The war itself never cut the teacher's pay. From what I've seen with the schools, they are exactly the same now that my brother is there than when I was there. My school inparticular (and most that I know of in this area) have problems with severe misallocations of money to different departments.

Anyways, there are several different ways that it can go in the U.S. (may be more). Kindergarten is still started about age 5 and is the start of elementary school, but then it changes.


First Scenario:

Grade K-5 - Elementary School
Grade 6-8 - Middle School
Grade 9-12 - High School

Second Scenario:

Grade K-6 - Elementary School
Grade 7-8 - Junior High
Grade 9 -12 - Senior High

In small towns you may have several different schools combined into one. They may only have an Elementary school that goes from Grades K-8 and then a high school for Grades 9-12, or they may have all the grades in the same school. I've also heard rumors of U.S. high schools that have grades 10-12 and that 9th grade is included in the junior high, but I've never had that confirmed.

Each state and county in the U.S. has a seperate School Board, so it can get a bit awkward.

Regarding "Junior" status, there are four titles that normally refer to High School students, but may also refer to Junior High, Middle School, or College students.

1st Year at that school - Freshman
2nd Year at that school - Sophomore
3rd Year at that school - Junior
4th Year at that school - Senior

If the school only has three grades, drop the sophomore status. If the school only has two grades, drop the sophomore and junior statuses.

I graduated high school when I was 17, so I would say that you would probably be a senior in high school, but as the others were saying, it all depends on when you were born in the year.