High school in the USA

When American students are 14 or 15, they finish junior high and move on to high school

You’ve probably seen TV series set in US high school and already know that American teenagers don’t wear school uniforms and keep their personal thins in lockers. But what else?

American students spend four years at high school before they leave school at 18. The firs year of high school is actually Grade 9, the second year is Grade 10 and so on. The four year also have unofficial names: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior. The senior year is the last of high school when students have to do STATS, the final school exams. These exams are very important for students who want to get a place at a good college or university. A student’s final mark (also called grade) is based on the result of the STATS and their school work during the year.

College is often very expensive in the USA, but students who are excellent at sport can sometimes get a scholarship. Teenagers (and their parents) generally take education very seriously and are often quite competitive. Students also compete to be popular, fashionable, involved in the community and generally great all-round people! No pressure hey.

Is high school fun too? Of course is it! Two very important aspect of high school are team sports and school dances. For most high school, sport is as important as other subjects like Maths and English. The most popular sports, like American football and baseball, often have cheerleaders who dance and do acrobatic routines during matches.

The Prom is a big dance that takes place at the end of high school. It’s a formal, and often glamorous, event. The girls wear beautiful ball dressed and the boys wear suits and ties. They usually sped a lot of time and money preparing for the evening. When they leave school, the seniors also get a yearbook whit everybody’s photo in it . Every autumn there is also the Homecoming dance. Seniors, who left school in the summer, return to take part. Before the dance, there’s usually a football game, then at the dance the school chooses a Homecoming King an Queen.