If you went to school in USA…

[Princesspuppy]

Sorry for the stupid question. But I am watching 10 things I hate about you and it got me wondering. Do schools in the US really have car parks for the students? And do the rich kids show up in expensive cars?

I would love to hear your experiences!

I have family that live in USA and I asked them id schools in the USA were really like they are in the films and they had no idea what I was talking about as it was all their normal.

I’d like to know if you really have the same timetable / class schedule every day or if that’s just in books.

American born and bred here. Yes, American schools have parking lots for students and students whose families can afford it have expensive cars. It's not at all unusual here for teenagers to get a car for their 16th birthday.

I'm in my 60s and even back in the 1970s when I was in high school many students had cars and there was a student parking lot.

I always assumed a lot of them need cars to get to school because their high schools cover a larger area than a secondary in the UK, and public transport isn't as good.

I think it's more of a cultural thing. Scottish high schools can have massive catchment areas and the school buses have to go on ridiculous routes to pick all the outliers up, making the journey time much longer for many of the children, but it's just the way it is. Car ownership is higher and running costs lower in the US.

My British 6th form college had a student car park and lots of the students had new cars. My nephew went to high school in NY and no one drove there but some of the kids had drivers 🤣

I'm US born and bred and yes, there's car parks for both teachers and students and yes, some of the students drive very, very expensive cars. My daughter's friends owned cars like a yellow Lamborghini, a Mercedes G Wagon and a Jaguar SUV. Their parents owned their own businesses hence the expensive vehicles. My daughter rode the yellow school bus because we live three miles from the high school and I am not well off!

I went to a private school in California. My high school has a car park for students but the campus was in a busy downtown city centre so the car park was small and only available to seniors ( 12th grade- generally students in 11th and 12 th grade can drive).

There was a mix of cars: some had new mercs, some mid value cars, some very old cars.

This is so crazy and so interesting to read! Thanks for all the replies! I teach at secondary level and I can’t imagine these kids being in charge of a vehicle, let alone a very expensive one!

My UK state school had a sixth-form car park, the potholed state of which was a constant bone of contention. Students had to pay termly for a parking permit and at one point they all withheld payment because the condition was so bad.

I have a question as well, if that’s OK - do all US schoolchildren have to pledge allegiance to the flag every day? My cousins went to school in the US and they didn’t have to as they were British, but they said everyone else had to - I don’t know if that was just their school though.

You only have to be 16 to drive in the US in most states. Plus the US driving test is stupidly easy. The barrier to driving is much, much lower than it is here.

My 6th form college in the uk had a massive car park for students and teachers and loads of students drove as most kids turned 17 in their first year of A levels. I remember driving in my old 205 bought for 400 pounds from my Saturday job, most of my friends were the same, a few had parents who put them on their insurance but most of us drove old bangers - fiestas, old style golf’s etc

I went to school in the UK and my school had a (small) parking area for sixth formers who passed their tests early. Separate from the staff car park.

In the US where you can pass at an earlier age I'd imagine it's more common.

Yes my high school had a student car park. The driving age was 16 and public transport was rubbish so of course a lot of older students would be driving in.

Some kids had nice cars but nothing super flashy.

And yes after 9/11 we had to say the pledge of allegiance to the flag every morning. I only mouthed it as I wasn't American. I think prior to 9/11 we only said it on Mondays or something, I can't really remember.

The sixth form college I went to had a student carpark. Presumably, if you have an establishment whose cohort are likely to drive, it will need a place for them to park their vehicles.

Yes I did.

Yes they had car parks too with a variety of cars. They could drive from 15 in the state I lived in so pretty much all through High School

I went to Elementary school in the US fir a short time in the 1980s and we did. There was no mention ever of not having to do it if you weren't American.

Yes lots of people drove.
Yes the timetable was the same every day.
Only elementary school kids had to say the pledge but I went to a Quaker school so we didn’t have to say it.

I did get in trouble for not singing and l putting my hand on my heart during the national anthem at a baseball game once. At the end I pointed out I wasn’t American and standing respectfully was enough.

Pledge of Allegiance: it varies across the country, but in the school I teach in and the school DD goes to, it is not said daily (or, well, ever). We are in a blue state in the Midwest.

Locally most kids go to a college rather than a 6th form. And they have a huge car park for students and staff.

Yes re carparks if age 16+ attend.

it was very uncool to take the bus if you could possibly get a lift instead or drive yourself.

Technically I went to school in the Ghetto so probably kids didn't drive dad's BMr or Porsche over there. Bangers more the rule. Most people trashed their first car. Nobody got a truly nice 1st car, or if they did, it soon got wrecked & replaced with a more budget option. Getting your own car at 16 or as soon as you got your license, was extremely common, even in fairly poor families.

One of my schools reintroduced the PofA for a while.. maybe when we were 14 or 15? This seemed utterly absurd. 1980s.

We grew up truly believing that all of Britain stopped everything else to have "high tea" at 4pm daily, on little china cups your little fingers sticking out.

In some states, driving lessons are part of the curriculum for 15 year olds. There was an uproar in the fairly rural Midwest area I lived in when it was suggested schools should drop driver ed (driving and theory lessons) because of budget constraints.

The idea was seen as discriminatory, since poor families wouldn’t be able to afford lessons for their kids, and without being able to drive, those kids would never be able to get to work (or anywhere much else) when they left school, which was sadly true.

I grew up in an upper middle class area outside a major city snd was in high school in the 70s. The school has 2000 students. There was no car park. None of my friends had a car, but a few had second hand they had usually paid for themselves.
You had a daily class schedule and obviously you all took different classes and at different levels. I took Spanish, but other may have had French. I did biology and chemistry, another may have had physics or whatever. Everyone had to take math, English, a language and social science snd games. Then there were electives (like art of drama or shop). Drivers education at 16. There was Advanced Placement classes gif the very bright.
Lockers did line the walls like in the movies. And yes the halls got crowded in between classes (we didn't have a bell though). There were football pep rallies (I never went) as the football team was a BIG DEAL. Lunch was pretty much as you see.
We did the pledge to the flag in elementary (primary which went to age 13) but not high school.
We had home room which was like registration. We did not have weekly assemblies like they do here, just once in a while. School day ran from 8am to 2.15om with a 25 minute break for lunch - first sitting at 11.25! We had a salad bar, and hot food station.
We had clubs, and a big part of university applications is your extracurricular activities, so most kids joined a few and if you were secretary or president all the better.
Most kids, even affluent ones, got weekend jobs at 16 and everyone worked over the summer - we broke up third week of June.