The American education system sounds totally confusing to us here in Britain. Here are some questions that have been puzzling me for years:
What is “junior high” and “senior high”? At what age do pupils go on to the latter? Does everybody go to senior high? (I presume “grade school” is the same as our primary school (five to eleven years)
What is a “homecoming queen”?
What is a “sophomore”?
What is a “yearbook”?
Is a majorette the same as a cheerleader? And what is their significance?
What do you have to do to “graduate” from high school? (In Britain the only graduates are university graduates). Is graduation an exam, like our A-levels?
What is a “sorority house”?
Why are school “proms” so important? Are they just end of term parties?
There are three main types of schools in the US. Elementary or grammar school lasts from roughly age 5 until 12 (kindergarten through 6th grade). Junior high school are grades 7 and 8 (ages 13-14). Some districts have what are called middle schools instead, those are just junior highs that begin in 6th grade and last until 8th. High schools are grades 9-12 (ages 14-18). After that it’s college or university.
The Homecoming Queen is the queen of the homecoming dance, which is generally the autumn formal. She gets voted in by the school and gets crowned at the football game that traditionally precedes the dance. The game is called the Homecoming game.
A sophomore is a second year student in both high school and a 4 year university or college. First year is freshman, then sophomore, then junior and last comes the senior.
A yearbook is an end of the year photo album. Has every students picture, plus pictures of most of the sports teams and school clubs and organizations, as well as photos from the major events of the school year like dances and big games. It’s tradition to sign your friends’ yearbooks at the end of the year with snappy quotes and messages.
A majorette is not the same thing as a cheerleader. Majorette has to do with the marching band, cheerleaders are their own organization.
To graduate from high school you need to meet their graduation requirements. Usually a minimum grade point average and fulfillment of course requirements. Basically, if you make it to the end of your senior year and don’t fail too many classes. Some schools require exit exams, but it is up to every school district to set its own grad requirements.
A sorority house is the house that the sorority lives in. Sororities are the female versions of fraternities. They only exist at universities and colleges. Both fraternities and sororities comprise the “Greek system,” so called because the organizations are identified by two or three greek letters.
School proms are so important because they are. They are not just end of term parties, they are the last major formal dance of the year, and typically only juniors and seniors can attend it, sometimes only seniors. Tuxedos and formal gowns are appropriate attire. The parties come afterwards. Also significant because it’s an easy time to convince your girl to sleep with you.
Sorry, missed #7. A sorority is a “club” of sorts. In college, you can apply to a sorority if you are a girl, or a fraternity for males.
Some are easy to join, others are more difficult (perhaps your father/mother had to belong, or you have to be in the upper percent of your classes, gradewise)
There is a funny movie from the 70’s called “Animal House” with John Belushi. It is a spoof on sororities and fraternities in America, and considered a “classic” over here. Rent it if you can.
mrsfaceHappy new year and welcome to the boards from a fellow UK doper!
auntnut same as above without the ‘UK’ bit.
auntnut In britain
Infant School - from ages 4 to 7 we spend our lives spelling and running around a lot.
Primary School (7-10)- We do some more spelling, run around some more, draw pictures and hate girls (or boys if you are a girl).
High school - (11-16) we spend 5 years learning absolutely nothing of use, get bullied a bit, dodge erasers, go to the pie shop, and almost die of exhaustion in cross-country runs (they were actually about 2 miles, but they felt like crossing a country at the time)
College (optional 16-18) we actually learn stuff here. But it is still not all that relevant. we enjoy it, we play football (soccer) at dinnertime, and everyone in the class knows eachother well.
University (optional. usually 18-21) spend the first year learning the same stuff we learned at college, year 2 learning usefull stuff, year 3 learning complete irrelevant shite, year 4 re-doing failed year 3 (and deciding to become a policeman)
At the end of it we get a job which might pay well (because we have a degree) but has absolutely nothing to do with the degree we’ve got.
A few of these answers may differ due to regional word usage. I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, and here’s the meanings I learned for those words:
The required 12 years of schooling can be split up by year in many ways, but the two most common are:
Grades 1-5 = elementary school
Grades 6-8 = middle school
Grades 9-12 = high school
OR
Grades 1-6 = elementary school
Grades 7-9 = JUNIOR high school
Grades 10-12 = SENIOR high school
When I started school, the Ada city school system followed the first listing; when I graduated high school, due to the larger number of kids in the school system, they split up the elementary grades into one school for 1-2, another for 3-4, and another for 5-6, and went to a junior/senior high system. (First, this meant that only 3 years of students were in the overcrowded high school, secondly it allowed them to hire fewer teachers and still meet their class size limits.) The only people against it were my friends who had been the 9th graders and lowest in the high school…then the next year found themselves 10th graders and the lowest in the senior high school.
