Was it much different than today? If you are a parent of a schoolkid/teacher, what are some of the things you remember which are different today? Are the teachers stricter? etc. Was bullying much worse (if you can remember). I always think of shows like Carrie- but I spose that's a pretty extreme example.

I was at primary school in the 70s.  My daughter is at primary school now.  Lots of things are very much unchanged.  They still play the same games, have the same sprts related activities, even read some of the same books.  Things that are different include the reward/punishment system that is used which is much more peer-pressure related on the 'punishment' side in that the whole class can loose fun time.  Also the introduction of computers into the classroom has changed some lessons.

In terms of bullying, most of what I see is similar to the sort of thing we did.  Name calling, cliques etc. but nothing as extreme as Carrie. 

Well, I can't compare school in the 70's to school today, since I haven't been in school for over 20 years!  ;D

One thing which was mentioned on another thread is the less coddling factor.  We were allowed to do so many things then that are considered "dangerous" now.  I remember it wasn't unusual in the spring to see students doing jumps with their banana-seat bikes around the school - and you never saw a helmet.  Students would go walking off into the forest or the orchards (this was a rural area) at will, and nobody cared.

Allergies were not talked about - if you had one, you better take care of it yourself. 

There weren't so many structured after school activities - most of us went home and played, or did whatever, as opposed to soccer practice or martial arts class.  (And to think we survived!  ;D)

Although people were increasingly sensitized about racism and sexism, there was no "political correctness" yet (thank goodness for that!  ::) )

Let's see....if you got picked on at school in the 70s, you weren't allowed to take dad's gun to school and shoot your classmates.... ::)

There weren't so many structured after school activities - most of us went home and played, or did whatever, as opposed to soccer practice or martial arts class.  (And to think we survived!  ;D)



When I was at school there were more after school clubs run by the teachers.  I did drama, country dancing, recorder lessons and choir and there were others I could have done.  Now, at the same age, my daughter can do recorder lessons and that is it.  We pay for her dancing lessons, French class and Swimming lessons.

My mom went to school in the early '70s at a large public high school of about 1,600 people. Basically the same as today...the "bad kids" were greasers and girls who smoked in the bathroom, there was the druggie crowd who went home and dropped acid and other hallucinogenic drugs after school, the spoiled rich girls, etc. People changed out of their jeans into microminis after school. People dramatize how different HS is now, people are all basically the same.

Our primary school had the distinction of having an open air toilet!

(One step up from a cess pool, I suppose!)

I'm sure things must have improved by now...

I went to Jr. High and High School in the 70s and my daughter is in high school now. There are alot of differences.  I'm pretty sure there was still paddling in school back then, and I know there isn't now. Schools didn't go on "lock down" back then, I don't even think parents or any other adults needed to check in with anyone back then when they went into the school, now you have to go the the office and make yourself known,  if they see someone "out of place" as they put it, they go on lock down.  The kids now have to wear ID's  to show who they are. And I live in a pretty small town.  The kids are probably the same, but the atmosphere has changed, and I'm sure the school lunches probably still suck.  ;)

...and I'm sure the school lunches probably still suck.  ;)


Mmm...

Meat pie made of cardboard and mashed potato with added lumps and stringy bits...yum!

I used to love playing on the merry-go-round...but sadly, you rarely see those anymore!  :-\\

I used to love playing on the merry-go-round...but sadly, you rarely see those anymore!  :-\\

They got rid of those a longggggg time ago! I remember seeing a couple of kids get their feet stuck under the thing while it was spinning around.  :P

They got rid of those a longggggg time ago!

Now I feel old!  :-I remember seeing a couple of kids get their feet stuck under the thing while it was spinning around.  :P


No doubt...and the way people are so 'sue-happy' these days, I could see why they were banned...

When I went to school in the 70s, I had to walk 10 miles in 6 feet of snow uphill-both ways.  ;D ;D ;D


Actually, one place I did live, we were at the half-way point between 2 schools. Everyone to the north of us, went to one school and everyone to the south, went to the other one. On our street, it went that 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades went to one school and 2nd, 4th, and 6th grades went to the other. The next year-they switched so the kids would go to the same school. Unfortunately, I was the only kid on my street that fell into one catagory-so everyone went to the one school (including my sister) and I was the only one who went to the other.  :\'( So I ALWAYS walked the last 3 blocks home alone. My last year there, I discovered that there was a bus I could take-but only in the morning. It was for the kindergarterners and since they got out at noon, there wasn't an afternoon bus-but I was happy not to have to that what seem like such a LONG walk in the morning (I just looked it up-it wasn't quite a mile but close to it-one way). But, if you asked me, the entire system was totally screwed up.



