School traditions in America: meetings, holidays and thanks

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For many immigrants whose children are going to study in American schools for the first time, it is rather difficult to adapt to the new education system - and not even because they teach otherwise. Customs and culture in schools are very different from those in the CIS countries.

Our immigrants, as a rule, rarely take part in the life of the school - they are used to the fact that at home they only need to pass money on the next curtains to their parents and nothing depends on them anymore. Here, of course, this is not at all the case. To help those who have children for the first time go to public free schools, I want to tell you about the most common traditions here.

Parent-teacher meeting

If you think that parental committees in America are such a bunch of bored mothers of housewives, then you are greatly mistaken! Organizations that unite parents (Parent Associations) are a force that even officials from the Department of Education cannot resist. According to the statute, all parents or legal guardians of children who study at this particular school are members of the RA by default. The meetings of the RA are held monthly, and every year at the general meeting the members of the board are elected - the president, vice-presidents, and accountant.

The Department of Education cannot even appoint a new school principal without the approval of the board members! And the school principal, in turn, is obliged to report monthly to a group of “school leaders” (which includes parents and teachers) about what happens at the school - from the schedule of test classes to plans to repair the building. Without the approval of the RA, the management of the police station cannot change the school guards, and the district government will not receive permission for a new park near the school. All this is discussed at meetings, and the parents present are voting “for” or “against” the school and district leadership plans.

Members of the Republic of Armenia are invited to the meetings of district leaders, they participate in the distribution of the district budget and communicate directly with state senators.

And when a child enters a secondary or high school, college, the participation of parents in the RA is also taken into account. At the same time, work in the RA is completely free, it is a real volunteer movement.

The more you know about school life, the sooner you can help your child adapt, so I would recommend attending such meetings. Even if you speak English poorly, you can ask for a translator at the school or find another Russian-speaking parent who can help you. By the way, documents of the departments of education of various states are also available in Russian, discrimination based on language is simply excluded here.

Each class has its own parent committee. He is chosen by a teacher from among the willing parents at the beginning of the school year. They are responsible for organizing festive parties in the classroom, help teachers accompany children on excursions and notify the other parents about important news from the school and the RA.

The main task of the Parent Association (or in some schools - the Parent-Teacher Association, if it includes, in addition to parents, also a teacher) is collecting money. Unlike how it is done in the schools of the CIS countries, donations here are exclusively on a voluntary basis and non-participation in raising money does not entail any negative consequences for your child.

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Citizens, buy tickets to the entrance to the "failure"

Raising money from parents - fundraising is the most entertaining part of school life for parents. The members of the Board of the Parental Association constantly think out how to make money so that the children would be fun and interesting, and for adults it is not a pity to part with money.

Last year, a school from a small Texas town became famous throughout the country. The leadership of the Republic of Armenia sent out a letter to the following parents:

“We know that you are busy and you have no time to participate in our stupid events, so just write us a check, and we promise to leave you alone!”.

Various organizations constantly cooperate with parent associations, helping them (and themselves, of course) make money. For example, schools hold book fairs every year (and sometimes twice a year). Most often, books (calculated on the age of school students) are provided by Skolastic Publishing House (Scholastic), but sometimes a contract is made with a network of bookstores Barnes and Noble. The books are sold by parents-volunteers, and a certain percentage of sales goes to the RA budget. With this money, as a rule, the school’s library fund is replenished, furniture or electronics are bought.

At such a fair, you can not only buy books, but also the office, small souvenirs, and even meet the “hero” of your favorite children's books, such as, for example, the dog Clifford.

In addition to books and trinkets, you can also purchase chocolate sets, coffee, holiday gifts (usually Christmas and Hanukkah) and even gift wrapping through catalogs. This is a whole industry - firms distribute their products through schools, and the school (or Parent Association) gets its percentage of sales.

Every month at a parent’s general meeting, an accountant reports how much money is in the account, and everyone collectively decides what to spend it on - in our school, for example, buy iPads or install new secure door locks, improve school grounds.

Such large corporations as McDonalds and Chucky Chises also offer their assistance in organizing fundraising - here you can arrange a holiday for schoolchildren at a reduced price, and part of the sales will also go to the parent association.

Green days on the calendar

Holidays in American schools arrange often and with pleasure. The main autumn festival in elementary school is, of course, Halloween, for which students from kindergarten to second grade wear costumes and participate in a school parade. In high school, with the consent of the teachers, they can arrange a “sweet” treat, as long as all the cupcakes and cookies are decorated with spiders and other horror stories.

Before the end of the winter semester, a holiday party is organized in schools. Ten years ago, it was called “Christmas”, but with the emergence of an increasing number of immigrants with different religious views, the education departments turned out to be inundated with complaints of the offended. Therefore, now - no Christmas, no Hanukkah, no New Year in the state free schools.

Moreover, children usually make various crafts for the holidays - now, at the winter holiday, they are now limited to carved or painted snowflakes or gingerbread men.

Christmas trees, figures of Santa, deer, menorah - all this is strictly prohibited, so as not to offend anyone. Want a religious component - welcome to a private religious school.

In public free schools will have to be content with a common tolerant “Happy holiday!”. In the same way, the spring holiday before the Easter holidays is complete without the image of eggs and hares.

With the growth of childhood allergies, more and more schools are introducing a very tough policy in terms of treats. As a rule, you can not bring on holidays pastries, which contain nuts. Not every school approves personally baked sweets, is asked to bring purchased, and even better - in individual packaging. So that the teacher could get acquainted with the ingredients, and the parents of the other students did not suffer from doubts about how clean it was in your home kitchen. All this also applies to the celebration of the birthday of your child in the classroom.

