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32 Seemingly Normal Things About American Schools That Confuse The Hell Out Of Non-Americans
Growing up in a European country and never witnessing what it's like to go to an American school, watching American high school comedies, to me, has always been a pretty surreal experience. I'm sure that most of you fellow non-Americans reading this article could relate to me on this.
There are so many things about American schools that have always seemed utterly fascinating to me. For instance, you get letter grades instead of number ones, schools have swimming pools inside them, there's a club for almost anything, you have to get a hall pass to go to the bathroom during class, and lunch meals are usually pretty bizarre. The list goes on. With that being said, Bored Panda invites you to look through this list of tweets from non-American Twitter users in which they share things that they find the strangest about American schools. Feel free to explain to us the things we don't understand or add your own in the comment section!
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#2
#3
Caitlin Davenport 5 years ago
Yes, but the cheerleaders were just normal students, not stuck up and they didn't wear their uniforms in class.
#5
Charlotte A. 5 years ago
In Sweden it starts in august and ends in june. Nothing odd about it, to me.
#8
Caitlin Davenport 5 years ago
They used to have E as a failing grade, but people thought it meant Excellent, so they changed it to an F.
#12
Aunt Messy 5 years ago
Canadian here. They don't close schools in Canada unless it's been colder than -40C for three days in a row.
#13
Imtiredandiwannagotobed 5 years ago
Because we put all our budget into our announcements and lockers
#18
Eva Bryson 5 years ago
Yes, teachers want you in class to learn, not loitering in the bathroom.
#19
SimplySarcastic40 5 years ago
yep...at least in the suburbs because most of us start driving at 16
#21
The Zooble 5 years ago
To be very honest, I'm English and I usually do page count rather than word count
#25
Caitlin Davenport 5 years ago
So we aren't "distracted". Even rooms with windows usually had the blinds closed.
#26
Caitlin Davenport 5 years ago
Not really. We have nearby schools we compete against in sports, but any rivalry is very light-hearted.
#28
Erin Kavik 5 years ago
Apparently, a few years after I left, my (British) secondary school buit a full sports centre, including an Olympic size pool.
Dilly Millandry 5 years ago
My UK schools both had simming pools. The one at my primary school was built by the parents when I went there.
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n i k o 5 years ago
No, but my middle school has a tennis court that they rent out. Not a playground since middle schoolers are, "too old for that" so during recess you literally just walk laps. For an hour. They also were building a park nearby so after school you weren't allowed to go on it since if you were too loud the neighbors would complain to the school.
YosemiteCat 5 years ago
Not many middle or elementary but high schools yes mine has a swimming movie night one weekend in a while
Bendy Rainbow 5 years ago
um sorry no... but I live in a town/rural setting so maybe it's elsewhere that this happens.
MyWeird “WolvesGoTo” DailyLife 1 year ago
I didn’t think that was an American thing, I thought it was a UK or Japan thing….
Layla Holston 1 year ago
The middle school I went too (2nd of 3) had one. it was open to the public after school hours and the summer. We got to learn how to swim during gym.(Don't judge me. I'm not a strong swimmer. some kids didn't know how to ride a bike.)
Lauretta Payne 2 years ago
Swimming is an important life skill, so it is taught in many school districts. Every year, children die because nobody taught them to swim. It is also a basis for athletic inter-school competitions.
Randy Volz 3 years ago
Pretty much every high school except specialized ones with curriculum focused on S.T.E.M., or vocational training/education.
Bill Skinner 3 years ago
Our school had a full size indoor pool, when I was a freshman they were in the process of removing the High Dive (Insurance reasons) We also had a planetarium, to look at a replica of the night sky, and Identifying constellations. I graduated in 88.
Paul Beebe 3 years ago
Ours had TWO. One indoor and the other outside.....Next to the PARKING LOT....LOL
Nightshade1972 3 years ago (edited)
Depends on the school. Sometimes an entire district will have an "athletic complex" with a competition-sized pool, that's shared among all the schools in the district.
DONNA L HENSON BOHLEN 5 years ago
nah, it is across the street to the left (not being sarcastic, it really is)
Jan De Boey 5 years ago
Is not typically American... I'm Belgian and my school had one too. Neighbouring schools came to our location for swimming lessons;
Susan Egan 5 years ago
Some. Our town is small but we have an agreement with the college to let the little kids have classes there part of the year so they learn to swim.
