Gymnasium (school)

Gymnasium (school)

A gymnasium (pronounced with a in several languages) is a type of school providing advanced secondary education in some parts of Europe and the CIS, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. Historically the German Gymnasium also included in its overall accelerated curriculum post secondary education at college level and the degree awarded substituted for the bachelor's degree (Baccalaureat) previously awarded by a college or university so that universites in Germany exclusively became graduate schools. In the US the German Gymnasium curriculum was used at some rather reputable universities like the University of Michigan as model for their undergraduate college programs. The word γυμνάσιον (gymnasion) was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men (see gymnasium (ancient Greece)). The latter meaning of a place of intellectual education persisted in German and other languages, whereas in English the meaning of a place for physical education was retained, more familiarly in the shortened form gym. The gymnasium prepares pupils to enter a university for advanced academic study.

In the Polish educational system the gimnazjum is a middle school (junior high school) for pupils aged 13 to 16. The same applies in the Greek educational system, with the additional option of Εσπερινό Γυμνάσιο (evening gymnasium) for adults and working students aged 14 upwards.