# What kind of high school did you go to? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 24, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493 "2011-02-24T19:55:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/41 "2011-02-26T10:40:38Z")
I went to a state, public school, non-religious (although conservative). However, I was a teacher at a private, international American prep school in Switzerland where tuition is currently about $65,000 per year - that includes room and board, but no other expenses. Let’s just say there were differences in quality and results - the kids who graduated from that Swiss school pretty much all landed in Ivy League colleges, and deservedly so. They work their asses off, but have excellent teachers and facilities. Plus, the motivation is high - you don’t make the grade and they boot you out, regardless of how rich daddy might be. BTW, they also have a dress code - guys wear shirts and ties and dress slacks to class, girls wear dresses (business attire) - and they can only wear jeans on weekends. Lest anyone think this is cruel and unusual punishment, the kids who went to that school LOVE IT! Very few flunk out. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/42 "2011-02-26T12:27:29Z")
I lived in the country, so my school was rural, regional, quite small, and went from age 11 to 17 (rather than the age 13 to 17 most other schools do). In my day and country that was called Form 1 to Form 7, but now they’ve changed the numbering system to be closer to what the rest of the world uses, which confuses me. I think it’s Year 7 to Year 13. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/43 "2011-02-26T16:22:52Z")
I went to a state-run U.S. high school, and to a Department of Defense-run high school in downtown Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/44 "2011-02-26T17:56:50Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Hey, me too! > > (out of curiosity, which Jesuit school? Strake Jesuit in Houston is where I went.) Hey, me too! Here in New York. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/45 "2011-02-26T18:30:12Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I think it’s Year 7 to Year 13. I can’t remember if you’re in Australia or New Zealand, but I’m 99% sure that in most of Australia it’s Year 7 to 12 and in Queensland (where I went to high school) it’s Year 8 to 12. ETA: Wiki tells me that in Tasmania and the ACT they call year 11 and 12 “college”, which I never knew. You learn something new every day etc. etc. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/46 "2011-02-26T22:31:04Z")
> [@multimediac17](#): > > I can’t remember if you’re in Australia or New Zealand, but I’m 99% sure that in most of Australia it’s Year 7 to 12 and in Queensland (where I went to high school) it’s Year 8 to 12. > > ETA: Wiki tells me that in Tasmania and the ACT they call year 11 and 12 “college”, which I never knew. You learn something new every day etc. etc. This is why the change of grade naming confuses me. I live in Australia now, but I grew up in NZ. I thought it would be Year 7 to 12, like Australia has, but according to [my High School’s website](http://www.eohs.school.nz/), it’s Year 7 to 13. It was seven years of classes, I know that much, so that matches up. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/47 "2011-02-26T22:36:24Z")
I went to a bog-standard Ontario public high school, like most kids in my town. I also took the optional 5th year, “grade 13”, to go on to university. Actually, it was, and still is, run by a local school board, not the province directly, but it is publically-funded by taxes, so that makes it a “state” school. There was the standard rivalry with the other school on the other side of town. The “separate” (catholic but publically funded) high school and the private high school might as well have been on another planet; we didn’t know anyone who went to them. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/48 "2011-02-26T23:12:35Z")
I went to what was at the time called a Secondary School. It was jr. and sr. high together in the same school, as most were in Anchorage in that time period. All of the Secondary Schools in Anchorage are now separate jr. and sr. high schools. The one I went to was being built when I was in 6th grade and was finished by the time I started 7th grade. So we were the first graduating class in that new school. On a silly note…My high school kind of looks like the starship Enterprise in aerial view. (google earth Service High School Anchorage, Alaska) ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/49 "2011-02-26T23:26:58Z")
Freshman and sophomore years, I went to [Carmel High School](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmel_High_School_(Carmel,_Indiana)). That’s a “State day school, non-religious” Junior and senior years, I went to [The Indiana Academy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Academy_for_Science,_Mathematics,_and_Humanities). That’s a “State boarding school, non-religious” ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/50 "2011-02-26T23:34:36Z")
State non-religious, co-educational boarding school, grades 7-12, in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/51 "2011-02-27T01:20:10Z")
I went to a regular old high school for my Freshman and Sophomore years. I didn’t really like my school, so for my Junior & Senior years I went to a vocational school. It was electronics all day except for 1 other class. Junior year it was English, & Senior year it was Government/ History. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/52 "2011-02-27T14:52:02Z")
Multiple. State non-rel, private rel. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/53 "2011-02-27T15:01:11Z")
> [@Chicken\_Fingers](#): > > I went to a state-run U.S. high school, and to a Department of Defense-run high school in downtown Europe. Department of Defense for me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/54 "2011-02-27T15:28:10Z")
State day school, non-religious here. No “Homeschool (by private tutor or governess)” yet? Imagine my surprise! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/55 "2011-02-27T16:43:23Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Assuming that “state day school” means normal public school, is there such a thing as a religious one? I went to one; as mentioned, some Canadian provinces have them. In Ontario there are two completely different public school systems - the “public” system, once commonly known as the Protestant system, and the “separate” system, which is a Roman Catholic system. They’re both fully publicly funded by the province, both meet the same curriculum standards, and all that; the only differnce is one includes Catholicism and the other doesn’t. You don’t even have to be Catholic to go to a separate school. I went to separate schools, even though my family wasn’t and isn’t very religious. So why do we have two systems? It was a compromise at the time of Confederation. It’s stupid, but it’s Constitutionally enshrined and so hard to get rid of. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/56 "2011-02-27T17:39:57Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > State day school, non-religious here. > > No “Homeschool (by private tutor or governess)” yet? > Imagine my surprise! Imagine my non-surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/57 "2011-02-27T20:52:39Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I live in Australia now, but I grew up in NZ. …according to [my High School’s website](http://www.eohs.school.nz/), it’s Year 7 to 13. It was seven years of classes, I know that much, so that matches up. Yep, that’d be right. With the renumbering the kids still start at age 5 (often on their 5th birthday) but in in “Year 1”. Primary Schools (typically) run through to Year 6. Intermediate Schools are Year 7 & 8 (The old “Form 1 & 2”), and High Schools / Colleges cover years 9 to 13. In some places there is no Intermediate School and the Year 7 and 8s are folded into one or other of the Primary or High Schools. Sound like you went to one of the latter – a school that in the older system was Form 1 to Form 7. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/58 "2011-02-27T21:30:37Z")
Just typical for me as well–an old public HS in Los Angeles. Go Warriors–er–Wildcats. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/59 "2011-02-27T21:36:25Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Just typical for me as well–an old public HS in Los Angeles. Go Warriors–er–Wildcats. Which one is that? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493/60 "2011-02-27T22:34:03Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > Sound like you went to one of the latter – a school that in the older system was Form 1 to Form 7. Correctamundo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-high-school-did-you-go-to/572493.md?page=4)