OT To Greek Or Not To Greek

[Just-a-Mom]

In America, public high school is mainly free except for class dues (to pay for homecoming/prom and a t-shirt), a parking pass (if you're a junior or senior), and lunch money. Busses are free. Plus there's random things you pay for depending on the clubs you're in. Yearbooks cost money too ($80-$150). Otherwise it's pretty much free

I really wish my kids went to a "normal" school. Every time this comes up, I want to move.

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[CheerBank]

Umm wait you don't pay for public school normally in America?? That is crazy to me. If only Australia was like that! And we certainly don't have free buses that pick everyone up! You have to pay for a bus pass yearly or if there isn't a school bus that comes through your area you need to find a way to a public bus or train that again you have to pay for. At least where I live and everywhere I know of anyway

We do pay for it, in school taxes that are part of the taxes we pay each year along with our property taxes (this is for NY).
Our district does have buses as long as you don't live too close to the school, in which case you are not eligible however would most likely not take the bus anyway.
I grew up in one of the NYC boroughs and my school was quite far from where I lived; we were issued free public trasportation passes which were only good on days school was in session.

 

[BuegeSmalls]

I also wanted to share this video of Sorority Bid Day here at South Carolina

That looks like so much fun!

 

[CEAisstronger]

WAIT! You have to pay for public school? I'm confused, isn't it free and paid for by your taxes?


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My Civics teacher played a joke on us to go with our lesson on the times in America before the Declaration of Independence. It was a paper to be signed by us and parents saying something along the lines of "10 cents per assignment and pay up front for the next 10. A desk costs $10 per class to use. Being tardy costs 10 cents for every minute. Etc" so many people believed it. He claimed it was "budget cuts" The guy beside me and I were like isn't this a joke? Apparently in another class some girl asked if they didn't pay the desk fee if they had to sit on the floor. Carry on now.


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[mommadonna]

Thanks @NJ Coach and @Just-a-Mom!!!!

I'M AN ALPHA PHIIIIIIII

So excited for you!!! Congrats! :cheering:

 

[mommadonna]

She will be involved. Homecoming, Greek Week, Rush, Philanthropies, parties There's always something going on. It is significantly less expensive than cheer

Just wait until you see the jewelry you can buy. Every sorority has stuff that parents can buy

Aaahhh...the jewelry!

 

[cheerKT]

Umm wait you don't pay for public school normally in America?? That is crazy to me. If only Australia was like that! And we certainly don't have free buses that pick everyone up! You have to pay for a bus pass yearly or if there isn't a school bus that comes through your area you need to find a way to a public bus or train that again you have to pay for. At least where I live and everywhere I know of anyway

I went K-12 completely free. Minus the couple months I went to private school in middle school but I switched back to public in the middle of the year. Buses are free but I never rode them. Books were free. You paid for lunch with your account at the school or brought your own. Sometimes kids qualified for free lunch if their parents income was not high enough. You paid for everything else on your own. (Club dues, t shirts, most of the time for sports you had to pay for camps and shirts and whatnot but the equipment was free) Some districts around here have school fees now because they have magnet programs, and technology fees because they issue all students ipads now. The district I attended (and my sister attends now) is still ipadless and free, however.

I say "free" however, they were funded with tax dollars from residents of the community.

College on the other hand is a completely different $tory.

 

[cheerKT]

That looks like so much fun!

It's SO much fun. Everyone looks forward to Bid Day all year. Mostly because it means the end of long, hot, tiring days of recruitment and everyone is delirious so the whole acting insane part comes naturally.

This video is even funnier. It's unofficially nicknamed "The Running of the Pigs" and of course Greek Life isn't too fond of that. But the video is pretty well done.

 

[krystynakrez]

Here's my pledge class!

 

[cheermommaRN]

So you don't actually "chose" your sorority? That's the part that confuses me. What if the sorority you really want doesn't take you but another one does? Can you decline the bid and re rush the next semester? Or is it a given that once they reject you it's over? Does the rejecting houses let you know why they came to that decision?
Cp is a ZTA fanatic (already has a t and everything)...it's years down the road but I can imagine she would be devastated if she didn't get in. Personally I hope she takes a seat and stops planning out her social calendar through college...let's get to middle school first child.

 

[NJ Coach]

So you don't actually "chose" your sorority? That's the part that confuses me. What if the sorority you really want doesn't take you but another one does? Can you decline the bid and re rush the next semester? Or is it a given that once they reject you it's over? Does the rejecting houses let you know why they came to that decision?
Cp is a ZTA fanatic (already has a t and everything)...it's years down the road but I can imagine she would be devastated if she didn't get in. Personally I hope she takes a seat and stops planning out her social calendar through college...let's get to middle school first child.

It's a mutual decision. You choose them and they choose you. You absolutely can decline a bid and rush the next semester. I have never heard of a chapter letting someone know why they didn't extend them a bid. Formal recruitment has a lot of rules. You only get 1 bid. You can choose to accept or decline.

