[Sca-cooks] Questions on US Edu. Culture

[Nick Sasso]

> > Homecoming (and where have they been?)
> The American Football team for each school plays both at their own
school and
 >then travles to other schools . . . .  have a string of 4 -5 games
"on the road" and >the first game that is played at their own school is
celebrated as Homecoming".

Homecoming is usually scheduled against some horrifically underwhelming
whipping boy team.  You know your school team is in trouble if you play
a lot of other teams at their homecoming games.  It is also a big deal
in colleges and high shcools as a means of gathering alumi together for
festivities and giving money to shcool and athletic programs.

> > Commencement (doesn't his happen at the end of the school year?)

Commencement is what we call the graduation ceremonies.  Commencing to
the next level of education, as in from High School to College.


> > Freshman
> Name for one in 9th grade
> > Sophomore
> ...10th grade, Junior equals 11th grade and Senior equals 12th
grade.

We use the same in University/College to delineate how many hours you
have scompleted, basically 1st year = Freshman, 2nd year = Sophomore,
3rd year = Junior and 4th year = Senior.  It also gets pulled into
professional sports to term rookies as "freshmen" and second year
players "Sophomores".  Players who fall apart their second year have the
"sophomore jinx".

> > Why does everyone get so worked up about cheerleaders? (Vacuous
*and*
>>loud doesn't seem to be a combination to laud, to me)
> Ummm, really no clue. But I believe it has something to do with short
skirts, tight
> sweaters and lots of bouncing up and down.

Ugly chicks weren't cheerleaders.  Usually the 'popular', hot bodied
and 'bubbly' ones . . . often the first to get pregnant in our school .
. . during high school.  Bouncing and smiling thing that she said :o)

> > SAT's
> Scholarship Aptitude Test. A test that you take that is supposed to
indicate how > well you will do in higher education. A good score will
get you into better schools. A > bad score can keep you out of better
schools.

Actually a standardized test that is used in conjunction with grade
point averages to correlate success in American Collegiate Institutions.
 Has a language/verbal portion and a mathmatical portion.  1600 is
perfect score, and you get 400 for signing your name.  You lose fewer
points leaving a question blank than guessing and getting it wrong,
because of the scoring formula.  It is often used as an arbitrary
cut-off measure for qualification of students.

> > Ivy league
> No clue, some non-southerner will have to explain this.

A group of specific member Schools in the more Northern Climes that are
similar in tradition of excellence and expensiveness.  They were so
named, IIRC, for the ivy that grew on the walls.  Harvard, Yale,
Rutgers, and some others.  They tend to be scholastically well reputed
and suck at football most years.

niccolo difrancesco