Cat

I went to Jr. High and High School in the 70s and my daughter is in high school now. There are alot of differences.  I'm pretty sure there was still paddling in school back then, and I know there isn't now. Schools didn't go on "lock down" back then, I don't even think parents or any other adults needed to check in with anyone back then when they went into the school, now you have to go the the office and make yourself known,  if they see someone "out of place" as they put it, they go on lock down.  The kids now have to wear ID's  to show who they are. And I live in a pretty small town.  The kids are probably the same, but the atmosphere has changed, and I'm sure the school lunches probably still suck.  ;)


School security is pretty paranoid now.

They got rid of those a longggggg time ago! I remember seeing a couple of kids get their feet stuck under the thing while it was spinning around.  :P


Are you talking about those circular things with bars attached to them, that you spin round and round? I vaguely remember them from my very early childhood, but haven't seen them since. It was always fun torturing little kids. You'd lure them onto the bars, and then keep spinning them really fast so they couldn't get off (nah, just kidding, don't do this at home, kids). I also remember the flying fox; you know, the thing you grab onto and slide along a bar - are those things still common nowadays? We'd all get blisters on our fingers from using them. I also remember getting winded alot; a sensation I've almost forgotten.

1970 was the end of the second grade, start of third grade. We had just moved to a rural area the year before. There were enough students to make up 2 separate classes in grade school(grades 1-6; no middle school). Average class size was around 30 students and we actually learned because we had real teachers who wanted to be there. I remember we would bring money on Mondays to by tokens for the school lunches(no school breakfast program, we got up early enough to eat breakfast at home back then). Actually, the lunches weren't too bad at all. Most of the kitchen staff were farmer's wives and knew how to fix up a bland menu. There were 2 vending machines in the school. One was for sodas, iced tea, and juice. The other was just apples. Girls wore dresses with full-length or knee-high stockings, slacks were also allowed but most wore dresses. Children were well behaved. If not they got 3 whacks from the infamous paddle. The playground consisted of swingsets, monkey bars, teeter-totters, a slide, and merry-go-rounds. All of these were placed either on blacktop or gravel-no sawdust; we had to be tougher and smarter back then because the adults were trying to weed out the weak and stupid. We had 2 recess periods, sometimes we would play kickball. The girls were big on Barbie dolls. In inclement weather we played in the gymnasium. We had dodgeball as well as whiffle ball and basketball. There was also a climbing rope that was attached to the rafters, no padding- the adults again. We had this President's physical fitness thing in 5th and 6th grades. 5th grade was the start of separate classrooms for each subject, preparing us for Jr.& Sr. High School. We also had a model rocket club which the science teacher was in charge of. Gee, 11-13 year old kids playing with explosive chemical rocket engines. The parents again? One can hardly get a decent firecracker these days.
Jr. High and High School were during the years of 1974 to 1979. 1979 was the start of my senior year. Jr. High was 7th and 8th grades, comprised of the 3 grade schools in the district. We had 160+ students in my class at the start of 7th grade, they had to add extra classes for us. The dress code was a bit more relaxed, but would still be considered conservative. Foul language and violence were not tolerated - Period. There were no security problems. School lockers could and would be searched at random or when the staff was tipped about a problem. We had no book bags, we were tough and coordinated and could carry them under one arm. 7th graders shared the halls with the Seniors. Classes were 55 minutes with 5 minutes between classes. The paddle was used in Jr.& Sr. High school too. None of us were on ADHD drugs, maybe because we got enough sleep and had good healthy diets. Obesity was virtually non-existent. Cliques were around but not really extreme.
If you failed you were held back. Anything below 70% was a failing grade, no exceptions. The biggest environmental topic was acid rain.

I can tell you stories of the infamous Cafeteria lunches of my high school...maybe nothing as bad as students mysterious 'disappearing' and a new batch of fresh meat appearing the next day, but some of the stories would make your stomach turn.

We were made to drink milk that was always  left in the hot sun  :(

We were made to drink milk that was always  left in the hot sun  :(


Me too !  >:(  Is it any wonder I shy away from it to this day  :(

Let's see....if you got picked on at school in the 70s, you weren't allowed to take dad's gun to school and shoot your classmates.... ::)


Beautiful  ;)

Ahhhhh primary school in the 70s. A fond memory.

