[little mixed girl]

hi there soompi ppl~

i'm working in japan and a big part of my job is going around to mostly elementary schools and talking about school life in america, american culture, etc.

now, i remember my elementary school life, but i'm looking for some input from others about their elementary school/middle school/high school time.
so, if you could answer a few questions for me, i'd really appreciate it.
and, if you're not from the US, but would like to answer, please do.
the kids would be interested to hear what goes on in other countries too.

question 1:
how many grades did your elementary, middle and high school have?

question 2:
did your school serve lunch? if so, where did you eat it (school cafeteria, classroom, auditorium)

question 2a:
did you eat the school lunch? if so, how would you describe the taste? (delicious, ok, garbage, so-so, etc)

question 2b:
what types of things were served at your school?

question 2c:
did you have to clean your plate, or could you throw away what you didn't like?

question 3:
when you had a day off, what did you do?

question 4:
what types of things are popular at your school?

question 5:
did you have to clean the school?

---------------------

if you're interested...
japanese kids eat lunch in their classrooms with their teacher.
everyone eats the same thing, no choice. everyone waits until all have been served, then they eat.
and, even if you don't like something, the teachers try to get you to eat EVERYTHING on your plate.
a pic of a japanese elementary school lunch looks like this:


japanese elementary school is 1st - 6th grade, middle school is 1st - 3rd year, and high school is also 1st - 3rd year.

i think that everyweek there are days that school ends early.

after lunch, the students sweep up their classroom and clean the school. they, of course, clean the teacher's office, the principal's office and the bathrooms.
japanese kids describe their school lunch as "delicious". there are "bread" days and "rice" days. every meal comes with milk (middle school and high school are slightly different, i think there's tea in the middle and high schools and most upper level kids bring a lunch)

when i go to elementary schools, the kids are really jealous that kids in the US can pick what they want from the lunch menu and that they can bring their own lunch and candy to school.

some things on the school lunch are:
liver, cabbage, "curry rice" (has a bunch of peas and carrots in it), various types of fish, miso soup with lots of veggies, etc.

[joolee.]

question 1:
Elementary: Grade 1 - 7
High school: 8 - 12

question 2:
Yes, school cafeteria.

question 2a:
No.

question 2b:
It's different everyday.

question 2c:
You're able to throw it away.

question 3:
Sleep and then go out with my friends.

question 4:
I don't know.. nothing?

question 5:
No.

[Antz]

don't know if this goes here O_O but anyways.

oh, and i'm from australia, so yeah.

question 1:
how many grades did your elementary, middle and high school have?
primary school: years 1-7
high school: years 8-12

question 2:
did your school serve lunch? if so, where did you eat it (school cafeteria, classroom, auditorium)
yes, they did. in primary school, sometimes we could eat in class. but most of the time it was anywhere out of the classroom.
in high school, it was anywhere out of the classroom.

question 2a:
did you eat the school lunch? if so, how would you describe the taste? (delicious, ok, garbage, so-so, etc)
yeah, whenever i had money LOL. it was.. okay. it depends on what you get.

question 2b:
what types of things were served at your school?
pizza, sweet chilli tenders, potato smilies, instant noodles, fish fillet burgers, sushi, salads, fruit salads, yoghurt, icecreams, drinks.. there was always a different menu each day.

question 2c:
did you have to clean your plate, or could you throw away what you didn't like?
ours was like a canteen, not a cafeteria. so i guess throw away? =/

question 3:
when you had a day off, what did you do?
stay at home, maybe go out with friends.

question 4:
what types of things are popular at your school?
uhhh... not sure.. always changing, i guess.

question 5:
did you have to clean the school?
yeah. =_= at least twice a year for every person in the school, the school rostered a class to clean up some parts of the school every friday. =_= and we're told by the teachers on duty to pick up litter, as well as doing yard duty (which was really embarrassing). also at the end of the year, we have to clean some stuffs.

