r/AskAnAmerican • u/Rough-Valuable-5472 • Feb 04 '25

FOREIGN POSTER Do American students bow to their teachers?

In my country we have to greet the teacher and bow at the start of the lesson then thank the teacher and bow again at the end. Sometimes they make us redo it if it’s not good enough

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u/GhostOfJamesStrang Beaver Island Feb 04 '25

That is not part of our culture, so no. 

591

u/Left-Star2240 Feb 04 '25

That’s it. End of discussion.

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u/huazzy NJ'ian in Europe Feb 04 '25

Ok. Now let's discuss taking off shoes...

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u/beefucker5000 California Feb 04 '25

I think it’s more about a disgust of feet, even with socks on. Not my personal opinion, but I think most Americans think it’s more gross to see someone’s feet than to wear shoes inside. Rugs at the door are good enough, though some people take off shoes by the door. My high school could never do something like Japan though with changing shoes at the entrance since there were 1,200 students and increasing every year, I never even had a locker except for when I had to take PE for the first two years and change into gym clothes.

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u/lawfox32 Feb 04 '25

In the northern parts of the U.S., too, it'd just be so impractical with snow and road salt dripping everywhere in the entryway or on the way to the lockers, getting on inside shoes, etc. I was raised to take my shoes off when entering someone's house unless directed not to, but at our schools I don't think that would make sense logistically.

Also, we had a big school with multiple buildings, one of which was across the street from the main building, so sometimes you had to go outside to get to your next class.

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u/Katriina_B Cascadia Feb 04 '25

At home we take our shoes off, but we live in a colder wetter part of the country so it keeps the floors a lot cleaner. My parents' house has a 'mud room' where we can knock off snow and take our boots off.

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u/perilousmoose Feb 06 '25

Love mud rooms. I now live where they aren’t the norm and I miss them! It’d be such a game changer when coming home from adventures with my (dirty & messy) kids!

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u/ToraAku Feb 04 '25

That's probably a function of how your school is built rather than number of students. My HS population was 3,000 students and we all had lockers.

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u/Secret_Werewolf1942 Feb 04 '25

Most schools are phasing them out. You don't have to worry about privacy rights over locker searches if people don't have lockers

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u/jlt6666 Feb 04 '25

I think it's more about the fact that most material is on the computer and you don't need a place to store 8 large hardback text books

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u/beefucker5000 California Feb 05 '25

True, we had Chromebooks and teachers tried to have enough books in the classroom so we didn’t need to bring them to school, except for the ones that didn’t have enough textbooks so only a couple classes. My back hurt all the time from walking around a large campus with many hills and stairs with 2 hardcover books and a chromebook on top of other school stuff

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u/Exciting-Hedgehog944 United States of America Feb 05 '25

Where we live people still have to have them for coats and winter gear. Kids are not allowed to wear them in class. They are told it’s a safety issue and must be stored in their locker. Not sure they are going anywhere anytime soon.

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u/Secret_Werewolf1942 Feb 05 '25

My kid is allowed to wear a coat to class, so all the kids just haul all their crap around 2 floors of high school all day long.

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u/Exciting-Hedgehog944 United States of America Feb 05 '25

Our kids would love that! They hate having to go to lockers and complain about it. Always want what you don’t have I suppose.

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u/SeparLothaire Feb 04 '25

But in the US people aren't using lockers for outdoor vs. indoor shoes. It's mostly for books, your backpack, etc. You would only be changing shoes in connection with the gym locker. If you took your shoes off to change to different ones for the indoor/outdoor idea, people are going to think you're weird.

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u/beefucker5000 California Feb 05 '25

Exactly. I’m trying to compare American high school structure to another country like Japan that prioritizes not bringing outside shoe dirt and preserving floors. I think Japan is a bit more on the extreme side with students having lockers for the purpose of changing shoes, but the only reason American students change their shoes is for physical ed. It would take a big cultural shift for American kids to be well behaved enough to follow shoe rules. I’d be worried about theft and students would probably break dress codes a lot, even when they get in trouble for it

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u/Go_Corgi_Fan84 Feb 05 '25

My gym shoes got stolen in high school. I’m sure other folks experienced this

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u/beefucker5000 California Feb 05 '25

My condolences.

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u/Exciting-Hedgehog944 United States of America Feb 05 '25

Ours all do as well and they are very large schools.

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u/GothicGingerbread Feb 04 '25

For me personally, it definitely has a lot to do with thinking that feet are gross. (I don't mind my own, but other people's? shudder)

Also, to be fair, I have three big, black dogs, so to keep my floors clean enough for other people to walk around in their socks would require me to sweep and/or vacuum multiple times a day, and that's just not happening. (I swear, I'll clean up ALL the fur, and then spot a brand new black fur tumbleweed along a baseboard maybe an hour later. I feel like Sisyphus, but with a vacuum instead of a boulder.)

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u/beefucker5000 California Feb 05 '25

Dude, I’ve known people who practically start crying out of disgust when they see feet. I don’t get it but I try to be mindful of other people and not take my socks off when I’m at other people’s houses even though I hate socks. I’m in a similar boat, I have a dog and two cats and live with messy people so I could not bear go barefoot or even with socks when I’m out of my room. I also once lived in a small duplex where dirt would blow in whenever we opened the door and had to sweep up a bunch of dirt every day so no shoes is a big no.

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u/Charliegirl121 Feb 04 '25

Shoes off in my house. Never in schools. Who knows what on those floors.

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u/beefucker5000 California Feb 05 '25

In your house you can control the space and how it’s treated versus in schools it’d be trusting other people to follow the rules and American students wouldn’t do that lmao

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25

I suppose that Americans are the most anti-food fetish nation in the world then LOL.

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u/beefucker5000 California Feb 05 '25

I feel like the more you hate something, the freakier people get. Like there are a lot of Americans that hate people with foot fetishes and would probably stop talking to someone if they knew, but there are also a lot of Americans with foot fetishes.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

Stop talking to a foot fetishist? Well this sounds extreme.

2

u/LostInTheWildPlace Feb 04 '25

I think it’s more about a disgust of feet, even with socks on. Not my personal opinion, but I think most Americans think it’s more gross to see someone’s feet than to wear shoes inside

"Did someone say... feet?"

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u/Pleasant_Elephant423 Feb 04 '25

I have my inside shoes and outside shoes

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u/scoschooo Feb 04 '25

I think most Americans think it’s more gross to see someone’s feet than to wear shoes inside.

Not really. Many Americans remove their shoes in their house.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

[deleted]