It is unusual for us, but here it is customary for the birthday person to treat everyone and give small gifts. Therefore, parents (having asked the teacher in advance what day and time it is convenient for him to arrange a holiday) bring sweet treats to the classroom, as well as small souvenirs for the classmates of their child. In most immigrant Russian-speaking forums, this tradition is fiercely scolded, but I personally think that we are teaching our children to be generous and grateful in this way.

In American schools, it is customary to give gifts to teachers, but not often. As a rule, twice a year - at the end of the winter semester and at the end of the school year - the parent committee of your class collects monetary contributions (only on a voluntary basis, according to the law for the winter holidays, they can ask for 5 dollars and for the end of the academic year for 7 dollars from each family).

If you do not want or can not participate in the general collection of money - this is your own business. With the money collected, a gift card of any payment system and a postcard signed by all parents are bought. This is also in accordance with the rules adopted by the Ethics Commission and the Department of Education - so that the teacher does not allocate the children of those parents who were dumped as a gift to him.

Of course, you can make some kind of individual gift, but it is not necessary. In addition, the gift can not be expensive - all that is above 50 dollars, the teacher either has no right to accept, or must report to the Ethics Commission (necessarily with the names of the donors), or donate to the school. Each state and each school has its own rules regarding this.

From my own experience, I can say that the most important gift for a teacher here is not money at all. Most of all, an American teacher will appreciate the letter in which you will not only thank him, but also briefly describe how he helped your child in school (samples of such letters can be found on the Internet).

These letters are very important for the portfolio, and in the future, when the teacher will take the next exam for advanced training, they will be taken into account.

At the beginning of May in America, there is a week of thanks to teachers, during which the RA usually arranges a general breakfast or lunch for all school staff, gives teachers small gifts from their own budget on behalf of all parents of all students.

Every month in the American school is devoted to some important event in the history of the country. For example, February is the month of African-American culture. And in September-October - the month of Latin American heritage. March is the month of women dedicated to the history of the struggle of suffragists for equality. Schools organize thematic exhibitions and conduct special classes.

Once a year, “international days” are organized, when all students are asked to come in national costumes, parents are invited to classes to talk about their homeland or the cultural heritage of their ancestors, immigrants, and completes all this, as a rule, “international dinner” - an evening when each family brings their own national dish (you can cook or buy). All the treats are exhibited together and this is a unique opportunity to visit the restaurant of the “peoples of the world” without leaving the school!

Special attention during the holidays is given to flowers. Of course, in most public free schools there is no uniform, but there is a certain dress code. At the beginning of the school year everyone is reminded that you cannot wear clothes with religious or national signs to school. But on St. Patrick's Day is very welcome, if the child comes in something green.

During the Week of Thanks, teachers can wear something red - this color is considered to be a sign of teacher support.

Each school also has its own colors, usually they are worn during sporting events. By the way, traditionally school colors are worn not only by students, but also by their parents - in order to support the school.

Will you go to the ball?

At the beginning of the school year, students and graduates of high schools and colleges are invited to an unusual “home” ceremony, something like our graduate meeting in the evening. Only if in high school such a meeting lasts one day, then in college it lasts a whole week! Typically, colleges arrange parades involving graduates from different years, dances, and even football games.

Winter dances and pajama days - as a rule, closer to the end of the winter semester, in middle and high schools they organize real festive balls, and in elementary school they invite all students to come to classes in their pajamas.

But, of course, real spring balls occupy a separate place in senior American school, what is called here prom. Many Russian-speaking parents confuse him with graduation, but I would rather compare with the last call that we are used to. Indeed, prom is held at the end of the school year, but, unlike the celebration of graduation, this is a real official reception, where the boys come in tuxedos, and girls - in luxurious dresses of princesses.

There is a whole ceremony of a trip to the prom, when a boy rents a limousine (alone or shares the amount with his friends), they call in to their friends. The gentleman will know in advance what color the dress will be with his lady and orders a bouquet for her and for himself a buttonhole in tune to the dress. After the flowers were handed over, everyone was photographed together at the girl's house, and after all the couples had gathered, the limousine drove them to the ball. And already at dances, students choose the king and queen of the ball, as a rule, these are the most popular boys and girls in school.

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Usually prom takes place for graduates of high school, but recently more and more such balls began to do for eighth-graders who graduate from high school. Fifth-graders who graduate from elementary school also go to their spring ball, but, of course, without limousines and tuxedos.

Graduation in high school takes place after passing all the tests. It differs from prom, first of all, by a less formal approach to the participants' clothes. As a rule, all school graduates still wear a special raincoat and cap in the color of their school, so a beautiful and expensive outfit will be invisible.

If prom is pure dance, then graduation is a real ceremony, during which the director, teachers, parents, the best graduates and special guests perform. But after receiving diplomas begins the most unbridled fun.

In some schools, the celebration is delayed for several days, or even a couple of weeks, in such cases, graduates, along with their teachers, go on long excursions to another city or state. At the graduation invite not only parents, but also neighbors. It is important not to forget about gifts - it’s customary to give money. As a rule, the amount received from all the guests is enough for yesterday’s schoolchild to buy a new laptop, with which he will go to college. Where there will be new holidays and new traditions.

Victoria Averbukh

Original article published on the site America roads and reprinted with permission of the author.

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