Miranda Prince 5 years ago
My middle school had a soda machine, but it was only open for use after school.
Patti Renwick Parrish 5 years ago
we did and think it's great! some kids would never have learned to swim otherwise
Ronnie Beaton 5 years ago
UK person here. I went to secondary school (high school) in the early 80s and my school had a pool. Fair enough it was a very *small* pool - affectionately nicknamed "The Puddle" - but a pool nonetheless.
Kimberly Herbert 5 years ago
More likely, a district has 1 pool for all the High Schools to use for swim teams. It can also operate as a community pool. Both the district I grew up in, and the one I taught in had mandatory swim lessons for either 4th or 5th grade. Because of segregation, the grandparents/great grandparents of POC kids in school today may have never learned to swim. There can still be racist barriers. We have a horrific rate of kids drowning in pools, bayous, creeks, retention ponds, and teaching kids to swim is vital to ending that. The district I taught in had yearly swim lessons for severely disabled kids and PT/OT that used the pool. It is hard to find a regular swim class that can work correctly with these medically fragile kids, so doing it through the schools means the instructors have the additional training needed. Both places have very low cost passes for community swim in the summer.
Pauline Guien 5 years ago
I left my comprehensive English school in 1973, we had an indoor swimming pool.
Emily Smith 5 years ago
Some of the nicer or newer high schools do. Elementary schools usually don't.
Monica A. M. 5 years ago
My high school did and we had to take swimming as a PE class. It was in SW Florida, so it was like 100 degrees out. I got a nice tan that semester.
Kristin Bernet 5 years ago
I went to a private, Quker school in Philadelphia; my highschool had a pool in the basement and an AstroTurf roof for field hockey and soccer
Helen Slape 5 years ago
I live in Australia, my son's high school has a pool and my mother-in-law's primary school has a pool (she used to teach there). The pools aren't huge, but are used for swimming lessons and swimming carnivals. A private school near where I used to live had a huge sports complex and would have lessons in swimming, dance, basketball, gymnastics etc for the public at their complex. A nice way of getting kids into sports at the school and raising funds for the school at the same time.
Lord Mysticlaw 5 years ago
Some schools in SA have swimming pools. the really fancy expensive schools.
Don't Look 5 years ago
The school board has to decide on that sort of amenity and someone has to choose how to spend that tax money.
Citizen Josie 5 years ago
And it is awesome. Swimming lessons and club for free paid by the school. Who doesn't want that? All schools should have sports, art and music
CatWoman312 5 years ago (edited)
When I was in high school the way the seniors pranked the freshmen is by telling them that their class was on the third floor by the swimming pool. There was no swimming pool or 3rd floor.
Dippin Dot 5 years ago
Yes. Where I grew up it was at the middle school (I was a lifeguard there) and where I live now they are at both the middle and high schools.
Eric Lafleur 5 years ago (edited)
Quebec, Canada here. We had one and we also had a hockey arena, football/soccer field, a gymnasuim big enough to fit four gym classes and a track field. I guess We had it good, for a public high school.
Calypso poet 5 years ago
My high school did. We took swimming classes there in elementary school. They also offered swimming lessons to the public. Needless to say I am a very strong swimmer. All my friends from school are.
Sportsgal 5 years ago
Not back in 90s...also, only foreign languages you could learn were Spanish and French
Whawhawhatsis 5 years ago
If the school district has enough money. The district had a single pool when my son was in elementary and the kids would get a couple of weeks of swimming (for drown-proofing, to make sure everybody can learn basic swimming) but we moved and later when my daughter was in high school in a different city her school had its own pool. She loved it.
Alexis draskinis 5 years ago
Ours all do. But we also have a system for most of the public schools were the middle school (6th to 8th gr) is semi attached to its high school. At least in my city anyway, but not all of them in my state. So for example, most kids that i went to ms with filtered into our hs, unless they went to a private one. Our 2 buildings were separate, except for a connecting hallway here or there, and the 2 schools shared a gym & pool. We had separate fields for things like baseball & soccer if I remember correctly. I imagine this way can save a decent chunk of movie without sacrificing activities. 1 pool for 2 schools is better than not having a swim team in 1 vs the other...
