pre 1970 school life SA (Marshall, Highlands: transfer, public school, to live)

[SnappyBob]

I went to Highlands. Highlands had smoking area up until 1969, when I got there they decided to discontinue the smoking area. After I left in 1971 they decided to allow smoking in the new smoking area again. Go figure, the only time I ever got suspended from school it was for being caught smoking at lunch back behine the gym building.

[huckster]

Originally Posted by samustang91

How was it in Northside, NEISD or Northeast Rural(before '55), AHISD, or SW , SOUTH SAN back in those days?

I ended goping to both Highlands and holmes h.s. from 66' til' 70'.
South side rednecks, boots and hats or pointy shoes greasers
both white and mex. Predjudice was rampant as with ignorance
not too bright of a types.
Northside money, new cars, dope and hippies. Long hair was
the thing already , not a single long hair at highlands at that time.
Everything was different. A new school, carpeting , air conditioniing
new textbooks, labs, etc.
No bigotry, enlightened attitudes more of a modern atmosphere
for a better environment better suited for learning.
No spanish 1a vs 1b for native speakers and non-speakers.
A crazy thing to separate, to suppress an ability, the high school spanish was harder that I took in college.

[cutieswan]

replying to comment number4 back in `1968-1970 harlandale was not considered latino it was mostly white nothing like nowadays and kids didnt care if you had taco for lunch it was open campus for lunch and one of the funniest things i remember is this girls did not wear pants and there was no such thing as jeans on campus boys wore dressy clothes and girls wore skirts or dresses. i was looking at 1969 yearbook and it brought back all the memories of high school life and back then playland park was open right in back of the pig stand on broadway. my boyfriend loved it there.

[Sonny Chiba57]

I went to catholic school where the "Paddle" was allowed if you misbehaved, didn't do your homework, talked back to patrol boys, etc. We were taught by nuns and I was an unwilling recipient of the dreaded paddle. A paddling in school meant a A.Whupping at home. ( if your parents found out ) Nowadays I don't think nuns teach at catholic schools anymore. Insolence and cheekiness was not tolerated by students.

[Dwangle]

I grew up near Wonderland and went to catholic school. After morning mass you could go to the cafeteria and get chocolate milk and a donut for a nickle. They sold "Carmens Chili chips" at lunch time. I have looked every where on the internet for information on these chips but found nothing. Everybody loved them. We had a soft drink machine that put your soda in a cup with ice. You could press all the buttons while your cup was filling. We called this a suicide. We could request books from the public library and they would bring them to the classroom. On recess we would catch lizards. One kid found a longhorn skull. We would bring our transistor radios and listen to the world series. We had paper drives and bicycle rodeos. We had the "May Procession." Class parties were at Landa Park. That was the first place I played minature golf. We toured the missions. We had a "Civics Club." We would get to watch all the NASA launches. Most of them took less than a day. We watched JFK's Funeral. In between all of this they tried to teach us something!

[TrapperL]

