Questions for Americans from a Brit
(None of these are supposed to be offensive or what not; Iām genuinely curious)
ā¢ Do you really have a flag in every classroom?
ā¢ What does graduating high school mean? Do you get any actual qualifications or is it like āwell done hereās a certificateā?
ā¢ Why are your houses so big?!
ā¢ What are the walls in houses made of, like brickā¦or dry wallā¦?
ā¢ Is it common to visit other states or do you generally stay where you are?
ā¢ What do your principles actually do? Do they really speak to every kid whoās been sent out of class (the classic āI got sent to the principleās officeā in movies)? Are they not too busy with, you know, running the school?
ā¢ Why is it when schools have a school uniform, the trousers are always beige??
ā¢ Whatās a semester?
ā¢ How many lessons do you have a day in school?
ā¢ Whyās your healthcare so expensive? Surely it doesnāt cost that much for treatment? Like how does a childbirth with no complications cost thousands of dollars?
ā¢ Whatās even the point in one dollar notes?
ā¢ Whatās a dime?
ā¢ Whatās a quarter?
ā¢ Do you have badgers?
ā¢ Why are the quality of your tv shows so bad? Theyāre always grainy and have an odd audio quality.
Hi, I wandered in here randomly, but I will take a stab at it.
1. Yes flags in every public school classroom (those are the schools run by the local government and which are free to residents of the area. I know you guys have a different meaning for that term). The entire class starts the day by texting the Plesge of Allegiance to the flag. I always found it creepy. There have been lawsuits and political fights for ages about making students say it and/or making them stand silently during it.
2. You get a diploma. It used to be a sign of having a generally education - behold a literate person with some math skills! These days, much of our job market requires a Bachelorās degree (4 years of college) so it is losing its real world value in many ways. Qualifications or accreditation are possible at some schools, but not all.
3. Lots of reasons. Differences in personal space expectations, poor construction, the plausibility of suburbs, systemic problems in urban environments, and competitive social signaling are ones I buy in to.
4. Interior walls are usually drywall. Exterior material will vary regionally to some extent, but brick is usually only in āhistoricā areas. Note that you will probavbly laugh at what we think is old enough to qualify for this.
5. Depends on where you live. I am in the Northeast, where the states are smaller. Leaving the state here is common. I have left my state to go grocery shopping!! Where states are bigger, it starts becoming something you do on vacations or trips and is just a matter of how far you want/can afford to travel. Some people donāt travel much, but in my social circles it would be very odd to have never left your state by adulthood.
6. So schools are run independently by each county or town, so there is a lot of variation but yeah, they kind of do. The school systems I know intimately would have a principal and 3-4 vice-prinicpals for a high school of 2000-2500 students. Dunno how that compares to staffing levels in your area. They do lots of other stuff, but discipline is a sizeable part of the day.
7. *Shrug* my guess is that it reads as less formal than black or navy to us, so it is easier to get people to agree to it and easier/cheaper for the families to buy them.
8. Most school systems have a 9-10 month year with a big summer break. The year is broken into two semesters.
9. Ohā¦ Lots of variation again. I have seen two systems, one with 6-7 ~50 minute classes and one with 3-4 ~90 minute classes. The second one was called block scheduling where I lived and was the newer system.
10. Oh god. Now I want a drink.
11. Nostalgia?
12/13. 100 cents in a dollar (look, we COULD do metric!!!!) A quarter is 25 cents - one quarter of a dollar. A dime is 10 cents.
14. Not around here that I am aware of. I think they are out west/midwest? We use them as sports team mascots, so we know what they are at least. My area has Fisher cats - itās like a weasel big enough to eat house cats. Also, I am entranced by your robins - completely different thing from our robins and yours are SO CUTE. I was following one around the bushes last fall while my Brit hosts laughed at me. :)
15. I have a combo of satellite and streaming services. I have not noticed this and I have traveled through several parts of Europe and seen the TV quality there? So not sure what is up with that.
Cheers from the Northeast US!
Thanks!! I've been wondering about these for ages! Cheers from the south of the UK!!
P.S. Here's a robin and badger :) they are quite cute