I was in grade 1 in 1974 so all of my primary schooling was spent in the 70s.

It was up in iron ore country in the West Australian north west. Hot all year round - we would get a day off school when the temp went over 45celcius and the public pool would be opened for free.

We also got sent home regularly when cyclones bore down on the town.

We didnt have a cafeteria (not an aussie thing). We had a canteen which was in a caravan and the staple diet (if you didnt have your vegemite sandwiches from home) was a meat pie or sausage roll, a freeza (pyramid shaped flavoured frozen ice in either red or green) and twisties.

One memory was during a cyclone before the announcement to go home had happened - a 140kph wind got hold of the canteen and flung it over the top of the school. The two canteen ladies were amazingly uninjured - but the sight of them stumbling out covered in meat pie mush and tomato sauce was pretty freaky !!

Another memory was when I got caught coming back to class late soaking wet after playing under the ovals sprinklers thru lunchtime. The principal gave me 6 cuts of the cane on my bum and thighs and I had to stand outside his office every recess and lunchtime for a whole week. (and no that didnt put me off capital punishment - I am a firm believer that the cane should be brought back into every school and a bit of punishment would teach todays kids more respect).

I remember playing on Monkey Bars with nothing but concrete below us !! OH&S didnt exist back then !! Consequently I think I saw more kids with broken collarbones than normal !!

Kiss chasey was another firm favourite - and square ball. Plus being a gymnast I spent lunchtimes doing handstands against the brick walls.

In class I remember doing times tables by rote - something Aussie kids dont do today. Many of my teachers were total hippies so we also learned the hits of the Eagles on guitar !!

My fellow aussies may also remember "Singing and Listening". Once a week the teacher would bring a radio into the classroom and we would get our Singing and Listening books out and learn that weeks song via the radio lessons. At the end of the week we would perform that song at the school assembly. Some of us also learned to play instruments via the radio - I learned the recorder that way.
I still have all my Singing and Listening books !!

I remember our bluegrey Reader Books. Each week we turned the page and there were the new words we were learning that week. How to spell then and how to use them in a sentence. Our parents would sign the book to show we had spelled them and used them that week correctly.

I remember Hamer Blocks. They taught kids to count and measure. They were coloured blocks/sticks in different sizes. 1cm, 2cm, 5cm and 10cm. For some reason I distinctly remember the 10s were yellow.  So as well as lining them up to work out simple sums - we also learned the metric measuring system. The blocks were phased out in 79 or so. I still think they were a brilliant invention.

I remember projects !!  Gluing things to cardboard and wondering how you would build an entire farm out of paddlepop sticks to demonstrate your understanding of Orwells Animal Farm (of course you then restudied it in highschool and all your understandings fell away !!!).

I remember riding my bike to school using no hands the entire way. It was the low slung banana seat style - a red seat and red handle streamers - no bell. I remember having to use my hands when riding home in a cyclone !!! Going backwards two metres for every metre forward !! I remember trying to ride during the locust plague (big vile things over 6 inches long) and putting my shirt over my head and closing my mouth and eyes and riding for my life as they flew up in huge masses and smashed into us.

I remember being safe. It was safe to ride around the streets till bedtime - even before we had streetlights installed !!

You know - other than "projects" - I dont remember homework. Not like my friends little kids come home with today. Back then school work was done at school - we didnt come home with 4 hours of specified homework. After school was for playing.

Dresscodes ? we wore shorts and t shirts. One time we designed a school t shirt - yellow with black writing with a picture of a Dunnart on it. The Dunnart was our school mascot - a tiny little kangaroo no bigger than a mouse. Its endangered now.

And yes - as per what Skippy said - there was no ADHD !! There were those annoying kids who had too much red cordial and needed a firm hand to settle them - that was all !!

Though I didn't go to school in the 70s, I, as I fellow West Aussie (from good ol' Perth) can relate to many experiences of primary school. Though your comment about time-tables is not really true, time-tables were drilled into us (probably cos' my teacher was a maths nut) endlessly. Sing-alongs were a daily feature of being in Mrs. Barett (my year 4 teacher). Hence I fondly associate traditional australian folk tunes, as was as latter day Australian popular songs (gotta love Rolf Harris). I also fondly remember getting blisters on the monkey bars/flying fox, reading time, show and tell. 

