Things you remember being shocked or surprised to learn at school

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Some basic facts you learn at school can be really shocking when you first hear them, and this was long before the Horrible Histories books. Some of the OMG moments I remember were:

Punishments in Victorian schools, such as being hauled up to the ceiling.

The Incan punishment of holding a child over a fire of chilli peppers, so they would inhale the smoke.

Swarms of locusts destroying all greenery in minutes.

The story of Abraham nearly sacrificing his son Isaac. (Yes I know, it’s a Bible story which probably didn’t happen, but in my primary school days, it was almost presented as fact, before teachers had to say “some people believe”).

Of course, a teacher would normally explain these without any emotion at all, and somehow this made them all the more astounding, that they didn’t seem bothered at all.

I love this, thanks! 🤣🤣

I remember reading a book on human anatomy at junior school when I was about 7/8. It was full of colourful cutaway drawings of bodies showing all the internal organs, and I was absolutely flabbergasted - I couldn’t possibly look like that on the inside…could I? I took a lot of convincing that yes, I was just like everybody else.

I had a similar experience in church. I was brought up Catholic, where a child’s first communion is a massive deal (boys in their smartest suits, girls in white bride-like dresses), and classes in preparation for this big day. We were given communion wafers to try before then, and some of the children were a bit shocked, until it was explained that these ones were not consecrated. In spite of this education, I thought the consecration was a mysterious ritual which happened behind the scenes - I didn’t realise until later that this was what the priest was doing every Sunday during the church service, with the bells and incense, in front of everyone.

I learned quite recently that this was a true story with my grandad, who had TB as a child, and his family moved to the south coast of England, so that fresh sea air might revive him. It seemed to work, otherwise I might not be here!

History was always an eye opener in the shock stakes...
Henry VIII had his wife's head chopped off. And that was OK?

I know! I remember learning that In the UK, the reigning monarch holds total sovereign immunity, meaning they cannot be arrested, prosecuted, or sent to jail.

Legally, King Charles III cannot be prosecuted for murder!

When I was 10 I had no idea what the expression "fucked off" meant. I heard another kid use it and genuinely believed it meant went away or ran off. There was something on the radio about the spies Burgess and McLean defecting and I remarked to my mother that they had "fucked off to Russia". She was horrified and told me that if I ever repeated that word again she would tell my father and I would get a beating. My father worked as a labourer on the Liiverpool docks where language was no doubt robust. However I never heard him use that word. It was only later that I found out what the word meant.

This memory, vivid as it is, is not about swearing. Its about how children navigate adult words without the map. So childish innocence and adult norms collide. Its also about how families enforce linguistic norms and how taboo words carry emotional weight far beyond their literal meaning,

OMG thats brilliant 😂

I remember the days I attended Church and took communion “the body of Christ”.

I never once actually thought it was a flake of Jesus body 😆

I we'd taught that not only was it ok for henners to have chopped off Anne Boleyns head (and Katherine's too) but she was covered in moles (god knows why that's a crime) and had 6 fingers on one hand

This was spoken as if it was a proven fact

Same teacher taught us that Robin Hood and Merlin where real people

My father was fuming when he found out and put me right

The Catholic Church teaches transubstantiation. The bread and wine change completely into the actual body and blood of Christ, even though they still look and taste like bread and wine.

After Anne Boleyn’s execution, Catholic propagandists reinterpreted her moles and minor physical traits as "devil’s marks" to brand her a witch.

I think a few prime minsters (Tony Blair, Boris Johnson) didn't learn during their expensive educations that this privilege does not extend to the Prime Minister.

Yes,I did watch a program about it a few years ago

Somehow,her 'having' 6 fingers (which wasn't true) made her a witch

It was the way the teacher claimed it to be true with such conviction

She was an innocent woman (apart from the katherine part) who's only fault is she couldn't give Henry a son but gave him a 'useless' daughter

They were a ‘law unto themselves!’

For a ‘useless’ daughter, Elizabeth I (Good Queen Bess) was considered one of England’s greatest monarchs!

Bet he’s been tempted to take advantage of that perk of the job with some of his relations 😉😂

I studied this in one of my degree subjects about how boys books were full of adventure. Really opened my eyes!

The comments about school uniforms and petitions to wear skirts has reminded me of the fabulous Sue Townsend.

Adrian Mole wears red socks to school out of rebellion and to cope with his parents’ separation. Adrian’s father gets furious and complains to the school. Pandora, organises a school "red sock protest," which helps bring her and Adrian together.

Whoops, a little off topic …

It is a pity he doesn’t use his power on a certain relative!!

Adrian was gobsmacked to learn in school that his testes make a hundred million sperm a day. A DAY! Later, the nursery teacher of Adrian’s son William asserts that not all birds sleep in their nests at night, and Adrian goes to great lengths to try to prove her wrong.

Probably lot higher in the 70s
Block of eight flats
3 battered wives(my mum and me included)
Young man down stairs battered by his step dad.
The same step dad that tried to pull me into his flat (screamed the place down dad came out never heard anything more)
Paedophile at the bottom flat (married taxi driver later convicted)

I learned French at a young age, and I remember my own outrage that there is seemingly no logic at all to which French nouns are masculine or feminine.

French evolved from Latin. Most French words kept the grammatical gender they had in Latin. For example, a word that was feminine in Latin is almost always feminine in French.

I went to a primary school on a really rough council estate and lots of the children came from difficult homes and circumstances. Therefore I was one of the luckiest in my class in terms of home life.
I ended up at a grammar for secondary school in a really affluent area and I was so shocked to learn that I was actually poor! Has anyone seen the episode of Derry Girls where they start asking their mums about their trust funds - was a bit like that 🤣

History teacher who was from Germany showed us a documentary that was shown in her school in Germany with interviews from German soldiers who survived WW2. It was horrific what they said and made me realise they were just young scared boys just like our British lads