anyone.
For more practical kinds of skills, people may just try to start a job if they know anyone who will hire them, and learn while working. This works especially for crafting related skills and jobs, but it’s fine for pretty much anything.
Mole people tend to have quite long lifespans, so more often than not they will very likely seek out more knowledge through schools, classes or new jobs - remember, you’re never too old to learn something new.
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