School 1950s vs 2012

[doubleboost]

 


SCHOOL - 1950s vs. 2012



Scenario :
Johnny and Mark get into a fight after school.

1950s - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends.

2012 - Police called, and they arrest Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it. Both children go to anger management programmes for 3 months. School governors hold meeting to implement bullying prevention programmes.

Scenario :
Robbie won't be still in class, disrupts other students.

1950s - Robbie sent to the office and given six of the best by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2012 - Robbie given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADHD – result deemed to be positive. Robbie's parents get fortnightly disability payments and school gets extra funding from government because Robbie has a disability.

Scenario :
Billy breaks a window in his neighbour's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1950s - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

2012 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care; joins a gang; ends up in jail.

Scenario :
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1950s - Mark gets glass of water from Principal to take aspirin with. Passes exams, becomes a solicitor.

2012 - Police called, car searched for drugs and weapons. Mark expelled from school for drug taking. Ends up as a drop out.

Scenario :
Johnny takes apart leftover fireworks from Guy Fawkes night,puts them in a paint tin & blows up a wasp's nest.

1950s - Wasps die.

2012- Police & Anti-Terrorism Squad called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, investigate parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated. Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly in an airplane again.

Scenario :
Johnny falls over while running during morning break and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. She hugs him to comfort him.

1950s - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing footie. No damage done.

2012 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy and ends up gay.


John
 
 
 

[raynerd]

One of the funniest things I`ve seen in a long time... thanks for posting.

[Jonny]

Go on then Fergus, do tell.

We had the Tawse
Was at last school to use it, 3 prong brown with balls on end or the bad boy 6 prong black with balls on end banned in 77 regardless of Wiki. Given out by Head or Deputy Head.

[dsquire]

One of the funniest things I`ve seen in a long time... thanks for posting.

Craynerd

As someone that went to public school in the '50s I don't find it the least bit funny. I think that it is a lot closer to the truth than most people of the younger generation want to believe. The "spare the rod and spoil the child" senario dosen't seem to be working too well.

I too got a few application of discipline. I never got any that I didn't deserve and they made me a better person.

Cheers 

Don

[Deko]

I agree 100% Don.

Cheers Dek.

[Lew_Merrick_PE]

I don't know about the UK today (I started school in an Anglican Priory school while my father was assigned in "England"), but I do know about American schools.  My wife was a Director of the local School District for eight years.  When she first stood for election, I calculated the official per-student funding rate from 1970 through 1996.  Using the official figures for inflation, the $1575/pupil funding of 1970 would have been $16,2XX in 1996.  The actual funding rate in 1996 was $4855/pupil.

When I graduated high school in 1970, I had taken courses in: physics (3 years), chemistry (2 years), mathematics (3 years -- geometry, algebra, trigonometry/spherical trigonometry, analysis (now called "statistics"), integral calculus, and (introduction to) differential equations), as well as the standard "required" courses.  My daughters graduated in 1998 & 2001 respectively.  Their senior year mathematics class was my 7th grade mathematics class.  Only one semester of "physics" (taught by an art teacher) was offered.  Only one semester of "chemistry" (taught by a history teacher) was offered.  (The history teacher denied that the: War of the Roses and Seven Years War (called the French & Indian War here in the U.S.) ever happened!)

When I was a school-child, teachers earned about 50% more than factory skilled labor.  The "draw" for them was tuition-free attendance for them and their children at any State college or university.  A newly minted teacher today earns less than a janitor at Boeing -- and has to pay for the paper & printing needed in their classroom.  A teacher of 30 years experience earns about the same as a newly-minted engineer does at a major corporation -- and is typically 25 years out of date in their field.

As a junior in high school I was given career counseling.  Everybody who had a C average or higher was "advised" to go into teaching.  The "selling point" (made multiple times during the "counseling") was that you got 3-1/2 months of "vacation" every year.  The real problem (IMO) is that many of my peers took them up on that offer...

[DaveH]

I went to school in the 50's it wasn't too bad - look how I turned out 

It was strict - when standing in line, single file there was no talking or you got a whack - it taught self discipline. If you were cheeky to a bigger kid than you he would give you a whack - taught you respect.  Did you go home (and cry like a little baby like they do today) and tell your parents - heck no you would get another one. 

