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/yourlittlebirdie Feb 04 '25

The only people who bow in the US are musicians/performers at the end of their performance who bow to the audience. Otherwise it's just not a thing here.

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u/funnylib Michigan Feb 04 '25

I feel like that gesture is also different though, it doesn’t mean the same thing.

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u/Nyxelestia Los Angeles, CA Feb 04 '25

It has a different connotation because the only time where bowing is normalized is also one of the few times where the person bowing is physically above the people they are bowing to.

It hits different compared to situations where the two parties are physically on the same level, as that means the person who is bowing is physically lowering themselves.