[duckiesx33]

question 1:
how many grades did your elementary, middle and high school have?
Elementary: kindergarden-5th grade, Middle: 6th-8th grade, High: 9th-12th grade

question 2:
did your school serve lunch? if so, where did you eat it (school cafeteria, classroom, auditorium)
Yes, in the cafetaria

question 2a:
did you eat the school lunch? if so, how would you describe the taste? (delicious, ok, garbage, so-so, etc)
Sometimes. School lunch was ok, but overpriced

question 2b:
what types of things were served at your school?
pizza, cheeseburgers, stir fry, sandwiches, subs, sloppy joes, etc. We also had a snack bar.

question 2c:
did you have to clean your plate, or could you throw away what you didn't like?
We could throw away any unconsumed food.

question 3:
when you had a day off, what did you do?
Sleep, hang out with friends

question 4:
what types of things are popular at your school?
When I was in elementary school in the mid to late 90s, pokemon, power rangers, tamagachis, etc.. were pretty popular.

question 5:
did you have to clean the school?
Nope. We had janitors and custodians.

[lovely__xx]

question 1:
how many grades did your elementary, middle and high school have?
Elementary: K-5th grade
Middle: 6-8th grade
HS: 9-12th grade

question 2:
did your school serve lunch? if so, where did you eat it (school cafeteria, classroom, auditorium)
Yes; I would eat in the cafeteria.

question 2a:
did you eat the school lunch? if so, how would you describe the taste? (delicious, ok, garbage, so-so, etc)
In elementary school, I brought my own lunch, but as I got older, I just started buying lunch from the middle school and high school. It's okay tasting.

question 2b:
what types of things were served at your school?
Crispitos, steak fingers, pasta, hamburgers, shrimp poppers, salads, soup, cookies, chips, pizza, nachos, ramen, cereal, candy...
I think there's more I just can't remember..

question 2c:
did you have to clean your plate, or could you throw away what you didn't like?
I could throw away what I didn't like.

question 3:
when you had a day off, what did you do?
Sleep in late and hang out with friends later.

question 4:
what types of things are popular at your school?
I'm not sure what school you're referring to.
I guess for high school, iPods, name brand purses/fashion in general.

question 5:
did you have to clean the school?
No.

[Classic Example]

question 1:
how many grades did your elementary, middle and high school have?
Elementary- 1st-6th
Middle- 7th-8th
High-9th-12th

question 2:
did your school serve lunch? if so, where did you eat it (school cafeteria, classroom, auditorium)
Yep, they served lunch. I ate in the cafeteria.

question 2a:
did you eat the school lunch? if so, how would you describe the taste? (delicious, ok, garbage, so-so, etc)
Yep, I ate lunch in school. Garbage.

question 2b:
what types of things were served at your school?
Milk (Chocolate, strawberry, or plain), pizza, chicken patties, salads, lasagna, quesadillas, burritos, sloppy joes, and every Wednesday we had specials (McDonalds,Weinerschnitzel, Chuckie Cheese, etc.)

question 2c:
did you have to clean your plate, or could you throw away what you didn't like?
We could throw away what we didn't like.

question 3:
when you had a day off, what did you do?
Stayed home watching television or went out.

question 4:
what types of things are popular at your school?
During elementary school: AIM, Xanga, cellphones.

question 5:
did you have to clean the school?
No.

[lyly_flower2000]

question 1:
how many grades did your elementary, middle and high school have?
Elementary: grade 1-5
Middle: grade 6-8
High:grade 9=12

question 2:
did your school serve lunch? if so, where did you eat it (school cafeteria, classroom, auditorium)
Yes in school cafeteria

question 2a:
did you eat the school lunch? if so, how would you describe the taste? (delicious, ok, garbage, so-so, etc)
Yes but not good

question 2b:
what types of things were served at your school?
Milk, pizza, taco, turkey, mash potatoes, peas, carrots, french fries, burger, chicken nuggets, popcorn chicken

question 2c:
did you have to clean your plate, or could you throw away what you didn't like?
can throw away the food if it's not tasty.

question 3:
when you had a day off, what did you do?
sleep and surf the net

question 4:
what types of things are popular at your school?
cell phones, shorts, boots

question 5:
did you have to clean the scholl?
nope but if u participate in the club or volunteer in community services, u can do this work.