Homecoming queen: The last home game of the school’s football season is referred to as the homecoming game. There is usually a little presentation at halftime or before the game of the senior players, since it’s the last time they will ever play in front of the home crowd. The football players will vote on a girl that they think is cute, or perky, or whatever they think is representative of “favorite girl” qualities, and she’s elected homecoming queen. She’ll be presented during the same halftime ceremony at the game.
A sophomore is a 10th grade student in high school, or a second-year student in college.
A yearbook is a collection of pictures of all the students at a school, taken early in the year, plus pictures of the different clubs and activities, published and sold to students as a keepsake. It’s very common to have all your friends sign your yearbook.
Very specifically (and this is the band kid in me speaking) a cheerleader wears a special uniform, stands in front of the spectators during an entire athletic game, and performs cheers. A majorette performs with the band, usually with a baton or other fancy prop. Majorettes are similar to flag corps, except that you only have one or two majorettes (rather than 10-15 flag), and they have a more choreographed sort of dance routine.
High school graduates: in order to graduate from high school, you have to attend school for a certain number of classes (you can count by years or by half-year semesters). Common state requirements are four years of English, three years of math, a certain number of science classes…but you also get several classes that aren’t required to be anything specific, which is how I could take German and band and creative writing and still fit in my main requirements. To graduate…you have to pass those required classes. That’s it. We do take some college entrance tests, the SAT’s and ACT’s, but all that happens if you don’t do so well is that you either take the test over, or can’t get into the college you want without meeting another requirement.
Sorority houses are large buildings owned by single-sex (female) college social organizations. The male and unisex equivalent is the fraternity house. They’re residences that are restricted to members of your own social organization, and the sites of many parties. They’re also fairly well-known for being expensive to live in, having tiny rooms and somewhat substandard living conditions, but hey. Whatever floats their boat.
Why are proms so important?
Hell if I know. Since I don’t drink or dance, it was lost on me. (no, drinking isn’t sanctioned, but it happens)
I’d say almost everybody goes to senior high. In most states, children are required to attend school to the age of 16 years, which usually corresponds to Junior year in High School. At age 16, some students will “drop out” of school and some of these will try to find jobs. Some 16 year old “drop outs” are single mothers. My understanding is that is getting more difficult for single moms to continue receiving public aid if they do not work.
The drum majorette (or major if a male) leads the marching band through the streets during a parade. I am unsure of the official duties but I would guess that the majorette is responsible for the band to march in a controlled fashion. For a humourous look at the drum major gone terribly bad, watch the movie “Animal House” when The Stork takes over, hijacking the marching band and leading them down a dead end tunnel.
Cheerleaders: usually for football and basketball with generally more football cheerleaders. Some schools also have wrestling cheerleaders, which are usually considered the “B team.”
Cheerleaders lead the crowd in cheers and yells, ostensibly to get the crowd “fired up” and in turn fire up the players. At most schools, there are competitive tryouts for the cheerleading team. The judges are looking for very pretty girls with lots of enthusiasm and pep who can also do tumbling and pyramid building activities. Politics abound. Most cheerleaders are of average or shorter height and weight. In some schools the cheerleaders are very popular, in others it’s no big deal.
To graduate from HS in Illinois it’s a minimum of 20 credits, or at least five classes “passed” per year for four years. Each school district has it’s own requirements. Most will require at least 3 years of English, 4 years of Physical Education, one year of math, one year of science, one semester of health, a semester of driver ed, a semester of civics and a semester of consumer ed, with the remainder electives. For a top student to graduate with 30 or more credits is not unheard of.
The “U.S. Education System” isn’t an actual governing body. Each state sets its own standards, and each state has its own model which its taxpayer-funded public schools must follow. Each district (typically a “county,” which is a smaller geopolitical subsection of a state) sets its specifics, and each school sets even further specifics.
The rules are set by politicians, whether they’ve even attended public school or not.
Thanks v. much for all this info, impressed by speed of replies on this site…
Well it certainly sounds very different from over here…far more traditions, far more emphasis on social events, much more formal…
Here, broadly speaking, its just primary (5-11), secondary (11-16, or 18 if you’re going to uni). You just go to school, make some friends, pass some exams (hopefully) and leave. The emphasis on exams here is massive, from age 14 onwards, but social affairs are much more hit and miss, down to the individual school or college, really. There are no universal school or college social traditions that every person would recognise. “Social education” happens in the school lavatory, at the bus-stop, or in teenagers’ bedrooms. It is not something laid on by the school authorities. Not sure if either is “better”…
One further question I forgot - what is a Phi Beta Kappa ? Is this something to do with the sorority/fraternity tradition that Neurotik mentioned? And why the Greek terminology?