In those days parents sided with the school and the teacher, if you got in trouble with the police your parents would side with the police.
Did kids get whacked for no reason - no they didn't - you did wrong now face your punishment.

All we have now is slobs breeding more slobs.     
 
DaveH
 

[RotarySMP]

1950's? I got caned at school in 1986

NZ only axed corporal punishment in about 1989.

Being caned taught me a good lesson in pushing the limits. I deserved it and only needed to be caned once.

In the 1950's my Dad good caned regularly for not rote learning the lines of poems. I think that is absurd!

My Dad only hit me once. I can't remember what it was for, but I do remember that I deserved it. My Mum used to smack the backside regulary for various misdemeanors. But lets be honest, she hit like a girl I do not consider my parents in any way violent, nothing left a scar either emotionally or physically.

I am sure there are kids who com from violent families, where violence in the school authority is then counter productive.

I have never hit my own kids. Took a bit of practice to perfect the right balance of cold scorn and scary anger, used sparingly, to be able to make it clear to them when they cross a limit.

[lordedmond]

well my secondary school was a bit violent from the staff and pupils

it was the norm to be caned once a week ( sometimes you had a choice line or cane the cane won every time ) you got canes for anything from bad spelling to fighting in class.

the weapon of choice was it seemed dependant of the teacher in question one used a thick leather strap another a cane made from basket cane, another a broom handle and the PE teacher used a plimsole ( trainer )

the one we all avoided at all costs was the headmaster he was a nasty piece of work and enjoyed dishing out the cane ( he would have been up for abuse / GBH ect nowadays his favourite trick was to make you wash your hands to his satisfaction before caning 

I hasten to say it was a boys only school with all male staff , a bit poor on the academic side but we did have metal work and woodwork ( our choice ) I think we had four lathes in the metal work shop there drumond round beds and little john

but boy was the school one for all and all for one no one from the more academic schools ( grammer ) messed with any pupil else the whole school took it personally usually with the local police involved, in all I think the attitude there gave one a good grounding for life after school

Stuart

[Deko]

I often wonder how my generation managed to turn out fairly good after all the punishment we got at school , when (according to all the "experts") we should all by psychopaths. I also wonder how all the blokes i worked with in the 50s & 60s who fought in the second world war, where there were 1000s killed every day (not half a dozen a week as today) managed to get through life without counseling, but getting back to schooling, i beg, plead, and beg again for all shools PLEASE DO NOT ENCOURAGE ANY MORE LAWYERS.  They are taking responsibility away from everyone for there own actions and safety, and in the process messing up everything. If there were only half a dozen left in the world, it would be six too many.    Rant over !!! 

Cheers Dek.

[Stilldrillin]

Hmmm.... Yes!
Different teachers, differing punishment methods.

Nasty, little geography teacher....... Always took great pleasure in snarling, "Fetch the snake". (A length of red rubber gas piping). Then applying it, hard.

All schoolboys were expected to carry a penknife, then.........

One day, finding the cupboard unlocked, I reduced the snake to 1" lengths....... 

David D

[dsquire]

Hmmm.... Yes!
Different teachers, differing punishment methods.

Nasty, little geography teacher....... Always took great pleasure in snarling, "Fetch the snake". (A length of red rubber gas piping). Then applying it, hard.

All schoolboys were expected to carry a penknife, then.........

One day, finding the cupboard unlocked, I reduced the snake to 1" lengths....... 

David D

David

Are you sure that we are not related? Sounds like something I might have done. 

Cheers 

Don

[Stilldrillin]

David

Are you sure that we are not related? Sounds like something I might have done. 

Cheers 

Don

Don.
I doubt we're related. But, I had a mystery co-conspirator......

Next morning, when the deed was discovered. Someone had collected all the pieces, and preserved them in a specimen jar! 


Incidentally that instrument of torture was used on at least one, 13yr old girl, to my knowledge.........

Nasty times, at times.....