Little Ms. Quirky 5 years ago
in the school in HK I currently am in there's a swimming pool (smells gross tho)
ArtistinResidence 5 years ago
Some do. It’s always a problem though if the budget for the schools don’t pass the first thing they look at is closing the pool. Most of our students take one of their PE quarters learning to swim which since we live near a Lake, it’s probably a good idea since we haven’t had a drowning in a long time. I will say the students hate it because you have to get totally wet and then try and get your hair dry before your next class and it’s really difficult.
Gwenda Christenson 5 years ago
Not a lot of them. The larger schools might -- small school (400 kids in kindergarten through 12th grade) usually don't. it is all based on the amount of money a school has (which is paid for by local property taxes. Wealthy areas get the good stuff -- rural and poor areas get crap
Betsy Knox 5 years ago
Hah! My high school was located in an old mansion. We were bummed to find out that in order to give us a library they boarded up the swimming pool and built a library over it.
Roadkill The Brave 5 years ago
Not all of them. There might be some but I never went to a school with one.
WhatEvenIsLife 5 years ago
Not in small town Texas. Any money the district has goes straight to football. Even if it's really crappy football.
Soph the Loaf 5 years ago
Some of them do, but a lot of the time the community uses the pool too, not just students.
Sophie McGregor 5 years ago
Our school in forfar, Scotland has a community pool attached to is
Luther von Wolfen 5 years ago
Only the ones in rich neighborhoods, which are the ones you see on TV.
Hailey Scullen-Miller 5 years ago
some reason theres a rumor here that theres an actual pool under thhe gym but how would you get to it then????
Dilly Millandry 5 years ago
The schools that don't have pools use the local sports centre.
Load More Replies... Aiyana Menrige 5 years ago
I thought he ment like ELEMENTARY or something. My elementary school didn't have one.
#32
Caitlin Davenport 5 years ago
Candy was usually a very tiny part, if it was there at all. But it was the most exciting part!
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What do you think ?
Shelp 5 years ago
I'm European and I read each one of these facts thinking "wait... they do *what*??!"
Doggo 5 years ago
im american and reading these were like: wait other schools dont do that. its pretty cool to read this post and see other people's perspectives
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Leo Domitrix 5 years ago
I have no idea what anyone does outside exactly three countries, one of them US, and I think it's a case of "whatever is unfamiliar is weird" here. BTW, clubs at US schools were a great way to pad your CV to get into college/uni, and to not go home to shi**y circumstances. So I'm for the clubs. That 7 AM thing, eh, I grew up in farm country. We were up anyway!
Alex Bailey 5 years ago (edited)
Some of the questions were odd even to me in the UK. In most instances, in many countries, we all have various versions of similar things. Pools in some schools, water fountains in some, after school activities are common place (but not called clubs), ditto lockers. The only thing that stuck out for me was the time of day lessons started and that has pros and cons. Younger children are (usually) naturally earlier risers but there are studies that show older children benefit from later starts. I like hearing how other countries do things but I'd really like another country to take a turn. Bored Panda - why not take the focus OFF the US, just for a moment, and pick countries that are less known and maybe we can share info from them?
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angie but who cares 5 years ago
but how is having a parking lot wierd ??????????????????
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spirit wolf 5 years ago
Jeezzz relax!! Just because things are done differently here doesn't necessarily mean it's weird. I had the opportunity to go to schoo in different countries because of the nature of my parents work. I can tell you with great assurance that every one had their own way of doing things and that's all okay.
Aliquid A 5 years ago
A lot of the questions are "do American schools ___?". Which is a fair question... since these people's perception of American schools is from TV. Take cheerleaders for example. Do all American schools have cheerleaders? Or is it just a few of them, but cheerleaders make a good character for a TV show or a movie, so they get over-represented. Same with cafeterias, maybe only like 30% of schools have one, but since it makes such a convenient set, 100% of schools on TV have one.
Load More Replies... Roadkill The Brave 5 years ago
One trend I'm noticing, which is a frequent thing on 'People in the U.S. *insert here*' is that a lot of people posting don't seem to understand just how BIG the U.S. is. Cars are a culture here but of necessity. Public transportation may work in major cities but we have vast areas where you need a car. There is so much diversity in even what is available. I went to a K-12 school once where there were 22 of us my freshman class and we were one of the largest classes they'd had in years, and I've been to a school where my graduating class was over 2,000 people. Both those schools were in the same State just opposite ends of it. Canada gets it, but still, it's something people keep forgetting.