Was it much different than today? If you are a parent of a schoolkid/teacher, what are some of the things you remember which are different today? Are the teachers stricter? etc. Was bullying much worse (if you can remember). I always think of shows like Carrie- but I spose that's a pretty extreme example.


Over here in the UK I find that our schools have become very American. I went to 1st - 3rd year infants, 1st - 4th year juniors, and 1st to 5th year Grammar School. Now they have reception class followed by years 1 - 13. And Grammar School has been replaced by High School.

When I was at Grammar School, the system was going through a major change. We used to have selective education: if you were clever you went to Grammar School, not so clever went to what was called "Secondary Modern". The system was being phased out when I started Grammar School: schools were being called "Comprehensives".

Comprehensives have now been replaced by High Schools and Hiogh Schools are now being replaced by specialist colleges! The specialist college scheme is, in my opinion, a con trick to make money for the school. At the end of my son's first year at High School (sorry, that should say "at the end of year seven") we received a letter saying he had done well in French and the school would like to offer him the chance to do a second language in year eight. Shouldn't they have offered him a transfer to the nearest specialist language college?

But some things never change - schools are still giving children books that are embarassingly old. When I was at school we had sticky labels to put in our text books. We had to write our name and class on the label. Each label would hold approx. six names, so when the book was six years old a new label would be stuck on top of the old one. One of my books had so many labels stuck on top of each other that one day one of the labels at the bottom lost its stickiness and fell off, revealing the original label. And there was my dad's name!

Same sort of thing going over here. Blame post-modernism...Apparently, exams encourage 'unhealthy' competition. What sort of competition competition IS healthy then??  ???

My fellow aussies may also remember "Singing and Listening". Once a week the teacher would bring a radio into the classroom and we would get our Singing and Listening books out and learn that weeks song via the radio lessons.

I still have a few books with songs in them from this ABC radio show!!!


I was 5 in 1977 and remember Kindergarten very well...We would have an infants assembly in the mornings, sing God Save The Queen and Advance Australia Fair (the original version with "Australian SONS let us rejoice" instead of "Australians ALL let us rejoice") During God Save The Queen we had to look at the picture of the Queen which was mounted above the door to the room. After assembly we would go and watch Seseme Street and Play School, and then we would do our work of tracing letters and numbers, always making sure our pencil grip was correct or else we got a ruler across our knuckles. Recess usally consisted of a jam sandwich for me, but if you had the money you could buuy a finger bun with pink icing for 40 cents. We had no vending machines (NSW schools dont have them even now) so you could either buy orange juice, milk (flavoured if you wished) or fizzy Orange and Mango mineral water. I cant remember what we did after recess, but after lunch we would play games and have sing alongs or the teacher would read us stories.

All through infants school (Kinder, year 1 and year 2) if it rained and we couldnt go out to play, we could either sit in the Kinder rooms and listen to stories that were on record with the teacher holding up the book so we all could see the pictures, OR we could go to our own classroom and play with play dough and other things.

I remember getting the cane for falling off a chair after I leaned back on it when I was in year 2 (1980...I repeated year 1 because of my age...was supposed to be turning 7 in year 1, I turned 6).

I remember: climbing trees, playing with bugs, swinging across a small creek at the bottom of the school yard on willow tree vines, playing on what looked like massively high play equipment (we called monkey bars) with nothing but cement and gravel to break our fall, reading the Public School Reading Program magazines that had stories taken from novels that stretched over 9 or 10 issues...each week ABC radio would run a program that had someone read the major story and the class would follow with the reader (the one story I remember of this was called 'Follow That Bus' and I never found out how it ended!!!), spending Friday afternoons playing French cricket with my class because sport was not an option for the infants school only primary school had Friday afternoon sport...I also remember going to 'Learn To Swim' classes in the middle of Winter which I hated, having to sit through scripture classes on a Friday morning which were compulsory for ALL students and denominations, school banking...and finally, I remember the Library Bus that was a double decker bus which was transformed into a mobile library that would come to the school once every 2 weeks so that the kids could borrow books as our school library was very small at that time.

We had bike push riding classes which tried to teach us the rules of the road...We also had skateboard riding contests and disco dancing contests in the playground during lunch.

As far as bullying went...It wasnt too bad, although I do remember that, because the great majority of kids from my school all lived in a very close area of around a kilometer from the school, if you were picked on in school the chances were you were picked on out of school as well. I remember one time I was playing with my Star Wars action figures in the park at the bottom of my street when the infants bully came up and threw them into the creek that cut the park in two.

