User talk:Tolkienfan

"Hang on, you're in college? I didn't realise you were that old."
I'm creating a separate category for this because lots of people have suddenly asked me this. Maybe I should have simply referred to it as 'Year 11' so everyone would get it, but secretly* I love having excuses to explain exactly how different my Australian life is from that of those of all the RP-ers over in the US.

The short answer is: I'm 16, going on 17. I'm in Year 11, as I'm sure you would have gathered in the previous paragraph.

The long answer is: I understand the US has Elementary School (K-4), Middle School (grades 5 through 8), High School (grades 9 through 12) and College (tertiary education). [Thanks, Bellatrix, for confirming/disproving this information.] Some RPers who either don't get that our education system isn't like this or still haven't fully grasped that I live in Australia have jumped to the conclusion that I must be at least 19, probably older. (Maybe I suggested this indirectly by making Tracey, the central character in Operation Spider Crab, 19 years old. This was a purely arbitrary number, as I'm getting steadily better at writing people in the 15-22 age bracket, and that's around how old I picture Ptraci II.)

In Australia, we have Kindergarten and Preparatory School for 4-6-year-olds (I'm not sure how many, if any, of these exist in the US, or if they go under these names). We then have Primary School (grades 1-6), Secondary/High School (grades 7-10), and college (grades 11-12). College marks the last phase of compulsory education, although you can also replace it with an apprenticeship in some business if that's what you prefer. After this, should you choose, you can attend tertiary education in the form of either university (academic) or TAFE (vocational).

If anyone who asked about my being in college did realise all this and was merely expression astonishment that I'm 16, I'm sorry for misunderstanding.


 * Well, hardly secretly anymore now I've told everyone.

''Note from BellatriX: Elementary school is K-5, Middle is 6-8, and High School is 9-12 (grades-wise). I am 13, and in 7th grade, my first year of "middle school." My town is an exception to this (bus routes or something like that), with Elementary and Middle split between: ~ Elementary, K-4 ~ Intermediate, 5-6 (5th grade still "counts" towards elementary, and 6th grade counts towards middle school, at least when they look at your grades and electives) ~ Middle, 7-8 (all electives in 6th count towards middle school "credit")'' College is ages 19-22 and beyond around here.

Ah, OK, that makes sense. I don't pretend to be an expert on the US education system, so it's good to hear corrections from those who are by virtue of actually going through them. -Tolkienfan

It's alright, the system's remarkably inconsistent, generally varying by town. I know a nearby city that splits high school between "high school" and "senior high school." -BellatriX

I don't even know how inconsistent ours is, as I've been going to the same tiny private school for all my life right up until now. So I could well be generalising our own education system as well as yours. -Tolkienfan

Eh, yeah, probably. I've always been in public school, and I know private schools around here don't really differentiate between middle and high, etc. -BellatriX

Ours doesn't even have middle school, so by the sounds of it I'd fit right into one of them. -Tolkienfan

You most likely would, except for the accent (if you have one). -BellatriX

I quite possibly do, but being surrounded by other people with Australian accents I don't notice it. I would if I was in the US though in all likelihood. -Tolkienfan

Considering about half my classmates are Hispanic, I am very aware of my thick - and I do mean thick - American accent (not all weird and Southern-y, though). -BellatriX

Unfortunately I can't touch on the nationality of my previous school without giving away major hints about exactly where I live (possibly down to the city, although I doubt non-Australians would be able to narrow it down that far). I can tell you that my current college of 1500+ people all have similar-sounding accents though. Mind you, Australia has nothing like the racial diversity of the US from what I understand, although that's changing. -Tolkienfan

I Think I Created a Monster
I made the grave mistake of clicking on the links to XKCD. I'm addicted now. -BellatriX