“That Was So Odd To Us”: 21 Details About School In America That Confuse The Sh*t Out Of Canadians

I’ll never understand the priority American schools place on sports. Like, we’re here to learn, aren’t we?View Entire Post ›

I’ll never understand the priority American schools place on sports. Like, we’re here to learn, aren’t we? BuzzFeed Staff “There are exceptions on both sides, of course.” –u/Joe_Q “Sports weren’t really a big deal. I couldn’t tell you how any of our sports teams did at any point. I also couldn’t really tell you who was on what team.” –u/PurrPrinThom “It wasn’t even just sports — it was also bands, cheerleading, debate clubs, club activities in general, student councils… it was so weird. It was really baffling to have trouble making friends because the other saxophone players specifically wanted to be better — it was crazy.” –u/illuminatting –u/Peri_scope –u/hercarmstrong “Gun violence.” –u/Acceptable-Advance87 –u/Peri_scope “Prom also wasn’t really a big deal. Like we were all excited for it, but it was just in the gym. We didn’t rent a hall or anything.” –u/PurrPrinThom –u/tashachara –u/squirrelcat88 “I don’t know how prevalent it really is, but I always see American students online obsessing about their resume and running themselves ragged to get into certain colleges. Canadian universities only look at grades for admissions (with a few exceptions for competitive programs), so there’s no need to have all these accomplishments in high school.” –u/lkr01 “That was so odd to us — why would you put a swimming pool in a school? They belong in community centres and parks.” –u/squirrelcat88 –u/rhetorical-device “I found that high school in Canada didn’t have strong cliques. Yes there were friend groups, but there wasn’t extensive bullying, there was more fluidity between groups of kids. And not a strong social hierarchy.” –u/ReactionEuphoric5362 –u/birdlass –u/SuchDevelopment2 “They ask at the border what grade you were in when you were, say, 14. They can tell your nationality from the answer.” –u/TurokHunterOfDinos “What the f*** is a junior and senior?” –u/Flyboy019 “Our cafeteria only fit maybe 1-2 hundred people, but all 2000 of us had lunch at the same time. I gather in most Canadian schools the students eat in their classrooms, but at every junior high and high school I attended it was a hallway floor situation.” –u/kittyroux –u/sammexp –[deleted user] “Note also that in Ontario, up until the late 1990s, there really were five years of high school (for everyone). Grade 13 was the last year. People would graduate from high school in the calendar year they turned 19 and then off to university/workforce/college.” –u/Joe_Q –u/BarrydaBum “My husband was a straight-A student in Canadian high school, and so was I, but I went to American high schools… my As were earned at 90% and up, so now I make fun of him and every time he does something dumb, I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s that 80% coming out!'” –u/mrstruong –u/ling1427 –u/sanchez198 –u/acidtoyman

https://www.buzzfeed.com/abbyzinman/high-school-differences-us-canada