David D

[millwright]

School in the fifties, I can remember that ok. Not much fun if you were left handed, I was. And the only one in my year, left handedness wasnt allowed when writing and i had to sit at the front right in front of the teachers desk with my left hand tied up in a sling and write right handed, if i tried using the left i got a crack across the knuckles with a wooden rule. Cant see that happening these days. Fortunately i changed schools after the first year and i could use my left hand from then on. Dont think it did me any lasting harm lol. the only lasting harm school  did give me was a life long aversion to shortcake!!!! that was school dinners the pudding seemed to be shortcake and a dribble of custard several times a week. Clean plates were the order of the day you didnt leave the dining hall till everything was eaten. i can remember time after time being the only one in the hall with the headmistress making me eat the pudding which im sure was made with powderd chalk and sawdust, it stuck in my throat and i couldnt swallow it and would sit in tears untill every bit had gone. Leaving that school was the highlight of my edecation, Well untill i found out about girls and the air raid shelters, but im keeping that to myself.

John

[shipto]

The cane was probably ok as a final resort punishment, the problem is a lot of the headmasters/mistresses where sadistic b,stards who seemed to get a kick out of it.
I was caned at middle school for something I didnt do, during breaktime we where not supposed to go up to the higher floors however some kid playing a trick came me a pepper sweet (hot as hell) so i ran into the school and the only drinkable water was upstairs. some other kids where messing about on the stairs and I got tangled up with them.
despite the others telling the headmaster I wasnt with them and me explaining the problem, without even asking the kid who played the prank he decided I was lying and gave me double the punishment the other kids got.
I ran out of school told my mom and if she wasnt such a big woman that she couldnt catch him i think she would have knocked the sadistic gits teeth out.
so i for one am glad that the cane was banned but I admit the pc thing has gone way too far.

[DaveH]

Shipto,
You got tangled on the stairs with some other kids 

You deserved the cane for such a poor excuse 

Just kidding
 
DaveH

[doubleboost]

Hi
Lads
I went to school in the early sixties
Copral punishment was the norm then
The teachers had to fill in a book noting the reason for the punishment and the amount dished out
(we were strapped on the hand with a leather belt)
I had my fair share of punishment , mainly for fighting or smoking  , i never had a problem with this as i ran the risk and and accepted the punishment.
I will never forgett one day in the wood wolrk shop someone carved my initials in to one of the benches.
The teacher (a very nice man and good teacher) was past himself when he found the damage to his bench.
I was sent to the headmasters office to fetch the "belt"
I protested my inocense but he still gave me 3 on each hand
20 years later i met that teacher in a resterant 
He came across to me and said his name was Jack %%$£
I shook his hand and said it will always be Mr^%$£ or Sir as far as i was concerned
We got talking about what life had delt us  , I could see he was sort of uneasy , i think we both were .
I just came out with it asking him if he rememberd belting me .
His face was a picture "yes i remember it well" it was that little bastard &^%$(* that carved the bench.
You must understand John i had to punish some one , and it was your initials carved in to the bench.
I wonder how many students and teachers today will remember each other in 20 years from now
I posted this thread as a bit of a laugh but sadly most of it is true 
John

[raynerd]

I think it is spot on but if you didn`t laugh in the irony of how the two years are so different , you`d have to cry!

Craynerd

As someone that went to public school in the '50s I don't find it the least bit funny. I think that it is a lot closer to the truth than most people of the younger generation want to believe. The "spare the rod and spoil the child" senario dosen't seem to be working too well.

left handedness wasnt allowed when writing and i had to sit at the front right in front of the teachers desk with my left hand tied up in a sling and write right handed, if i tried using the left i got a crack across the knuckles with a wooden rule

   ...and clearly some things have changed for the better.

[raynerd]

one day in the wood wolrk shop someone carved my initials in to one of the benches.

Must have been a female secret admirer John!

[doubleboost]

They were all lads in the wood work class
We all knew who did it but no one would tell
And that little twat would not own up
Strange thing is we are still best friends

[DaveH]

One thing we had to do was to learn to play a musical instrument  This was either the violin or a recorder, can you imagine the poor teacher having to listen to 30 odd kids trying to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 
It must have been torture for the teacher. 
 
DaveH

[doubleboost]

I did that
Twinkle Twinkle 
We called the music teacher "bog brush "  he had a beard 
John

[AdeV]

Hmm, having gone to school in the 1970s-80s, I don't have any good caning stories, as the cane was well banned by the time I was being educated).

Teachers nicknames..... there was a rich vein; I recall Taffy (Welsh), Sweaty (for obvious reasons - and why did he always wear shirts which darken significantly when wet?) and Chimp (chemistry teacher, can't remember why he got that name), there will be others which I will no doubt remember after I hit "post"...