Is the US school system really like it's portrayed in the movies?

Question

So does each school really have its own cheerleading squad?

Is it really divided up into the nerds, the jocks, etc?

Can people really get a scholarship to a top University/College like Yale or Harvard by just being good at baseball or american football?

And is the end of year prom always such a big deal?

Answer 1

I'm not an American, but almost all my relatives are.

No, not each school has its own cheerleading squad--some are just too small or too far out in the boonies. Also, elementary schools do not have cheerleading squads. Don't know about middle schools. But in general, the high schools have cheerleading squads.

It can have the cliques for nerds, jocks, etc. That's true of schools in Canada, too. It depends on the school.

Yes, people can get scholarships for such thing. I don't know specifically if for Yale or Harvard, but sports scholarships are huge in the US.

From what I can tell from just these forums, the prom *is* a huge deal. I don't understand it personally--it's just a silly dance. But hey... I'm not American. :)

Answer 2

Yes, all the examples you listed are basically true. However, in the movies you do not usually see how much of the curriculum is sub-standard, how far the "dumbing down" has gone, and how bored and angry the students are for having to waste their time to so little effect. Nowadays high schools don't try to do much more than what a junior high did when I was young.

I visited an urban high school once a few years ago and the teacher had just written a fairly simple word on the blackboard and SPELLED IT WRONG! A couple of the students tittered, but she ignored them and went right on with what she had been saying, which was extremely banal.

Answer 3

Yes pretty much

Answer 4

Yes. Where are you from? Is it like that there?