Doug Mullett 5 years ago
Australia - nearly the same size as the USA and public transport does work for students - dedicated school buses.One school I taught at (P-12) had the first student picked up before 7:30 and dropped off by around 5 - a long day if you're 5! All except three students came by bus (those three lived next to the school and were always late!) Our catchment area was well over a thousand square kilometres. In suburban areas where, especially in primary school (P-6) most parents will drop off and pick up, traffic is horrendous at those times and far more dangerous. Walking, riding or public transport is far safer for everyone.
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Petra Schaap 5 years ago
im not from the States but think this is super silly. Ofcourse Sweden doesnt cancel school when it snows, pretty sure they wont in Alaska either, pretty sure not only schools close, but all hell breaks lose if it will ever snow on Hawaii.... :-D
Aliquid A 5 years ago
You can say that again. If you are FORCED to pledge allegiance, then are you really "free"?
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AnInrovert 5 years ago
I live in Canada... we do some of these. Some of these just seem... plain weird...
Dynein 5 years ago
I don't live in the USA, but I would wager that most of the people here aren't comparing "US schools vs other schools in the world" so much as "US schools vs THE SCHOOLS IN MY OWN COUNTRY because actually I have no goddamn clue what schools in other countries/continents are like". Some of the posts are true for Germany, or at least not totally unseen, and I definitely know of other countries that do some things in schools differently than we do... different countries are different, who'd have thought.
Colin L 5 years ago
Here's one that they didn't list: SROs (Student Resource Officer) at high schools. We had a police officer assigned to my high school, hypothetically to help students out. In reality, he harrassed some students and was basically useless (I literally reported being threatened by another student with a gun, and he didn't take a statement, register a complaint... nothing).
Benjamin Lensgraf 5 years ago (edited)
This just makes me think the U.S. is the only normal country and European countries are weird.
Martha Meyer 5 years ago
This is weirdly,assuming that all European schools are exactly the same and we all find the exact same things about American schools strange.
Maximum Ride 5 years ago
I’m American and I am just now learning some of these things. My school did not have hall passes, a cafeteria, dances, vending machines, buses, and whatnot.
Mal 5 years ago
US here. What your school has also depends on the wealth of your school district. These can be extremely different from school to school. My elementary-Jr High was in a very well funded system and we had a lot of opportunities and resources in school. Breakfast and lunch was provided and both were awesome. In High School, I moved states and was in poorer district. The school was small, over crowded and underfunded. We had "open lunch" because not all the students could fit in the caf, so we could leave campus for lunch hour. This school was in the mountains so yes the bus took me from home 27 miles to school everyday. If it was too cold, the diesel in the bus would gel and half the kids who lived on the other side of the pass got a snow day because the bus couldn't go.
Joy Stowe 5 years ago
So true! If you lived in a very prosperous district, your school benefitted from that. If you own a house in that district, it's worth more because the schools are usually a cut above the rest, and most Americans want their children to go to the best school possible even if the taxes there are higher.
Load More Replies... Angela Jester 5 years ago
Maybe it's just my state of mind this morning but it seemed like most of those were "look what dumbf*cks they are in America" statement and not really "you do this and it's different from us. Why?" And a lot of the questions were just strange. Lockers? Water fountains? Lunch rooms?
Mii 5 years ago
Well in my school in Germany we really didn't have lockers, lunchrooms or waterfountains. Everyone brought thier food and water and just ate in the hall or outside. Also I don't think the questions are meant menacingly. It's more of a "wait, it's really like that and not just a clichee we see in movies?!"
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Csilla Kaszas 5 years ago
I'd like to know, how often do they 'pledge their allegiance to the flag of the United States of America'?
A.M. Pierre 5 years ago
My elementary school did it occasionally, my middle school never did it, my high school did it every single day. It just depends.
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Botox 5 years ago
The most terrifying thing is lessons from 7 a.m!! )) some other things made me jealous... but not nurse: we have medical rooms and nurses at schools and pediatrician + nurse are in kindergardens . In my childhood there were even weeks of dentist's care, not any more. But still first aid and some vaccination like against flue can be done there
Bellatrix Lestrange 5 years ago
I have never been or heard of a school that had classes starting at 7:00 am most have it start at 8:00 - 8:30 am.
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Jason Doakes 5 years ago
Most of these are just due to the fact that american schools are usually huuuge. I went to a big business school in Europe when I was 16 and we had almost all of the same "anomalies" listed above. When you have 5000+ students you need to organize stuff on another scale.
