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 a friend who's son doesn't drive at 21 and it's considered a major "issue." We see lack of knowing how to drive as a safety hazard - what if you need to drive someone to the hospital?

I actually took advantage of my dual citizenship to get my license in the US instead of the UK. I got a permit at 15.5 and license at 16 since I spent time there every summer anyway. It was pretty great. I admire the way they just get on with it when it comes to driving. Nearly all cars are automatic and have been for decades. Much less faffing about compared to here. Of course, driving is much more necessary in such a massive country too.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

at least 1000 student cars in the parking lot. We have 2000+ students in an 4 year high school and they start driving at 15 for their second year.

the high schools are huge around here which means they can offer a huge variety of course selection.

Students have to have 43 credits in order to graduate, but students can leave any time without graduating.

My local public high school district does its utmost to keep kids from leaving without a diploma, and pays for alternative educational provision for students who can't or won't be mainstreamed in the school building for whatever reason.

The school employs licensed clinical social workers (therapists) and social workers who work with families in crisis for whatever reason, whose children are in danger of dropping out or who are constantly in trouble.

In addition, the school provides a nursery for babies and small children of staff and students and families from the local community. The nursery also provides hands-on experience for students doing child care classes.

A huge variety of classes is offered - students can leave school with a state CNA certificate, a state barbering or cosmetology certificate, AP coursework that can allow a stude to to skip 100-150 level courses in university. There's something for all aptitudes and interests. This makes staying in school more attractive.

Special ed students can stay on until 21, doing life skills courses and work placement as well as academic courses.

That is, students in my local HS have to have 43 credits to graduate...

Most places in the US you don't rely on public buses to get to school, each school district has school buses. If you live more than a mile (in my district) from the school, a school bus will come get you.

I’m a former teacher in the US. All students were required to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance when it was done but were not required to say it. Some
religions like JW don’t believe in it and then of course there are others that have their reasons for not participating. Some Americans object to “one nation, under GOD”.

There is technically a school bus option, but it drops off and picks up only for the school day. That doesn’t really work when students have before and after school activities so parents either drive or provide a car once the teen is old enough because activities are a significant part of school culture. It would be incredibly rare to only ever need to be at school during the official hours at the high school level. Students can also be required to be in on weekends or breaks for activities.

There is literally no public transportation option in many places, including where we live, which is why teens are allowed to drive early.

My DC have show and telll at their school (Scotland)

Except we would never sing god save the king at any school sports fixture! Or even professional fixture except international games. In fact the only times I have ever heard it sung are international sports fixtures or royal events.

I've got a question. What's a "home room"? As in "I've seen Chad around, he's in my home room"

Form/Tutor group... the people you register with in the morning!

I don't think I've ever sung the uk national anthem personally. I've seen it on tv at the Olympics but never IRL.

It’s your tutor group - equivalent of UK form time for morning registration.

Is there a table in the lunch hall for jocks, nerds, theatre kids etc?

My friendship group at high school was made up of sporty kids, theatre kids, clever kids, science kids, musical kids and literature kids. I assume this is the same in most cultures?

Like your God Save the Queen (weird you have to say king now :(

I'm still not used to God Save the King.

Also QCs (Queen's Counsels) now being KCs.

Excluding people who don't drive for medical/disability reasons, are there many non-drivers in the USA?

Not sure what "non driver" means. There are plenty (still a small minority of adults) of people who don't own a car or otherwise don't drive often. But very few of these also never had a drivers license. Maybe different in NYC Even the welfare moms in my family with no car (& their kids) have a license. It doubles as ID which you use all the time (lots in 1980s for paying by check). My 35yo niece with severe MH issues probably doesn't have a license & never did but that's a lifestyle choice with her. I think her brother was about 19 when he finally got his license, very late. My mom was irate my brothers got to 17 without having driving licenses (in 1975).

One of my peeves with The Big Bang theory was Sheldon (from Texas, omfg, Texas) not having a license. Utterly absurd.

School Drivers Ed stopped being offered in 1980s where I grew up. My mother did excellent job of finding the cheapest paid-for drivers ed in the city, which was multiple lessons in a stuffy room taught by an openly racist guy in a giant automatic (our family only had stick shift which is what I had to take my test in). Good Times...

Many people I knew dropped out of high school or nearly dropped out & had to take their GED later. These were not high achievers destined for Uni. They were fed up. It's huge reason why I fervently support letting English kids leave education after GCSEs.

We had a smallish parking lot at our high school, limited to just staff, seniors and a few select juniors and sophomores. It was a bit of a Big Deal if your name was selected (by lottery) for a space prior to senior year. And you had to pay $125/year for the privilege. Most came to school by public bus (I went to a more urban rather than suburban school) or dropped off by car.

I went to an all-girls private school so I wasn't exposed to the stereotypical jock/cheerleader/Friday night football culture in school. I still find that fascinating, even as an American.

I worked for a few years in Texas primary schools before moving to the UK, and some schools there recited the Texas Pledge of Allegiance alongside the standard pledge. Now, that is bonkers.

When I did my US driving test in the 90s I literally had to drive round the block.

Same but I passed mine in 2018! And the guy was telling me things like there’s a stop sign up ahead, don’t miss it. I asked if he’d ever failed anyone and he said not for a few months and it was because they ran that stop sign he’d warned me about 🤣

Even worse it was three right hand turns so I didn't even have to negotiate one the other way

Sounds like huge variation in how easy the tests are.

When I took my test in the US, I rented a car on my UK licence, drove it to the test centre, failed the test (oops! I hadn't practiced parallel parking on the 'wrong' side of the road; I was in a place with a test much like the UK one) and then, umm, drove home in the rented car. Which seemed rather wrong but was legal. (Different states have different grace periods for being resident but driving on a foreign licence.)

I'm British but did about 50/50 of my education in the UK and the US.

Loads of my friends drove by age 16 and the parking lots at school had some very high end cars which were parked alongside some very clapped out old bangers, lol. I didn't have one as I wasn't there at 16, but was back by age 18 for uni and had a car from about 20, mine was somewhere between high end and clapped out, lol

For my drivers licence I had to parallel park, but the poles had to be massively wide apart to account for those taking their tests in Cadillacs, ha ha. I then drove about 100yds forward, emergency stop and then about the same in reverse. I studied for the Highway Code as I'd had to for my UK licence, I got 100% on the test and they announced it over the tannoy as that was so unusual, I nearly died of embarrassment!

I wasn't expected to pledge the allegiance, but was expected to show respect when others did. They once played God Save the Queen at a sports event just for me and everyone cheered at the end, I thought that was very sweet of them.

I loved my time in the US, the country has its issues but I hate the attitude some people over here have towards it, the people are in general really lovely and intelligent, just like the majority of people I know here.