Every Italian child must attend school until he or she is 16. Children attend school from September to mid-June and enjoy vacations at Christmas and Easter. Italian school children don't have to wear a uniform, but they are easily recognized by the huge backpacks they carry. Some people worry that the children are doing permanent damage to their backs by lugging the packs home every day. The packs are full of textbooks that the children must buy for class. Kindergarten, called scuola materna, is for three, four and five year olds. Elementary school is for children from six to eleven years of age. Then the children spend three years at scuola media (junior high). Religious instruction is an optional part of elementary school and junior high. At the end of junior high the children take an important exam.
In high school students study classics, science, teacher training, fine arts, foreign languages or technical studies. More than half the students choose to attend vocational or technical schools. At the end of high school, students write an exam called the maturità The national government controls the education system and prepares this difficult exam for all Italian schoolchildren. It is both a written and an oral exam. The results are often published in the local papers. The students must pass this exam before they can be admitted to university. Writing the maturità and waiting for the results are times of great anxiety for Italian students.	Did you know? Bologna's university is the oldest in Europe. It was founded in the 11th century. During the 13th century it had 10,000 students. The professors at that time were often women, such as Novella d'Andrea. It was reported that her beauty forced her to give her lectures from behind a curtain so she wouldn't distract her students.
There are universities in most major Italian cities. Italian university students study hard to earn their laurea. This degree is considered higher than a bachelor's degree but not quite at the master's level. The pressure on the students to succeed is intense. They take both oral and written exams. Many universities are overcrowded. There is little contact between professors and their students, particularly in professional courses such as medicine and engineering. Major educational reforms are under way to improve the universities.