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!

Not all American HS are like the movies. I went to an urban all girls Catholic school, run by mostly Irish nuns, I actually had a lot of nostalgia triggers watching Derry Girls :)

In my state you had to stay in school til 18, and take maths, English, science and history all the way through (with a bit more flexibility on other subjects). So it's been interesting seeing the debate over Sunak's maths proposal here.

DS's headmaster told us sophomore means 'wise idiot'. They're a year into High school so a little bit wise but still three years to go hence the idiot! Never looked it up to confirm if that's true or not!

Grateful thanks from an oldster, @PhotoDad and @Boomboom22

Pledge of allegiance every day at my high school in New York in 2000

Then those four names (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior) get re-used for the four years of university/college/"school". So "a sophomore" could be around 15/16, or around 19/20. (I know... but the UK systems and terms are equally confusing to try to explain!)

In my sons High School they didn’t do the pledge but he says he felt like he was in a movie - daily. The principle at his High Scjool even gave all the morning messages/notices over the Tannoy and started with ‘Good morning Xxxx High!’.

My sons Middle school does the pledge but he just stands but doesn’t join in. That’s pretty accepted.

Yes a lot of High Schooler drive. They have to. Some in Teslas, soft top cars and others not and a lot arrive by bus. It’s a mix.

No one would have noticed or commented if we didn’t say the pledge. It was usually 20-25 students or more, I don’t think the teachers paid that much attention.

Yes, my high school had a parking lot and some kids had nice cars. But then nice when I was in HS was a new Jetta, or a parent’s used Land Cruiser or BMW. I don’t remember seeing any super expensive cars, but it was the 80s and Catholic school and the parents weren’t really spoiling their kids to the level that some do today.

Do lockers really line all the “halls”? Are hallway monitors a thing and, if so, why aren’t they in class? Is Senior Ditch Day real? What is homecoming? (I know there is a dance, but why?)

Do the very young ones really have 'show and tell'?

I went to a private Christian high school in the mid west in the late 90’s. Email had JUST become a thing you could do from home.

the cultural shock for me was huge. First - everyone drove. I was in country 18 days before I had my permit. Eighteen days!! Most of my test took place in… my high school parking lot. Which was huge.

school hours in my school fluctuated with with seasons. Hunting and harvest, specifically. We were in a medium sized city - not super rural, but kids commuted because of Jesus and how much Jesus we had at school. school started at 0740 and was over by 2pm ish. Then it would be a few hrs of sports practices. 1st lunch was at about 11am. Weird but made sense as many kids had to get home for farm chores. EVERY kid had a paid job.

we said the pledge once a week on a Monday morning but we prayed every morning in home room. We had lockers exactly like the ones on My So Called Life & in fact, it was all v much like a TV show. Truly. Parents were super involved in the school community (private Christian school) and it was totally normal for your mom to be painting a classroom at a weekend. The school football field and stands and media box were better equipped than a lower level professional U.K. footy team at the time.

we sang the anthem before every sporting event (there were hundreds) & the first thing the freshman boys made in shop (woodwork) was a gun rack for their trucks. We could bring hunting rifles to school but they had to be locked in the gun safe in the principals office and you had to lock the ammo in your car.

Columbine would happen a year later.

I think I graduated in the last year of innocence really (1998).

I worked as hostess in a family style restaurant and weekends were for sports and church. I had a car and this was normal. I saw my first real drive thrus (they were just becoming popular in the U.K.) but America had drive thur banks, coffee shops, florists, post offices and even the goodwill had a drive thru. Some houses even had their post boxes mounted high so they could drive past and grab their mail without getting out the car.

most families had a ‘cabin’ or ‘cottage’ or both. The cabin was up north for hunting and the cottage was on the lakes for summer. Also it was totally normal for the most average income families to own skido, seadoo, boats etc. I think it was the end of the Reagan bush boom years really - even though Clinton was in the white a house. They were years of plenty and it showed.

Show and tell is very much a thing in the UK too!

What is homecoming? (I know there is a dance, but why?)

When I was a child I was extremely puzzled by the reference to a 'homecoming Queen' in the song 'Daydream Believer'. I later learned Homecoming was in fact a big dance associated with football (still don't know more than that).

Yes. Every hall is chock full of lockers and often the halls are designated (freshman, sophomore, Jnr, snr). We didn’t have hall monitors.

senior ditch day was real and we all went to a lake and BBQ’d and swam.

homecoming is the last home football game of the season, usually around thanksgiving. Hence home-coming. There is a week of celebrations, theme days, a dance, a homecoming court where you vote for the queen and a parade too. We also went out in the evenings and toilet papered our teachers houses. Throwing rolls of TP into the trees etc. also we made signs for our front yards and tried to steal the oppositions mascot. For example, my schools biggest rival was the private catholic high school. So my school made an effigy of the pope and burned it. Totally normal stuff…!!

Oh, really! In my day it was more 'sit down and shut up' at that age 😁

I lived in the States age 5-7yo (1998-1990) and can still recite the pledge of allegiance. We had to say it in school and also in girl guides. Interestingly though, I can only do it in an American accent.

We live in Scotland and all of our children had cars and drove to school in 5th/6th form.

I live in Scotland and don't know any pupil who drove at School, and the parking at Dd's school was a complete nightmare, even for staff.
Tbf it's the west end of Glasgow though.

Also, some people graduate at 17 or even at 16. They aren't required to stay in school to a certain age if they have already graduated. But younger graduates are likely to be academically talented so likely on their way to university.

Yes 😊😅 A lot of American cities you can only get around with a car

My son has been driving himself to his 2 high schools since he was 16 in a car he bought himself by working the summer he turned 16. Yes they have some parking for students but not enough and a lot of kids still walk, bike and ride the bus.

Once you’ve spent a few winters in Maine waiting for the bus you’ll understand why students are so keen to drive.

No Pledge of Allegiance.

Yes to lockers but high schoolers don’t tend to use them.

The big sports at his schools are soccer and ice hockey, not American Football, but theatre and music are also massive.

I also said the Pledge of Allegiance every day at primary school in the US. I know it's weird here but it's just quite normal there

Yes, some schools will recite the Pledge of Allegiance at various points, but by Constitutional law, students cannot be forced to participate.

So assume maybe 100-300 cars?

Most sixth form colleges have student car parks in the UK. If we let kids start driving at a younger age, we'd probably have car parks for secondary schools too.

The school I went to had 800 pupils and about 600 parking spaces for us. We each had our own spot and could paint it. We each got an aerial shot of the parking lot when we graduated as the spaces looked so cool all painted.