To think school is more enjoyable for children now?

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I hated school growing up, but lots of children now seem to enjoy going and are disappointed if school is closed (lockdown / snow days etc.)

Was it just me who hated school in the 80s/90s or has school become more enjoyable for children now that some of the issues I had to contend with (bullying and awful teachers) are better dealt with?

I loved primary school in the 90's but hated secondary 90's into 00's.

I loved school in the 80’s. My kids love it now. Some of my peers hated school in the 80’s, some of their peers hate it now. I don’t think anything has changed particularly.
I’m glad my children love school. During lockdown/school closures a load of posters on here were disparaging about kids who were upset at school closures, saying things like ‘how weird, most kids leap at the chance of a few weeks off’, which I thought was pretty sad.

My youngest likes school but would prefer to be at home.

My 13 year old tells me she hates school. Apparently the lessons are too loud and she can't learn anything. During lockdown she was still able to attend as I was classed as a key worker. She LOVED it! She spent all day sitting at a computer getting on with her work. If she had her own way she would be home schooled. When I mentioned I'm out at work all day she asked for a tutor!

A lot of primary school is really fun these days. But GPS (fronted adverbials and all that bs) is soooo dull. And in our school there is definitely too much emphasis on that side of things rather than broader topics.

I actually think school is far less fun these days. Just one example is the lack of excitement over Christmas parties. In the 80s Christmas parties were full of dancing, treats maybe a movie, decorated classrooms. Now the kids are lucky if they get a movie and some unsweetened popcorn.
I understand Christmas isn't for everyone (I'm from a Muslim background) but there are ways to be inclusive and not lose the fun.

I also get the feeling that because schools are constantly needing to fundraise, the fun is limited to organised events, which not everyone can attend out of school time.

My daughter has a teacher that everyone considers zany/wacky and she is lovely, but I feel that in the 80s/90s you would have had a couple of those fun-loving teachers in each school.

I don't recognise your description of Christmas parties at all! We are awash with decorations, parties will have a disco, cakes etc all classes will be watching a Christmas film at some point. I don't think we are that unusual?

I agree with SchoolRunEsapee and I'm a teacher.
My primary days in the 80s were glorious! So laid back. Huge xmas parties with a real excitement over our party dresses, xmas film. We had school discos every term! No SATs and endless trips and visits. Story writing competitions. The whole afternoon playing Rounders. It hasn't been like that for my kids. Better teaching and lots of gimmicks to improve literacy/numeracy but not as much fun. Teachers far too over worked to do fun stuff.

I teach in secondary and without doubt education is better. Intervention groups, monitoring of progress all times, pastoral care is exceptional but it is very stressful and the kids under a lot of pressure. A lot of the curriculum is dull and irrelevant and kids have to be forced to study it.

Oldie here! I went to primary school in the sixties. We had to stand up for the teacher, work in silence and copy off the board. We were slapped by the teacher if spelling was incorrect, and told to stand in a corner, facing the wall, if we misbehaved (irrespective of whether it was our fault or not). We ran around in our knickers and vests to 'Music and Movement', and I dreaded the outdoor PE on scratchy coconut mats in gravel coated playgrounds.

As others have said, some children hated school; others loved it If I look back on the school experience, it was horrendous by today's standards. However, the experience I describe was normal for a village school in those days.

I think, if children went back to be taught by the methods that were acceptable a generation ago, they would be shocked. Go back two generations, and the experience would be unacceptable.

The teaching methods, technology and individuality available to children today, in schools, is magical compared to those experienced over fifty years ago.

However, I think what really matters, and what children of any generation remember are the friendships made, the kindness of a teacher, the time we did something really well, or the bullying, the discrimination or unfairness and the time we were made to feel inadequate. These memories are timeless and not context dependent. So school has always been, and will continue to be, enjoyable for some and less enjoyable for others, dependent on human relationships, rather than pedagogic practice.

I loved primary school. It was run by complete hippies and it was great fun and no pressure. We spent a lot of time being read to, reading, doing arts, crafts, cooking, putting on plays, doing our own projects and just playing. There was no testing and assessments that we were made aware of. I wouldn't change that.

My secondary school was like the godammned Hunger Games. Violence, drug taking, smoking and bullying was rife and the teachers didn't give a crap. Sometimes there would be organised fights with a rival school which were broken up by the police. Hard times to be a swat. I'd have loved my dc's experience of secondary school.

It's hard for me to compare because I wasn't raised in the same school system and even my spouse that was feels like it's comparing apples to coconuts before even getting into how different DS1's school experience at his school has been to my DDs at a different school.

I do remember crying my eyes out that I had a snow day when I was about 6, though in hindsight I think I was more dysregulated about my routine being disrupted after getting ready than anything else. I think I was 8 before I started feeling unsafe and angry about school (but to be fair, I felt that about nearly everywhere with adults at that point).

Obviously there are good schools and bad schools and exceptions to every rule etc, but on the whole I think you’re right. Schools and teachers generally seem a lot kinder and more concerned with children’s overall welfare than they did in our day - I think back to some of the things teachers routinely said/did in the 80s/90s and I don’t think a lot of it would be acceptable now.

