If you went to school in the 70s/80s what happened that wouldn't happen now?

[TheVampiresWife]

I started primary in 1976, left secondary in 1989. Some of mine:

Corporal punishment (the most obvious one for a lot of us I think). In junior school (early 80s) we had a headmaster who would save all the week's canings for Friday afternoon assembly. The kids lined up on stage and were caned in front of the whole school. It was fucking horrific looking back - I remember a boy in my year crying and wetting himself on stage and he never lived it down, the nicknames followed him to secondary school

Girls doing needlework/cookery while boys did woodwork/metalwork

Boy in my class whose surname was Gaye. Geography teacher used to call him 'Poof' and 'Queer' which of course other kids found hilarious and joined in. He changed his surname halfway through secondary school

In my primary class an overweight girl was made to stand on a chair so the whole class could see what we would look like if we were greedy and ate too much

The headmaster who caned kids on stage also used to get girls to kiss him on the cheek and say thank you at prize givings. He also used to make comments about how we were 'developing' and once said in a conversation with my mum that I was getting 'a broad back'. The mums didn't seem to mind his comments

In primary school the children in the SEN class were described as [vile word I can't bring myself to type] by teachers and children alike quite unselfconsciously

In secondary school an English teacher had an affair with a sixth former and she became pregnant. He left but wasn't reprimanded and got a teaching job in another school the following year. The couple are still together all these years later!

It really was a different time and not necessarily for the better, either. I do have lots of happy memories of school too though!

Izal toilet paper. FFS, it's like grease proof. NO NO NO

School 70's into 80's. Corporal punishment was common place in infants and juniors although I was never on the receiving end but I felt so sorry for those (usually boys) who did. I remember being poorly and going into the headmistress office waiting for my mam to pick me up and I laid on a Chesterfield sofa in front of a roaring fire. That was a nice memory. Outdoor toilets with shiny toilet paper and water that froze in winter. I had a piece of artwork ripped up when I was about 7 on accusation that it was so good I must have traced it so I was a cheat. I hadn't traced it, I'd spent hours perfecting it. I never drew again. Secondary school - head was an alcoholic who did a mornings work then off into the local town to the various pubs. Older children were sent down to find him if he was needed and accompany him/steady him back to the school. He would then drive home... an absolute peadophile form tutor who pursued me relentlessly from 13. I complained aged 15 to the head of year requesting a change of form and was told I was evil and wicked for suggesting such a thing and to never say such things ever again. Said form tutor got a 16 year old pupil pregnant and it was all hushed up and then they moved in together and married. He was about late 30's early 40's.
I had my hands slapped together by a male teacher with his hands either sided of mine so hard it took all my strength not to burst into tears. I was about 12 and tiny and thin. My crime - I said I was struggling to hold my pen as it was so cold (ice on the inside of the windows). I had joint pain and bruising for a good couple of weeks. Girls being told to bend over and touch their toes to see if their skirts were too short. I saw children being bullied beyond any tolerance and teachers did nothing. If you stood up for them you got your head kicked in the same.
Was told if I didn't stay and do my a levels at this god for saken, peado enabling, toxic cross pit I would amount to nothing.
I am at the top of my profession despite not because of that school and I advocate for sexual assault victims on a daily basis so maybe they inspired me on that front.

There were also some really good people in teaching too, and sometimes they bent the rules for good reasons.

The teacher (Mr Fancy, what a name!) who told some they could disappear from class and he'd sign them in - he just didn't want them in his class if they didn't want to learn. Wrong, but I saw his logic and I think it came from a good place.

In music, we were allowed to bring in a record (one child per week), and we'd all listen to it (one song only). Then we'd sing pop songs as the teacher played piano - they were good times and a really nice way to enjoy music.

Sometimes we'd discuss politics and have debates which felt very mature at the time.

On the bad side...

We had a Maths teacher who would just and read the paper as we worked though text books.
We had a provocative female teacher who'd flirt with boys
We had ludicrously stupid headteacher who insisted no coats to be work in the canteen, despite the canteen being an external, unheated building. During winter, it was ludicrous not to allow coats.
The treatment of kids from troubled backgrounds still upsets me (and I was no better than the rest). If you didn't have the right trendy gear, or you smelled (they didn't all that much) - it would be awful for them.

Being smack so hard on bum. The force the teacher used. She used to smack if we got spelling or maths wrong or of Sge wanted to hit someone. Being dragged by our clothes across the floor. The other teachers knew and you could hear it but nothing was ever done. Corporal punishment was banned . I dont think I ever got over it. I wonder if I could sue the local authority for the fact they allowed this

I’m astounded that corporal punishment was only banned in U.K. state schools in 1986. This was after I’d left school but I was never in the receiving end of this sort of punishment in school myself. It was still allowed in private schools until the late 1990s!

Thank goodness children are more protected these days.

Gosh reading all of these I see how lucky I was! There was no physical punishment, or should I say assault, at my primary school in the 70's/ 80's. I really thought it was a thing of my fathers generation in the 40's and 50's and into the 1960's.

