UK here, ‘year of 2022’. My school which is bulldozed now to make way for a trendy ‘academy’, was pushing the America style graduation in year 11 (non UK context - the last year of high school. We usually didn’t "graduate’ at the end of the final school year, you would just get your certificates and go join the workforce at 16, or attend optional further education)
We had a prom, to which I did not go. It was all very cringey to me. Kids in my school were already throwing house parties and getting drunk. Why would they need a soft-drink fuelled school disco? A lot of my year didn’t attend. We also had that school’s first ever yearbook. Not sure if it continued.
I’ve hosted exchange students from Asia and Europe, and it seems to be kinda hit and miss with no real rhyme or reason. Sometimes they’re like “oh, yeah, the yearbook, obviously,” and other times it’s like “the what now? But… Why?” Cultural differences are kind of unpredictable, I find. Like, the stuff you think will surprise them doesn’t, but then you offer to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for them and they’re like “WAIT, THAT’S REAL?!”
In the US, in high school, and increasingly in lower grades, you can pay for a book that you get at the end of the year that has a headshot of every student and teacher, group photos of all the student organization, summaries of the sports teams’ seasons, nostalgic musings, and various other miscellany. In high school, one of the student organizations is the yearbook staff.
Traditionally, you will all spend some time signing the inside covers of your classmates’ books with inside jokes, inspiring messages, etc. In the long ago, people who kinda liked you might even put their phone number in it.
It used to be a thing in colleges and universities as well, and maybe still is at some, but it’s no longer a traditional part of the experience, probably due to being associated so closely with high school.
Also, what’s a yearbook? Is that a US thing only?
I have one from 1993 in the UK, but I have no idea whether that was a weird exception or if other colleges did it.
UK here, ‘year of 2022’. My school which is bulldozed now to make way for a trendy ‘academy’, was pushing the America style graduation in year 11 (non UK context - the last year of high school. We usually didn’t "graduate’ at the end of the final school year, you would just get your certificates and go join the workforce at 16, or attend optional further education)
We had a prom, to which I did not go. It was all very cringey to me. Kids in my school were already throwing house parties and getting drunk. Why would they need a soft-drink fuelled school disco? A lot of my year didn’t attend. We also had that school’s first ever yearbook. Not sure if it continued.
It’s probably more ubiquitous now.
I’ve hosted exchange students from Asia and Europe, and it seems to be kinda hit and miss with no real rhyme or reason. Sometimes they’re like “oh, yeah, the yearbook, obviously,” and other times it’s like “the what now? But… Why?” Cultural differences are kind of unpredictable, I find. Like, the stuff you think will surprise them doesn’t, but then you offer to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for them and they’re like “WAIT, THAT’S REAL?!”
Maybe it’s US only? I dunno.
In the US, in high school, and increasingly in lower grades, you can pay for a book that you get at the end of the year that has a headshot of every student and teacher, group photos of all the student organization, summaries of the sports teams’ seasons, nostalgic musings, and various other miscellany. In high school, one of the student organizations is the yearbook staff.
Traditionally, you will all spend some time signing the inside covers of your classmates’ books with inside jokes, inspiring messages, etc. In the long ago, people who kinda liked you might even put their phone number in it.
It used to be a thing in colleges and universities as well, and maybe still is at some, but it’s no longer a traditional part of the experience, probably due to being associated so closely with high school.
Here are some.