There are obviously other things that are much more difficult for kids now (social media bullying etc) but I think that schools themselves generally seem to have a much gentler ethos.

My experience of school was horrendous, bullying teachers and kids, mental health issues made worse, no help of guidance anywhere to be seen. God I hated it so much. I worry about my son going, the day he comes home saying he doesn’t want to go I’d home school as my experience was so bad.

I must have been really lucky because I went to school in the 80s/90s and I can't remember any bullying teachers.

I did more music and drama at my middle school than my kids do. We had a proper orchestra and music lessons and put on loads of shows and plays. It was only a local state primary/middle and in quite a deprived area.

My kid's primary school does hardly any music or drama, it's all about maths and literacy. It's still a nice school though with lovely teachers.

I hated school, but some of my classmates liked it.

Some kids now hate school, while others love it.

Some aspects of school have changed for the better and others for the worse.

It would be hard to know whether a larger proportion of children used to hate school in the olden days versus now.

@RightOnTheEdge

I must have been really lucky because I went to school in the 80s/90s and I can't remember any bullying teachers.

I did more music and drama at my middle school than my kids do. We had a proper orchestra and music lessons and put on loads of shows and plays. It was only a local state primary/middle and in quite a deprived area.

My kid's primary school does hardly any music or drama, it's all about maths and literacy. It's still a nice school though with lovely teachers.

One of my teachers was apparently so bad that I forgot all about it.

As an adult, I mentioned to my mum the curious fact that I couldn't remember much about the year I was eight. I remember before that time and after it, but not that year.

Mum wasn't surprised. She told me I came home in tears every single day because of the teacher, that her own complaints had been ineffective, and that it was the cause of our family moving to another town midyear.

Probably if you don't remember being mistreated it is because you weren't mistreated, but that isn't invariably the case.

I was quite happy at school in the 80's. There wasn't the pressure to perform academically that there seems to be now.

DS has been very up and down - currently Y11 and gets on with it but is really feeling quite stressed with non stop exam pressure and the constant in class testing to provide evidence for teacher assessed grades if they end up being needed.

DD Y9 was miserable due to bullying and being at a school with a zero tolerance approach to discipline ( sadly didn't seem to stop the bullying though).

She is now at a new school ( non selective independent with small classes )
and loves it. At half term she said she missed being at school because it's so much fun.

My kids had some lovely teachers, some quite old school and they created a really secure environment for learning. As did some of the newer teachers. Looking back on my own school experience, I truly have no good memories of primary or secondary school from a teaching perspective - some really cruel and nasty teachers who helped shape the young me into a fearful and embarrassed child. I'd hate to see that happen now, although maybe it still does. I had one particularly cruel teacher who went out of his way to use my insecurity as a tool to joke and make a fool of me in front of the class, not nice at age 9.
Sitting with your hands on your head as a class if one person spoke, standing on your chair until some children wet themselves, the belt, cruel comments. I really haven't forgiven the profession.
As I say, my kids loved school. So different to my experience.

I loved school 20 years ago. Both my ds's are fine with school and have barely missed a day.

Primary school yes.

But I think secondary school has gone worse with the rise of social media, bullying, violence and pressure to have everything. I’m dreading my eldest going secondary next September- I feel like I’m throwing him in to the snake pit.

Couldn't disagree more. To the point where I won't put my children in a physical school now having had some of them go through the school and some come out due to school failing them - several schools in different parts of the country.

I think it varies massively. School to school kid to kid etc

But back in then80s and 90s if a bully wanted to pick on you they would have to do it at school or find your house etc.
These days they can bully 24/7 via social media etc.

I was bullied in the 80s and 90s at school, I can't imagine having my bullies in my pocket 24/7

My children don't like school and actually preferred learning in lockdown.
Having said that their school is rubbish and youngest has been badly bullied and never received any support despite having autism.
Eldest in in Y11 and yesterday was counting how many weeks before she would be leaving that school forever. So I wouldn't say all children enjoy school. Don't think it helps that they are frozen in school for obvious reasons.

I have 15 year old in school. 25 mins for lunch, at least twice a week there is no food left when they get to the canteen.
Equipment check every morning, if you don’t
Have a pen ect it’s detention, yet you can disrupt an entire lesson and nothing is done. 3 heads in 4 years. Every week at least one substitute.
So I think schools are much worse than they were.

I went to primary school in the late 80s in a poor London suburb and had a couple of very lovely teachers.

I was an immigrant and my experiences were mostly positive, in a multicultural school.

I had a female teacher when I was 7 who I would run to in the mornings and later on, had a young, hippy male teacher who we saw as a paternal figure.

I think it was the other kids who sometimes stressed me out, but I can’t remember any cruelty from the teachers.

I don’t think we had many of the opportunities many kids have today though.

Are we talking primary or secondary? Before dd went to secondary, I would have agreed. I had a horrible time at school bye as bullying was rife, mass smoking, violence etc. But at secondary, dd was treated as barely human and she definitely must learn far more fo GCSE than I did to take my O’s. So in this respect no where near as laid back. Far far more pressure these days.