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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
Jennifer Forshee 4 years ago
My middle school started at 7:15. I had to catch the bus and 5:45.
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AbbiTabbi 4 years ago
That is SO early! I usually aren't even conscious until 6:30.
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Ian Bartels 4 years ago
They've shown that for high schoolers, it's better to start school after 9 am.
PurplePringle 4 years ago
No we ain't healthy. We are always tired and all this tiredness has cause me at 14 to look like I do drugs. I get up at 6:10 because the bus comes at 7:10 and school starts at 8:05.
Forty-Two 4 years ago
In Washington state it generally works like this: Elementary = 9:00 - 3:30, Middle School = 8:25 - 2:30, High School = 7:30 - 1:50
I'manoob! 4 years ago
Wait, are you talking Washington D.C or just Washington? cuz my high school( in just Washington) is: 10:00 - 3:00
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Xandra, The Little Hufflepuff 4 years ago
we aren't, mentally, we are at school from 7:00-2:20
Laura Gillette 4 years ago
Yeah, this was EXCRUCIATING as a child and teen. I think one year the first class even started at 6:45 am. In the winter, it's still dark when you have to get up and get ready (I guess that's not unusual if you live at certain latitudes, but I grew up near DC). It was awful. I don't know why school systems do that.
Gabi Lawson 1 year ago
I feel this! I'm in 6th grade and I have to wake up at 5 30 in the morning just to make the bus and I am always soooo tired!
🇨🇦 Clementine 🇨🇦 4 years ago
My elementary school started at 7:55 ended at 2:36 but on Fridays it was a half day.
ScarlettofHydraIsland 4 years ago
Simple. We don’t and we’re constantly exhausted, and we get sick a lot.
Katrina B. 4 years ago
we had zero period from 7:30 to 8:25. School started at 8:30 to 2:35. We had three classes a day (100 minutes), a 15 minute break between class 1 and 2 and then a 50 minute lunch.
Layla Holston 1 year ago
mine starts at 8:10 till 2:52. But I wake up at like 5:30 am to take a shower ( my hair takes a long time to do) Wake my siblings and then leave the house to get on the but at 6:50.
Gary Geracci 1 year ago
Actually I think they should follow industrial shift hours.6:30 Am to3 Pm.
Lauretta Payne 2 years ago
Yes…. this is done so the teachers can get home at a decent time and still have time at the end of the school day to wrap things up. It is also done because some administrators, lawmakers, and parents mistakenly believe that more time = more learning
Lady Lava 3 years ago (edited)
Why?! Everyone knows by now that most adolescents have kind of a night owl biorhythm, and they are not on their best in the early hours of the day. My high school started at 8.30 AM and ended between 2 and 4 PM, depending on how many classes I had on that day. Back then I found that already pretty early, especially because I had to cycle 40 minutes to get there. But going to school by bike is not a thing in the US, I think.
David Furr 3 years ago
Yeah, well, you'd be surprised. "That which does not kill me, makes me stronger."
Denise Zirkel 3 years ago
In Texas its: Elementary (up to 5th grade) 7:30 to 2:55; Middle (6-8) 8:15 to 3:40; High school (9-12) 9:00 to 4:25. I think this is reduce the number of school buses needed more than to benefit a child's health.
Tamara Kroonen 3 years ago (edited)
At what time do you go to bed if you still want a healthy amount of sleep? And how do you make sure you actually GET some sleep without your parents making noise?
Nightshade1972 3 years ago
When I was in HS (grades 9-12, ages 14-18), the school day ran from 7:30-2:30. I knew at least one student who'd start his full-time job at 3pm, work until 11pm, come home, eat, do homework, fall into bed around 1-2am, then start over the next morning.
Nishat Tasnim 4 years ago
Mine starts at 7 am and I have to start my journey at 6:30 am and I am non-american
Nishat Tasnim 4 years ago
mine also start at 7 am and i have to start my journey at 6:30 am and I am non-american
Elizabeth Tunney 4 years ago
Starts 7:00, ends at 3:00 for me, oh yeah and most of us take 2 hours to get ready and fall asleep around 10 or 11 ( for me I finally lose conciousness at 12) and wake around 5. At maximum... I get 5 hours, and look like a zombie. Bags, dark spots.. and I feel like sh*t
Julia King 4 years ago
My school day starts at 8:15 yet we have to be in the classroom by 7:40 or we are late. Like WTF????
