In what countries do they go to school on a Saturday, and why do they?

@Moonpenny That would be better the other way round.

@Crazychick Why?

@Moonpenny Because they'd be attending classes from Monday to Friday, then the ones who want to do sports can do it on a Saturday morning and it doesn't interrupt the conventional school week.

@Moonpenny In my day, sport was on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. And Saturday afternoons as well if you were in a school team.

@MartinII In my school it varied from one year to the next. Our school timetable wasn't necessarily the same in one year as it was in the previous year. We had a new timetable each September.

@Crazychick You don't have a conventional school week in a public school because many of the students are boarders. Having sport on Wednesday afternoon breaks up the week because they have long working days which usually go onto 7pm, after which they can have free time. They make up their 5 days' work by studying Saturday mornings and then doing sport on Saturday afternoon. This is a structure they're used to..... inter-school/league matches take place on Wed/Sat and they have Sunday free to do what they want.
Traditionally, Uk universities have Wed afternoon free from lectures etc. for the same reason but people can do whatever they want ie. study, play sport, go home and sleep!

@Moonpenny I never went to a public school so that doesn't apply to me. I think the term "public school" is ridiculous anyway. Why are they called that? 🤔

@Crazychick English irony. They are, of course, private schools.

@Crazychick But it can, and does apply to other people.
There is a logical history as to why 'public schools' are called so in Uk but it's the opposite way round in US and that does seem more logical.

@Moonpenny You addressed that comment to me. Therefore, it doesn't matter whether it applies to other people or not.

@Crazychick Yes. You asked who went to school on Saturdays and why. I'm only addressing your question.
I didn't attend public school either but I have worked in a few so I thought you may be interested to know how another type of school is run in our country, other than the state schools we went to. I thought you were asking the question in order to broaden your horizons and so I could answer your question more fully.

@Moonpenny I said "In my school it varied from one year to the next. Our school timetable wasn't necessarily the same in one year as it was in the previous year. We had a new timetable each September" and then you said "[b]You[/b] don't have a conventional school week in a public school because many of the students are boarders. Having sport on Wednesday afternoon breaks up the week because they have long working days which usually go onto 7pm, after which they can have free time. They make up their 5 days' work by studying Saturday mornings and then doing sport on Saturday afternoon. This is a structure they're used to..... inter-school/league matches take place on Wed/Sat and they have Sunday free to do what they want. Traditionally, Uk universities have Wed afternoon free from lectures etc. for the same reason but people can do whatever they want ie. study, play sport, go home and sleep!". You were telling me that I don't have a conventional school week in a public school so I said "I never went to a public school so that doesn't apply to me".

@Crazychick Your point being?

@Moonpenny You tried to tell me what my conventional school week was in a public school when I didn't attend one.

@Crazychick Btw 'YOU' meaning 'ONE'

@Moonpenny Oh. Why didn't you say that before? Why confuse people by misusing words? 🤔

@Crazychick No sorry, you misunderstood.

@Crazychick Because most English-speaking people understand the generic version of 'you' meaning 'one' unless they belong to the British aristocracy or the Royal Family, and even then I doubt they actually use that term on a regular basis.

@Moonpenny Wrong. I don't personally know anyone who uses this ridiculous "generic" version of "you", it's like calling a cat a hippopotamus. And I have nothing to do with the British aristocracy or the Royal Family, I live in a terraced house in Manchester.

@Crazychick So you use 'one' instead of 'you'?
If you've ever learnt a foreign language, such as French or German, you'll know that there are two forms of 'you'; one for singular and one for plural and/or one for familiarity and one which is more formal. Unfortunately, in English, we only have one word for all of these, so we understand from the context of its use. I'm sorry you misunderstood what I said.

@Moonpenny The word "you" is a [i]personal[/i], second-person pronoun and should only be used in that context. Depending on the context, the words "we" or "they" are more appropriate than "you".

@Crazychick You're right. [b]You[/b] is a personal second-person pronoun but it's also used in both singular and plural forms. In this case, 'we' and 'they' would not have made sense.

@Moonpenny "They" would have made perfect sense. "[b]They[/b] don't have a conventional school week in a public school because many of the students are boarders" sounds right, even more so considering you shifted into a "they" format in the next sentence ("Having sport on Wednesday afternoon breaks up the week because they have long working days which usually go onto 7pm, after which they can have free time"). Admit it, I am right about that as well. :)

@Crazychick The point I made was clear enough IMHO and was read as such by others on the thread. If you want to talk about semantics and syntax, I think you're deliberately moving away from the point of your question.
I've enjoyed listening to other people's ideas, experiences and opinions but I prefer to interact with people who post questions who are more tolerant and accept other people's views more readily and with much more grace.

I'd also like to point out that in many of your posts you do say...." Where I live/where I come from we think/consider blah blah blah ...... I know you're from the UK but please don't use this blanket term when you have no idea what other British people think. We don't need to be represented in this way on SW. I certainly don't.

You asked a really good question but as usual, when you don't like what people say, you trash your own good intentions 🤷‍♀️

@Moonpenny How do I trash my own good intentions?