AIBU to ask you some questions about the USA?

[BreakfastInAmerica]

I've been reading lots of US fiction over lockdown, I've never been there.

What's the big deal with joining a fraternity house at College? What is the benefit of it? Why the Greek frat house names?

Is public access television still a thing?

Why do they call savoury muffins English Muffins when I'm more likely to see a blueberry or chocolate muffin when I'm out and about?

How do Americans eat things like thick pancakes with cream for breakfast, even the people who are slim?

What are grits?

Why are Automatic cars so prolific in the US, rather than manual/stick shift?

I'm sure I've got lots more questions and please pitch in with your own questions and answers.

AIBU to ask for your answers and questions about the small differences between the US and the UK?

@HelloToMyKitty oh gosh remembering now how when I was about to pop out my daughter (and went against the norm in the US to find out the sex first) my OB/GYn was keen to establish whether I wanted a boy baby circumcised. Errrr no! Thankfully the pressure stopped because I had a girl baby.
I was also asked by my paediatrician whether I wanted my toddler son circumcised . Again,
No!

Most high schools have some sort of physical education requirement; playing a team sport or cheerleading might well count for that, but it wouldn't be considered an academic credit.

In my high school, I had to pass a swimming proficiency test to graduate.

I do miss British pub culture, especially having a ‘local’ and doing the pub quiz!

Lots of locals like this near me. I think you're living in the wrong state IncorrigibleTitmouse - come over here to the dark side (New England)

Do kids learn cooking/home economics in school?

@HoldMyLobster If we don’t go back to the UK we’re definitely moving out of Tx. I’ve given it a good try but I’ve found it a really tricky culture to adapt to.

Do kids learn cooking/home economics in school?

Yes, at least the schools I went to did in Southern Illinois.

This is fascinating! I wish we could afford to visit the USA, it's on my bucket list!

Does everyone graduate high school? Or can you fail?

@ilovepixie
You can fail high school by not graduating. You have to take a certain number of courses in specific subjects and each course is worth a certain number of credits. You only get credit if you pass the class. You have to have a certain number of total credits to graduate. If you don’t get enough credits, you don’t graduate.

There is adult school and self study courses that you can do if you don’t graduate from high school. You can take a test called the GED and if you pass it, it is considered the equivalent of graduating from high school.

Sometimes people who want to drop out of school early for various reasons or people who are home schooled that might want to go to uni early or whatnot might take the GED instead of going to high school and graduating in the usual way.

Yeah I have heard about the GED mainly through teen mom how does that work ,do people take classes to pass or just sit a test?

Oh yes you can certainly flunk out of high school, or drop out at 16 usually.

But there is something called the GED, it's an equivalent to a high school diploma that you can earn anytime later on.

And can you go to University ( if you wanted to ) with a GED?

I do find the exam-based focus in UK education very nerve-wracking! The idea that your outcome of a year or two of study can be determined in one exam, omg the pressure. In the US you have multiple assessments for everything. Even the SAT, the college entrance exam, you can take it multiple times and it's not the only thing colleges look at.

@x2boys
You can just sit the exam, but there are prep classes if you need them. You can go to university with a GED. I had a friend who had been homeschooled who did so.

I mean you won't likely go to Harvard with a GED but yes , you can definitely go to college with one.

Also with the high school Diploma could you just pass ,and other people pass easily ,what I mean is compared to England ,s GCSE,s for example you could get a grade 4 which is considered a pass ,but people with a grade nine have done exceptionally well and obviously the grades in between ,us it similar with the Diploma?

You get grades in each class on a 4 point scale. A=4 and so on. There are special classes where an A=5 points and so on. The points are averaged together, making up your grade point average or GPA. This is one of the main things that universities look at for admissions, as well as some standardized tests, but some universities are dropping those as a requirement.

Thomas Sowell went to Harvard with a GED. I'll admit he's a rather exceptional man, though.

I got an honors diploma when I graduated high school. It meant that my cumulative grade point average was over 3.5. Anyone who graduated with a GPA below that got a diploma.

So say you were exceptionally good at History for example ,but not so good at Maths would it all go to an average?

I'm quite liking the idea of a diploma compared to our system ,I think it would suit my not particularly academic son who works very hard better ,rather than our system

Yes, it will all be averaged. Universities will look at all of your grades, but it will certainly be more challenging to get into an elite university with a big skew in your grades. There are personal essays that can be used to address this and some do interviews, so it is possible to overcome this to some extent.

The GPA is a bit misleading though. DD1 took much harder courses than DD2, and came out with a lower GPA, even though it was weighted. At her school, if you were getting all As then they assumed you weren’t being challenged enough, and pushed you into a harder class (which she loved).

DD1 took some subject SATs and got 100% in them all but then discovered that lots of people get 100%.

She took some APs but then stopped bothering with those because she wanted to study harder classes that weren’t all about teaching to the test.

It was all a bit random in a way.

Well to be fair it's always going to be hard to get into an Elite university wether it's the US or UK .

There is a lot of teaching to the test for the SATs these days and prep courses that unfairly advantage more well of students that can afford them. Perfect scores used to be incredibly uncommon. That’s why some universities are moving away from requiring them.

GPAs are a bit all over the place because education is on a state level and then there can be big variations between school districts within a state even. So an A from one school may not be the same as an A from another. Big universities do look at trends from particular schools and know that there is grade inflation from certain high schools.