What would you expect a 14-15-year-old to know?

A 15-year-old knows everything!

14 to 15 is Middle School (9th Grade) in the US.

I remember taking algebra, English, general science, and a couple of other courses. We read A Light in the Forest for English class and studied poetry; I can't remember what else.

I was really in to cars and motorcycles around that time. Played basketball, worked on neighboring farms during the summer, knew all the songs on the radio.

In which country?

Other possible courses around that time: geography, language (French, Spanish, Latin, and others depending on the school), woodworking or shop (in my day boys took that and girls took what was called Home Economics; it's probably changed now), band.

By the way, you could easily look up the currently offered classes for Australia online.

I can hardly recall what I learned at school when I was 15 but I knew a lot about music bands kids listened to at that time I remember I did some homework for Geography class.

You might see if you can find the testing standards for the grade she's meant to be in (not sure how this works in Australia). That would give you some idea of what she would be studying.

I'm in America, but the 14-15 year olds I tutor are taking:

*English (reading stuff like MacBeth, The Iliad, Catcher in the Rye)

*Social Studies (geography; U.S. Government) or History (World History, beginning with Ancient Greece)

*Math (Geometry or Algebra II)

*Science (Methods-- a general Science class focusing on the Scientific method-- or Bio)

*Foreign Language (Spanish or Latin)

My daughter is 16, last year when she was 15 she was a sophomore in high school. She took english comp, spanish 2, pre- calculus, American history, computer science and health and phys ed. She is quite opinionated on everything, has a vast knowledge of literature and can intelligently discuss topics ranging from the plot of Romeo and Juliet ( it was NOT a romance!) to global warming ( It should be called global climate change!) to politics, to the arts ( she favors realism) If she does not understand a subject or wants to know more about she will research it before discussing it and is open to hearing your opinion (even if its wrong-lol)
Basically a 15 yr old is a mini adult.

This can vary slightly from state to state in the US, but many state departments of education post their standards on line. The Common Core standards can be found there too. You can find Australian standards too. Check individual school sites for curriculum guides.

lianna williamson said:

I'm in America, but the 14-15 year olds I tutor are taking:

*English (reading stuff like MacBeth, The Iliad, Catcher in the Rye)

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In my limited experience the Odyssey is more likely to be read than the Iliad at this age.

Religion0 said:

I have no idea what I learned in school back then, any more. I probably still know some of it, but I have no idea what.

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For your story, what does she need to know? A child that age in school could learn a lot of things, from the date range of the 100 years war to the text of Fermat's Last Theorem. It's very hard to imagine a plot where she would need knowledge of both, so answering your very general question won't help you any.

Jeff

MythMonger said:

In my limited experience the Odyssey is more likely to be read than the Iliad at this age.

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I agree, but for some reason all the ones I've seen this year are reading the Iliad.

I think it's important to remember with more cable channels than ever and unlimited internet access, most 14 year olds get a ton of information outside of school. Mine will spend one day watching back to back episodes of "Into the Wormhole" which focuses on things like quantum mechanics, string theory and astrophysics. The following day she'll watch a Real Housewives of New Jersey marathon. The day after that she'll watch instructional YouTube videos on everything from how to perform brain surgery to how to apply eyeliner.

The kids are random.


ETA: I should add my 9 year old cruised through the living room and saw a scratch on the wood floor. She told me vegetable oil would fix it. She's seen it on a DIY show. There's no telling what a kid might now these days.

When I was 11/12, in junior high school in the US, I had a Steinbeck and Hemingway class, Shakespeare, Algebra, Tolkein, Creative Writing, a class where I could read whatever I wanted for the whole period, in history I think we were up to WWII and we were studying ... the Mediterranean? in Geography. This was in the 70s.

I'm fairly certain my 16 year old knows more than I do. He gave me a lecture on the Stock Market today. I would say 2/3 of everything he knows he learned outside of school on the internet, television, reading, etc.

