to think there is something wrong with Americans?

[TheBloodManCometh]

In Colorado, here for 5 weeks.

Why the HELL is there a half inch gap on either side of the door in all public toilets?? You can see everything going on!!!
This has been the case everywhere I've been in America?
AIBU to be both baffled and embarrassed

lighthearted btw. I don't really think there's something wrong with the Americans

Meryl Streep and Halle Berry

Renee Zellweger was also Homecoming Queen

I got the impression that most school kids in the UK play "club" sports rather than school sports?

I think the US went through a period (70s ish) and then again in the grunge period of the 90s when school spirit wasn't very cool :) It seems to be on the upswing again though.

Pep rallies are genuinely fun, really! The last one I saw was when I worked at the school a few years back and the teachers competed in relay races during part of it. The teeny little kindergarten teacher trying to leap frog over the huge bodybuilder gym teacher was screamingly hilarious. You had to be there of course, but trust me. :o

Part of it really depends on where you are in the US...I'm in the rural Midwest and a lot of it really is very stereotypically American. Not only do we have homecoming queens etc, we have an actual princess pageant every year (as do most of the all towns around here) and then the chosen princess and the two runners up do parades, charity events, etc.

*small towns

In US public schools for the most part, there are no uniforms and administrations come up with creative attempts to actively create and maintain a sense of community identity and a sense of school and self pride while still respecting the individuality of each student, without relying on the magical properties of ugly and impractical clothing.

I never thought about this before but I agree with this.

taz1212 you lucky thing, going to Bowdoin. Beautiful college in a lovely town.

I thought math's statement about uniforms and the school spirit thing was really interesting too. I have no experience of any schools other than in the US but I see the point.

Cheerful I think you're right about the 90s, the grunge thing was not very compatible with pep rallies!

It wasn't! I was actually a cheerleader in, oh, must have been around '95. I used to take off my red and white peppy uniform and change back into my ripped jeans and black chucks and Nirvana tee shirt...equal parts "rah rah rah!" and angst to fit in with everyone. :o

Hahahaha that's priceless!! I had a similar experience, although I was not as cool as you, switching back and forth: I was on the dance team in high school, then a total grunge girl in college. In photos between senior year of high school and freshman year of college it looks like I must have had a complete personality transplant.

So just how big are US high schools? They mist be huge to have all those teams. And a band.

Well, a lot o

Oops.

A lot of kids play multiple sports.

Mine had 2,500 sssh. I went to a special school with only 750 pre-k through post high school to a huge school. There were 600 in my year, and I was the smallest....

We had a lovely principal who hugged all of us at graduation.

I graduated with a class of 72. :o

Only 750!

600 in a year!! - My highschool (11 - 16 year olds) had about that in the entire school.

Yes to the club sports, although there are school teams too, so presumably the kids who like sports would join both. I don't even know who was on the school sports teams at my school, though, but there would only be one team for each sport, football, rugby, cricket, netball, hockey, perhaps athletics. The first three boys only, second two girls only. But in general I don't think sport is taken as seriously here as it is in the US.

My school was a fairly standard sized school and had around 180-200 pupils per year. So that would be around 1000 in the whole school, the sixth form was smaller. (They usually are).

750 would be a tiny school, pre-K is the same year as reception and post high school is our HE college. So ages 4-21ish?

Our school system has about 100-125 children per year so the high school has about 400-500. The biggest school in the area is about 3 times that size.

This fell off my TIO - I guess because I haven't posted in a while? Weird.

I thought of a question! Back to public loos!

Those who have traveled in the US - are our hand dryers quieter than UK hand dryers? The toddler fear thread, and having read about this fear on here before, made me wonder. It seems that many, many young children are terrified of the sound of hand dryers in the UK. I've never known a NT child who was particularly bothered by them here, unlike vacuums and other noisy appliances. Earlier someone mentioned our electrics run on a lower voltage, so maybe that's why?

On the other hand, we do have these becoming more popular, which are surely the most terrifying hand dryers in the world.

Do not diss the air blade. It is the hand dryer of kings

It bloody well isn't in the disabled loo. You can't use it sitting down.

We encountered the air blade often in our last visit to the UK. That was in October of 2012. I like them. They dry much better than anything we have in the US, and don't leave your skin feeling like parchment.

InculKate

Don't worry, it's not your job but you'd think places like my local hospital would put a paper towel dispenser there as well.

Sassh, when I can't use an air blade, I make a point of making a nuisance of myself at Reception, waving droplets everywhere I can, and asking loudly for paper, asking where to put the paper etc. (My condition is variable and sometimes I'm OK standing/walking and sometimes not.) When I can use an air blade, I love them, they're so space age!