After school activities was what ever your imagination could conjure up. I had some awsome times fighting Stormtroopers on board the Death Star (my friends emptied in ground pool) and doing battle with the Cylons in ur fighter ships (push bikes), battling King Kong atop the Empire State Building (monkey bars in the park that were in the shape of a rocket) and riding Black Beauty (my bike) across the English moors (a patch of scrub near my home). I also remember buiding cubby and tree houses in the scrub near my home, and riding my BMX bike around a makeshift track that the local kids of the area had built. I also remember riding my skateboard for hours.


My daughter is in year 2 now, and she loves it, although, I do think she would enjoy it more if it was the way it was way back in the 70's. Those were all rouund awsome days that will never be repeated unfortunately.



AN

My fellow aussies may also remember "Singing and Listening". Once a week the teacher would bring a radio into the classroom and we would get our Singing and Listening books out and learn that weeks song via the radio lessons. At the end of the week we would perform that song at the school assembly. Some of us also learned to play instruments via the radio - I learned the recorder that way.
I still have all my Singing and Listening books !!



We had that type of thing here as well.  I can't recall what it was called but the concept is the same.  My husband has still has his books.  I don't think we were allowed to keep them  They probably only had one set of books for all the different classes.  I know that occasionally a song from an older book would be learnt by the shcool choir.

Essentially, I don't think school life has changed that much. Despite what the say, kids still scrape their knees playing OUTDOORS, and still get blisters climbing the money bars (Lord knows I did!)...

I still have a few books with songs in them from this ABC radio show!!!


As far as bullying went...It wasnt too bad, although I do remember that, because the great majority of kids from my school all lived in a very close area of around a kilometer from the school, if you were picked on in school the chances were you were picked on out of school as well. I remember one time I was playing with my Star Wars action figures in the park at the bottom of my street when the infants bully came up and threw them into the creek that cut the park in two.

AN






We had that type of thing here as well.  I can't recall what it was called but the concept is the same.  My husband has still has his books.  I don't think we were allowed to keep them  They probably only had one set of books for all the different classes.  I know that occasionally a song from an older book would be learnt by the shcool choir.


So glad to see others remember Singing and Listening.  I guess we were lucky Karen - the books would arrive at the beginning of the school year - one for each kid and we got to keep them. Ours had fabulously funny illustrations in them - cartoon style -I loved them.


I didnt address bullying. I have been trying to think about occurances from primary school. I think I suffered more from bullying in high school to be honest. In my main primary school (in total I went to 18 primary schools but I count this one as the main one as it was for a 5 years stretch)  everyone was very friendly and because the town was a private town (ie it was not built by the government - it was actually a privately built town owned by the iron ore mining company) most familys were on contracts so there were always new families ariving for a 3 or 5 year contract and people always moving on.

So while it was a little town (900 homes) - it didnt have that typical country town attitude of "you havent lived here for 5 generations so you dont really belong". Everyone was in the same situation so people just automatically made friends quicker.

The "bad boy" of the school - well I dont know that he was a bully - he was more of a geniune pyscho. I guess to some of the boys he may have been a bully. He was in my class and I remember in grade 3 (age umm 8) he ate the school mascot in front of the entire class. As I said in the previous post - the school mascot was a Dunnart - a mouse sized kangaroo.  He ate it alive.

In grade 6 he took the school principal hostage for an entire day. He cut him up badly with a knife. We all spent the entire day sitting in the boiling sun on the footy field waiting to return to class.

By 14 he was in jail. Both our families had moved down to Perth by then. I went to the same school as him for 2 months before I changed to another school.

He was arrested after killing an 8 year old girl. He hung her in a tree using her school bag after raping her. In the court case he said he tickled her feet as she died. He was the first (and only to my knowledge) minor to be charged as an adult in this state and because we no longer had the death penalty he was held at the govenors pleasure (meaning for ever).

In the late 90s they released him into a country town with one of those ankle bands that allowed him to only go 100 metres from his house. By the 2nd day after his release he had raped and attacked all his neighbours so it was agreed letting him out was a BIG mistake !  So he will die in jail - no matter how long it takes.

Sometimes the class bully turns out to be worse than anyone could ever imagine.

You actually got to KEEP your books? Well...