I have no idea what kids today are being required to read, but anecdotally, the first significant piece of book-length literature I remember being required to read, in school, as a junior or senior in high school was the novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. It's a great book, probably too little read today. But I certainly wasn't hammered over the head to read Shakespeare or Dickens way back them.

caw

When I was 15 I took:
1. algebra II+trigonometry
2. cell biology
3. English (that year I think we did Joy Luck Club, Like Water for Chocolate, Medea, The Crucible... will add others if I remember)
4. European history/Western civ ("the world before 1850," if I recall)
5. intro to chemistry (periodic table, balancing equations, that sort of thing)
6. advanced French (I'd started in 6th grade) (anyone not carrying over from a middle school language would've been at [language] II/beginning intermediate. everyone was required to take 2 years of a language and could pick between French, Spanish, German, and Chinese [most non-nerds opted for Spanish due to its reputation as the easiest foreign language])
7. human geography
8. elective (either art or music; I picked art. hated that class. it was veryyyy elementary.)

Religion0 said:

Well, she's Australian, but I suppose a lot of it would travel. Now that alleycat has mentioned it, I also had algebra around that age.

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Here's a link to the Australian curriculum. I'd suggest you look at state education websites for a local flavour.

Another one with algebra in 9th, geometry in 10th, and trig in 11th,but that does not mean I knew it! Calc was taught in 12th

We had biology in 10th, chem in 11th and physics in 12th

Romeo & Juliette in 9th, MacBeth/As You Like I in 10th,Hamlet one of the later years. Also Chaucer in 10th grade (LOVED). We got I Heard the Owl Call My Name, Separate Peace, Kim (Rudyard Kipling's) in 9th grade. Not sure what they would be these days but some books (Separate Peace, Death Be Not Proud, Catcher in the Rye-got that in 7th, To Kill A Mockingbird-also in 7th, were very, very common). Again in the 70s, a very popular book among kids (not necessarily taught in school) was Go Ask Alice (girl gets into drugs)

World History in 10th and American history in 11th

Also in US, but many start a language in 2nd/3rd grade, so by 11th grade may well be in AP language, even they aren't really a genius at it. Most common would be French or Spanish, then German.

Its a really vague question. Outside of pointing you at a local Curriculum, its really difficluty to answer without context.

Consider rephrasing the question to something like:

What would you expect a 14-15-year-old to know about ______?

Religion0 said:

... For some reason, this had not occurred to me. I will also see if I can find some exams for them lying around the web.

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That probably will help, but I have found that test writers aren't as reliable as they used to be.

Actually, it's more important what she doesn't know. She didn't go to school, and as such didn't receive a standard education. She can read and do basic maths, but that's about it. I'm trying to figure how best to show rather than tell it, by having people ask her about things someone her age should know and have her draw a complete blank.

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Take some major historical events and think of her parents as not having been into history, so she wouldn't know 1066, much less Charlemagne, Alexander the Great, Sargon, or any of the Egyptian Pharaohs, and no emperors of Rome. I don't know what is taught now, but I would regard someone who had never heard of Julius Caesar as completely ignorant.

Religion0 said:

Actually, it's more important what she doesn't know. She didn't go to school, and as such didn't receive a standard education. She can read and do basic maths, but that's about it. I'm trying to figure how best to show rather than tell it, by having people ask her about things someone her age should know and have her draw a complete blank.

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You might give some thought to why she didn't go to school. Why did her parents teach her at home?

If they were very insular people, they may not have told her much about geography, or history. If they were back-to-the-landers, she may know how to butcher an animal and tan it's hide, but not much about modern life. If they had political or religious reasons (avoiding indoctrination, basically) for keeping her out of school, she may 'know' stuff, but from a somewhat slanted point of view.
Or, they may have taken her out of school because they wanted her to follow her own interests. Consider how few children are interested in practice and repetition, unless they're really interested in a subject. What's she interested in, what would she prefer to avoid?

You said she's from my Australia. Whereabouts in Australia? Have you narrowed that down yet? Maybe you could use that somehow.

(See post #19 for a link to the Australian curriculum)