Farmington High School

Léonie & Anaëlle

                   During this wonderful trip to the United States of America, we were lucky to live the American High School life among 1350 Farmington High School students. We saw some awesome aspects which are different from French schools, those which we had never imagined to see, and those which are similar to famous series such as “One tree hill”.

                First we will deal with the American school system, like classes and subjects studied… Then we will talk about the Administration and the adults’ work in this High School.

                Classes in Farmington High School start earlier that the ones in Dumont D’Urville. Indeed, in this American school, pupils get their first period at 7.32 am, whereas it’s at 8.05 am in Dumont D’Urville. On top of that, they don’t have any break time, except for lunch between 9.51 and 12.51, it depends on their schedule. Moreover they have 4 minutes between each period, each period lasts 40 minutes.  Considering these aspects we could think that we are luckier than American students. However, despite of all these facts and of the nine periods they have every day, they are the luckiest students compared to the French ones. Indeed they end school at 2.23 pm each day, which is rare for us in French High Schools.

                Whilst we were at High School, at lunchtime, we were able to see a crowded cafeteria. Precisely this place is the one where students gather to share some free time and meals together. Some of the students had their own sandwiches or salads that were homemade, some others took their meals at one of the three counters where they could choose and buy sandwiches, tacos, salads, French fries or hamburgers. This struck us a lot, because we noticed that it was always the same “menu” everyday: hamburgers, French fries, salads, sandwiches and tacos. That wasn’t so healthy, however we were in the Hamburger country, weren’t we? So actually it wasn’t so surprising!

                As for classes, students are not stuck with the same people every single period every day; it is not the same as in France. According to what we saw, we can genuinely admit that classes are made of about 20 pupils maximum, who come from different grades, it goes from freshmen (the equivalent of 3eme in France) to seniors (the equivalent of Terminale in France). Before being in such or such class, students choose their subjects and the level they want. In Farmington High School, they propose plenty of different subjects like: Web Design, Studio, Business, Education, Career Exploration, Culinary Art, Music (band and choral), Physical Education and Heath (Personal Wellness), Reading and Social Studies (Psychology and World History). Then, classes are made and this favors a mix between the different grades. So each pupil has more or less a different schedule from the other, and it is almost the same everyday.

                On top of the multitude of subjects suggested, students can join a club that the school offers. They can be part of the School Newspaper, a photography club and a debating club. They also can be part of a sports group, like baseball, softball, swimming and cheerleading. And yet, contrary to the non-sportive clubs, they have to defend the school colors during matches. This year, the cheerleaders won the state championship! All those activities take place after school, so from 2.23 pm until about 5.00 pm.

                In this High School there is a section reserved for handicapped people. Teachers and sometimes students come to see and chat, play with one another when they have free time. To our mind this is very good for people to be in touch with handicapped people, it makes them be more aware of disabled people; and allows them to show open-mindedness.  It teaches them to be more respectful and tolerant with people who are different from them.

                To our mind, we find on the whole, that this system is better that the French one. Indeed, we could see that even if school is important, it doesn’t take our adolescent’s life away. Actually, while we were over there, it was the first time we got the impression to have a real life.

Moreover, thanks to finishing school early, students can have the feeling to enjoy more time to do their homework without rushing. Besides, relationships between teachers and students caught our attention. Undoubtedly we couldn’t deny that there wasn’t this huge fence between adults and teenagers, which unfortunately exists in France.

               

                Another difference with French schools is that, there are television sets switched on in every classroom, in the cafeteria, in corridors, well everywhere actually, to tell the time, the period, and some news concerning the school.

                Beyond all these previous aspects concerning the students’ life at Farmington High School, it seems obvious to deal with the adults working there. The first aspect we will consider is the organization of the hierarchy and then we will focus on the rules of the school with the consequences that pupils get when they break them.

                Like every school in the world, there is a Principal in Farmington High School who is Mr. Breslin. He gets help from the Dean of Students Mrs. Ruzek, whose work is to be a principal adviser of Education and an assistant principal. When we met this woman, there were two boys in her office to talk with her, and fix some problems. Moreover, in the United States, there is a Guidance. This person is useful to get some information about the pupils’ orientation and when there are some troubles between the teachers and the students. The Guidance is like a mediator between pupils and adults. Moreover, we noticed that there isn’t any huge fence between adults and teenagers, their relationships are warmer that the ones we have to deal with in France. Is it due to the pronouns “you” and “tu-vous”?

                Although, those close relationships don’t solve all the problems at school. Indeed, there are also detentions in the United States. Over there, a detention can be given because of vandalism, smoking, unexcused absence, leaving school without permission, theft, rude behavior… any student who doesn’t respect the school rules in fact. Those rules are always on hand. They are widely written in their “Student Handbook and Planner”. This leaflet is an important document because there are about forty pages about rules, staff, teaching members and time schedules. The students must have it every day, because it’s also their school diary.

                In this High School, some pupils have a car and drive to school but they aren’t allowed to go to their car during the school day or leave without being allowed to. Otherwise they get a detention.

               Farmington High School gave us a wonderful insight of the American school system. For our first immersion, it was GREAT. High Schools seem to be good at educating young people and to be very carefull as far as personal well-being is concerned. Nevertheless they seem not very good at educating on healthy food… We enjoyed their “junk food”, just because it was for a change. Anyway, we had a marvellous trip and that’s thanks to our French teachers from Dumont D’Urville.

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