Americans and Canadians culture Q&A Thread.

[declansdad]

My local teachers are over paid in the district where I live. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that teachers in the US deserve a great salary (and equal for both genders). My grandma was a teacher. But my taxes go up for a school system that is not raising its educational standards.

Typically that's not the fault of the teachers.

 

[Buzz Rules]

Typically that's not the fault of the teachers.

But they get judged based on the performance of their students results.

 

[Buzz Rules]

We also don't have 'lunch rooms' which I think is common in US schools?

Almost all schools have them.
Radom singing optional.

 

[Disneylover99]

Same in BC. Kids bring their lunches, no school lunch programs (maybe in some rural school districts they have it?) We live in Surrey which is the largest school district in the province (yes, bigger than the city of Vancouver). We also don't have 'lunch rooms' which I think is common in US schools?

Do kids eat in their classrooms? The students have been eating in their classrooms the last 2 years (covid protocols) which was much nicer for them, but grades 1-6 will be heading back to the gym to eat in September. They sit in rows on the floor at my school.

 

[Buzz Rules]

When I was young we ate at our desks in elementary school. Several years later a full lunchroom was built.

 

[Disneylover99]

When I was young we ate at our desks in elementary school. Several years later a full lunchroom was built.

Is the lunchroom used for anything else besides lunch?

 

[Buzz Rules]

Is the lunchroom used for anything else besides lunch?

After school care.

 

[tvguy]

Is the lunchroom used for anything else besides lunch?

All the public schools I attended had "Multipurpose Rooms"......MP Rooms for short. The kitchen was attached, they had a stage, and basketball hoops with lines painted on the floor, mounts on the walls for Volleyball nets. All gatherings where all the students had to attend were held there, all band performances, plays, parent meetings, PTA. Community groups like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and YMCA Indian Guides used it for their meetings.

 

[Moliphino]

Is the lunchroom used for anything else besides lunch?

My grammar school had a cafetorium. Cafeteria and auditorium, we had all our assemblies there.

 

[bcwife76]

Yes kids eat in their classrooms. It's always been like that here

 

[prairie_girl]

All the public schools I attended had "Multipurpose Rooms"......MP Rooms for short. The kitchen was attached, they had a stage, and basketball hoops with lines painted on the floor, mounts on the walls for Volleyball nets. All gatherings where all the students had to attend were held there, all band performances, plays, parent meetings, PTA. Community groups like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and YMCA Indian Guides used it for their meetings.

Sounds like the gyms we have here.

 

[Buzz Rules]

Sounds like the gums we have here.

Gyms?
Typical USA high school gym:

 

[Buzz Rules]

Typical USA high school theater/auditorium:

 

[fab1976]

Typically that's not the fault of the teachers.

Say it louder for the folks in the back woohoo lol

But they get judged based on the performance of their students results.

And this is what’s wrong with standardized testing. There are so many more factors in student success than testing to see where they stand. Just because a student doesn’t do well on a test doesn’t mean the teacher isn’t good. It could mean that teacher recognizes that (or those) student(s) need more than academic support. Or they focused on their strengths vs worrying about getting a good mark on the test. A good standardized test result doesn’t mean a good teacher.

The USA is much more focused on those sorts of things too I have found. Testing and results and such. We have some here in Ontario, in grades 3,6,9 and I can’t remember the other grades. They aren’t annual. Teachers unions strongly oppose them. As a parent I just go meh. However I just returned to teaching after being a SAHM for 15 years and as an educator AND parent….hate them. I like seeing the results but I know how biased and slanted the results can be.

 

[tvguy]

Sounds like the gyms we have here.

At the High School level we had a Multi-purpose room, a Boy's Gym and a Girl's Gym.

 

[OnceUponATime15]

My grammar school had a cafetorium. Cafeteria and auditorium, we had all our assemblies there.

My daughters HS had a cafetorium. They even held graduation ceremonies there..

 

[prairie_girl]

At the High School level we had a Multi-purpose room, a Boy's Gym and a Girl's Gym.

Why are the gyms separated?

 

[Frozen Canuck]

here in Alberta there is no such thing as an included school lunch. Students either pack their lunch, go home or if their particular school has a cafeteria

I'm just going to jump on this point here, granted, my experience with the US public schools is limited, because our children only attended for high school.

When I was in school, and to the best of my knowledge, it would be ongoing, I can't imagine why it would be changed, kids were allowed to leave the school and walk home for lunch (or in the case of high school, go wherever they wanted for lunch...eat out or whatever). Large numbers of us (high school) would walk to the nearby mall, get something to eat at the kiosk there, wander around a bit, then make our way back to school an hour later. Kids that lived close to the school pretty much always went home for lunch. Since I was a "country kid" going to school in the city (20 miles away), I obviously couldn't go home for lunch. Plenty of kids took their lunches to school. Elementary kids ate in their classrooms at their desks and in high school, we had a designated lunchroom area of tables and benches, but if you wanted to eat outside or while you were walking to a store or whatever, you could. No food, other than vending machine chips, pop, chocolate bars was available. (So no lunch lady or lunch line with credits, etc.)

This is very much in contrast to how things were when my kids entered public high school here in the US. There was a designated lunch room/cafeteria and you could pay for lunch service or bring your own bagged lunch. No kids were allowed to leave the school and the lunch break was SHORT. Where we had an hour off, my kids maybe had 20 minutes to get and eat their lunches. It would be impossible to walk home to eat. Both kids tried the school's lunch program, but hated it and ended up just taking their lunches every day for four years. I know someone who is a "lunch lady" at our local school and the meals sound horrible. When I think of images in my head of what school meals were like, I picture large trays of "home-made" pizza (the rectangle kind), meatloaf and potatoes, etc. She told me that none of the meals are made like that anymore. Everything is just dumped on a tray for "heat and eat."

 

[ronandannette]

Why are the gyms separated?

Maybe they have segregated gym classes? I'm sure I've seen that scenario in movies and on TV. That's not the way it's done here though, either 35 years ago when I was in high school or when my DS was, much more recently. Phys. ED at all grade levels is co-ed.

 

[NAB]

Why are the gyms separated?

I remember in high school we had a boy and a girl gym. That was a long time ago. Not sure if it is that way now, do know the high school had 2 gyms.