My High School Life

Now after two months of school in the US, I have to say that there are really huge differences between the school system here and my old school system back in Germany. That’s why I thought I’d summarize my school day here for you:

My school usually starts at 8am and ends at 3am every day. After that I still have field hockey practice until 5 p.m. and I’m usually not home until half past 6 a.m. My schedule is the same every day and looks like this:

1.    Church History
2.    Modern World History
3.    American Literature
4.    Music
5.    Study Hall
6.    Honors Algebra/Trig. II
7.    Environmental science

What really shocked me at first (in a very positive way) was, that all my teachers here are much nicer and friendlier than the teacher’s I had in Germany and I always have the feeling that they really want to help me with everything and aren’t just doing their jobs.

Not just a cliché, but reality is that team cohesion is much greater here. Everyone identifies as a part of the school. One reason for that is the school uniform which everyone wears and which strengthens the feeling of community even more. At my school you have several announcements every day with the latest “school news” and you meet once a week in the auditorium to sing a school anthem and to discuss everything that has happened (sports results, theatre audition…).

I also think it’s great that the technology is much more advanced here. We use our laptops all the time and have a web system where all teachers always publish the contents of the lesson, write homework and announce tests.

In summary I can say that there is a lot I prefer about the americain school system, such as the small class sizes (I never have more than 12 people in my class), the interaction with each other, the “high school spirit”, the beautiful building, the sports facility and that you can adapt the subjects to yourself and your interests.

I hope you got a small impression of my high school life, but to really understand what school is like here, you have to experience it, because every experience is different.