Btw, BrianMannixGirl, whereabouts in Perth did you live and in what period? And what's the name of this bully (I may know his name) - if you don't mind disclosing it?

I started highschool in Brisbane in 1972 and finished in 1976.  Sex and drugs and rock 'n roll were the order of the day with a lot of my cohorts.  I've got three kids at highschool now and those same three things still apply.  Mobile phones and computers were just a figment of someone's imagination when I was at school.  These days my kids' entire social lives are organised either via their mobiles or MSN.

The only real big difference I see is that in the 50's and in someplaces up into the 60s teachers were allowed to hit you if they
wanted.  There are some that think that that is a good idea, it is not. Teachers are people and can be just as psycho, spiteful,
and vicious as the general population.

In my school the teachers struggled with limited resources but mostly gave us their 100% in terms of commitment to teaching us as much as they could in a friendly communicative manner. 
But here were 2 teachers in particular who'd had a Military background (no excuse) and walked around like ice cold, impersonal robots ensuring everyone was scared of approaching them.
Another Maths teacher I had would be the most condescending bastard known to man and put every mistake you made down with a tut and roll of his bulging eyes  >:(

In the 70's we were still open for physical punishments by way of caning across the fingers or bottom or  leather strap across the fingertips. To this day I wonder if these jerkoffs got some sort of pervy pleasure out of doing that to us??  ;D

Funnily enough I have really happy memories of school.

In the 70's we were still open for physical punishments by way of caning across the fingers or bottom or  leather strap across the fingertips. To this day I wonder if these jerkoffs got some sort of pervy pleasure out of doing that to us??  ;D



No doubt in my mind.

You actually got to KEEP your books? Well...

Btw, BrianMannixGirl, whereabouts in Perth did you live and in what period? And what's the name of this bully (I may know his name) - if you don't mind disclosing it?


Pilbara in the 70s, Perth 79 onwards. I wont give further details for the simple fact that prisoners here have computers in their cells and I dont want the creep to google his name and find this site. Needless to say anyone in Perth (or WA for that matter) around the late 70s and early 80s are well aware of his name as he is one of only two criminal minors to ever have their name released to the press in WA.

I have friends who study criminal psycology and so much evidence points to school bullys growing up into even worse adults - especially those that are cruel to animals when very young in life.

Re teachers who got pleasure out of caning kids. In our schools only the head master was allowed to do it. Teachers had to refer the kid to his office for punishment. Only in one school did I remember a head master who was atually prepared to listen to both the teachers and the kids side of the arguement and then decide whether punishment was warranted. Most just figured the teacher had sent the kid up there for a good reason.  It would be interesting to speak to those headmasters now and see how they felt about having to do it. If it was something they struggled with etc or whether they did in fact get pleasure out of it. 

As I said - I am still to this day all for stronger punishment in schools. I see a lot of disrespect in the under 25s as a result of being raised in a "touch me and I'll sue" world, where parents and other elders are no longer allowed to discipline. I would seriously love to give some kids a darn good belting sometimes when I see how they talk to parents and teachers and even employers.

Actually I started school in 1993 and I remember the teacher used to paddle us in Kindergarten.  But after then I never saw a teacher paddle again, so maybe the district I was in phased that out the following year.

Anyway,  how many places had Kindergarten in the 70s?  I always thought prior to the 70s it wasn't around.  But recently I found out that they weren't in the South, but the north had already had it for many years.

Pilbara in the 70s, Perth 79 onwards. I wont give further details for the simple fact that prisoners here have computers in their cells and I dont want the creep to google his name and find this site. Needless to say anyone in Perth (or WA for that matter) around the late 70s and early 80s are well aware of his name as he is one of only two criminal minors to ever have their name released to the press in WA.

I have friends who study criminal psycology and so much evidence points to school bullys growing up into even worse adults - especially those that are cruel to animals when very young in life.

Re teachers who got pleasure out of caning kids. In our schools only the head master was allowed to do it. Teachers had to refer the kid to his office for punishment. Only in one school did I remember a head master who was atually prepared to listen to both the teachers and the kids side of the arguement and then decide whether punishment was warranted. Most just figured the teacher had sent the kid up there for a good reason.  It would be interesting to speak to those headmasters now and see how they felt about having to do it. If it was something they struggled with etc or whether they did in fact get pleasure out of it. 