Wilf 5 years ago
I did a placement in a US school about 10 years ago. I was so shocked by how old fashioned the teaching was. All the classrooms were just grim lines of individual desks facing front, and it was pretty common for kids to just sit there in total silence while a teacher lectured at the front. The schools were absolutely obsessed with quantative assessments (such as useless multiple choice tests). A lot of teachers were very poorly qualified and not really learning specialists in any modern sense. That sort of treat-everyone-the-same "talk and chalk" teaching style disappeared in the 1980s in my home country. It was a real shock.
Doug Mullett 5 years ago
As an Australian, our public schools don't supply lunches or cafeterias (although some country schools have them). Our students eat their lunch sitting in the yard, or if very young, in the classroom before being allowed out to play. I did work in a private school where staff had a room to eat lunch and had soup supplied if wanted. Swimming pools? Only in private or similar schools. Clubs? Voluntary and in everyone's own time (staff and students). Bathroom passes? We expect our students to wash themselves outside school time. Toilet visits? Usually up to the individual teacher, and refused when too frequent with no reason. Buses to school? I worked at one school where all except three students came to school by bus. The furthest boarded the bus at 7:30 and got home around 4:45 - a long day for a 5 y.o. in Prep. Many students in suburban schools are driven by their (usually) mother - resulting in traffic jams around 8:30 to 9 a.m. and the equivalent in the afternoon.
Don't Look 5 years ago
It all comes down to money and government. All of it. I used to have a difficult time understanding why my parents put me in private schools. Turns out public schools are, at best, just weak.
Jules Caldwell 5 years ago
Deja vu. You guys had basically the same post (most of the same entries) last week. And two weeks ago. And a month ago.
Mimi777 5 years ago
I don’t miss those school lunches but I feel like everyone would always get super excited when it was chicken strip day. Those weren’t bad. I like the mini breakfast pizza it was tasty. But that’s about it. As a kid I absolutely loved snow days and when there was no school. Kids today won’t be able to experience it because there’s virtual learning. Anyways I’m so glad to be finished with school. I hate getting up so early.
Phoenix 5 years ago
Some of these I found odd. Is it really only America that has buses, lockers and clubs?
HyacinthTheRainWing 5 years ago
Canada has all three! My school even had a D&D club, before Covid.
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Owen Salmon2028 5 years ago
i live in nh i go to kersharge we have nurses mental health people mostly women and lots of over teachers that help the kids its a very ice school with also has many groupes and clubs and a black market for pokymon cards
Owen Salmon2028 5 years ago
yes we have a black market becuse the cards arnt allowed but we dont care right now they have in and at home learning
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Aliquid A 5 years ago
America's number 1 export is "media". TV shows, movies, etc. People from other countries watch it, and form their ideas of what "America" is from that... considering that TV & Movies are designed to be entertaining, it is understandable that foreigners see America as being an entertaining place.
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the pan with a plan 4 years ago
oh no i have a nurse in case someone has an asthma attack oh no i have clubs were i can expand my social circle....save me lol
Load More Replies... Shelp 5 years ago
I'm European and I read each one of these facts thinking "wait... they do *what*??!"
Doggo 5 years ago
im american and reading these were like: wait other schools dont do that. its pretty cool to read this post and see other people's perspectives
Load More Replies... Leo Domitrix 5 years ago
I have no idea what anyone does outside exactly three countries, one of them US, and I think it's a case of "whatever is unfamiliar is weird" here. BTW, clubs at US schools were a great way to pad your CV to get into college/uni, and to not go home to shi**y circumstances. So I'm for the clubs. That 7 AM thing, eh, I grew up in farm country. We were up anyway!
Alex Bailey 5 years ago (edited)
Some of the questions were odd even to me in the UK. In most instances, in many countries, we all have various versions of similar things. Pools in some schools, water fountains in some, after school activities are common place (but not called clubs), ditto lockers. The only thing that stuck out for me was the time of day lessons started and that has pros and cons. Younger children are (usually) naturally earlier risers but there are studies that show older children benefit from later starts. I like hearing how other countries do things but I'd really like another country to take a turn. Bored Panda - why not take the focus OFF the US, just for a moment, and pick countries that are less known and maybe we can share info from them?
Load More Replies... angie but who cares 5 years ago
but how is having a parking lot wierd ??????????????????
