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American high school as bad as it seems? | ||
Tags: School Education | United States | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5145 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 17 25 October 2011 at 5:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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As my kids watch an endless amount of American series, I cannot help but wonder how many of the stereotypes involving high school which are actually true. In literally every series, you have the rich kids who get away with murder, the cool kids who dominate the others and are allowed to bully everyone, the nerds who get picked on and the dumb jocks who can also pick on anyone they want.
In the beginning I assumed this was just a way of creating good guys and bad guys, and drive the story on, but since my kids want to go to the US for a year I am starting to worry whether this is the reality they will be facing. And I figured this forum would be perfect to ask, as there are a lot of American teen agers here. Please tell me that you do not have to be rich or a fashion ikon to have a good time at high school in the US! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Longinus Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4688 days ago 26 posts - 53 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Polish, Macedonian | Message 2 of 17 25 October 2011 at 6:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, I am no longer an American teenager, but I do have some current teenagers.
In wealthy areas, it is possible to find schools like you describe, but they are in a very small minority. But they do exist; my children used to be at a school like this. I went to a school where you would be beaten up if you were rich or a fashion icon, but schools like this are also in the minority! If your children really want the full American experience, I would recommend a small town anywhere but the Northeast or California. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4941 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 3 of 17 25 October 2011 at 7:07pm | IP Logged | ||
It *is* a way of creating good and bad guys. You're taking your cue from what Hollywood is dishing out, after all. And sure, I suppose you can find this "reality" in pretty much every segment of society, whether it's school or work life. But it's magnified by Hollywood. I wouldn't make much more out of it than what it is: entertainment. Your kids will most likely find their own set of friends and be happy, regardless of whether or not they fall in with the "cool" kids. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5540 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto | Message 4 of 17 25 October 2011 at 7:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, it certainly can be bad, LOL. But TV is rarely completely accurate, and while there may be some truth to the stereotypes I seriously doubt any exchange students would be treated poorly while they're in a US high school.
I knew 3 exchange students when I went to high school, 2 Germans and a French kid. I had a German boy in my junior English class and a German girl in my senior English class, and the French kid I saw chatting sometimes with a British kid who had previously lived in France at a young age and spoke French natively. I heard the British kid ask him in English if he wished he stayed in France, and he said yes. I think most of the exchange students had a pretty good experience, and we enjoyed learning about their cultures. Our junior English teacher devouted an entire class to the German kid (as we called him) so he could explain German culture and his way of life to us, and for us to ask him questions. It was one of the coolest moments I can remember from high school. My senior year (fall 2003 - spring 2004) there was an Iraqi girl in the school, but not in my grade level. I'm guessing her family were in the US as refugees. She wore a hijab to school but I never heard of any negative reports about her getting harassed, so I guess she got along just fine. A girl who rode my bus (yes, I rode the bus my senior year, ugh) seemed to be a friend of hers, so I guess she got along fine. A Croatian girl, an immigrant, committed suicide in my area not too long ago because she was teased unrelentedly for her accent, so unfortunately it isn't always positive. I would only worry about your kids being called "the Norwegian kid" by their classmates and being considered weird because they are foreigners and don't understand American culture as well as their American classmates do. That could get annoying. They'll probably be put in a model school, one with a great academic program, plenty of extracurriculars, and few discipline problems, since of course we want to give exchange students a positive experience. To answer your main concern, I went to 2 high schools for 2 years, a private religious school and a public high school. The public school I went to during my junior & senior years was one of the best schools in the state, and was rated as one of the top 1,000 high schools in the country my freshman year of college. We were considered the rich preppies among high school students in the area, and one girl from another high school even said everyone at my school had parents who were medical doctors, which of course wasn't true. I don't think there were ever any problems beyond what is normal for a high school (well, OK, once a boy got stabbed by a girl with a pair of scissors, but that's the only violence I remember, it even made the newspaper), but of course there are always bullies and people who tease other kids just for fun, and I got teased a few times, but it wasn't anything too bad. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. Your kids will probably thank you for allowing them to do an exchange program. Edited by Michael K. on 25 October 2011 at 7:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5145 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 5 of 17 25 October 2011 at 8:23pm | IP Logged | ||
After the amount of American culture they have absorbed through TV, I am not too worried about that - nor about them being teased for their accents. They have gotten to the point where they tease me about my accent... Besides, Norway is sometimes called the 51st state of the USA, and even our king has said he considers it his second homeland (he grew up there). Too bad you guys recommend not going to California - because obviously, that is where they want to go:-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4941 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 6 of 17 25 October 2011 at 9:54pm | IP Logged | ||
On one hand, the California public school system isn't the best by a long shot. On the other hand, since you've taught your kids some Spanish (I think I remember you mentioning that in another thread), they'll get a decidedly American Spanish - mostly Mexican - perspective in California, and depending whether they're in Northern or Southern California, they'll be exposed to a really large variety of other 1st and 2nd generation ethnic groups (Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, etc.) R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 5936 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 7 of 17 25 October 2011 at 10:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think compared to movies and TV, that the main difference is that actual high school students look much younger, and for the most part are hugely less attractive. I'm sure there are people who have all this social drama but I didn't know people like this. I just remember going to classes, maybe hanging out briefly during lunch with a few other people and talking about, whatever, and then going home, worrying about grades or whatever. It seemed to me, that anyone who wanted to be basically left alone would be. Non-popular people were not harrassed, they were just ignored.
There was some drama, but it had more to do with drugs. And mostly, things went okay, though there were a few who, well, really liked drugs a lot. I don't know how this compares to Norway, but this would be my main concern. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it happens -- like I remember my cat's veteranarian opened up to me on how his daughter ended up addicted to meth. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Longinus Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4688 days ago 26 posts - 53 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Polish, Macedonian | Message 8 of 17 25 October 2011 at 11:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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There's nothing wrong with California (well, aside from the crazy laws and the fact that the state is bankrupt). I just mean to say that it's not really typical of the rest of America. It is a beautiful state with spectacular weather on the coast. But you'll also be more likely to encounter the type of school you describe in California as compared to, say, Kansas.
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