History UsefulNotes / AmericanEducationalSystem

* A '''public school''' (sometimes called a "traditional public school" and "district-run public school" to disambiguate them from charter schools. [[note]] You'll also hear the term "government school" from either a conservative StrawmanPolitical or someone trying to be transatlantically unambiguous[[/note]] "Public School" is the American term for a school run by the government and funded by taxes. This is [[SeparatedByACommonLanguage what the British call a]] "state school", a term used only in a post-secondary context in the US. Every American youth has the privilege to receive taxpayer-supported education in a public school, and it is the default form of schooling for the vast majority (roughly 87% of American kids go to a public school of some kind).

Student athletes aren't allowed to be paid directly by the schools — the argument is that their education is payment enough, and that paying them in cash would allow richer schools to buy up all the best talent. Cases of Division I schools being punished by the NCAA for slipping money or perks to players under the table are all too common. However, there have been calls to change this, the argument being that college sports stopped being "amateur" a long time ago — there are massive amounts of money involved, many college teams have [[ProductPlacement sponsors]] and TV deals, and the entire system is essentially a "farm" for the big leagues, so it is argued that not paying the athletes is tantamount to exploiting them. Indeed, at [[http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/26/us/northwestern-football-union/ at least one university]], players have attempted to unionize. The fact that college sports has gotten big enough for such a debate to happen in the first place, of course, has itself raised concern among academics, who feel that the transformation of many colleges and universities into "sports schools" has detracted from their academic mission. This was the main reason why the UsefulNotes/IvyLeague schools, which had once been sports powerhouses, all but withdrew from the NCAA in TheFifties. The NCAA has been listening to these concerns, implementing [[http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/17/ncaas-stricter-academic-rules-what-does-it-mean-for-your-team/ new standards]] in 2011 regarding academic performance of student athletes — if a team doesn't graduate at least half of its players, then it's disqualified from post-season play.

These students would typically be placed in separate state facilities where little effective education was being conducted, and the funding that should have been devoted to their education redirected to more suitable students. Legislation in 1975 and later gave parents more power in determining what level of education their children could receive, and school districts were obligated to provide at least a modicum of effort (and more importantly, funding) to that end. All public schools fall under this regulation by virtue of receiving federal funding. Charter and private schools may or may not be required to comply, based on whether they receive any public funding, but where there is demand, supply will be created, and some charter schools have been specifically established to provide special instruction to students with disabilities.

Colleges in the United States may be public or private, as with primary and secondary schools, but these terms are used slightly differently at the tertiary educational level. A "public" university derives ''some'' of its funding from the state (about 20-25%, in the case of the University of California system), and scrapes up the rest through tuition/patents/hitting up alums for money/etc. Private universities rely solely on tuition/patents/hitting up alums for money/etc. Public universities (also called state universities[[note]]The general rule is, if it has "University of [STATE]" or "State University" as part of its name, it's probably public. However, the University of Pennsylvania is a tricky exception, as it is a prestigious UsefulNotes/IvyLeague school that's not funded by the state of Pennsylvania. In the other direction, the same is true for Rutgers University, which was once a private college but is now the public university system of UsefulNotes/NewJersey; its full, formal name is "Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey", but that's in the fine print.[[/note]]) generally tend to be less expensive than private universities, though this is not always the case. Neither public nor private universities are required to take everyone (with the exception of community colleges; see below) — you must apply, and admission can be very competitive indeed. However, public universities are usually easier to get into than private universities, if for no other reason than they are usually larger and can therefore afford to accept a larger number of students. Students are also much more likely to go to their home state's university for various reasons — they may have grown up cheering for the sports team, their parents are often alumni, and tuition is often drastically reduced for in-state students (even if the students themselves aren't taxpayers, their parents are, after all). The ease of gaining entry to a private university is variable, as the tuition is often drastically higher, and the minimum standards are usually stricter (even, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections oddly enough]], [[{{Nepotism}} if your parents own it]]).

