They're willing to pay idiots to ramble on but they aren't willing to pay international lawyers to straighten out all the paperwork so they can do this outside the US.
Me too. Though I remember it a few years earlier than 1998, when I reached 7th grade. Of course I don't think any of my 7-12 teachers cared like the elementary school teachers would have.
Yep. It was in the 90s, and after 7th grade we mostly didn't do it anymore (some court ruled it wasn't legal to force us) but we had to sit quietly during the point when we were supposed to be doing in.
EDIT: You are in your 20s, and your teacher yelled at you? He was breaking the law. I bet you remember who it was too. If you see him on social media, I suggest you send him (West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)) and demand an apology.
Maybe we need a Fediverse wiki with specific sections to guide people through choosing an app, an instance, account creation and migration from another platform.
One thing about Kbin and Lemmy is we are probably the best positioned to create these guides, at least, due to the redditlike nature of these apps.