h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well yes there are social structues, and they do tend to be non accepting of others, and yes the sport thing.
But it kind stops there.

Cheerleaders- they do exist but tend to behated by everyone, except their boyfriends, for being ultra-elitist, morons, and easy.

Dances- Homecoming and prom, and the occasional winter dance
Social events- MAybe a talent show and a play

Newspapers- Overplayed, teachers controll what is printed so rumors dont get spread in them, not that people read them.

Desks- Yes true, but not in Labs

Clothes- True, but there are resrictions, Some girls wol dress like tramps, and you better not mind being ostracized for it.

obsession with grades: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
yeah if half of the U.S. Students wernnt on pot all the time, only the top 15-30% worry about this.

Getting to college- Most public institions will accept average students, there is always community colleges (oh you filled out the application correctly? You're in!) and if your a good footbal player you could go to Miami, Ohio State, or any other big school for free! Dont worry about grades, well make sure you get an A ))

on your points

Grungy uniforms- see own clothes

no discipline- Well well well, dont think you to special there. Detentions are ignored suspensions are virtually vacations, and expulsions are only for extreme cases. (so you tried to kill everyone eh?)

examination boards- ACT SAT, SAT 2,and most states have exams that you must pass in order to graduate, and you take them in 4th 6th 7th and 9th grades

Example problem (kinda)
When pulled over for a Ticket which is a way to get out of it and why?
a. Seduce the officer
b. Bribe the officer
c. Kill the officer
d. speed off

All the answers are correct, but you must pick the best and then EXPLAIN why it is the best

Bullying- Now just stop their, we invented the bullying
Kids killed for their shoes (extreme, but true)
Being sexually assulted on busses(extreme, but true)
Being beat up beat b/c they dont like you having an opposite veiw
Thrown in trash cans
wedgie
atomic wedgie
you name it it happens

no structure- a lot better than tons of structure how would you like to learn about the same stuff about the puritan settlers EVERY SINGLE FREAKING GRADE FOR 12 FREAKING YEARS!!!! some times even in multiple classes!

The school systems are horrid over here, with the banning of books (harry potter is a big example recently) to the intellegent design contriversy, schools are not used to better the country but as political tools to breed the next generation of the party of wwhoever infuenced thd state the most.

Ok, so it's much the same as over here...I still would have prefered to go to school over your side though. Just because of the clothes. You can't hide in a uniform...

And I would ban Harry Potter. Bunch of sh*t that those books are...*mumble grumble*...

So...erm...um...

* s off to look at your userspace*

You have *no* presonal information on your space. That isn't very useful.

Back onto the school thing. Over here (and I'd just like to remind you I LEFT SCHOOL TWO YEARS AGO! WOOHOO!) the routine here (and I'll leave nothing out) is...

Get up.
Get dressed.
Walk to school - if you are lucky you will have a walkman.
Get to school.
Go to tutor room (where it is warm)
Go to class.
At break, sit on the floor somewhere. Or outside. Talk with friends. Maybe listen to walkman & have a snack.
Go back to class.
Dinner. Same as break.
Go to class.
Go home.

That is *all* that school I went to was. There was a school football and rugby team. I think. No dances. No newspaper. One drama production at the end of the first term that was cr*p. And sports day. That is it.

Hardly very inspiring...

You can have electronics?
The farthest we can go are calculators
and by the Harry potter thing i was referiing to the fact that our schools are run by politics, not educational standards.

Ill be sure to add some personal information but real quick
Im 17
male
still in school
live in a suburban area of Akron ohio (south of cleveland)

No, we weren't allowed electronics. But they knew the consequences if I *didn't* have my walkman I was a pretty good student. Actually, I was one of two top students in the school. So they knew that my behaviour depended on what they let me get away with. So Marilyn Manson t-shirts, too much eyeliner and baggy trousers were put up with, as well as my walkman. Not in class of anything...just during break times.

*Akron* sounds like a chemical poison type thing. Will be sure to steal that name for a book someday...

Akron: Rubber(not you know what's) capital of the world.

Well for some odd reason where I go they only punish the good students harshly.

What were you saying about discipline?

RUBBER capital of the world...what about India? What is you American's obsessions with having capitals of whatever of the world? Madness. Fantastic though...

Well usually its for stupid things from adiministation like forgetting to turn in a form.
Teachers in the college bound classes (15-30% of the students, the ones who care about grades) will just drop your grade for insubordination.

Well it used to be the Rubber capitol of the world as most of the major manufactures (goodyear, Firestone, BF goodrich) were based here, now all the factories have moved to china and akron is now a run down slum and my town recently won annexation rights to a nearby township making it the Bigger city (landwise)

Pretty much the same stupidity here. They don't care how well you do in the exams, because they drop the pass grade every year in terms of 16-year old examinations. So as long as you pass, it doesn't matter. The generation that I am/was in, has been the guinea pig for every new examination process in the last 20 years...as a result of the last lot, I ended up dropping out. And I am an A-grade student. There was a huge scandle this summer regarding the batch of results (that I would have got if I didn't drop out) being meddled with.

It's all a crock of b*llsh*t really. The sooner you realise that nothing like that matters, the better. I hope that I can home-school my future kids...I really do.

Bristol (where I live) is currently up for European City of Culture...and should win by rights. Loads of arty-music stuff...very bluesy, poetry type atmosphere. Dirty great big river running through it...lots of old warehouses, and churches, and towers and fields, and history. Oh...and Bristol used to be a really successful slave port too! Love my home town. But it is fairly small, and claustrophobic & eventually you have to get out...

HEY! My ancestors were Slave traders (Scottish, i don't know how they got into it...) maybe they traded out of there.

I don't know what i'll do with my kids, i wonder what Canada's educational system is like....

Maybe! Better not have any offspring together then - just in case

Canada is a good idea. Might do that then; save the trouble of doing it myself. I want my kids to have a good education. Where they learn stuff...not bred for other people's use.