Four-year colleges almost always refer to incoming students as freshmen, second-year students as sophomores, third year as juniors, and fourth year as seniors.[[note]]Notable exceptions include the University of Virginia and the US federal service academies. UVA uses "first-year" to "fourth-year", in order of number of years attended. The academies officially use "fourth class" to "first class", in ''reverse order'' of years attended.[[/note]] Anybody on their last year before graduating can also be referred to as a senior, although students may teasingly refer to those who have been there for 5+ years as "Super Seniors". This is not the same as being "kept back" in primary or secondary school and does not carry much of a stigma; a student may abort a half-completed major to start over on a new one, may take a sabbatical,[[note]]Until fairly recently, this was especially true at [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} BYU]] and its branch campuses, since young male LDS Church members are strongly encouraged to go on church missions during the traditional college years. Young women can and do go on missions, but in considerably smaller numbers. Because the minimum age for American missionaries was 19 for men and 21 for women until 2012, this meant that most missionaries had to interrupt their college education to go into the field. Today, the minimum age is 18 for men and 19 for women, meaning that male missionaries can now go into the field straight from high school.[[/note]] or may suffer other impediments to their progress, such as money problems or illness. For instance, California's San Jose State University has an Animation department which is so under-staffed and so over-attended (due to its proximity to Creator/{{Pixar}} and Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic) that its students are only allowed to take ''one animation course a semester'', resulting in a ''seven-year'' program whose graduates take longer to obtain their Bachelor's degree than their contemporaries take for their Master's. Similarly, not finishing college at all has nowhere near the stigma that dropping out of high school does. Bill Gates, one of the world's richest people, dropped out of Harvard at 19 to found Microsoft. In fact, open disdain for college degrees has become fashionable in some corners of Silicon Valley.

Some students, however, will opt for the Greek system. A fraternity or sorority is something like a club, complete with clubhouse. Each one is almost always designated by a different grouping of Greek letters (e.g. Alpha Beta Gamma); generally, an individual fraternity is a ''chapter'' of a national organization (e.g. the Stanford chapter of the Alpha Beta Gammas). There are, however, three exceptions to the Greek-letter rule, all fraternities—Acacia, [=FarmHouse=], and Triangle (the last of these restricted to STEM majors). A chapter will own or rent a large-ish house (''frat house'') which will then serve as living quarters for its members. Often these houses will be clustered together, in a part of town that will thereby be known as ''frat row''. Note, however, that at some schools, the word "frat" has a negative connotation, and few people in the Greek system will use it. Some might even find it offensive. As a rule of thumb, don't use the word unless you hear someone who is in a fraternity use it first.

Many schools have "pep rallies" which the entire school must attend. These rallies are supposed to get students enthused over an upcoming sports event, to instill school spirit, and to give them a chance to recognize the various students participating. One quarter of the attendees of these pep rallies have no idea what sport is in season. Another quarter can recite the win-loss stats for the team for the last two decades. Another quarter are just really glad to be out of class. The rest have all "cut" (skipped) the rally to do something more interesting.

Four-year colleges refer to incoming students as freshmen, second-year students as sophomores, third year as juniors, and fourth year as seniors. Anybody on their last year before graduating can also be referred to as a senior, although students may teasingly refer to those who have been there for 5+ years as "Super Seniors". This is not the same as being "kept back" in primary or secondary school and does not carry much of a stigma; a student may abort a half-completed major to start over on a new one, may take a sabbatical, or may suffer other impediments to their progress, such as money problems or illness. For instance, California's San Jose State University has an Animation department which is so under-staffed and so over-attended (due to its proximity to Creator/{{Pixar}} and Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic) that its students are only allowed to take ''one animation course a semester'', resulting in a ''seven-year'' program whose graduates take longer to obtain their Bachelor's degree than their contemporaries take for their Master's. Similarly, not finishing college at all has nowhere near the stigma that dropping out of high school does. Bill Gates, one of the world's richest people, dropped out of Harvard at 19 to found Microsoft. In fact, open disdain for college degrees has become fashionable in some corners of Silicon Valley.