I went to Hot Wells elementary, Forbes when it opened, Hot Wells Jr Hi (yeah, we called it junior high), Highlands and graduated from John Marshall. How Wells Elementary had no air conditioning. In the first 4 grades which were in a small building, the only heater was in the hall. We were required to put our heads down for a nap in the afternoon. You learned to read, not from books but from a large binder of paper about 3 foot square that the teacher pointed out the words with a stick. We had recess twice a day. The playground had a mary-go-round, monkey bars, and other dangerous playground equipment. You paid for your lunch or brought it from home. I'm remembering lunch cost a quarter. Wednesday was mexican food day. Hardly any went in the garbage like it does today. You got water from faucets in a trough and it was not cold either. The smell of kerosene and erasers filled the rooms. The kerosene was from the sawdust/kerosene they used to sprinkle on the floors and then sweep to get the dust up. Pencils in elementary were about 1/2" round. There was a hole in all of the desktops for a bottle of ink. We had no projectors, no Ipads, no computers, no Elmos, just a teacher who had a clue and loved what they did. We got report cards that the parents were required to sign. The grades were an S for satisfactory, I for needing improvement, and F for fail. The report card also had how days you were absent and any remarks the teacher thought the parents might need to know. At Forbes I was a Lieutenant in the school crossing guard. Junior High meant you had a PE class. You were required to bring shorts and a T-shirt to class. You kept your daily clothes in a basket with your number on it. You took group showers at the end of class. Towel popping was rampant. Junior High also meant having to change class rooms with each subject. There was more freedom at lunch to walk around but you had to be back in your next class before the bell rang. You were assigned a locker for your books and whatever. Still no air conditioning. Ipads, computers, Elmos, etc. You could take a band class to learn to play an instrument. The parents were required to buy or rent the instrument. We had a shop class where you learned how to make small items and got to learn how to use basic shop tools like a table saw, band saw, drill, etc. High school brought more freedom and responsibility. You could drive your own car to school. I was in the car cultrure with a 34 Ford Coupe hot rod. I also ran track at Highlands which meant we ran off school campus thru a bunch of woods down a dirt road. At Marshall we had farm animals at school. I was on the school poultry judging team. We came in 2nd in State. I belonged to the FFA(Future Farmers of America). You were pretty much responsible for your own actions at Marshall including showing up for class. It was not a big deal to skip a class as long as your grades were good. Still no air conditioning,Ipads, Elmos, projectors,etc. We carried books and the use of a calculator in class got you a trip to Mr Jordans office...and he was not a happy man. If you passed all of your classes- great. If you didn't- you failed. There was none of this No child left behind nonsense. You learned to be responsible for your actions.
After school hours most of the kids would meet at a local drive in like Jims, Skees, etc. Friday nights were for cruising. The Bun and Barrel, Frontier, and the Flame were the hot spots for the car culture. Fights were seldom, drugs were extremely rare. The bold kids smoked cigarettes. Music was part of the lifestyle back then. The Beatles were an icon of the time. Color TV came into being and you were somebody if you had one. The first ever global satellite TV broadcast was by the Beatles. The song was All You Need is Love. That was the ntire broadcast that lasted maybe 5 minutes but the world watched. Whenever anybody mentioned the word gang, you wanted to know what Spanky had done and if you had seen the movie. Spray paint was used for painting things and anybody of any age could buy it off the shelf. Tagging meant putting a paper on an item with a wire. But life was decent back then. We learned from books, our parents, our grand parents, and we learned to evaluate before making a decision for ourselves, not having the decision made for us. We learned responsibility at school and the price paid for not being responsible. All of this without the aid of a computer, Ipad, projector, Elmo, air conditioning, and all of the "required" technology that the kids get today. Sometimes I wonder what a teacher today actually does besides grading the computer generated tests by the State. So much of it today is "one fits all" education. Not everybody learns the same or at the same rate. Some get it right off and others are slower to learn. But apparently that doesn't matter anymore as the student passes anyway.

[elnina]

Originally Posted by Dwangle

I grew up near Wonderland and went to catholic school. After morning mass you could go to the cafeteria and get chocolate milk and a donut for a nickle. They sold "Carmens Chili chips" at lunch time. I have looked every where on the internet for information on these chips but found nothing. Everybody loved them.

Could be those??
The Jell-Craft brand was created by Mr. Walter Oertling, owner of Blue Bonnet Potato Chip Company in San Antonio, Texas. The company produced potato chips under the label of Carmen's Potato Chips until the 1970's in addition to beverage bases and sno-cone syrups.
Jell-Craft: Company History

[RGJ]

TrapperL, I also went to Hot Wells Jr High and Highlands. Laura Steele Elementry. Hot Wells was changed to Connell while I was there. Paddles? Each teacher or Principal/Vice Principal had their very own spat board. And they were very proud of them. One coach had a palm branch that was sanded smooth and even shellacked(sp?). I think that palm branch had some kind of whipping action, cause it hurt like hell. I remember my lady Spanish teacher tried her spat board(made by someone in wood shop), but you could hardly feel the licks she gave. So, she'd either send you to Mr. Sinclair(who hit the hardest) or Mr. Culpepper who was a lot older and couldn't swing very hard. There was a small, but heavily built, math teacher at Connell that the spanish teacher would send you to also. The teachers thought nothing of stopping the class, direct you outside, where you got your butt spanked. You could hear it all down the hallways. Quick, to the point, and painful. This math teacher and Mr. Sinclair would literally lift your feet off the ground. And I'm not talking just one swat, either. I also remember that if a teacher thought a girl's skirt was too short, she would have to get on her knees and if the skirt didn't touch the floor, she was sent home. This happened a lot of girls between classes in the hallway in front of everyone. Sideburns? Hair that touched your collar or ear? Facial hair? I don't think so....Same in high school. Thinking about wearing "Beatle Boots" to school. Forget it. Haven't shaved lately? Go use the rusted double edge razor that's been there for years or go home.

[Dwangle]

Originally Posted by elnina

Could be those??
The Jell-Craft brand was created by Mr. Walter Oertling, owner of Blue Bonnet Potato Chip Company in San Antonio, Texas. The company produced potato chips under the label of Carmen's Potato Chips until the 1970's in addition to beverage bases and sno-cone syrups.
Jell-Craft: Company History

I am sure that is the company. The chip bags were a manila color with dark blue writing. Blue Bonnet rings a bell! I guess he mainly sold to schools because I never saw his chips in grocery store's. Kinda like Lance and Tom's, although they sell to HEB now.

[outafocus]

I was a lieutenant "School Patrol" crossing guard. Each year the crossing guards were trated to a movie at the Texas or Majestic, and awards would be given to certain school's guards. I REALLY enjoyed those movies! They would nearly fill up those big old theatres!

There are badges available on Ebay. I placed a bid on a lieutenants badge.