ALONG with many countries in the world, public education in Spain is free until high school and it is compulsory as well. And since Spain is part of the European Union, Spanish high school students are also compelled to learn a second language which in most cases is English. Why is this so? Simply because urban and coastal cities in Spain are overwhelmed with tourists every summer. This is no more pronounced than in the next few years particularly in Valencia where two world sporting events are destined to be held there in 2008 and 2009; respectively.

In August 23 to 24, 2008, Valencia will share with Catalonia in hosting the Spanish Grand Prix of Formula One. The recent win by Spain’s very own McLaren driver Fernando Alonso in the Italian Grand Prix over the weekend only catapults this phenomenon. Hotels along the city’s thoroughfares which will be converted into a street racetrack are already fully booked. These include the luxurious hotels of Astoria and Westin. In 2009, the world’s premier sailing race, the America’s Cup, will drop by its shores again – an event which occurred earlier this year. Most of the fans of these twin sporting events are British and obviously, both the education and tourism ministries in Spain would love to showcase their youngsters learning English and as a consequence, be hospitable to tourists.

Educacion infantil or preparatory school in Spain is from three to five years old. This is divided into two stages – jardin de infancia for toddlers from 0 to three years old and the preescolar which is for children aged three to six years. This is not compulsory but the Spanish education ministry still makes the schooling free for the enrollees.

The next level is educacion primaria which is for children from six to 11 years and is divided into three cycles for two academic years each. This time, educacion primaria or primary education is compulsory.

After educacion primaria, the student takes up educacion secundario or high school from 12 to 16 years and all graduates of this program are recommended to take up the bachillerato or a comprehensive program of the four academic years in educacion secundario. The bachillerato has five options – arts, nature and health sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities. The student merely chooses from one of the options although these five have common elective subjects which are Spanish language and literature, philosophy, physical education, Spanish history and human physiology. The arts option is focused on subjects such as sculpture and painting. The nature and health sciences are focused on basic sciences such as biology, chemistry, physics, earth science and mathematics. The engineering option is bent in technical drawing. The social sciences option is focused on economy, sociology and psychology. And the humanities subject is composed of Latin and Greek with a dash of history on art.

After graduating from the bachillerato, a student has three options – to work, to enroll in a vocational college or try one’s luck straight to university. The student can avail of a university degree depending on his bachillerato background. Thus, one can safely say that college students in Spain have taken academic programs which have interested them.