Thread: Tell me about american (or any other) high schools (and ask me about serbian high schools)

I graduated from highschool about six years ago and I'm certain things have changed a bit, but I'll share a little bit of my experience.

I enjoyed high school while I was there. I wasn't extremely social and found my identity more in the clubs I was a part of than the group of friends I hung out with. I was a brown-noser and a good student, so my teachers liked me, which is always a plus. Perhaps I was just sheltered and/or removed from the less reputable practices of the other students but I didn't see (and wouldn't have participated anyway) much if any drug or alcohol use on campus, though I was aware that some people did go and hang out "down by the river" doing whatever it was they did.

We had a good music department, so I was a part of band, marching band, and choir. Our band wasn't anything special, but I enjoyed it. Our choir had a fantastic director and we sang at Disneyland (went there for three days and sang for a total of about a half-hour... best trip ever!) and at a state music educator's convention and did reasonably well at competitions. I wasn't part of the acting... group, but they had a fairly good sized following.

You could usually tell what kind of group a person was in by looking at them: jock, prep, geek, druggie, "that group" (the people we pretended weren't there), and then the "None of the Above." I was a part of that last group, especially in my junior and senior year. We weren't super-close to each other, but we had a good time. There was an unspoken rule that if there was food on the table, it could/would be shared with the group, and that worked out really well when one of us forgot to bring lunch or money for lunch.

Most of my classes weren't terribly difficult for me. I was in the higher-level English classes (except one year where it conflicted with my language class; most boring English class ever!), only had to take two years of science and math, had some challenging computer classes, and loved my foreign language classes. I probably wouldn't have agreed then, but now I wish that I had been challenged more and encouraged to do more than just what I had to do to pass. There weren't a lot of opportunities for students who learned more quickly than "average" aside from taking classes at our community college, but I didn't have time and my parents didn't have money to send me there.

As far as electives in school, we had a variety of classes to choose from: acting, foreign language (French or Spanish; required at least two years of one of them), music, computer classes (basic computer skills, web design, CAD, networking, etc.), agriculture, sciences, home ec, art classes (drawing, sculpting, photography), exercise classes, and probably more that I'm forgetting.

I know there's a lot of drama that goes on, but I was actually able to avoid most of it and have a good experience in high school. College was better.

Its really not as bad as in the movies, at least in my school. Theres very little bullying, and its really a positive experience in my opinion, and its ten times better than middle school.

Well it depends. Some classes are great, most of the clubs are too, but on the other hand, some classes are awful. Like my Global class this year. We have to do these Review guides for each unit, and my last one ended up being 34 pages... And he gives you a weekend to do them...

My high school experience was nothing like anything I've seen on TV. I had a bunch of awesome friends, and those years were the best of my life. I was in mostly honors classes though and took some classes at the local college my junior and senior years, so I doubt I got the normal high school experience.

I was in American High School for a year in 02/03 (senior year).
And I was really amused about how similar it actually was. :-D

Especially all the different social groups - We don't have this kind of
seperation here. So basically I didn't give a crap about this stuff and
just made friends with everyone. Fun times...

Originally Posted by mysterious dreamer

Are high schools in USA like they are in the movies? It doesn't look like a fun place to spend your teen years, and I've seen many people telling mostly bad stuff about them.

And the main reason I'm asking is because I'm in my final year of high school and I realised it's been the best time of my life and I'm really really sorry all of it will be gone in two months. Plus, it's nothing similar to what I saw on TV.

You're not going to find a definite answer. High schools in America differ GREATLY from place to place.

I've been to two different highschools. I went to a normal high school my freshman year and for this year I'm going to a self-paced charter highschool. My freshman year was a roller coaster ride. There were good parts and bad parts. Some times I felt like I was on top of the world and others I was ripped up inside. It started out good, then progressively went down hill as time went on. Overall, it was a positive experience. The 6 weeks I spent at that school for my sophomore year were the absolute worst. The repetition, the shitty classes, even my group of friends. It all sucked. I miss freshman year...

Here in my neck of the woods most kids hate their classes. They're all in it for the social experience. The school I went to looked like a prison on the inside and out and was an extremely depressing environment to look at. The people were the only thing that kept me going for as long as I did. When the people changed and I didn't have the skills to go find a better social group, I ejected. I stand by my decision, but I do wish I had someone to talk to.

Have you seen Mean Girls? That movie...

if by "is it like the movies" you mean super cliquish and immature, then yes and no. There are some people who really just don't grow up and still act like that in high school, but it's mostly a middle school thing. At least where I go to school. The friends I hang out with are pretty mature. We don't have a lot of drama and we let anyone hang out with us. At least anyone who isn't a total jerk. But it doesn't matter how they're stereotyped or what their reputation is or any of that stuff, if they want to hang out with us they can go ahead and hang out with us. But at the same time, I'll see groups of people who consist of the exact same people as they did in middle school and they still seem to be caring a lot about their social status and all that useless junk. Generally my friends and I care more about having fun, getting into harmless trouble, and dating a lot of different people like most teenagers do than devoting our lives to a relationship, which a lot of other teenagers do. it really depends. I've just been lucky enough to make friends with the ones who have actually grown up somewhat.

as far as academics, my school sucks. I spend a lot of my time in school trying to kill time, even after I've finished my homework in class and I still get mostly A's. Come to think of it, the only class I actually give an effort in is Math. I'm starting to think I'm not going to be prepared for college at all, but then again, my brother graduated from the same school by the skin of his teeth and is doing ok in college... ugh compulsory public schooling is such a waste of time

I graduated from high school around a year ago and it really wasn't that similar to the movies. There were different social groups and such, but people wouldn't stick with only their cliques. They would talk to other people too. High school was some fun times, socially, but academically not as good as other countries I'm sure. I live in california and we get fairly good education. My high school had awards for their academics and stuff, but US schools in general are pretty bad. People don't respect teachers and are they're only for the social aspect. I'm not speaking for everyone though, because there were lots of people in my school in programs like honors classes. I think it has to do with public schools being free though, because I think people have to pay for school in other countries, which makes them want to do better.