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I rode in the back of a pickup truck with a few friends in high school. I live in a city. I told this to my husband one day and even he said that was dangerous.
Another example of something a teacher would not get away with today:
In my 10th grade math class, we had a math contest. One of the questions involved cans of cat food. The question was written with catfood written as one word, "catfood", rather than "cat food". The next day, when reviewing the contest, I pointed out to the teacher (who didn't write the contest) that "cat food" is 2 words, not one. She then did the Sign of the Cross. Another student asked her why she did that. She then said that she does that before contemplating murder.
First of all, I suspect that nowadays, doing the Sign of the Cross in a public school would get her in trouble on some freedom of religion rules. Secondly, saying that she was "contemplating murder" would nowadays very likely be taken seriously, even though she was obviously not serious. The irony is that doing the Sign of the Cross probably gave her the chance to calm down before snapping at me and giving me a punishment that wouldn't have fit the crime.
I rode in the back of a pickup truck with a few friends in high school. I live in a city. I told this to my husband one day and even he said that was dangerous.
Very dangerous. There was a family a street over from us where we used to live who lost everything because their son gave his friends rides in the back of their pickup. He tipped it over on a turn and one of the kids was crushed to death. The insurance did not cover the accident because they were riding illegally. Bye-bye, house, college savings and retirement savings. They lost everything and probably still owe their lawyer.
This is a good point. There is no way 1980 me woudl believe 2018 me if I told me what the schools are like. I would laugh and think I was a lunatic.
The modern rules are beyond anything I could even have imagined then.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dazzleman
Are you glad you went to school when you did as opposed to now? How do you think the current atmosphere has affected your kids?
But it goes both ways. I and others have posted about teachers who were borderline abusive. According to current teachers and parents who post here, what I and others had to endure would no longer be allowed. I even (in several different posts) posted specific examples of things that teachers were able to do back then that they would likely not get away with nowadays.
Just out of curiosity, what current school rules do you especially not agree with? Would you be willing to do away with those rules if it meant going back to the era where teachers were allowed to borderline abuse students without any consequence?
Going to school in the 1970s to early 1980s in the midwest, things that wouldn't happen today:
1. 6th grade math teacher who would enforce the no baseball hat wearing in class rule by taking the hat from the student and chopping off the brim in his paper cutter.
2. 6th grade science teacher who rewarded the best students in his class by taking them out on an outing where each kid got a turn piloting his snowmobile.
3. Smoking lounge inside high school for students.
4. Unofficial smoking area outside school for cigarettes and other things called "the courts" - a group of trees planted by the Biology teacher as a windbreak for the tennis courts that offered hiding places. Teachers and admins had to have known what was going on there but never raided the area.
5. Shop teacher kept his BSA chopper in the front of the classroom.
6. In high school, a friend of mine broke a toilet off the wall by jumping up and down on it. Another kid witnessed this and turned him in. He got called into the assistant principal's office and was told how much it would cost to replace the toilet, he then took out his check book and cut a check - no further punishment.
7. Different friend thought if was funny to go into the faculty restroom to do his business. While he was standing at the urinal, a teacher came out of a stall and kicked him in the butt as hard as he could sending him into the front of the urinal with his pants still unzipped. No further punishment for the kid or complaint against the teacher. Kid that got his butt kicked thought it was funny and told us all about it.
8. Stoner kid in high school was walking in the hallway wearing a big cowboy hat. A passing teacher slapped it off his head, the kid then squared off with the teacher as all the students circled around and started chanting "fight, fight, fight!".
9. When our high school hockey team was in the state tournament, TV carts would be rolled into the classrooms and we would watch the high school hockey tournament on TV all day.
But it goes both ways. I and others have posted about teachers who were borderline abusive. According to current teachers and parents who post here, what I and others had to endure would no longer be allowed. I even (in several different posts) posted specific examples of things that teachers were able to do back then that they would likely not get away with nowadays.
Just out of curiosity, what current school rules do you especially not agree with? Would you be willing to do away with those rules if it meant going back to the era where teachers were allowed to borderline abuse students without any consequence?
I think all our new system has done is replace old problems with new ones. It is not better or worse, just different.
Horrible teachers still abuse kids, they just do it without touching them. However now, good teachers lack any tools for maintaining discipline.
The schools try so absurdly hard to protect kids from any adversity, kids come out of school unable to deal with adversity and often from a background where all creativity has been stifled.
Some of the rules I woudl do away with are the extremes, also the many many rules designed to allow administrators to be lazy and not deal with problems. For example Suspending kids or expelling them for bringing a squirt gun to school under the zero tolerance for weapons policy - this simply tells kids that adults are stupid and should not be respected. Kicking all kids involved in a fight out of school rather that sorting out what the problem is and dealing with it. Disallowing any form of physical contact by a teacher even in self defense. Failing to recognize that even an elementary school kid can seriously injure a teacher or other students. Trying to prevent all conflict rather than teaching kids to work through it.
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