@LadyDanburysCane

I’m astounded that corporal punishment was only banned in U.K. state schools in 1986. This was after I’d left school but I was never in the receiving end of this sort of punishment in school myself. It was still allowed in private schools until the late 1990s!

Thank goodness children are more protected these days.

Oh wow I had no idea. Feeling really shocked by this! I also went to a private school after a state primary and no physical punishment was used there either. I was clearly very lucky!

@Dohrehmee

Being smack so hard on bum. The force the teacher used. She used to smack if we got spelling or maths wrong or of Sge wanted to hit someone. Being dragged by our clothes across the floor. The other teachers knew and you could hear it but nothing was ever done. Corporal punishment was banned . I dont think I ever got over it. I wonder if I could sue the local authority for the fact they allowed this

Yes I had that in primary at 5. Wasn't good. I wasn't naughty

Friday afternoon during poem time myself and 3 other girls (last year at Primary) were made to stand behind the Headmaster and scratch/rub his back through his clothes Every.Single.Week.

Infant school mid 80s, there was no fence around the playground / school and we kept getting men standing on the corner of the playground at lunchtime. We had lots of 'stranger danger' lessons and the parents campaigned for a fence to be put up. So glad as a parent that schools are much more secure now.

Also had a sweet shop once a term where you could take in money to buy mix up sweets which I assume no where would do now! And I remember a teacher taking small groups on children into a cupboard at Halloween to see a pumpkin all lit up, again not sure anywhere would do this now.

Having blackboard rubbers and chalk lobbed it us.

Being hit around the head with a rolled up newspaper every time we went too close to one of the dinner ladies.

Attended a RC junior school 1970s. Children attended weekly confession in the Headteachers office on a one to one basis.
I remember as a child kneeling at the feet of the Catholic Priest who was seated as I confessed my "sins".
Shocking.

A friend of mine got slapped on the leg by a teacher in the 70’s. The red hand print was still there when she got home, her mum was livid.

I went to Primary in the 70s.
Vest and pants for PE.
Being hit on the hand with a big wooden ruler in Infants for not getting my book out quickly enough.
I remember in Y6 (1978) a boy having his head repeatedly banged on the desk by the teacher because he didn't understand fractions.
Boys coming back from being hit by the HT for throwing stones and not being able to sit down because of the pain.
One Junior teacher used to smoke a pipe when he did playtime duty and outdoor PE.

I went to an all girls Grammar school from 1978-1985 and loved it. We had to shower naked after PE but the teachers didn't check.

I left senior school in 1983. Inner London borough.
We went out to the chip shop daily for lunch, we weren't allowed but everyone did. 30p was enough to get you chips and a Kia Ora for lunch. We had an ice cream van that parked outside each lunchtime too.
One girl ended up living with our art teacher as the relationship with her parents had broken down. At least one person went out with a teacher.
What I know now was sexual assault was common and girls used to try to be always in a group. I can remember a particularly unpleasant incident with a boy younger than me in a stairwell when my friend ran off and left me with him. We didn't even report it. We thought it was normal. The teachers must have known. I didn't even tell my mum. It's ridiculous and I'd be horrified if I thought anything like that was happening to my kids now but honestly we thought it was normal.
We'd regularly just sit and talk or write notes in lessons with no consequences. I wasn't a naughty kid at all and I passed all
my exams, it was just how we behaved.
As I say I'd be horrified if my children did some of the things that we believed were normal.

I went to secondary school late 90s/early - mid 2000s. We had a youngish teacher who used to put an empty bin over pupil's heads. He also used to sellotape up pupils mouth. For some bizarre reason this wasn't considered a terrible thing and we were Year 7.

@Bbq1

What years did you attend secondary @CORINNA? In my secondary school NOBODY came out as gay or lesbian. Wrongly, it just would have been social suicide which is sad. Of course, looking back there must have been gay pupils. "Homoe" or "Hom" was a horrible insult flung around by very unpleasant people. Anyone actually being gay wasn't on our radar though (except for the female pe teacher) and it just wasn't an environment anyone could have come out in comfortably. My ds it at the same school and it's gone totally the other way it would appear. Multiple gay males, every other girl it seems claims to be to Bi or Lesbian and there an trans student going male to female. I am all for people expressing their sexuality but it has most definitely, especially among girls become cool and a badge of honour to say you are bi or lesbian. I'll await my flaming

I was at school in the 1970s. There was no such thing as “ coming out “, people just gradually noticed that someone was gay / lesbian and, as a Pp said, they were in the weirdo group with Goths/ kids who didn’t like sport / those who played in the orchestra / chess club.

No it wasn’t remotely cool . I guess these pupils cared little about being socially successful and more about being themselves.

And yes kids were called names by bullies - lezzer and poofter usually.

But no one said they should have their genitals surgically removed or be chemically castrated. No one fucked with their minds by saying they were in the wrong bodies. No one said they should take drugs for life.

They just hung out with the other weirdos and non cool kids.

I’m not saying it was all fun for lesbians. But nothing like the abuse they get now.

