The students in America usually begin high school at the age of 13 or 14. Some leave at the age of 16. But most finish the 4-year high school study. They do not get their first full-time job or begin college studies until they are 17 or 18 years old. The high school day is about 7 hours long. Part of the day is made into classes of about 50 minutes long. The students have lunch in the middle of the day. American students study English, history, math, science, art and language. Some also learn job skills. They can learn how to use a computer or how to mend a car. Other students may learn by working in an office, a hospital or other places one day a week. Jean Wilton Anderson is 16 years old. She lives with her parents and two younger brothers in Bethesda, Maryland, near Washington D. C. Jean studies at Walt Whitman High School. There are about 1500 students at the school. Most of them will go up to the college. Jean wakes up early every morning. She begins school at 7: 30. This is her third year of high school. Every day she takes classes to learn English, world history, physics and trigonometry( 三角学 ). And she plays the violin in music class. School ends at about 2 o ’ clock in the afternoon. Yet Jean stays 2 or more hours longer every day for sports. Jean arrives home at about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. She eats dinner. Then she starts her work. She also spends a lot of time talking on the telephone with her friends. Students in American have their way of talking. They use the word "like" all the time. Jean and her girlfriends wear blue jeans and shirts or sweaters every day. The boys at her school also wear blue jeans. But they like to wear blue jeans that are several sizes larger for them. Like students of her age in most part of the country, Jean begins to drive a car. She does not have her car. She must use the family's car. Most of the students in high school have their own cars. Many of them drive their cars to school every day.