Experience: teenager from moscow in u.S. High school

How I found a way around in an American school

I got off a large yellow bus and joined a huge crowd of teenagers heading for an ordinary one-story building. After wandering for a while around a long corridor with a black and white checkered pattern floor, I finally found the room I needed, and sat down at a vacant desk. Thus began my first day at Onteora, an ordinary American public school. My old one, No.220 in Moscow, was but a distant memory. When a teacher walked into the classroom, no one rose to greet him. Mr. Fischer, a middle-aged math master in a scruffy old pair of jeans and T-shirt, took it for granted. Just as he did the harmless teasing from the stu­dents. Some were sitting with their feet on the chair; others reclined. The teacher him­self sat astride his chair. I tried to blend into a new environment, pains­takingly remembering the faces of those with whom presumably I would have to spend a whole year. But in the next class I saw an entirely different group of teenagers.

I did not get to see the whole of my grade – Grade 9, about 20 students – until lunch, in a large bright cafeteria packed with round tables. I found my classmates sitting at tables in what looked like interest groups. It seemed that the whole school was divided into a large number of well-defined groups. One table seemed to be occupied by athletes. Another, as I found out, by members of the school orchestra. A third, by students dressed in black, who thought themselves to be wizards and witches. What they all had in common was only a standard meal, at $1.75. With a tray recalling a less tasty version of food from a Moscow McDonald’s, I followed a girl I had met at the first class. She led me to a table with garrulous, hippie-like teenagers. One girl was wearing a T-shirt with a crossed out likeness of President Bush. Before long we were joined by a boy in a light-blue strapped dress. In Moscow I got to know the whole of my class within a day. In America, it took me a month.

From Middling to A-Student

At the end of the first quarter, mom found in the mailbox an official letter with my school grades. Instead of the usual five-point system, the grades were in percentages. The Russian “five” or top mark is roughly the same as 90 percent to 100 percent, and “two” or fail, under 65 percent. From a middling Russian high-school student I instantly turned into an A-student at the American school. Instead of helping me in her free time as she had to do in Moscow, in America mom went to see the school counselor – primarily to understand school organi­zation. The counselor is a person that any student, teacher or parent can go for advice. To my mother, as well as to myself, the American education system was so unusual that we had to spend hours to fully understand it. After Russian school, the curriculum seemed rather simple and so the counselor reviewed my schedule. The counselor watches your performance and even recommends what university you should join.

Class Menu

Although the regular classes initially looked very simple, I was struck by the choice of extras. You can choose two electives a year. I took up arts and sang in a choir, but in addition to that, there were classes in information science, politics, business, photography, music, psychology, and foreign languages. On top of that, those interested in a particular subject that was not taught at the school, could participate in a special mentoring program that gave you an opportunity to learn from a person (usually from a nearby town) who is an expert in the field. I was invited for an interview, asked a couple of questions, and fixed for an appointment with a local newspaper editor. I started writing, and my items were published. One of my duties is to write a column on the weekly meeting of what is known at the education council.

Editorial Assignment

I felt lost at the first meeting. I had expected a boring report on the previous week’s performance but instead witnessed a lively discussion about next year’s school budget. Because of the war in Iraq the federal administration did not have enough funding for the schools and so my school district budget would probably have to be cut from $42 million to $39 million. The meeting was attended by school administrators, resident representatives (elected by local communities), parents, and some students. As I found later, schools in America are not entirely free. Each householder, regardless of whether he/she has children or not, is to pay approximately $2,000 a year in local school tax. This is why many resi­dents are attached to their school, seeing it really as their own.

Thus, step by step, the American education system ceased being alien to me. I got accustomed to it. In Moscow, wherever you go, you see teenagers smoking cigarettes. In America, marijuana is sold at the back of the school bus.

In Moscow, schools offer excellent academic-level education while in America the curriculum is more customized, more pragmatic, offering broader choice and opportunities.

Anastasia Yakovleva

Roditelskoye Sobraniye 24/0/2006