There was no pressure on girls to be stick thin, dye their hair, have fake hair, boobs and nails and dye their skin orange. Yes we had make up but it was cheap and minimal compared to now.

There was no social pressure to have underage PIV sex, let alone do all the porn sec that girls of 14 are expected to do. It’s was all about “petting “ and we were shit scared of getting pregnant.

Yes of course some girls were having sex with their Bf by 6th form, but no one filmed it or showed everyone else photos of it. Now 6th form boys are sexually abusing vulnerable 12 year old girls and posting it on porn hub.

There was no porn in school because it was only magazines and you could easily get caught . Now boys in primary school have porn on their phones and show it to others.

Kids who were bullied at school had respite when they were at home, at weekend and school holidays. Now kids are bullied 24/7.

No pupil died by suicide in the whole time I was at school. Now it’s much more common.

I started school in 1984 and one of the things I still remember vividly is the window pole.

Who on Earth thought it was a good idea to let primary school age children (and I left that school when I was 7.5 so young primary age) go and fetch a long pole with a massive hook on the end and cart it back to the class so the windows in the classroom (high windows in an old building) could be opened? I’m amazed I can only remember one child being injured!

The other thing that would never happen now is older kids being “monitors” in the infant playground at breaks. Not a single adult, just 6 older pupils - 4 in the playground and 2 in the cloakroom. I was declared a sensible child by my teacher so I was one of the 2 “senior” monitors and I was in charge of discipline and first aid. At 11/12
If it wasn’t serious I was to tell them off or keep them in the cloakroom for a period of time. If it was a little serious then do that and tell the teacher. Very serious meant fetching an adult.
First aid wise I had “cold compresses” (paper towels in cold water), cotton wool, detail antiseptic, plasters and plastic gloves. Minor injuries didn’t even get mentioned to the teacher. I was also told several times that I was paranoid about head injuries as I always reported bumped heads.
We also had lunch at the same time as the infants so we were available for playground duty and it was years before I realised that that meant we missed at least 30 mins teaching a day!

At high school on a trip the Maths and Music teachers shagging loudly in the room between our two dorms. They laughed when someone complained and were noisy again the next night. They were both married and the Maths teacher was actually married to another teacher not on the trip, which was horrible for those of us in her class when we got back.

I was at high school by the time Dunblane happened, but my old primary school and the local council had to fight to be allowed to fence the school as there was a public right of way through the playground. People actually complained that they wouldn’t be able to cut through anymore as it was a common dog walking route. At least once a week a dog would be running round the playground.

I don't recognise much of what other posters have said, but I started school in 1983 so maybe too late for it!

I do remember going on a school trip in year 6 and all of us having to take a turn carrying a boy who had CF. He was tiny and not heavy but I can't imagine a school trip now being based on the other kids carrying one of the other pupils!

No pupil died by suicide in the whole time I was at school. Now it’s much more common.

I think that massively depends on your area/school as well.

No-one committed suicide in my high school, but DH’s (who is 10+ years older than me) school had eight suicides when he was there, including a horrific period where four happened in two weeks (and all unrelated/kids who didn’t know each other).

I used to get sent to do the teacher's shopping at lunchtime (primary) .

Around 1974 ish.

I was at same school - junior then secondary- 1963-1972
Yes I remember teachers smoking like chimneys in their staffroom, they stank of smoke after break/ lunchtimes
Frequent ridiculing of ‘stupid’ kids ( and this was a grammar school!) Teachers felt free to criticise or insult the children in their class.
Being forced to do PE outside in the winter in the North, dressed only in thin Aertex shortsleeved blouses and skimpy gym skirts. On several occasions the cold wind drew blood from my knees.Naked communal showers after PE- thin lukewarm trickles of water in a cold dank room that smelt of fungus. Teachers would stand guard and make sure everybody took all their clothes off and ‘showered’- we were all so cold and embarrassed we raced through hardly even getting wet!
A sadistic male PE teacher who would force the boys into violent physical exercise after lunch,so that several threw up.This was a regular occurrence and expected. He was also famous for taking selected boys into his office to cane them on their naked bottoms.
Routine bullying and jeering at anyone the slightest bit ‘weird’- gay, not white, one boy whose mother had left home, the smelly neglected kids. Vile,absolutely vile when I remember it now.

I’m shocked at the level of violence and abuse meted out in British schools in the not-so-distant past, and adults including parents just turning a blind eye. It’s barbaric and shameful.

I attended 4 schools in another country and never witnessed such behaviour (although I’m under no illusion that it never happened).

Board rubbers being thrown, teachers smoking in the staff room and PE in vest and pants. Luckily, the girls showers at my high school were condemned so we avoided that trauma.
I went through a time of awful period pains and would vomit, the tablets from the GP hadn't helped. The one and only time I had to go to the sick room was for that. One of the deputy heads made a big deal of women using periods as an excuse. I went home at lunchtime, called my mum at work who rang the school and I still don't know what she said.

Year 2 age. Late 1970s. My teacher had an old pushchair. A particularly naughty boy was sat in said pushchair and it was parked outside the classroom for everyone passing by to see.