Education is an important part of modern life. Being educated means to know a lot of necessary and useful things for life, which is why every decent person studies at school. Originally Russian education starts from the early age. Children can start going to kindergarten from the age of two, but this is not a compulsory education. It depends on parents’ decision and child’s wish to attend this institution. However, school is mandatory. Every child starts going to school from the age of seven and till 16. Mandatory education in Russia is presented by three types of schools: primary, secondary and high. The primary school teaches its pupils elementary skills, such as reading, writing, counting. Many schools also offer foreign languages or some other special disciplines at this age. The most important period is the secondary school, which starts from the 4th or 5th grade, depending on school. This is the time when children start learning Biology, Geography, Chemistry, Physics, Computing, and many other new subjects. At the 9th grade children face a very important period in their life. They have to choose whether to continue school education, or to leave for other types of educational institutions, such as college, specialized schools and else. If the pupil decides to continue studying in high school, which lasts for two years, he can enter the university after school graduation. Of course, it’s only the general pattern of education in Russia, but there can also be some exceptions nowadays. For example, there are lots of special schools, where they pay attention only to particular subjects. Also, apart from state schools, there are a number of private schools, where education is not free of charge.
Music ConcertМузыкальный концертI’m very fond of music and whenever I get a chance I attend a concert. It doesn’t happen very often, because I’m rather busy with my studies these days. Besides, our town is small and famous singers or bands rarely attend us. One music concert, that I especially liked, took place last summer. It was a jazz concert played by university students. I was amazed how talented these guys were. Although they are not famous yet, I think they will be noticed in the future. The event was held at the local Concert Hall in the afternoon. I went there with my best friend Vika, who is also fond of jazz. The tickets were rather inexpensive, so we could afford them. The concert lasted for a bit more than an hour. The hall was full of the audience. Although we are casual listeners, we could see how great was the music and performance in general. There were six people in the band. One guy was playing the saxophone, one was playing the drums, two others were playing the trumpet and the clarinet, one student was playing the double bass, and one was the pianist. At some point, each of them played solo to show their skills. At other moments they tried to improvise, which also sounded well. All in all, they performed about nine songs. The audience was willingly applauding after each song. Once again, I understood that hearing and seeing a live concert is much better than listening to music on CD or MP3 players. Vika also liked this concert. After it was finished, we went to meet the performers. Surprisingly, they were very friendly and even signed their autographs for us.