I knew in hs which sorority I wanted to pledge. It helped that I had a friend in the chapter, and knew all her roommates who were also sisters.


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[cheernerd5678]

It's a mutual decision. You choose them and they choose you. You absolutely can decline a bid and rush the next semester. I have never heard of a chapter letting someone know why they didn't extend them a bid. Formal recruitment has a lot of rules. You only get 1 bid. You can choose to accept or decline.

I knew in hs which sorority I wanted to pledge. It helped that I had a friend in the chapter, and knew all her roommates who were also sisters.


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My sister was told if you got a bid you have to accept it.... Is it different at different schools?


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[cheeeeer93]

My sister was told if you got a bid you have to accept it.... Is it different at different schools?


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You don't have to accept it but if you wanted to pledge that semester, it's kind of your only option. Meaning at the end of recruitment you aren't offered multiple bids. But if you wanted to be risky, you could decline a bid and see if any chapters are doing COB events (continuous open bidding which is offered when a chapter doesn't reach total). Or you can wait and see if chapters are doing COB the next semester. The one tricky thing people need to be aware of is that if you do accept a bid and don't end up going completely through the pledge process (essentially dropping), then you cannot accept another bid to any sorority for a year.

 

[Just-a-Mom]

Gifted school :O lucky lucky. In elementary we went to the gifted center once a week and did different classes about like odd topics (photography, chemistry, fairy tales, bugs, dr suess, world culture).... In MS we had the gifted program one hour every other day... And it was in place of study hall. And in HS the closest you can get to being challenged/with other gifted kids is AP/Honors courses... Which have no requirements and anyone can sign up for. SO frustrating. Gifted program was awesome and then as soon as you graduate 5th grade it's pretty much nothing.


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(Stiiiilllll hijacking... )

Just wanted to reply to this. It is really nice to have the gifted school option. It's a whole school of just gifted education, and the kids really get a lot out of it. The program my daughter is in is set up that she will be done with all middle school classes at the end of this year (6th grade) and will start taking high school classes next fall. She finishes her French I high school credit this year, so all 3 of her foreign language credit requirements will be done before she sets foot in a high school.

But don't get too jealous. The (huge) trade-off is that:

1. Less than 1% of kids that apply for this school get accepted. It's the only full gifted school in Chicago, and they have 250 students in grades k-8. There are 450,000 students in the city. That's great for my kid...but what about the other 99.9%? They're back at their non-air-conditioned, old books from the 1970's having, short staffed, building from the 1920's or before (some are from the 1800's ), bad, gang-infested neighborhood schools. I'd really like to see a little less separation in the quality of education for my kids vs. the rest of Chicago. Just because she's freakishly smart, I don't think that makes her any more deserving of an education than anyone else. Yes, it's lovely that they get these extras, and I'm sure there's some study that shows that these super smart kids appreciate this stuff more blah blah blah. But really, there are kids without books in this city. Literally, no text books; they share with like 8 books for a classroom. I think my daughter could live without an ipad in her classroom for another kid to have a book.

2. Great building = no playground and no driveway/drop off area. This probably sounds petty, but not if you're a mom who has to get your kid to this school 180 days a year with no drop off area. Remember, no school buses, and kids come from all over Chicago to go to this school. So that's a couple hundred cars trying to drop kids off on a side street every morning. :banghead: It's exceptionally stressful and I know people think I'm ridiculous complaining about it, but it really is a headache. No playground means recess is on the concrete sidewalk in front of the building. I'm not a fan of this arrangement at all.

So it sounds great on paper, but it's really only great for 250 kids. The other 449,750 kids are screwed.

High school is a little different story. It's very similar to college - you have to apply and get accepted to the one you want. There are actually quite a few decent schools to apply to for high school. And I do think that by then it's fair to say you should earn your spot at a good school - they look at grades for 6-8th grade, attendance, and score on a test you take. My daughter will only apply to 4 high schools. Her #1 choice is a college prep school with a really incredible "pre-engineering" program that if she gets into I'll die of happiness. :cloud9: The 2nd 2 are just really good college prep high schools. The last is the Disney school (also :cloud9: for me), which is a charter school owned and run by Disney (this one is done by lottery, not grades).

So, high school in Chicago is great if you do what you're supposed to in k-8. If you don't get accepted at one of the "choice" schools, then you're stuck with the high school version of the yucky schools described above.

There's a reason Chicago is on the national news almost every night because of our horrible schools. And it's not because of my daughter's little good school. They're reeeeeally bad.

 

[Just-a-Mom]

@cheerKT that video makes me want to go back in time and change my whole life and go to college when I was 18! I really missed out on so many things. Now I have to live vicariously through my children and make them join. (Not really...but I am reeeeally hoping they do!)

@HeresAThought I have to say...there is not one thing that surprises me in your post. Your parents being delta sigma theta and omega psi phi suits you to a T. (I mean, I don't actually know you, so I'm just going on your Fierce Board personality, but I still think so). ***This is a compliment btw.