[pekkles]

question 1:
how many grades did your elementary, middle and high school have?
elementary: k-6, 7 years
middle: 6-8, 3 years (we could choose to either stay in elementary school or go to middle school for sixth grade, I went to middle school)
high: 9-12, 4 years

question 2:
did your school serve lunch? if so, where did you eat it (school cafeteria, classroom, auditorium)
yes, but we didn't have to buy it, we could also bring our own. everyone ate outside at the picnic tables designated for their own grade. everyone had to wait until the principal dismissed us, grade by grade, when she saw that most of us were finished eating. if it rained, then we all stayed inside the classrooms.

question 2a:
did you eat the school lunch? if so, how would you describe the taste? (delicious, ok, garbage, so-so, etc)
only sometimes. it was decent, definitely edible, although I'm not so sure about healthy.

question 2b:
what types of things were served at your school?
I don't remember much because I didn't buy it often, but there were things like lasagna, teriyaki beef with (really bad) rice, tater tots (potatoes), apple sauce and always on the side, milk or water and salad.

question 2c:
did you have to clean your plate, or could you throw away what you didn't like?
we could throw about what we didn't like, but if the staff standing at the trash cans saw taht we we throwing away a lot of food, they'd either yell at us, make us go and eat it, or get us into 'official trouble' (like tcalling parents, etc)

question 3:
when you had a day off, what did you do?
sleep in! and watch tv ^^;;

question 4:
what types of things are popular at your school?
elementary school? pokemon! XD and the basketball courts, handball courts, four-square and tetherball circles were really crowded, we all like to play ^^

question 5:
did you have to clean the school?
we had to clean the lunch tables in pairs when we were assigned- this probably added up to about only two or three times a month, we'd go back into the classroom with our classmates after the lunch break was over, then the teacher would dismiss us to clean and we'd miss the first ten minutes or so of class cleaning up after our grade XD with disgusting brooms and pans that the school made us use. I didn't mind cleaning, but the broom handles and the ends of the brooms were so gross!! We didn't really need to clean the classroom, except sometimes the teacher would come around and spray the desk with cleaner and we'd just wipe them off- no full-blown cleaning, though.

[akenon]

question 1:
how many grades did your elementary, middle and high school have?

Elementary - Kindergarten through 5th grade (so I guess 6?)
Middle - 6th grade through 8th grade (3)
High School - 9th grade through 12th grade (4)

question 2:
did your school serve lunch? if so, where did you eat it (school cafeteria, classroom, auditorium)
We can use those lunch ticket things or buy lunch.
In elementary school we ate in the cafeteria
In middle school we ate outside, but I think special ed and people with detention ate in the cafeteria
In high school... either classrooms, outside, or the student union building on campus

question 2a:
did you eat the school lunch? if so, how would you describe the taste? (delicious, ok, garbage, so-so, etc)
I did sometimes, but mostly only when they brought in the brand food like Subway.
It was good.
When I bought the lunch truck stuff, it was always too salty.
Not a big deal though.

question 2b:
what types of things were served at your school?
Typical things like hamburgers, salads, chicken sandwiches, that type of stuff.
In middle school we had "Red Cart" that carried brand food like Subway, Chik-fil-a, Pizza hut..
In high school we can buy from the student union which currently has Taco Bell, A&W, Subway, and some other places
We can also buy from the lunch truck which has a lot of Mexican food.

question 2c:
did you have to clean your plate, or could you throw away what you didn't like?
We can throw away what we don't like.

question 3:
when you had a day off, what did you do?
Stay at home or hang out with friends.

question 4:
what types of things are popular at your school?
I don't know... facebook? haha

question 5:
did you have to clean the school?
If we get in trouble, or if we want community service hour

[slimjim]

question 1:
5/3/4

question 2:
cafeteria

question 2a:
good in elem and got bad by high school probably b/c I got pickier about the taste

question 2b:
sandwich, pizza, hamburger, rocks that they pass for bread

question 2c:
no need to finish the food

question 3:
elem: play around; high sch: study b/c classmates are cut throat

question 4:
don't know

question 5:
no although some kids negatively cleaned the restrooms by pissing on the floors

[mUsiCisMYlifEy]

question 1:
how many grades did your elementary, middle and high school have?
elementary=6
middle=3
high school=4

question 2:
did your school serve lunch? if so, where did you eat it (school cafeteria, classroom, auditorium)
yes. cafeteria, asphalt

question 2a:
did you eat the school lunch? if so, how would you describe the taste? (delicious, ok, garbage, so-so, etc)
sometimes. ok

question 2b:
what types of things were served at your school?
burgers, ravioli, pizza, subway

question 2c:
did you have to clean your plate, or could you throw away what you didn't like?
throw away!

question 3:
when you had a day off, what did you do?
computer, chill with friends

question 4:
what types of things are popular at your school?
ipods, cellphones, converse, vans

question 5:
did you have to clean the school?
never

[little mixed girl]

thanks for the answers.
don't really get why this was moved though...