To wonder about school in the 80s and 90s

[onceawhitetowel]

The reason I am asking is because I have horrific memories of school then.

Yet things on the whole seem better now.

When did things change?

I went to primary school in the 70's where the teachers happily smoked at their desk, pupils put over their knees and smacked and hit on the back of the hand with a wooden ruler.

One lad in particular,would always grab a girl and squeeze one breast hard as he walked past you in the corridor..everyoneknew to avoid him...nothing was done..

Think my school life in 80s/90s was better than ds6s

summersnake I punched a boy in the face for something similar in 90s. He didn’t report me since he was a 6ft football player hit my a 5ft nerd and he didn’t do it again.

My children started school in 97. Absolutely lovely, child centred but high achieving little primary atop the cliffs. They have very happy memories. Differences were celebrated and bullying was always addressed.

You didn't dare have any tampons / towels in yr bag....a group of nasty girls would go through everyone's bag throwing your tampons to the boys for a laugh..I mused to hide Lillets up my jumper sleeve and pray they didn't fallout...but if you told a teacher you were telling tales ,so itsaved the teachersfrom doing anything

Good for you chicken,wish I had punched some of the bastards

nothing horrific apart from the lunches

Oh my goodness, aint that the truth? Semolina, watery custard, lumpy mash, terrible rice pudding (how did they do it?), yellow 'curry' with raisins, weird sponge with meat (possibly dog food) under it.....

Ughhhh

Started at primary in 1971, left Comprehensive in 1982, loved Infant school, it was only small & the kids were ok, first Junior school was ok, moved house & changed to local school, got bullied. Started Comprehensive in 1977, massive school after being in a school with 200 pupils, there were over 2500 pupils, most of the teachers were ok, some just couldn't handle the kids, we didn't have uniform, there were fights, minor riots, the school was so big they couldn't contain us, there were no locked doors like schools now, we just turned up when we pleased & skived when we felt like it. The teachers were so hopeful that we would get jobs that they taught us how to fill in forms to sign on the dole. The only good thing about school was the youth club, you could join from being 14, the youth workers treat us like adults, we went on trips, the club was open during the day for unemployed, we spent more time in there than in school, I used to work at coffee bar in the club, got £2 a day & as much free pop & snacks as I could eat, this topped up my £17 a week dole money.

I spent 2 years on the dole before I got a job as a Civil Servant where I worked for 27 years.

I’ve not done anything like that before or since I just hit end of my tether.

Why would you object to my comment Cardi ? Unless you worked in the school I went to then you have no idea of the competence of the teachers there
Judging by some of these posts it would seem my teachers were a few of many shit teachers-humiliation, bullying & just general not giving a fuck if your students learnt anything to me is not the mark of a high level, good teacher.

Primary school 1989 to 1995, finished secondary school in 2002
Loved it, best times of my life

My small 70's village primary school was fine. My secondary was massive (1500 pupils) and rough, girl gangs, bullying, with drag down fights & injuries from potato peelers as weapons: over . Also pervy 28yr old PE teacher driving past my 14yr old friend nightly after school asking her to go to cinema. My Headmaster at 6th form got done for under age boy 'stuff' on his PC. At drop off, the my v savvy Dad always said "why is the very pretty headboy cleaning the head's already spotless motorbike?". Me being a v v naive, and I didn't 'click' on or think anything of it. Head left and was at v prestigious boys school when charged, (along with Head of maths) . He married his girlfriend of 12years, moved abroad & died quite young after it all happened.

I was at primary school in the 90s and secondary school in the 00s. School was ok but had its ups and downs when it came to friendships. Some days felt pretty lonely especially in secondary school.

I was at secondary school 1976-81 and loved it. All girls grammar, very supportive and encouraging. Loads of primary schools unfortunately but most were fine. There was one teacher who threw board rubbers though.

Having to get undressed in front of boys?!?! I think you had a pervert teacher in charge of that. That is the only explanation I can think of.