Some students, however, will opt for the Greek system. A fraternity or sorority is something like a club, complete with clubhouse. Each one is almost always designated by a different grouping of Greek letters (e.g. Alpha Beta Gamma); generally, an individual fraternity is a ''chapter'' of a national organization (e.g. the Stanford chapter of the Alpha Beta Gammas). There are, however, three exceptions to the Greek-letter rule, all fraternities—Acacia, [=FarmHouse=], and Triangle (the last of these restricted males majoring in the STEM fields). A chapter will own or rent a large-ish house (''frat house'') which will then serve as living quarters for its members. Often these houses will be clustered together, in a part of town that will thereby be known as ''frat row''. Note, however, that at some schools, the word "frat" has a negative connotation, and few people in the Greek system will use it. Some might even find it offensive. As a rule of thumb, don't use the word unless you hear someone who is in a fraternity use it first.

Some students, however, will opt for the Greek system. A fraternity or sorority is something like a club, complete with clubhouse. Each one is almost always designated by a different grouping of Greek letters (e.g. Alpha Beta Gamma); generally, an individual fraternity is a ''chapter'' of a national organization (e.g. the Stanford chapter of the Alpha Beta Gammas). There is at least one exception to the Greek-letter rule; one national fraternity goes by the name [=FarmHouse=]. A chapter will own or rent a large-ish house (''frat house'') which will then serve as living quarters for its members. Often these houses will be clustered together, in a part of town that will thereby be known as ''frat row''. Note, however, that at some schools, the word "frat" has a negative connotation, and few people in the Greek system will use it. Some might even find it offensive. As a rule of thumb, don't use the word unless you hear someone who is in a fraternity use it first.

Some students, however, will opt for the Greek system. A fraternity or sorority is something like a club, complete with clubhouse. Each one is designated by a different grouping of Greek letters (e.g. Alpha Beta Gamma); generally, an individual fraternity is a ''chapter'' of a national organization (e.g. the Stanford chapter of the Alpha Beta Gammas). A chapter will own or rent a large-ish house (''frat house'') which will then serve as living quarters for its members. Often these houses will be clustered together, in a part of town that will thereby be known as ''frat row''. Note, however, that at some schools, the word "frat" has a negative connotation, and few people in the Greek system will use it. Some might even find it offensive. As a rule of thumb, don't use the word unless you hear someone who is in a fraternity use it first.

Fraternities and sororities often have nicknames: the real-life sorority Delta Delta Delta, for example, is typically called "Tri-Delt". They always have reputations (e.g. "mostly Hispanic women", "mostly biology students", [[BreadEggsMilkSquick "mostly alcoholic date-rapists"]]), and they almost always have rivalries and/or partnerships with other fraternities. They are almost always single-sex organizations (hence the delineation between fraternities and sororities), and until ''very'' recently, were just as likely to be all people of the same race or ethnic group. There ''are'' some coed Greek organizations (sometimes called "societies"), but these are pretty rare. Fraternities and sororities have developed a reputation for [[WackyFratboyHijinx partying and drinking alarming quantities of alcohol]], especially if they are not affiliated with a particular professional or religious attachment. This is largely TruthInTelevision, and has caused some college to ban all Greek organizations from the campus. Remember, college is where many Americans will be both 1) exposed to alcohol and 2) away from parents or other authority figures who are likely to enforce the 21-year-old drinking age mandated by law. Furthermore, any American college student who waits until 21 to drink was actively trying to avoid it — anyone who wants to drink at college is going to have no trouble finding an of-age buddy to buy them beer.

And on the subject of underage drinking, the police of any given college town ''know'' that it's going on, but because it's so ubiquitous, they don't bother going after it, and generally avoid going on campus entirely. Only if drunk students wander into town and cause problems will police ever become involved. Most college have their own campus police to handle inter-campus matters of law, and even they generally have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy if a drunk student requests a cop to drive them home (a very common service). And even on campus, at most colleges the campus police will not try to actively "bust" parties with alcohol unless the students are serving alcohol to clearly underage guests, disturbing the peace, or breaking other, more serious laws. There are exceptions, especially at more conservative universities or schools that are trying to lose their reputation as a heavy party school. However, it is worth mentioning that having other types of [[DrugsAreBad drugs]] will get a student or students into a lot of trouble with the police - sometimes, though, a sympathetic officer might make an exception with pot.

