Ethan Italy: Italian vs American School System

I recently had to give a presentation in French class explaining the differences between American and Italian school systems. There are a lot of points of difference between the two systems, but I found these ten to be the most interesting/important:

Italian high school lasts 5 years versus 4 in the US.
Italian high school is 6 days a week- Unfortunately, Saturday is a part of the school week, but the days are much shorter (from 8-1 most days)
Students specialize at a younger age- At the beginning of high school, students choose a track to follow for all 5 years. It varies from Humanities and Social Sciences to Environmental or Applied Sciences, and even Linguistics. Beyond this, middle school students have to choose and apply to a high school. They can choose to attend more general high school like mine, a technical institute, or a vocational school in which you can specialize in subjects like tourism and cooking.
The grading system is very different- Italian students are graded on a scale of 1-10. A 10 is nearly impossible to get, a 6 is the borderline between passing and failing a class, and a 2 is pretty much the lowest grade you can get. While Italian students try to get the best grade possible, the only thing that actually matters is getting a 6 or above. There is no GPA or equivalent metric that measures your cumulative grade performance and impacts your future.
The final exams are what matter- Instead of SAT’s and GPA’s to determine your college future, Year 5 exams are what really matter. Students are tested in any of the 10 subjects that they’ve taken, and the questions cover all the material they’ve studied during the 5 years of high school. The results of these tests are what determine where a student can attend college.
Everything is more static- We stay in one classroom for all of our classes for the year and the teachers change classrooms. We also don’t change classmates. Barring school transfers, you will take classes with the same students for all 5 years.
There are no school sport teams/orchestras or bands/drama groups, etc.- In Italy, there are only a few school clubs, but they aren’t very popular and they are held outside of school hours. All extra-curricular activities takes place outside of school which creates a different atmosphere at school itself. There is a much less sense of school pride and spirit; school is a place to take classes, and nothing beyond that.
Less homework, tougher tests- Very few classes give assignments to do during the week. Instead, almost all of my time is spent reviewing and studying for tests and interrogations. The tests are usually very in-depth and require a good amount of studying, and the interrogations are cumulative, so it is crucial to review material even from the beginning of the year.
Relationships with teachers are more formal- Whereas in the United States a teacher can be a confidant, advisor, or even a friend, teachers in Italy have a much more formal role. It is advised to speak to them using the formal tense and with generally more formal language (it is a cardinal sin to say “ciao” instead of “buongiorno” to a teacher)
Lessons are almost always lectures- If the teacher isn’t giving a test or interrogation, we spend the class period taking notes. Teachers tend to use only one method to teach, giving a lecture. We never use more creative methods to learn or do other activities in class.