I went to school in 70's and 80s. White working class school. Generally I think the school was pretty good at dealing with bulllying when it was aware of it. Well, maybe not 'good' but effective. It was dealt with by teachers physically assaulting the bullies. On one occasion we were all made to stand up whilst a teacher beat up a pupil in front of us. Literally. Punched him in the stomach, hit him in the head. It was awful. On another occasion I saw a teacher grab a boy by the back of the head and repeatedly smash his head against a wall. It's amazing looking back on it. It never occurred to us to tell the police. SOmetimes I wonder what would have happened if we had. Probably have been in ignored tbh. We were white working class kids and they were the middle class teachers.

Oh, and the school had zero expectations of us. Factory work or shop work. That's what they saw for us.

Maggie thatcher stole my milk. That’s pretty horrific

67-79 for me. Hated school. Bullying was institutionalised. It was survival of the fittest. You had to be so wily to find a way to use a toilet during the school day. The teachers seemed to hate the management and the students! We called the remedial classes in this huge comp ‘The Dumbers’ - even some of the staff used that term. Shocking. Anyone new to the country was placed in ‘The Dumbers’ for years and years, being taught basics by the same couple of teachers off the curriculum along with anyone who used a wheelchair, regardless of their ability. It must have led to them losing the will to live.

As a teacher I can honestly say, pretty well all the schools I’ve worked in are significantly better than my old school was.

I finished junior school in 1979. In my last year of junior school I can remember a lad in my class being run at by the teacher and hit so hard on the backside he went flying. Looking back I am really shocked that kids didn't report this back to their parents and him get into trouble.

I went to school from the early eighties to the late nineties. I had a great time and all my teachers were lovely (with one of two exceptions). They were all really funny, kind people who were genuinely interested in kids. They also taught very individually. It seemed very free compared to my kids' schools, great though her teachers have been.

I was at school in the 80s and it was shit.

In my 3rd year of junior school the teachers went on strike. That was it - no lunches, no clubs, no parents evenings, no reports, no trips. At lunchtime we all left the school grounds - no-one gave a shit where we went up. We then turned up for afternoon lessons.

This went on until well into my first year of secondary school. There was a particularly ‘militant’ branch of the NUT in the village, and the schools were really badly affected.

By the end of it, I was completely disillusioned and cynical about the whole school experience. My parents threw all their socialist beliefs out the window and sent me to a private school. I never looked back!

I went to secondary school in the mid 80s and it was pretty horrific. I went to a particularly bad school though...was talking to SIL at the weekend and she said when she found out which school I'd been to she spent two weeks trying to digest the information. When I first met DH he actually asked me not to tell people which school I'd been to!

For all it's faults, though I don't remember much classroom disruption. The head teacher later told my mother we were a very bright year, but spent most of our time throwing chairs at each other. I only remember 4 such incidents in 4 years.

The low level bullying was constant and draining. We were a very girl heavy year and thought nothing of sexually assaulting the boys by grabbing their testicles.

Oh and the racism....

The physical assaults from the teachers were the least of our worries. Most teachers were fine, a couple were even supportive, but a few were vile.

The saddest part was leaving that school at 16 and thinking everyone in the world was that horrible. It took two years at an independent 6th form to rebuild my trust in the human race.

My DC go to an amazing, school in comparison. They are very lucky and they do realise it.

I was at school from 1982 to 1993. I then went to college for A levels. First school I remember racism being tolerated. My mum was going out with a black man and someone asked why my mum was with a wog . Literally, and nothing was said. Outright physical neglect seemed more common then, I remember kids in terrible clothes and smelling, no lunch with them etc and I don't see it among my kids peers. Not saying it never happens just in general. In secondary I remember being terrified of one of the bus prefects. He used to wait till very few people were on the bus and then pin first year girls to their seat and rub himself against them. I had a strict religious upbringing where sex wasn't talked about but I knew it wasn't ok. When I finally reported him I was told he was just joking and not to be a tattle tale and over react again. Bullying and being unaccepting of difference was usual. But on the plus side life did seem simpler and we could at least leave school at school, no internet or social media and the lack of H+S led to much more adventurous school trips.

I hope the utter shits at the Daily Heil are enjoying having another article written for them