Fraternities choose their new members once or twice a year, always in the fall and, more rarely, in the spring. The application process is called ''rushing''. An applicant will choose to rush anywhere from one to several frats, who will then accept or reject the applicant. Once selected, the new member is called a ''pledge''; he or she may be subject to a difficult, dangerous, and/or embarrassing InitiationCeremony. These ceremonies are another sticking point between frats and college administrations, as they have been known to devolve into hazing and outright abuse (as famously portrayed in ''Film/AnimalHouse'').

Fraternitiess choose their new members once or twice a year, always in the fall and, more rarely, in the spring. The application process is called ''rushing''. An applicant will choose to rush anywhere from one to several frats, who will then accept or reject the applicant. Once selected, the new member is called a ''pledge''; he or she may be subject to a difficult, dangerous, and/or embarrassing InitiationCeremony. These ceremonies are another sticking point between frats and college administrations, as they have been known to devolve into hazing and outright abuse (as famously portrayed in ''Film/AnimalHouse'').

It is the rule, not the exception, for a high school to have sports programs. School athletes tend to be at or near the top of the PopularityFoodChain, especially if they're on a winning team and the sport they play is basketball and/or football. A sizable chunk of a school's budget will be devoted to supporting its athletic programs, much to the ire of teachers and the more academically inclined. Student athletes are nominally required to maintain a certain GPA in order to stay on the team, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that student athletes have better than average disciplinary records and academic performance. However, there is often a lot of pressure placed on teachers from coaches, the administration, and the community to give athletes special favors in the grading department. Sometimes, even school districts will be redrawn in order for a high school to get at a hot prospect for its team. All of this is especially true in rural communities, where the high school football field or basketball court is often, along with [[UsefulNotes/AmericanChurches the church]], one of the main focal points of community life (as seen in ''Literature/FridayNightLights''). The most popular sports at the high school level are usually [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball football]] and UsefulNotes/{{basketball}}, although most schools also have [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball soccer]], UsefulNotes/IceHockey (mostly in New England and the Great Lakes states), wrestling, volleyball (mostly a girls' sport in the US, with California a partial exception), lacrosse (mainly in the eastern states), baseball and track programs.

American colleges are delineated between community colleges (sometimes called Junior Colleges) and four-year colleges. Community colleges will focus on Associate's Degrees and various certification programs, which usually take only two years to attain, while four year colleges will focus on Bachelor's Degrees (which, as the name suggests, usually take four years) and have post-graduate programs available. However, some community colleges also have Bachelor's programs (the actual degree being conferred by a cooperating senior college or university, classes offered on the community college campus), and many four-year colleges have certification programs (which may be incorporated into a degree).

Students may choose their entire curriculum. While there are certain standards that must be met in order to graduate, students have a great deal of leeway in when and how to meet those standards. Graduation requirements vary from institution to institution and even from department to department; some schools let you take whatever classes you want whenever you want; others have a very strict core curriculum and set "tracks" for majors, though most schools are somewhere in between. This is where the trig and calc students from high school move on to the even more complicated maths or start learning to apply that trig and calc while building things, and the creative writing students of old have taken up law or begun the process of becoming teachers.

Usually, students in public schools do not wear uniforms[[note]]Uniforms are almost always mandatory in Louisiana, however.[[/note]]. A very few do require uniforms, and some schools (particularly elementary schools) might have a dress code, but in most you can get away with wearing pretty much anything. Because a public school is in fact a government agency, a dress code cannot be made mandatory (it then becomes a 1st Amendment issue, as the government is thus forcing the child to wear a uniform that expresses the state's opinion, a big no-no; forcing parents to do business with a given supplier is another, distinctly different no-no). However, in places where there is a standard uniform, parents often select it because there are so many kids buying the same style of clothes that the uniform version is much cheaper than going with a non-uniform style; conversely, there is much less incentive on suppliers to offer a sale, especially on goods marked with the school name. A number of public schools started requiring uniforms in the 1990s and early 2000s; this has been parodied on ''TheSimpsons'' and elsewhere, and has since died down.

