WTF moments from childhood

[Lyannaa]

I vividly remember sitting in a circle at primary school and playing a game (facilitated by teachers). It was a variation on ‘spin the bottle’ and this boy named the girl he wanted to kiss. The feeling was not mutual from her end and she began running around and around the circle, trying to evade both the boy and the disgraceful teachers trying to hold her down. Vile. How was this a thing? All I remember was sitting there thinking ‘thank goodness this isn’t me’.

This was 1989…

What I'm wondering is where are they now?
Are these sorts of people still in teaching and other professions where safeguarding is of utmost importance?

All girls secondary school, early 1990s.

In a German lesson we were learning the words for thin, fat, short, tall etc. The teacher then pointed at the tallest girl in the class who had to say the German for ‘I am tall’ etc. You can probably see where this is going…

Yes, I was pointed at and had to say the German for ‘I am fat’ in front of the whole class. It’s not the only reason I’ve struggled with disordered eating for the last thirty years, but it sure as hell didn’t help.

At a Girls Brigade end of term display we danced to Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polkdot Bikini in the church hall wearing our swimwear. I must have been about nine years old. We weren't allowed to have a Halloween party in there because that would be sacrilegious, but girls on the cusp of puberty dancing in their swimwear was fine.

Swimming lesson with school. A girl had pooped in the pool by accident we all had to go changing rooms pull down our swim suits so the teacher along with lifeguard could check for any poo stains in them to find the culprit.

Poor girl had stains, teacher announced who it was looked disgusted. Mid 90s

I was at secondary mid 90s - early 00s.

We had a ‘supply’ PE teacher who was so old. When having a badminton lesson, which thinking back to it was mostly female students, he said to us “you have to treat the shuttlecock like a lady, hold her gently” whilst running his fingers up and down the shuttlecock. He also walked past me and my friend playing badminton and said “beauty vs brains, who will win?”. Absolute creep.

We also had 6th form talent shows and the ‘popular’ girls did a dance to a song that was wholly inappropriate for a school, I think it was ‘Naked’ by Louise. I remember it being so awkward and all the male teachers came to watch.

There was also a teacher who went on to have a relationship with a student once she left sixth form, well they made it official. Absolutely disgusting.

My mum was a primary teacher and the stories she has from the 70s/80s are just beyond shocking. A male teacher who sat little girls on his lap and took them to the staffroom with him alone. My mum spoke up about it and was told to keep quiet.

Education is by no means perfect today but at least there’s actual safeguarding in place.

Girls Brigade here too! Fond (sarcasm!) memories of the men on camp sat watching me and another girl on the swings where they must have got an eyeful up our skirts. Only when my children were young did I realise why there are now screens strategically placed so no-one can do that 🤢

What a grim read this thread is. I too was thinking where are all these people now.

Yep - sounds like my sixth form too. The politics teacher used to invite his students round to watch the General Election

Sight tests - we were annually paraded into a classroom where we had to read some letters from a flip book that was held up across the room.
I wore glasses and was made to do it with glasses off, so what exactly was the point other than the abject humiliation in front of the rest of the class of not being able to see the letters?

Went to a convent a local (likely mentally ill) man used to appear at the school gates every break/lunch and flash us all. Can still see the nuns running with their wimples flying to shoo him away. Don't think they every called the police.

At my primary school (late 90s) whenever the class did a test we'd have to swap papers and mark each other's work while the teacher read out the answers. Then the teacher would note down all the scores by calling our name and we had to announce our score in front of the whole class who'd sit in silence all listening and gasping at any really low ones. 25 years later I still feel sad thinking about the ritual humiliation of the same poor SEN kids every time.

Oh @ANonEMouseYouSir ! That happened to me too. I remember being stood in front of the teacher (who was also the head of our school) twisting my hands together and staring down at my feet refusing to get on the scales. Eventually he sent me out to stand in the corridor and I was just sobbing because I’d never been in trouble before. And the other kids going past after the lesson muttering ‘what’s the matter? You scared you’re going to break the scales? Huh huh?’). I was bullied for my weight as I was chubby rather than tall but damn those experiences linger!

