What I miss the most about high school in Alabama is the school spirit. It's EVERYWHERE: pep rallies, theme days, mascots, even the way the high school's decorated with the school's theme colors.
And the teachers? They're into it too. They'll dress up for spirit week themes, take part in silly pep rally games, and show up to games to cheer on their students and because they actually enjoy the games!! (but again, who doesn't?) It's kinda like they actually like you and consider students a part of their lives?? In Spain, on the other hand, running into a teacher outside of school is AWKWARD. You'll both make eye-contact, force a smile, and move on quickly; because the idea of teachers going the extra mile to support students or hang around school-related activities is just not a thing. It's almost as if once their hours are up, they cut all ties with the place.
Back in Spain they pretend for the vibe to be all formal, but in reality it just makes students tired and in the end, take things more unseriously. You go, you sit in class, you memorise pages of information, and you hope to remember enough of it for the exam. Though once that test is over, boom! All gone. All the "knowledge" disappears, and honestly, most of it is useless in real life anyway. I mean, who really needs to know where all of Europe's rivers are located and their names, or Latin and Greek, where students literally translate in dead languages (all mandatory classes to graduate btw.)
Now don't get me wrong, Spanish schools are not like a prison. You laugh with your friends, share inside jokes, make memories... but the truth is, there just are nearly as many opportunities to have fun built into the school system itself. The fun in Spain comes almost entirely from your classmates, not from the school experience itself.
That's why the American version feels so different to me. All that spirit makes high school memorable, not just something you have to endure. I bet those moments of fun and connection are what stick with you years later, because it's definitely not the fact that you used to could name all European rivers.
So which one is more "worth it"? The formal, exam-focused "seriousness" of Spain, or the loud school spirit of Alabama? I'd go for Alabama all the way, because while maybe people don't have "encyclopedic knowledge", what they do leave high school with are high school years that actually mean something. And to be honest, enough knowledge to do just fine!!! And that is wayyyy more worth it than all the memorising you could ever do.
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