Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: I go to the oratory; my best friend goes to the classical lyceum

The beauty of teen-agers! They all seem to write the same sentences...
Is the way i correctthem correct?
"Oratory" = A small chapel or private room set aside for individual
prayer. / Addressing an audience formally (usually a long and
rhetorical address and often pompous);
Definitely NOT the place where many Italian teenage kids go in the
afternoon.
Is it correct to say "I go to my parish?" Or"... to the parish youth
club?" (Oxford Paravia suggests "parish recreation centre")
Besides, I swear I have tried to teach my students that they can't
translate the name of schools which do not exist in English-speaking
countries, but for the sake of peace I'll now be happy enough if,
while talking to me, they use the Italian name "My best friend goes to
Liceo Classico" . Should they need to translate for a foreigner, is it
acceptable - even for a British speaker - to read "senior high school
specialising in classical education" (or"...scientific education" or
"..languages" etc. - as suggested by Oxford Paravia) . Or should they
just say "high school" or "secondary school" and to hell with Italian
distinctions?
I know these are not very philosophical topics but they're important
for me - having just finished marking yet another set of homework
given as remedial work after a disastrous test...
Thanks
Claudia

 Liceo Classico" .
Well... how many times in american films distributed in italy have you 
eared "Andrò al *College*?" ;-)
Ciao,
Giulio
-- 
OnAir:


 It depends on the topic you set them : if it was 'Son of Blair - imagine 
you are one of the former British Prime Minister's children' , then the only 
correction needed is to begin 'oratory' with a capital letter .
If you're writing a council planning document , you might refer to a 'parish 
recreation centre' ; if you're a young person , you go to the 'church youth 
club' (if , as parish suggests , the church link is relevant) , or to the 
'local youth club' or the 'village youth club' ; if you're referring 
specifically to the building , probably 'the village hall' .
Mike 


"High School" means a lot of different things to a lot of people here in the
US. A "high school diploma" is the minimum requirement for most jobs, and
only means that the holder of such a diploma can (hopefully) read and write.
Most public high schools have a variety of programs, including "vocational"
and "college prep(aratory)" programs. Two students attending the same school
may have completely different curricula. One may be in a vocational program
whose intent is to prepare the student for a job in the fiberoptics and
laser industries, so his curriculum would include basic mathematics,
science, and a minimum of Physics. His friend may be studying Literature,
Calculus, a foreign language, Physics and Chemistry. There are "Honors
Programs" in many high schools where college-bound students study at an
advanced rate, and complete some college credits before they graduate from
high school.
This "two-track" system is unfair, according to many educators, to those
students who at an early age have decided that they don't want to go to
college, and when they change their minds, they have to make up for their
deficiencies before they can enroll in college.
Most major cities have "exam(ination) schools", which require students to
pass a rigorous entrance examination. For example, in NYC, there are 5 or 6
public "exam schools", which are very highly rated, and have specialized
programs in Arts and Sciences.
"I graduated from High School" is an oversimplification. It only means that
a student has met the minimum (sometimes very low) standards to be awarded a
High School Diploma. If someone asks "What high school do you go to", you
would give the name of the school. The next question would be "What are you
studying?", and the answer would probably be "College Prep", "Vocational",
or "nothing in particular".
There must be similar complications in trying to differentiate between
"private" and "public" schools in the UK.
In my own case, I graduated from a Jesuit High School in NYC, which is more
or less the equivalent of the Italian "liceo classico", but if someone asked
what kind of a school it is, I would say "College Prep". It is an "exam
school", which is endowed, and provides free education to those who are
admitted.
President Bush appointed the head of the Houston, Texas school system, as
Secretary of Education, because of the remarkable job he did in Houston in
reducing the drop-out rate, but it turns out that the Houston miracle was a
sham. The purpose of the Houston system was to make it look like everyone
was graduating, and the system was successful, but nothing could be further
from the truth. The purpose of the system was to make the system look good,
at the expense of the students' education.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/06/60II/main591676.shtml
In the US, the children of the very wealthy attend private high schools,
known generally as "academies". They are located mostly in the Northeast,
and remain isolated from the real world. They are similar to English
"boarding schools", in that students live away from their families. They are
also "high schools", in a very general sense, but the annual tuition
($35,000 for Phillips Andover Academy) is more than that for most
universities, public or private, and more than the cost of most public
universities for four years, thus ensuring that only the "best" people will
be admitted.
I think the British "Ruling Class" is perpetuated in the same manner.  :>)
Speaking of "academies" and President Bush, he is an example of the "legacy
system" in American private schools. President Bush attended the prestigious
Phillips Andover Academy as a "legacy student". A "legacy" is a student who
is admitted not on his own merits, but because his father is a former
student who provides financial support and lends the prestige of his name to
the school. Academic qualifications, or lack thereof, make no difference.
President Bush was also a "legacy" at Yale University. This lack of
qualifications of the "legacy" student is not a problem, since the legacy
will not have to compete for a job in the real world, having his father's
money to rely on. He will be offered positions based on his father's
prestige.
The first President Bush, George Herbert Walker Bush, was also a "legacy"
student at both the Phillips Andover Academy and at Yale University, because
his father, Prescott Bush, a US Senator, was a graduate of both of those
institutions. Thus is royal (read "moneyed") blood perpetuated.
Joe from Massachusetts

 Liceo Classico" . Should they need to translate for a foreigner, is it
a Liceo Classico
Joe from Massachusetts