Italian education :: 28 :: differentiated learning, perhaps

I recently shared the subjects Young One will study during her first year of middle school. While there are a couple of unexpected differences compared to American middle school education (two foreign languages, technical drawing), most of the subjects are fairly familiar, on the surface, at least.

What is glaringly different, however, is the variation of the time! Not all subjects meet for the same amount of time each week. Check this out:

Italian: 6 hours 

Italian Grammar: 2 hours

Italian Literature: 4 hours (This is further subdivided in ways I don’t yet understand entirely.)

Mathematics: 4 hours

History / Geography: 4 hours (It isn't clear how these two will be divided.)

English: 3 hours

Science: 2 hours

Art: 2 hours

Technology / Technical Drawing: 2 hours (I have a sneaking suspicion that this will not include computers.)

Physical Education: 2 hours

French: 2 hours

General Music: 2 hours 

Flute & Music Theory: 2 hours *

Orchestra & Music Theory: 1 hour *

Religion: 1 hour

* These three hours of music are extra for those students enrolled in the music section. 

And what do we think about that differentiation?

PURE GENIUS.

Disclaimer: I hate generalizations as much as you do, probably more. This is my limited experience at my sixth grader's middle school lost in Northern Italy. If you have a different experience with this, please share!