In reality, however, many people transfer to a four-year college after getting their two-year Associate's degree to a four-year school, to upgrade to a Bachelor's. It's often suggested, especially in the current economy, to recent high school grads that they go as cheap as possible with their Bachelor's degree, as unless it's from an elite UsefulNotes/IvyLeague school, most employers and post-graduate programs won't care about what college you got it from as long as it's properly accredited. Others feel that a four-year education isn't worth the time or money. Others still take courses for a vocational skill. Unlike the European master-apprentice system, most trades are now taught in community colleges. Auto repair, electricians, paralegals, plumbing, police, fire, emergency medical technician, cooking, and some forms of nursing are commonly but a few of the courses done at community colleges. Thus, college is more or less necessary for anyone but unskilled laborers.

This can lead to amusing situations when a BrilliantButLazy student drops out at age 16, promptly gets his/her GED, and has a diploma equivalent 2 years before their peers. Theoretically they could get an Associate's Degree while everyone else is graduating, but this is much rarer, hence the "lazy" part. A real-life example of this is current [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams Washington Nationals]] star Bryce Harper, who took and passed his GED at 16 so he could enter junior college early, thus getting a head start on a professional baseball career.[[note]] Under MLB rules, U.S. players are eligible for the draft upon high school graduation. Harper chose junior college because of another draft rule—a player who enrolls in a four-year college is ineligible until three years after enrollment or turning 21, whichever is sooner. Junior college players, on the other hand, are always eligible. This meant that Harper could be drafted at age 17 with a year of college under his belt (and was, as the first overall pick).[[/note]] To prevent students from gaming the system in this manner, some states require a GED candidate to be at least 18 years of age.[[note]]Harper's home state of Nevada is obviously not one of them.[[/note]]

The SAT and the ACT are standardized tests, both overseen by non-profit organizations.[[note]]The ACT is owned and operated by an organization of the same name. The SAT is owned and developed by the College Board, but administered by the Educational Testing Service.[[/note]] Students usually first take them during their junior year of high school (though some take them in 7th grade and upward), but because they are one of the criteria used by colleges in approving students for enrollment, some will [[LuckBasedMission retake]] them to achieve a [[TrialAndErrorGameplay better score]]. All regionally accredited colleges in the US will accept a score from either test, but some prefer one over the other.

Of course, this is all seen in the case of an Active Shooter situations (cases where the perpetrator is killing with no pattern or method to his or her victims). These are the most common to be featured in media, but it goes without saying that not all school shootings are Active Shooter events. Weapons are brought to school with intention to kill specific victims for any numerous reasons. In some cases, shootings at schools may be related to criminal activity, and while may occur on school grounds, may not occur in the school building (another critical part of an Active Shooter event). [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement The reasons these are not covered as much are best discussed someplace else.]] Many school systems have taken practice of employing a school officer, typically a fully deputized police officer of some kind, to assist in security matters. This is OlderThanTheyThink. The first police response in UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} were made by an on-duty school resource officer, who engaged in a brief firefight with the shooters before they retreated inside, less than 5 minutes after the shootings occurred.

The term "university" is reserved for schools that offer both undergraduate (Associate's and Bachelor's) and post-graduate (Master's and Doctorate) programs. "College" is often used informally to refer to either a college or a university, as in, "I went to college at Rutgers University." To make things even more complicated, there are some universities that are still called "College" because they were named that way, way back when (such as Boston College).

