Moving to America this winter?

It's rather quixotic that your screen name is Michael Ehard and you sign your post Lucy James. Your gender would condition the response to your questions. Like it or not, young people value athleticism more in boys than in girls. No one can say whether or not you will be liked, that depends on you and how you present yourself to others. There will be a certain number of people who will think it's "cool" that you speak with an accent, but that sort of entre into a social group only lasts as long as it takes people to learn your character. But it may help you.

EDIT: Oh, that was cute. You changed your signature while was composing this post. I now suspect that either this is a bot, or you are not being honest. I have now lost all interest in helping you.

In the United States, the education system is not geared to your age, except vaguely. Whether or not you are 18 doesn't matter, what matters is whether or not you have completed courses which are equivalent to the requirements for graduating high school. I completed my requirements by age 16, but was not able to enter university until age 17, simply because of the papterwork i had to complete for enrolment, and to secure a loan for school. However, most schools in the United States require (or did when i went to school) that you complete civics courses (or whaterver they call them now). Those courses focus on an understanding of government and governance, so you would be expected to know or to learn a certain amount of United States history, as well as understanding how the government is structured and the relationships of the branches of government to one another. My cousin who lived in Chicago also had to complete an equivalent course for the state of Illinois. If you have met all other educational requirements for graduation from high school, then the civics course, or government course, or whatever they are now called, would be all that you have to complete.

This is a document from the Illinois State Board of Education which explains graduation requirements. CAVEAT: that links takes you to a PDF document. If your internet service is through dial-up, you may experience difficulty opening the document. If you have broadband service, and your computer has generous RAM and a fast processor, then open the file and read what the state board of education has to say.

OK, now i've found your "introduction new member" thread dated June 9, 2012, I really regret having wasted my time composing a reply.

You bought into this as a native English speaker?

hahahahahaha!

As a sentence in English, it's reasonable. I also have not had any coffee yet. So bite me, jerk.

Don't forget to wear your doll's clothes. That will certainly revitalize the team.

Hi Michael,

Being good at sports is definitely something that is likely to help you transition into an American high school scene. Soccer is not as big of a deal as American football, but it is getting to be more and more of a big deal and athleticism in general will help.

Don't expect to "revitalise" a school team, though. For one, the attitude would be likely to get you in trouble. For another, many high school soccer players have been doing this for a long time and are very, very good. If you're going to some teeny out-of-the way school, maybe. But you probably will get more competition than you expect.

An English accent probably wouldn't hurt. Although that does depend on where you are going to school, exactly. (Illinois has a wide range of schools with a wide range of possible responses.)





P.S., I don't care much whether you're sincere or not, or a human or an automated program (a change in name after posting would make me think human), this response may be useful to someone with a similar question who comes across this in the future.

I gave a legitimate answer initially. Sure, the name change could be a product of human supervision. I personally have a problem with people attempting to deceive others through what is posted here.

The problem, as always, is how do you tell? Seeing a name change is evidence that is usually not available.

And I know for certain that legitimate queries have been taken to be spam.

I'd much rather respond with actual information to someone who is spammy, than attack or react sarcastically to someone with a legitimate query.

It's simply no skin off of my nose if the advice is going into the ether rather than to a specific person, because a specific person may come across it in the ether later on.

And I absolutely don't want to attack a newbie with a legitimate query. I'm interested in having new people around, they make the place more interesting.

I'll always remember this poster as the "I'm having a baby at 45 weeks" poster.

now they're a 17 year old boy playing soccer

it's getting really strange around here - more whack posters all the time

We're not dealing with a newbie here, per se. This member registered on June 9, 2012. Lucy James (the original signature on the post) registered here on May 30, 2012. Both of those intital posts are the "introduction new member" type of posts.

Once again, i gave a legitimate response. I only changed my tune when i saw the name change, and went looking for these members to find that both Micheal Ehard and Lucy James have "bot-like" introductory posts going back to the spring.

The two-lined signatures are a dead giveaway

Best Regards,
Thack45

Don't forget "Hello Friends." Back in the 60s, when someone would approach me and address me as "Brother," i knew they wanted a cigarette, a joint or spare change. I used to point out to them that they were not my brother.

If the legit newbies weren't being buried by the less legit new posts they'd get a better reception and more would probably hang around. It could be win-win instead of the lose-lose it's turned into over the past six or so months.

Snarking at new posts because everything has started to seem suspicious has become a default for several of us. I'm definitely a culprit when it comes to the Georgian+ posters.

I know I got tired of being burnt by new posters I initially thought were legit. Preparing responses to threads that were gone before I hit enter, that kind of thing. The 45 week pregnancy. That bizarro poster with 3 numbered accounts that pulled partial sentences/paragraphs from responses on this and other sites (I think that one's in action again with a different base name).