Celtic Pirate Queen 4 years ago
My first High School class started at 6:55am (yes, I am completely f*****g serious). I honestly don't know how I would have survived if it hadn't been for the nap I took instead of eating lunch.
Kimberly Reetz 4 years ago
That would be zero period. And it starts at 7:27am. It’s for students who want to get out of school early.
Amanda Hunter 4 years ago
Yes it's insane, I asked about this when my son started high school 22 years ago, they said they were working on changing the times.
wifeofweasley 4 years ago
Well when I used to go to school mine stared at 7:20 and ended an 2:00 sometimes 3:00
ISAAC HARVEY 4 years ago
That's a really good question. We don't actually learn too much, other than how to waste time and distract ourselves during class.
MustardLemon 4 years ago
My school is 8:40-1:10! and the when we get home we are supposed to have an hour of homework all together to make up for the lost time, but that never really happens.
Jenn C 4 years ago
I did a whole speech in HS english about how teenagers are biologically programmed to stay up late, and why school should start later. The response was basically that sports practice after school was more important than our health and rest. And no, sports and clubs couldn't meet before school, and they couldn't be after a later school time because what if the athletes have a job or something. Small town- sports rule.
I Like Jelly 4 years ago
Before school I got up at 830 every day and life was good. Now that I have to get up at 6 I get 7 hours of sleep a night and have mild depression 👌
Isabella 4 years ago
We start at 8:00 in Poland. Mostly. But it's up to school council to decide. When I lived on countryside - school decided not to start earlier than 9:30 since kids need time to get to school bus and get to school. And in high school we started off at 11:30 on Mondays - our board was joking that they already know we get drunk on weekends and would not wake up for earlier hours :D
Don't Look 4 years ago
What school starts that early? I think it at least used to be that you could get your child to daycare that early so you could get to work....
Blueberry Woofle 4 years ago
My school technically starts at 9, but the bus comes at 7:00, so I wake up at 5:00 to get all my stuff together
Ozzie Ogawa 4 years ago
The same here with indonesia. Elementary (1st - 6th grade) ends at 12 AM, junior high (7th - 9th grade) ends at 1 PM, and high school (10th - 12th grade) ends at 2 PM. Those are before extra class, that usually started in the last semester before national exam, extra class typically last for 1,5 hours.
Whitney Anderson 4 years ago
my school goes from 7:00 to 4:10 but we dont go on Fridays so that is why we have such long hours
that one girl who cant shut up 4 years ago
My bus picks me up at 635 EST ad school starts at 736 and it ends at 210 and i get home at like 3
Isaiah Edwards 4 years ago
I wake up at 5 and walk a mile to get to the bus stop. I COULD wake up later if the district would let me go to a school that's closer.
Charlotte Florell 4 years ago
I used to get to school at 6:30 am because my dad also had to drive my brother to a different school. It was always dark when I got to school
Dave P 4 years ago
Um no. Depends where, what location and that is High School only. Lets explain, a country over 350 million people in 50 states do not have one single school system. I know shocking to people in countries with less people than my city. I live in NYC, Elementary, Middle, and Jr High start at 9. High School gives three options, start at 7 and end at 12:30, start at 8 and end at 1:30, start at 9 and end at 2:30, or start at 10 and end at 3:30. The reason is to allow for students who want to start early and have a part time job in the afternoon (especially low income students), as well as require less buildings and teachers. Most places in the US school starts at 9 though
Lil_Tae_29 4 years ago
Mine starts at 9:15am and end 4:40pm, that was when we go in-person but online is 9am to 3:45pm with 15 mins, 30mins and a 1hr break
Fred and George Weasley 4 years ago
mine starts at 8:25 and ends at 2:40 (we dont have very long breaks/extra registration or time in our tutor room so thats why its so short)
Kitty Berkenbile 4 years ago
Pfffft healthy. In America, a kids well-being is the least of their worries.
Gwenda Christenson 4 years ago
only school i know that start before 8am is college (bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, etc). Even then the earliest class was 7:45. All of the schools (elementary, middle, and high schools) in my area start at 8 or 8:30am
Gweg 4 years ago
Before the time of glorious COVID, for my district, elementary school started at either 8 or 8:30, most middle schools 9:15, options/application required schools usually followed the high school start time...which was about 7:45. Now because of COVID most schools start 45 minutes later. But someone decided to make my band class period 6, but have it before school at 7:10...I'm not sure who thought that having people trying to play over Zoom at 7:10am without disturbing people was going to work.