Load More Replies... spirit wolf 5 years ago
Jeezzz relax!! Just because things are done differently here doesn't necessarily mean it's weird. I had the opportunity to go to schoo in different countries because of the nature of my parents work. I can tell you with great assurance that every one had their own way of doing things and that's all okay.
Aliquid A 5 years ago
A lot of the questions are "do American schools ___?". Which is a fair question... since these people's perception of American schools is from TV. Take cheerleaders for example. Do all American schools have cheerleaders? Or is it just a few of them, but cheerleaders make a good character for a TV show or a movie, so they get over-represented. Same with cafeterias, maybe only like 30% of schools have one, but since it makes such a convenient set, 100% of schools on TV have one.
Load More Replies... Roadkill The Brave 5 years ago
One trend I'm noticing, which is a frequent thing on 'People in the U.S. *insert here*' is that a lot of people posting don't seem to understand just how BIG the U.S. is. Cars are a culture here but of necessity. Public transportation may work in major cities but we have vast areas where you need a car. There is so much diversity in even what is available. I went to a K-12 school once where there were 22 of us my freshman class and we were one of the largest classes they'd had in years, and I've been to a school where my graduating class was over 2,000 people. Both those schools were in the same State just opposite ends of it. Canada gets it, but still, it's something people keep forgetting.
Doug Mullett 5 years ago
Australia - nearly the same size as the USA and public transport does work for students - dedicated school buses.One school I taught at (P-12) had the first student picked up before 7:30 and dropped off by around 5 - a long day if you're 5! All except three students came by bus (those three lived next to the school and were always late!) Our catchment area was well over a thousand square kilometres. In suburban areas where, especially in primary school (P-6) most parents will drop off and pick up, traffic is horrendous at those times and far more dangerous. Walking, riding or public transport is far safer for everyone.
Load More Replies... Petra Schaap 5 years ago
im not from the States but think this is super silly. Ofcourse Sweden doesnt cancel school when it snows, pretty sure they wont in Alaska either, pretty sure not only schools close, but all hell breaks lose if it will ever snow on Hawaii.... :-D
Aliquid A 5 years ago
You can say that again. If you are FORCED to pledge allegiance, then are you really "free"?
Load More Replies... AnInrovert 5 years ago
I live in Canada... we do some of these. Some of these just seem... plain weird...
Dynein 5 years ago
I don't live in the USA, but I would wager that most of the people here aren't comparing "US schools vs other schools in the world" so much as "US schools vs THE SCHOOLS IN MY OWN COUNTRY because actually I have no goddamn clue what schools in other countries/continents are like". Some of the posts are true for Germany, or at least not totally unseen, and I definitely know of other countries that do some things in schools differently than we do... different countries are different, who'd have thought.
Colin L 5 years ago
Here's one that they didn't list: SROs (Student Resource Officer) at high schools. We had a police officer assigned to my high school, hypothetically to help students out. In reality, he harrassed some students and was basically useless (I literally reported being threatened by another student with a gun, and he didn't take a statement, register a complaint... nothing).
Benjamin Lensgraf 5 years ago (edited)
This just makes me think the U.S. is the only normal country and European countries are weird.
Martha Meyer 5 years ago
This is weirdly,assuming that all European schools are exactly the same and we all find the exact same things about American schools strange.
Maximum Ride 5 years ago
I’m American and I am just now learning some of these things. My school did not have hall passes, a cafeteria, dances, vending machines, buses, and whatnot.
Mal 5 years ago
US here. What your school has also depends on the wealth of your school district. These can be extremely different from school to school. My elementary-Jr High was in a very well funded system and we had a lot of opportunities and resources in school. Breakfast and lunch was provided and both were awesome. In High School, I moved states and was in poorer district. The school was small, over crowded and underfunded. We had "open lunch" because not all the students could fit in the caf, so we could leave campus for lunch hour. This school was in the mountains so yes the bus took me from home 27 miles to school everyday. If it was too cold, the diesel in the bus would gel and half the kids who lived on the other side of the pass got a snow day because the bus couldn't go.
Joy Stowe 5 years ago
So true! If you lived in a very prosperous district, your school benefitted from that. If you own a house in that district, it's worth more because the schools are usually a cut above the rest, and most Americans want their children to go to the best school possible even if the taxes there are higher.
Load More Replies... Angela Jester 5 years ago
Maybe it's just my state of mind this morning but it seemed like most of those were "look what dumbf*cks they are in America" statement and not really "you do this and it's different from us. Why?" And a lot of the questions were just strange. Lockers? Water fountains? Lunch rooms?