Phi Beta Kappa is one of the oldest fraternities in the US, founded in 1776. They have chapters in just about every major university. Most fraternities and sororities are identified by three Greek letters. I have no idea why.
Actually, the U.S. Education System is a governing body. And with every dollar that the NEA and ATA contribute to politicians, and with every session of Congress, that becomes truer. Local school districts and even states’ Depts. o’ Education have some say in what they implement, but that is always subject to the bureaucrats at the Federal level. It’s a sad situation, really. Your tax dollars at waste.
Phi Beta Kappa is a college honor society; students who meet high academic standards may be elected to it, and being elected to Phi Beta Kappa is considered a great distinction. It’s not associated in any way with the fraternity/sorority system today. I’m not sure where the name came from; it probably is derived from the same traditions that resulted in the fraternity/sorority system names, thus explaining the Greek nomenclature of both. Many other honor societies (most limited to majors of specific academic disciplines, such as science or engineering) exist, and these also generally have Greek letter names.
It should be mentioned that Phi Beta Kappa is sometimes listed as the oldest fraternity, but in modern times it is primarily a scholastic honors organization, rather than the type of social organization we normally mean when we say “fraternity” or “sorority”. There are other such groups as well, stemming from the fact that early “greek letter” organizations on US college campuses evolved in different directions. Somebody being a “Phi Beta Kappa” is a very different thing than being an “Alpha Chi Rho”. The first implies that you were selected to a fairly exclusive club on the basis of scholastic merit, the second that you belonged to a social fraternity.
I went to Catholic grade school and high school. It’s graded a little differently. I went to grade school which are numbered 1 - 8 (ages 6 - 13), then high school (9 - 12). Oh, and kindergarten before all that. Then a four year bachelor’s degree at a university.
I’d add to Lobsang’s description that the social side of education in the UK appears far less intense than in the USA. Yes, we have school dances and end-of-term parties, but there’s no heavy significance invested in them.
Similarly, though universities here have clubs and societies, they’re not related to the residential or pastoral aspects of the university; the only qualification for membership is being interested; and it’s no big deal which, if any, you join.
auntnut
… a spoof on sororities and fraternities in America …
Related questions: how important are these organisations, and is membership in effect compulsory? The image from US movies is that university life is dominated by intensely cliquey sororities and fraternities, which involve demeaning or dangerous rituals to join, and also severe ostracism if you don’t join. How much of an exaggeration are these portrayals?
It has differed in importance at various points in time, as well as from campus to campus. During the late sixties and early seventies, a very large number of students, even at traditionally very greek-oriented campuses, felt that fraternities and sororities were simply not terribly relevent any more, or perhaps, even downright silly. In an era of student strikes, war protests and desire to be seen questioning authority at every turn, fraternity membership was way down. It didn’t do much for your “counterculture” cred in those days to have anything to do with a fraternity, and could get you openly ridiculed in some circles. Fraternity and sorority membership resurged greatly during the 80’s.
It has never been compulsory in the strictest sense of the word, but on certain campuses, you would be at a definite social disadvantage not belonging to one. Even in 1954, though, many students got by quite well without being a “greek” on many campuses.
To add a few things:[ul][li]There is nothing called Senior High in the US, only Jr. High which is also called Middle School. After that its simply called High School.[/li]
[li]In the US there’s no difference between a college and a university, and the term college is used much more often (in fact, I haven’t a clue what the difference is supposed to be!)[/li]
[li]In most states school is compulsory until you’re 16 (regardless of what grade you happen to be in) at which point you can legally drop out or be asked not to return. :)[/li]
[li]A year after you drop out you can take what’s called an equivalency exam and, if you pass, receive a GED (general equivalency diploma) which is accepted by all but the most stringent of employers as a real high school diploma.[/ul]To this American, the British system seems baffling! Here its just grades 1 thru 12 and then (optionally) college.[/li]
What the heck are O-levels and A-levels etc.? (I admit, all the info I have on british schooling just comes from watching The Young Ones!!)
That may be true where you live, but a very quick Google search shows it isn’t the case nationwide.
For another minor nitpick, there is no “British/UK education system”. There is the English/Welsh education system, the Scottish education system, and if you’re including Northern Ireland, that’s a different system too.