While religious instruction is mandatory (even for non-Catholic students), as are uniforms, Catholic schools otherwise have the same curriculum as public schools (biology classes teach evolution, sex education can be fairly comprehensive and not homophobic, and proselytizing is kept to a minimum). They also have a reputation for providing a very high-quality education for their price. In addition, the Church heavily subsidizes its schools, allowing them to have lower tuition and grant more scholarships. These two factors make them a popular choice not only among Catholic families, but among those parents who don't want to send their kids to public school but don't want to spend too much money or invest their time in homeschooling. The image of {{stern nun}}s beating students with yardsticks is a common stereotype of how Catholic schools are taught, but this [[DiscreditedTrope hasn't been true]] (at least in the US) [[TwoDecadesBehind for decades]]. This is where the [[CatholicSchoolGirlsRule American version of the "schoolgirl fetish"]] has its roots.
** '''Other Christian schools''' aren't part of the Catholic education system and are run according to principles Christian of other Christian denominations, often evangelical Protestant (although there are exceptions[[note]]Episcopal schools, for example, are nearly identical to Catholic schools in their structure, in keeping with the stereotype of the Episcopal Church as "Catholicism lite". Other "mainline" Protestant denominations likewise run schools with enough marked similarities to the Catholic education system that discussing the differences would be a matter of splitting hairs.[[/note]]). Unlike Catholic schools, Christian schools are often marketed as TheMoralSubstitute to the public education system. Not only is there mandatory religious instruction, but the curriculum can be heavily modified in accordance with the school's mission -- creationism and Flood geology are part of science classes, sex education (if there even is any) is abstinence-only, and social studies classes teach that America was explicitly founded as a Christian nation. An excellent satire of Christian schools can be seen in the film ''Film/{{Saved}}''. The actual academic quality of these schools varies from school to school -- some of them aren't allowed to legally award diplomas, instead forcing their students to obtain [=GEDs=], while others are quite academically rigorous and are considered on par with some of the better prep schools.

** '''Catholic schools''', or parochial schools, are schools that are run by the Roman Catholic Church. Due to the principle of separation of church and state, all religiously-aligned schools are privately operated. America's Catholic education system was established in the 19th century by Catholic families (particularly [[UsefulNotes/TheIrishDiaspora Irish]] ones) who didn't want to send their kids to public schools, where they would face discrimination from the mostly [[WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant WASP]] students and faculty.\\

While religious instruction is mandatory (even for non-Catholic students), as are uniforms, Catholic schools otherwise have the same curriculum as public schools (biology classes teach evolution, sex education can be fairly comprehensive and not necessarily homophobic, and proselytizing is kept to a minimum). They also have a reputation for providing a very high-quality education for their price. In addition, the Church heavily subsidizes its schools, allowing them to have lower tuition and grant more scholarships. These two factors make them a popular choice not only among Catholic families, but among those parents who don't want to send their kids to public school but don't want to spend too much money or invest their time in homeschooling. [[SternNun The image of nuns beating students with yardsticks]] is a common stereotype of how Catholic schools are taught, [[DiscreditedTrope but this]] [[TwoDecadesBehind hasn't been true (at least in the US) for decades]]. This is where the [[CatholicSchoolGirlsRule American version of the "schoolgirl fetish"]] has its roots.

While religious instruction is mandatory (even for non-Catholic students), as are uniforms, Catholic schools otherwise have the same curriculum as public schools (the biology classes teach evolution, sex-ed classes are fairly comprehensive and don't bash gays, and proselytizing is kept to a minimum), and they have a reputation for providing a very high-quality education for their price. In addition, the Church heavily subsidizes its schools, allowing them to have lower tuition and grant more scholarships. These two factors make them a popular choice not only among Catholic families, but among those parents who don't want to send their kids to public school but don't want to spend too much money or invest their time in homeschooling. [[SternNun The image of nuns beating students with yardsticks]] is a common stereotype of how Catholic schools are taught, [[DiscreditedTrope but this]] [[TwoDecadesBehind hasn't been true (at least in the US) for decades]]. This is where the [[CatholicSchoolGirlsRule American version of the "schoolgirl fetish"]] has its roots.

