Random NYC fact for anybody who might write about NYC

[conuly]

This is in celebration of us being really close to having no more kids in high school.

As in other places, NYC public schools require families to fill out emergency contact information. Officially, this information goes on the Emergency Contact Card. However, I only found the official name by googling "NYC DOE blue card" because those cards are universally called "the blue card". Because they're blue.

Also, as a reminder, NYC public high schools do not generally have lockers. I mean, some of them have lockers, but... not all of them by a great means. They also don't generally have football teams. I mean, some of them do, but it's not a PSAL sport, so. Basically, take everything about American high schools from TV and assume that NYC schools aren't like that at all. Even when they are.

The elementary school I went to had, for everybody out of kindy, a big coat closet against one wall of each classroom (the one against the hallway IIRC). We all trooped in by tables to get our coats and bookbags, theoretically without any throwing things at each other or squabbling or losing our stuff all over the floor. You could easily fit half the class in there at one time, though you wouldn't want to. There'd definitely be throwing things if you tried.

Comments

[rose_griffes]

A lot of high schools built soon after the Columbine shooting were designed without lockers - not just in NYC. My town has two high schools with lockers - one old, one much newer - and one without. It opened in 2001.

Given how many textbooks are now online, I'd say the usefulness of lockers has decreased.

[conuly]

Yeah, but a lot of our schools weren't built after Columbine.

Given how many textbooks are now online, I'd say the usefulness of lockers has decreased.

It's still asking a lot to demand kids schlep their winter coats with them everywhere.

[rose_griffes]

True. And in NYC students are more likely to actually wear coats, given a) the weather, and b) more riding of busses and other transportation. Whereas lots of southerly suburbs have parents dropping off and picking up their kids, and those kids just... don't wear coats.

I'd be curious to step into an elementary classroom in my area. My impression is that there's a space (cubbies and hooks) for backpacks and hanging up coats. But I'm not actually positive that's the case.

[kaffy_r]

I can easily see your type of high school in my head, and it's much more realistic than the high schools on TV.

I mean, I know there are schools like the TV ones; they're out in the Chicago suburbs and some of the big Chicago high schools - but they're not what I grew up with. My hometown high school was really small (maybe 120, and no Grade 12); we didn't have lockers either, with the exception of lockers in the gym dressing room; we stuck our street clothes in them while in gym class. But with that exception, we put our coats on hooks outside in the hall outside each homeroom. That was it.

We didn't have football, either. We had basketball, and volleyball. That was it.

[dark_phoenix54]

Okay, I can understand not being able to afford a football team and/or the facilities for that, but LOCKERS?!?!!? Where in hell do kids put their stuff when not using it? Do they have to carry it all home every night?!?

[conuly]

...what stuff would you think is strange to have in school every day but not carry home at night?

[dark_phoenix54]

Well, not every teacher gives homework every night, so they shouldn't need all their books at home all the time.

[conuly]

I think what you mean is that they shouldn't need to bring their textbooks into school except at the end of the term when they return them.

You read your textbook at home in order to do the homework assignment or in preparation for the next day's class. There's no need to bring it in, it stays at home.

[dark_phoenix54]

Ah. We had some teachers who wanted us to have the textbook in class every day, especially the math teachers. The days started with "turn to page xx..." And the English teachers had us read aloud in class.

I went to school a very long time ago.

[conuly]

That is not teaching. If you're going to simply work from the textbook, why have teachers at all? Plus, it raises the likelihood that somebody will lose their book or damage it.

[dark_phoenix54]

No, it wasn't the best way for us to learn. But this was the LA school system in the 60s and early 70s, and it was a school that the system didn't put most of their really good teachers in. That's why I treasured (and still treasure) the teachers that actually *did* teach us. There were a couple who were really good, but most were just serving time.

[siderea]

That is not teaching

You say that like that has something to do with whether or not teachers do it.

[conuly]

Oooh, snarky.

[thekumquat]

Most British schools don't use textbooks any more - some in class, for secindary. Everything is online.

[altamira16]

This year, one of the middle schools where I live took the lockers away. Apparently, there were conflicts at the lockers and removing the lockers was an attempt to remove the conflict.

Rural schools were about lockers and football teams, but we didn't have full-length lockers like you see on television. The high school football game would be the *only* social event happening in a town on a given evening.

[summercomfort]

I remember growing up being confused about the "schools" that are shown on tv because in our area, we didn't have hallways, and school buildings were all single-story. All the classrooms were facing out, with roof overhangs to block the rain, and covered walkways to go from one classroom building to the next. :P

[silveradept]

That's useful information, thank you. My Midwestern school still had lockers and an obsession with sports, so having a different perspective is very useful.

[conuly]

NYC schools do generally have sports, and at least in *theory* students are allowed to join a sports team or club at another school if their school doesn't have that particular offering... though I'm not sure how that works if the schools aren't in the same building or at least on the same block!

But usually the only people who care about the sport or club are the people involved in it, and nobody else is expected to care.

[zesty_pinto]

I remember the lockers I saw only existed for coats. No one could actually swap books between classes which was more important imo. Had to provide your own locks too. Made me used to hauling 20 pounds all the time which ironically made it easier for me to commute to Rutgers all the time with a 40 pound packframe.

[acelightning73]

,I went to high school on Long Island. Our hallways were lined with lockers, and one's locker wasn't necesarily anywhere near your homeroom. One day, in the middle of the school day, I was standing near my locker chatting with someone, and something whizzed past my head and landed in the wall-mounted drinking fountain nearby. SOmeone had blocked the drain with chewing gum, and there were a couple of inches of standing water in the bowl. THe object that landed in it exploded - I thought someone had thrown a firecracker at me. Well, it turned out to be a piece of sodium someone stole from the chem lab. Sodium catches fire when water touches it. That's what blew the water fountain to smithereens, and poured water all over the the floor. Never did find out whether it was aimed at me, or was it just a random act of adolescent vandalism?