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 was in school from 1990-2003.
I’d say it was a lot harsher in some ways, more lenient in others. Definitely easier to take holidays/time off during school term, but much harsher in its treatment of children. And most parents didn’t bat an eyelid about being punished for minor things (I had to miss break aged 5 for yawning during Mass) and teachers would often say things that wouldn’t be allowed now (laughing when we asked why we could wear trousers in winter like the boys - apparently we were just being “pathetic”, calling kids stupid, physically dragging children to the naughty bench etc) all of this in primary school.

I think the focus on nurture rather than discipline and recognition of SN has made school a lot more pleasant than it was. But I don’t think it was horrific, just of it’s time.

I left primary school in 98. Absolutely loved it. Went to school with dh, he loved primary schoo l too. Secondary school was shit.
Primary school now - absolut e garbage. Crap. Taken dcs out of the ir sec ond primary school as its horrific. Its like a training ground for a prison.

Primary school 1970 to 1982

No health and safety bollocks so climbing on the School roof after your ball and snowball fighting massive sliding in the playground

No and I mean no ‘naughty kids’ interrupting lessons! No idea why. Loads at my kids schools. Think you scared back then to be honest

No curriculum so days of netball/footi:cricket/rounders. Literally days

Teachers smoking in the classroom

Long long playtime’s. And just going home at 4 Pm no waiting fir parents just piss off the grounds aged 5.

Awful food that you had to eat if you wanted to play at lunch time. ( clean plate you can go)

Endless class freezes and plays..

Loved every minute of it. Except being smacked but then every adult snacked you back then so you were used to it!!!

Secondary 78/82

Loved it again. Maybe I was lucky

Tell you what kids were a lot more resilient then then now

I was at secondary from 1975 to 1982. I was a quiet, shy, studious type & I don't remember anything particularly negative. I really enjoyed sixth form.

Funnily enough seesawride I don't remember any bad behaviour in class other than a bit of talking. And I went to primary school in some deprived areas.

@seasawride i remember rounders! Used to have impromptu games in the summer when nobody could be bothered to teach. Great memory

I was at school 1979 to 1993. Main thing was it was just a bit random. No national curriculum at primary so teachers just taught whatever. Some good. Some really weird. Had to get changed in front of boys but only pre-puberty. Did PE a lot. If it was hot we had swimming for half the day. Kids with ( now) massively obvious SEN/intellectual disabilities who just sat there for years with no extra support.

Oh yeah. Also, mass canings in Friday assembly. Was like public hangings. We all really looked forward to them

Primary in the 80’s, high school early 90’s. I absolutely LOVED school. Yes, I had the odd board rubber thrown at me, one teacher was horrible to me just once, and my mum went in and sorted it. She never spoke to me again (result). I read as many books as I wanted, played out on the field, lessons outside if it was hot. BBC computers rolled out once every six weeks. Crap TV series (dark tower, fairground, through the dragons eye) which were fab at the time. No internet or mobiles. Admittedly home life wasn’t great which increased the attraction of school but all in all, I loved it x.

I went to primary school in the 90's and finished secondary in 2001. It was a bad school and I occasionally feel angry and let down by the poor education I received and the behaviour that was allowed to occur.

I feel that schools seem much more tuned into social issues now and actually talk to the kids about them. Things like race, sexuality gender and violence weren't really talked about. I think this contributed to negative attitudes to anyone different. Even people who liked alternative music let alone hay people. Bullying was rife and often physical. I managed to get decent gcse's and go on to a levels and uni. But I was one of a few. I feel that this type of school is much less common now. So I understand where you are coming from OP!

I sat my gcses in 1995. I remember trying to revise from my exercise books full of notes I had copied from the whiteboard - your success was based on how quickly and accurately you could copy stuff down. We had to share 1:3 on textbooks.

Safeguarding was non existent in most cases. I remember a child going missing at primary school during the school day and she and was found halfway across town a few hours later having just left via the gate.

I remember getting plastered on a school trip to Belgium where the teacher just let us loose in a foreign country and told us to be back by 11pm aged 14.

Children didnt have the exam pressure put on them back in the day, anyone leaving school got a job, long term apprenticeships were common & bright kids went to UNI for free.

Teachers had far more freedom in what they taught too, we had swimming lessons, loads of PE and could walk or cycle home without being run over.

Just like today, school doesnt suit everyone (me included) but i m not quite sure what is better today?