** '''Christian schools''' are religious schools that aren't part of the Catholic education system and are run according to Christian principles -- which, more often than not (although there are exceptions[[note]]Episcopal schools, for example, are nearly identical to Catholic schools in their structure, in keeping with the stereotype of the Episcopal Church as "Catholicism lite". Other "mainline" Protestant denominations likewise run schools with enough marked similarities to the Catholic education system that discussing the differences would be a matter of splitting hairs.[[/note]]), means "conservative evangelical Protestant principles." Unlike Catholic schools, Christian schools are often marketed as TheMoralSubstitute to the public education system. Not only is there mandatory religious instruction, but the curriculum can be heavily modified in accordance with the school's mission -- creationism and Flood geology are part of science classes, sex education (if there even is any) is abstinence-only, and social studies classes teach that America was explicitly founded as a Christian nation. An excellent satire of Christian schools can be seen in the film ''Film/{{Saved}}''. The actual academic quality of these schools varies from school to school -- some of them aren't allowed to legally award diplomas, instead forcing their students to obtain [=GEDs=], while others are quite academically rigorous and are considered on par with some of the better prep schools.

For the same reason, schools often practice what is known as "social promotion," in which students are advanced to the next grade even when a reasonable argument could be made for making them repeat the year or take summer classes. Being held back a grade carries a heavy social stigma, and can easily cause a kid to be labeled an "idiot" or a "retard" by his or her peers -- the theory is that social promotion will save underachieving students from such torment, which could cause them to give up on school entirely and drop out due to them feeling that they're not good enough. In addition, putting students through school costs a lot of money, and every student who has to repeat a grade is another money sink for the school district. However, this also winds up cheating students out of a proper education and sets them up for failure -- by the time an underachieving student has reached HighSchool, where social promotion is far less common (in favor of summer school or holding students back), they find that they don't have the needed skills to make it through, and struggle more often than not. It also tells students that HardWorkHardlyWorks -- why study and get good grades in elementary school when you're gonna get passed along to the next grade whether or not you're doing well? This is a controversial subject -- many school districts have gotten rid of social promotion due to concern about slipping academic standards, only to bring it back when they realized just how many retained students they would have to pay for.

** '''Catholic schools''', or parochial schools, are schools that are run by the Roman Catholic Church. Due to the principle of separation of church and state, all religiously-aligned schools are privately operated. America's Catholic education system was established in the 19th century by Catholic families (particularly [[TheIrishDiaspora Irish]] ones) who didn't want to send their kids to public schools, where they would face discrimination from the mostly [[WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant WASP]] students and faculty.\\

Some students, however, will opt for the {{Greek}} system. A fraternity or sorority is something like a club, complete with clubhouse. Each one is designated by a different grouping of Greek letters (e.g. Alpha Beta Gamma); generally, an individual fraternity is a ''chapter'' of a national organization (e.g. the Stanford chapter of the Alpha Beta Gammas). A chapter will own or rent a large-ish house (''frat house'') which will then serve as living quarters for its members. Often these houses will be clustered together, in a part of town that will thereby be known as ''frat row''. Note, however, that at some schools, the word "frat" has a negative connotation, and few people in the Greek system will use it. Some might even find it offensive. As a rule of thumb, don't use the word unless you hear someone who is in a fraternity use it first.

It is the rule, not the exception, for a high school to have sports programs. School athletes tend to be at or near the top of the PopularityFoodChain, especially if they're on a winning team and the sport they play is basketball and/or football. A sizable chunk of a school's budget will be devoted to supporting its athletic programs, much to the ire of teachers and the more academically inclined. Student athletes are nominally required to maintain a certain GPA in order to stay on the team, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that student athletes have better than average disciplinary records and academic performance. However, there is often a lot of pressure placed on teachers from coaches, the administration, and the community to give athletes special favors in the grading department. Sometimes, even school districts will be redrawn in order for a high school to get at a hot prospect for its team. All of this is especially true in rural communities, where the high school football field or basketball court is often, along with [[UsefulNotes/AmericanChurches the church]], one of the main focal points of community life (as seen in ''Literature/FridayNightLights''). The most popular sports at the high school level are usually [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball football]] and UsefulNotes/{{basketball}}, although most schools also have [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball soccer]], UsefulNotes/{{ice hockey}} (mostly in New England and the Great Lakes states), wrestling, volleyball (mostly a girls' sport in the US, with California a partial exception), lacrosse (mainly in the eastern states), baseball and track programs.