Female PE teachers making us remove our towels coming out of communal showers to ensure we were wet all over, not just shoulders. We knew it was pervy (1980).

My degree result was posted on a board outside the Chemistry department for all to see. Well not only my result.
I wasn’t too fussed. I had done well and it was the norm for my Uni back in the late nineties.
I don’t actually think this is that bad compared to some of the stuff I’m reading

Late seventies, secondary school had a trip day for each year group. You got to choose which trip you went on, or stay in school with various activities set up. Our HOY asked all those not going on a trip to bring a packed lunch and about fifty of us were taken on an 8 mile walk across the moors to another village, where we ate our lunch on the village green. The teachers then went to the pub and told us to walk back to school. Several got lost, one girl twisted her ankle and we had to partly carry her all the way back. Some parents complained and we were 'told off' by the HOY!

In the 70’s our RE teacher used to make girls go to his desk to read from the bible and he’d sit with his hand on their bum under their skirts while they read. We were 11/12. (He was the one who did shower duty in PE). We tried to complain but headmaster told us he was a good teacher and gave me and my 2 friends detention for causing trouble. WTF. Both long dead I hope

My very rural primary school was opposite a wooded area and one day we'd all been taken to the woods and then had to draw something we'd seen there.

For some reason I just couldn't get the tree I was trying to recreate right and was getting a bit upset (always been a perfectionist 🙄) so my teacher left a whole class of 7-11 year olds and took me alone back into the woods so that I could see the tree again and try to memorise it.

Absolutely nothing untoward happened to me and the teacher in question was the loveliest man who I still have very fond memories of but my God that would never happen now. And I'm still crap at art too 🤦.

From the 70's. In sixth form I brought in whisky from our drinks cabinet at home to make the Irish coffee we were making in class "more authentic" . I still remember my pride in correctly pouring the cream onto the coffee/whisky and it stayed on top (spoon method . Those were the days, that's for sure.

And and high school loads of teachers would gaggle together with the kids for a smoke or to ask for a light. One used to set the work and then put out a rallying call of "I'm going for a smoke, anyone coming?" And half the class would upend and disappear with her, like a nicotine pied piper!

In the middle of an A-level music lesson our teacher suddenly stopped what he was doing and said "Fuck this, we're going to the pub." There was only me and one other girl in the class. Off we went along with the other music teacher (they were dating) in his car to the village pub. I'm summer born so wasn't 18 at that point. I remember getting a vodka and orange. Would have been 1996.

All girls school, late 70's, our maths teacher used to grind his crotch onto the desk corners when speaking to you. He wished me happy birthday ( 14th birthday) then told me he had a picture of me on his bedroom wall !

My friend, age 15, was going out with the male, 30s, art teacher. Everyone was so envious that she was with an older, sophisticated man, especially as they used to whizz around in his sports car and go to pubs at lunchtime. This went on for 2 years. Everyone, including the other members of staff knew. This was 1970s.

I need to see a photo of Charlie the friendly crocodile.

I am indeed, but the old witch never used it from what i remember anyway so I'm guessing it was banned by our Council buy she couldn't bear to part with it 🙄

When I was at junior school, there was a wall on the end of our drive and it used to be a bit of a magnet for us kids who were friends and older ones who lived on the estate to sit on the wall. One random kid was screaming one day, now my dad hated screaming I had that absolutely drilled into me so I never ever screamed but some kids just scream don't they and obviously they hadn't got the memo about my dad's aversion to it.

Well this kid screamed, my dad was nearby and told him to stop, he didn't so my dad just hit him (i was so well behaved and scared as the one and only time I'd had a tantrum aged two he'd hit me hard across the legs, so perhaps my dad could not compute that a child was disobeying him).

I remember this kids dad coming round and speaking to my dad, obviously cross but crikey if some random adult assaulted your child you'd have called the police surely. This would have been early eighties. He was lucky this dad didn't hit him.

Me too! I am a teacher and often tell my students this. They think it is absolutely insane 🤣