Mii 5 years ago
Well in my school in Germany we really didn't have lockers, lunchrooms or waterfountains. Everyone brought thier food and water and just ate in the hall or outside. Also I don't think the questions are meant menacingly. It's more of a "wait, it's really like that and not just a clichee we see in movies?!"
Load More Replies... Csilla Kaszas 5 years ago
I'd like to know, how often do they 'pledge their allegiance to the flag of the United States of America'?
A.M. Pierre 5 years ago
My elementary school did it occasionally, my middle school never did it, my high school did it every single day. It just depends.
Load More Replies... Botox 5 years ago
The most terrifying thing is lessons from 7 a.m!! )) some other things made me jealous... but not nurse: we have medical rooms and nurses at schools and pediatrician + nurse are in kindergardens . In my childhood there were even weeks of dentist's care, not any more. But still first aid and some vaccination like against flue can be done there
Bellatrix Lestrange 5 years ago
I have never been or heard of a school that had classes starting at 7:00 am most have it start at 8:00 - 8:30 am.
Load More Replies... Jason Doakes 5 years ago
Most of these are just due to the fact that american schools are usually huuuge. I went to a big business school in Europe when I was 16 and we had almost all of the same "anomalies" listed above. When you have 5000+ students you need to organize stuff on another scale.
Wilf 5 years ago
I did a placement in a US school about 10 years ago. I was so shocked by how old fashioned the teaching was. All the classrooms were just grim lines of individual desks facing front, and it was pretty common for kids to just sit there in total silence while a teacher lectured at the front. The schools were absolutely obsessed with quantative assessments (such as useless multiple choice tests). A lot of teachers were very poorly qualified and not really learning specialists in any modern sense. That sort of treat-everyone-the-same "talk and chalk" teaching style disappeared in the 1980s in my home country. It was a real shock.
Doug Mullett 5 years ago
As an Australian, our public schools don't supply lunches or cafeterias (although some country schools have them). Our students eat their lunch sitting in the yard, or if very young, in the classroom before being allowed out to play. I did work in a private school where staff had a room to eat lunch and had soup supplied if wanted. Swimming pools? Only in private or similar schools. Clubs? Voluntary and in everyone's own time (staff and students). Bathroom passes? We expect our students to wash themselves outside school time. Toilet visits? Usually up to the individual teacher, and refused when too frequent with no reason. Buses to school? I worked at one school where all except three students came to school by bus. The furthest boarded the bus at 7:30 and got home around 4:45 - a long day for a 5 y.o. in Prep. Many students in suburban schools are driven by their (usually) mother - resulting in traffic jams around 8:30 to 9 a.m. and the equivalent in the afternoon.
Don't Look 5 years ago
It all comes down to money and government. All of it. I used to have a difficult time understanding why my parents put me in private schools. Turns out public schools are, at best, just weak.
Jules Caldwell 5 years ago
Deja vu. You guys had basically the same post (most of the same entries) last week. And two weeks ago. And a month ago.
Mimi777 5 years ago
I don’t miss those school lunches but I feel like everyone would always get super excited when it was chicken strip day. Those weren’t bad. I like the mini breakfast pizza it was tasty. But that’s about it. As a kid I absolutely loved snow days and when there was no school. Kids today won’t be able to experience it because there’s virtual learning. Anyways I’m so glad to be finished with school. I hate getting up so early.
Phoenix 5 years ago
Some of these I found odd. Is it really only America that has buses, lockers and clubs?
HyacinthTheRainWing 5 years ago
Canada has all three! My school even had a D&D club, before Covid.
Load More Replies... Owen Salmon2028 5 years ago
i live in nh i go to kersharge we have nurses mental health people mostly women and lots of over teachers that help the kids its a very ice school with also has many groupes and clubs and a black market for pokymon cards
Owen Salmon2028 5 years ago
yes we have a black market becuse the cards arnt allowed but we dont care right now they have in and at home learning
Load More Replies... Aliquid A 5 years ago
America's number 1 export is "media". TV shows, movies, etc. People from other countries watch it, and form their ideas of what "America" is from that... considering that TV & Movies are designed to be entertaining, it is understandable that foreigners see America as being an entertaining place.
Load More Replies... the pan with a plan 4 years ago
oh no i have a nurse in case someone has an asthma attack oh no i have clubs were i can expand my social circle....save me lol
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