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.

Our school only allowed girls to start wearing trousers in 2002 (we campaigned for it).

I read that the youngest German soldiers in World War II were just 12 years old in the final months. So heartbreaking!

I know!

She's my fave queen but at her birth,she was considered 'useless'

Funny how life turns out

When I first worked (nursing home) there was a woman who’d been institutionalised her whole life because she had a baby out of wedlock. I also learnt that hysteria was a genuine reason women were institutionalised also. Being gay was a mental illness up until 1992.

I remember being shocked to discover that other countries had also had extensive empires. Not shocked exactly, but a bit outraged that this hadn't been mentioned before, and thinking it made sense of a lot of things. I think it was the first year or so of secondary school.

I'm dismayed to hear of all the girls having to fight the trouser battle so recently- we did this in the early 70s (and won)
would be an interesting project to map the acceptability of girls school uniform trousers over time

I wonder what, in 50 years, people will be saying they were shocked by 50 years ago.

I was maybe 6 or 7 when another child told me what "having it off" involved. I didn't believe him. It seemed like such a ridiculous thing to do 😆

At my secondary school all the girls gingham blouses were made in Needlework classes. You couldn’t buy them in shops, only from the school.

We petitioned our school a few later and it was rejected!

The school finally gave in after I left.

This was just before I started but I remember someone telling me that girls at my secondary school had to campaign for trousers for girls

It's a bit of a looking back one and at the time it was just awkward and repugnant without understanding why.

That a PE teacher with a man's haircut, who wore brogues and a tweed skirt suoy whilst striding into school, was allowed to supervise young women in the shower, carefully watching, to make sure they were fully stripped. She also delighted on educating us about the growth of breasts, pubic hair and periods and veruccas and BO.

There would be a safeguarding report now, and probably in the 90s/00s.

1971 to 1976 for me. I think it retired in about 1985. Its pronouns in today's world would definitely not be "she/her". I honestly didn't realise the grossness until I went to a different school for 6th form.

Vile.

And still boys wear shorts down to the knees but girls have to wear ones that barely cover their backside.

That’s awful! The PE kit is the same for boys and girls at the secondary school my niece goes to. They have a choice of shorts and trousers.

Just because a child doesn't have a 'nuclear' family doesn't mean they aren't fulfilled and from a loving home. Your comment is quite jarring and arrogant. I lived with my mother who loved and sacrificed so much for me. My father lived with his second wife and children and because of how toxic he is, the wife became an alcoholic and the kids (now in their 20's) have no friends, hobbies or a job and suffer with mental health issues. Don't assume a nuclear family is always perfect.

Work houses, how families were separated and children forced to work in horrendous conditions. I was also shocked about the etymology of hysteria and how it was treated.

That up until the mid 20th century a quarter of children would die before their 5th birthday. The teacher had us look around the class and imagine that 6-7 of us wouldn’t be there.
we also had the trousers battle when I was at school in the 90s, think I was year 9 when the school gave in.
Not in school, but I do remember my mum telling me that they could finally afford to buy their first house somewhere in the mid-70s as the mortgage company would take into account her salary (they wouldn’t before).

That not everyone in the country had free music lessons. We moved from the north to the south and I had to stop my music lessons because we couldn't afford them. "What do you mean we can't afford them, they are free!".

That nuclear bombs can blow your skin off so you're walking around trailing it from your heels

Or burn your eyeballs in their sockets

Tldr a lot of nuclear bomb stuff that made me wonder why people kept breeding in the 70s and 80s THANKS PARENTS

In junior school, learning that one day the sun will burn up the earth - this blew my mind/brought on an existential crisis & was prob the beginnings of me losing any religious/spiritual beliefs

Modern Studies class in 1991, around 60 kids aged 11/12 in our year group with class sizes of around 20.

Teacher told us that by the law of averages as least one of our year group would be dead within 10 years and probably 3 within 20 years. We were all looking round each other thinking WTF! (Great teacher btw but weird teaching style!)

In hindsight, she was correct. Out of about 60 kids in my year group:-

1 died from cancer at 19
1 died falling down a set of stairs (totally sober, just tripped)
1 died climbing in himalayas (body never found)
2 died from drugs issues

All before we turned 30!

I remember my school friend explaining anal sex when I was around 10, we had recently discovered that homosexuality was a thing so guessing we were trying to figure out what gay men got up to.

I absolutely 100% did not believe a word of it 😆. Just as well we then started reading Just 17 and More to find out about all this stuff!

I can still remember the shock I had when I was taught at school that the river Thames was pronounced Tems - I was a great reader in those days and in my mind it was pronounced as I read it! Took me a long time to get over that one.

I'd heard about PIV as the way to make babies, but found it a bit confusing as I knew, more or less, what penises were like and it made no sense. Like getting toothpaste back in the tube. It wasn't until we did human reproduction in about year 9 that I learned about the mechanics of erections. To be fair I went to a girls' school and only had sisters.

I vaguely remember 'loop pads' for sale in the local chemist. My friend was buying sanitary towels during our school lunchbreak, we were about 12 and her parents were a bit neglectful, the absolutely lovely lady with the Grandma face in the chemist asked us if we definitely needed 'loop' ones as it was normally older ladies who bought those. She took us back to the shelf and helped her pick stick on pads instead (then shoved them in a paper bag😆).

Anyway, just out of curiosity, were the pads for belts not stick on so you needed the belt to hold it on and presume they had loops to attach them?