Rani Trent 4 years ago
It's the only way we can make 2 or 3 hour after school sport practice possible. And THEN homework.
Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago
Schools where I live usually start anywhere between 8:50-9am and finish anywhere between 3-3:20 depending on the school.
Aragorn II Elessar 4 years ago
As a freshman, I had a zero hour class, so I was at school at 5:50 every morning.
alex but festive 4 years ago
yeah, everyone was completely dead in first period (except all the theater kids, for some reason)
Owen Salmon2028 4 years ago
i wake up near 7:00 or 8:00 then get ready wait a bit surf the web on here and then do online school
Imtiredandiwannagotobed 4 years ago
Learn? Half of our bathrooms have sticky floors, how much do you think we “learn” (this is specific to my school, not sure about everybody else)
Erin Kavik 4 years ago
UK. My secondary school was certainly not starting at 7am, but our day was 8.30am to 4.30pm. This is unusual.
SimplySarcastic40 4 years ago
ours started at 7:20 and ended at 3:10 (dont get me started on the random timing) but we also had "zero hour" and "7th period" at one point i had both so i started at 6:30 and finished at 4pm.
Caitlin Davenport 4 years ago
High schools start at 7, so the buses can drop the students off and drive the routes to pick up the younger kids later.
no_name 4 years ago
I don't know, some days we too started school even before 7am, I think it was 6:50? Those were bitch days, because I had to get up at 4:30-5:00 to catch bus at 5:30, to be in the city at 6:30 and then 30 minutes uphill route manage in 15 minutes or so, because I had to you know, change shoes and take off coats and prepare textbooks. Some days we started school at 9:00. Talk about routine. And I think guys from specialized school (don't know correct term in english) had to start school at 7:00 too during apprenticeship weeks. Something about early birds, they say.
#3
Caitlin Davenport 4 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. 4 years ago
In Sweden it starts in august and ends in june. Nothing odd about it, to me.
#8
Caitlin Davenport 4 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 4 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 4 years ago
Because we put all our budget into our announcements and lockers
#18
Eva Bryson 4 years ago
Yes, teachers want you in class to learn, not loitering in the bathroom.
#19
SimplySarcastic40 4 years ago
yep...at least in the suburbs because most of us start driving at 16
#21
The Zooble 4 years ago
To be very honest, I'm English and I usually do page count rather than word count
#25
Caitlin Davenport 4 years ago
So we aren't "distracted". Even rooms with windows usually had the blinds closed.
#26
Caitlin Davenport 4 years ago
Not really. We have nearby schools we compete against in sports, but any rivalry is very light-hearted.
#32
Caitlin Davenport 4 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 4 years ago
I'm European and I read each one of these facts thinking "wait... they do *what*??!"
Doggo 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 years ago
but how is having a parking lot wierd ??????????????????
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spirit wolf 4 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 4 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.
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Roadkill The Brave 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 years ago
You can say that again. If you are FORCED to pledge allegiance, then are you really "free"?
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AnInrovert 4 years ago
I live in Canada... we do some of these. Some of these just seem... plain weird...
Dynein 4 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 4 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 4 years ago (edited)
This just makes me think the U.S. is the only normal country and European countries are weird.
Martha Meyer 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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.
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Angela Jester 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 years ago
Some of these I found odd. Is it really only America that has buses, lockers and clubs?
HyacinthTheRainWing 4 years ago
Canada has all three! My school even had a D&D club, before Covid.
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Owen Salmon2028 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 years ago
I'm European and I read each one of these facts thinking "wait... they do *what*??!"
Doggo 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 years ago
but how is having a parking lot wierd ??????????????????
Load More Replies... spirit wolf 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 years ago
You can say that again. If you are FORCED to pledge allegiance, then are you really "free"?
Load More Replies... AnInrovert 4 years ago
I live in Canada... we do some of these. Some of these just seem... plain weird...
Dynein 4 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 4 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 4 years ago (edited)
This just makes me think the U.S. is the only normal country and European countries are weird.
Martha Meyer 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 years ago
Some of these I found odd. Is it really only America that has buses, lockers and clubs?
HyacinthTheRainWing 4 years ago
Canada has all three! My school even had a D&D club, before Covid.
Load More Replies... Owen Salmon2028 4 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 4 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 4 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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