Fraternitiess choose their new members once or twice a year, always in the fall and, more rarely, in the spring. The application process is called ''rushing''. An applicant will choose to rush anywhere from one to several frats, who will then accept or reject the applicant. Once selected, the new member is called a ''pledge''; he or she may be subject to a difficult, dangerous, and/or embarrassing {{initiation ceremony}}. These ceremonies are another sticking point between frats and college administrations, as they have been known to devolve into hazing and outright abuse (as famously portrayed in ''Film/AnimalHouse'').

The SAT and the ACT are standardized tests, both overseen by non-profit organizations. Students usually first take them during their junior year of high school (though some take them in 7th grade and upward), but because they are one of the criteria used by colleges in approving students for enrollment, some will [[LuckBasedMission retake]] them to achieve a [[TrialAndErrorGameplay better score]]. Most colleges will accept a score from either test. Some prefer one over the other.

There are also numerous prep courses devoted to preparing students for the SAT and ACT. Some tutoring services are run through schools, but many students go to private classes and tutors after school to take practice tests and learn test-taking strategies. Sort of like an American version of Cram School. Combined with the test fees, the fees for attending test prep courses can make standardized tests very expensive for many families. The College Board took steps to counter the tutoring issues in 2014, contracting with a tutoring company to provide free online practice problems and instructional videos for the SAT.

Colleges in the United States may be public or private, as with primary and secondary schools, but these terms are used slightly differently at the tertiary educational level. A "public" university derives ''some'' of its funding from the state (about 20-25%, in the case of the University of California system), and scrapes up the rest through tuition/patents/hitting up alums for money/etc. Private universities rely solely on tuition/patents/hitting up alums for money/etc. Public universities (also called state universities[[note]]The general rule is, if it has "University of [STATE]" or "State University" as part of its name, it's probably public. However, the University of Pennsylvania is a tricky exception, as it is a prestigious UsefulNotes/IvyLeague school that's not funded by the state of Pennsylvania. In the other direction, the same is true for Rutgers University, which was once a private college but is now the public university system of UsefulNotes/NewJersey; its full, formal name is "Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey", but that's in the fine print.[[/note]]) generally tend to be less expensive than private universities, though this is not always the case. Neither public nor private universities are required to take everyone (with the exception of community colleges; see below) — you must apply, and admission can be very competitive indeed. However, public universities are usually easier to get into than private universities, if for no other reason than they are usually larger and can therefore afford to accept a larger number of students. Students are also much more likely to go to their home state's university for various reasons — they may have grown up cheering for the sports team, their parents are likely alumni, and tuition is often drastically reduced for in-state students (even if the students themselves aren't taxpayers, their parents are, after all). The ease of gaining entry to a private university is variable, as the tuition is often drastically higher, and the minimum standards are usually stricter (even, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections oddly enough]], [[{{Nepotism}} if your parents own it]]).

This leads into another aspect of college culture — the politics. Since the student protests of TheSixties, colleges and academia in general have been a [[StrawmanU popular strawman target]] for conservatives, being stereotyped as hotbeds of flaky leftist politics pushed by radical professors and student groups. While this is sometimes TruthInTelevision, most colleges are also home to rival conservative groups, some of which may wield considerable influence. In particular, religious colleges and less elite state colleges have been known for their conservatism. For every {{Berzerkeley}}, there is a JimJonesUniversity. Modern universities have also been criticized from the left for the aforementioned college sports detracting from academics, the focus on corporate-friendly majors like computer science and engineering at the expense of liberal arts, the shift from stable tenure-track faculty positions to lower-paid adjuncts, as well as the massive debt that students take on to finance their educations.

Just to be clear, trig and calc are taken up by those who intend to go on to college and take a math-heavy major such as math or engineering. Creative writing is taken by those who intend to go on to college and take a liberal arts degree (or, in many schools, those who want an easy A). Business, home economics, and shop students tend to be those who intend on going to community college, vocational/technical school, the workforce, or [[YanksWithTanks the military]].