At school from 1989-2003. The thing that always stands out for me about the primary years was our headmaster at junior school and how he would berate us in assembly for not having won the inter-school sports tournament or would make a child who had done something wrong stand up in front of everyone and humiliate them. I clearly remember him once mocking a boy with SEN who was having a meltdown (not in assembly this time but still). On the other hand remember my Year Five teacher being sports mad and on warm afternoons when we weren't getting much done he would just take us all out on the field to play rounders

The secondary school I went to until Year 11 was awful. I wonder if stuff like it is common now:

• A lot of fights with everyone of course crowding round shouting 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' and 'stampedes' round the whole school. One famous fight involved two girls, one of whom had got pregnant by the other's boyfriend. One pushed the other's face into her food in the dinner hall...
• A few particular troublemakers always doing stuff like locking teachers in cupboards, climbing out of windows and running out of school, etc.
• So much bullying that caused me to have terrible anxiety. It wasn't really addressed in Year Seven until one girl punched me in the face and then they did try to sort it out but there was so much nastiness and teasing all the time, particularly if you were clever (aka a 'boff'), a bit geeky or not part of the popular gang. Was left with terrible confidence issues.
• The terrifying experience of going to the loo in the younger years - broken doors, girls throwing stuff over the top of the cubicle at you or opening the door from the outside, people smoking, people taking the piss if they heard the rustling of sanpro wrapping, etc.

Primary school in the 80s was fantastic. Secondary school in the 90s was terrible - but I think it was the school and not the decade!

Being able to get our music teacher to write us notes to get out of PE on so many occasions because of some 'essential' orchestra or choir practice. And it working. That was one good point

The thing I notice about going to assemblies and plays at my DS's primary school now is that so many of them struggle with sitting still and being quiet. It would not have been tolerated in assembly when I was the same age.

I finished school in 2011. The bullying, pressure and guidance were horrific.

I was at primary in the 70s and secondary 1979-1984. Had a great time!

There were bullies but nothing too much and certainly no risk of stabbing. Teachers were there to be scared of but we did learn the subjects and respected them. Fab memories...

78-92, four schools, and big thing was the variability, teachers ranged from excellent to totally useless (do exercise 2 on page 56. Half the class carry on gossiping to their mates. Learning... Only how to skive). Kids who struggled just skived off and no-one really bothered. Bullying happened, luckily I only had one year of it and then moved. Teacher encouraged it so she could keep control. Secondary was good from Y9 as classes were people who at least in principle wanted to learn, and we had lots of school trips involving getting pissed with the teachers. My primaries were lovely and getting whacked was rare, ditto kids having mouths washed out with soap for swearing, but there were a few kids who always got punished (until head decided to give up).

Teachwrs still chucked board rubbers and wooden model molecules at you during A level in the 90s,and I don't see that as particularly bad. Stopping teachers from being pervy was a much more important change (still shudder from walking in on the deputy head having a wank...)

bandThenjust

It really was wasn’t it

People seem a lot more clued up about bullying now. When I was at school in the 90s nobody cared if I was bullied. My parents just shrugged their shoulders because I was legally required to attend school and there was nothing they could do about me being bullied while I was there.

At the same time I think bullying is more pervasive nowadays because of the internet. At least when I was bullied I could escape at evenings, weekends and holidays. For bullied kids nowadays theres no escape.

I experienced the 3 schools regime in Leeds. Primary, Middle and Secondary between the early 1970s and mid 1980s. Both primary and high school were great.

But middle school? Just awful. It was a new school and my intake group filled the school. We were the year 4 group, where as years 1, 2 and 3 went before us.

Our teachers were a mix of psychopaths and incompetents. I can only assume that every other school in Leeds had encouraged their most useless and most troublesome teachers to apply for jobs at our school. And they all got the jobs.

I'm in my 50s and I would quite happily still tear a new arsehole for some of those fuckwits that pretended to teach us. They were cruel, bullying and judgemental. One 'teacher' took the piss out of me, and encouraged the entire class to do the same, for an entire lesson because we were going to Scarborough on holiday. Paid for by my Grandparents because my parents were bloody skint. Unlike him who was going to Spain.

I've been lucky, I've been succesful in my career. I probably earn much more than Mr Oldroyd ever did and have much more responsibility. But I have never forgotten how he treated me. And quite frankly if I ever bumped into him I would still want to punch him in the face no matter how old the nasty fucker is now.

I remember being made to chew the chalk as a punishment For chewing gum!

Mrs Lamisaire the French teacher! Good on you! I deserved it.

Can I ask and no agenda at all.

I don’t remember any kids kicking off or daring to kick off all my school days and if they did they got a slap or at dss boys grammar the cane.

That was 70s/80s. So where were the kids with ADHD or other needs? Honestly not being goady but where were they? At special schools undiagnosed? Seriously no kid would dare challenge authority then without knowing the physical concequences. Or just cowering and desperate. Anyone know?

I went to secondary school in the 90's - it may have just been my school, but there was no career guidance at all. The very bright or very needy were focussed on, those of us in the middle kind of got missed.

500yards

That’s hideous. We have the middle school system here but mine loved it hope you meet Mr Oldroid and can vent

Primary '75 to '82 wasn't brilliant. I have very happy memories of being at convent school '82 to '89 though.