As I said - I am still to this day all for stronger punishment in schools. I see a lot of disrespect in the under 25s as a result of being raised in a "touch me and I'll sue" world, where parents and other elders are no longer allowed to discipline. I would seriously love to give some kids a darn good belting sometimes when I see how they talk to parents and teachers and even employers.


Our schools must've been full of sensible, polite students. I rarely remembering teachers having a problem 'disciplining' the kids. I guess it depends (this is often true) on the socio-economic area the school is in. In places where kids have less opportunity, they tend to misbehave.

I went to a Catholic elementary school in the early to mid 70's
the endless math equations,proper Punctuation and the theory
behind the religion.Let's not forget the gum on the nose or the
ruler across the knuckles.When I got to public high school 1976 it
was a whole new experience.Dress how we wanted,no suits.There
was a smoking area, a cafeteria and a gym, I was amazed.No home
work, open book quizes, I thought this was the life. They taught me
a Trade,put me to work in my senior year and prepared me for real life.
For that I am thankful.

I went to a Catholic elementary school in the early to mid 70's
the endless math equations,proper Punctuation and the theory
behind the religion.Let's not forget the gum on the nose or the
ruler across the knuckles.When I got to public high school 1976 it
was a whole new experience.Dress how we wanted,no suits.There
was a smoking area, a cafeteria and a gym, I was amazed.No home
work, open book quizes, I thought this was the life. They taught me
a Trade,put me to work in my senior year and prepared me for real life.
For that I am thankful.


Yes, life was alot simpler back then...I think in some instances a light smack might be beneficial for the future wellbeing of the child...

Personally...I think they should bring the cane and corpral punishment back into ALL schools. If a kid under the age of 16 swears at a teacher, or what ever, then they should be sent to the principal and caned. And I dont mean a tap across the palm of the hand...I mean a good hard strike across the back of the fingers. You can actually trace the decline of (at least) Australian society and loss of the feeling of safety walking the streets to the decline of corpral punishment.

I remember telling a teacher when I was 14 to go and get...lost, in not so nice terms, and when the principal made to hit me with the cane (at this time girls could not be caned but boys could be) I told him if he touched me Id have him in court. He simply smiled, struck me 3 times across the knuckles, and said, "I guess Ill be seeing you in court."

These days, the 20 somethings and younger you see now causing trouble and making it unsafe to walk the streets or to even step out your front door, are the first generation to have come through school and home life without the threat of corpral punishment, and look at the state of our cities. Was a time when helping someone out was a natural thing to do...Now we have to make sure we, ourselves, wont become a target for giving aid.

Id LOVE to see the kids of today, who complain so much about their treatment at home and at schools, go back to the 1970's and early 1980's and see how long they would suurvive.




AN

Yeah, kids today are spoilt and whiney...give em the short end of the stick. I know a few teacher's at my old school would be all to glad to see the cane re-introduced. Ah, Bless Mr Chapman's right-wing fascist heart...

Anyway,  how many places had Kindergarten in the 70s?  I always thought prior to the 70s it wasn't around.  But recently I found out that they weren't in the South, but the north had already had it for many years.


I guess it depends on what country El D. My mum went to kindergarten in Australia in 1953. All schools here have always had a kindergarten attached to them.  Some time in the 80s they added "Pre Primary" classes as well. So you go to kinder at age 4, pre primary at age 5 and grade 1 at age 6. (those ages are for West Aussies - I seem to recollect it different ages in the east coast as when I went to school over there I was a year younger than all my class mates).


Personally...I think they should bring the cane and corpral punishment back into ALL schools. If a kid under the age of 16 swears at a teacher, or what ever, then they should be sent to the principal and caned. And I dont mean a tap across the palm of the hand...I mean a good hard strike across the back of the fingers. You can actually trace the decline of (at least) Australian society and loss of the feeling of safety walking the streets to the decline of corpral punishment.


These days, the 20 somethings and younger you see now causing trouble and making it unsafe to walk the streets or to even step out your front door, are the first generation to have come through school and home life without the threat of corpral punishment, and look at the state of our cities. Was a time when helping someone out was a natural thing to do...Now we have to make sure we, ourselves, wont become a target for giving aid.

Id LOVE to see the kids of today, who complain so much about their treatment at home and at schools, go back to the 1970's and early 1980's and see how long they would suurvive.

AN


Agree 100% AN.

I don't think corporal punishment in schools have really much to do with crime rates in adults..

Many of the worst criminals were beaten, abused.etc by their parents, and this just made them worse. Of course with kids it's different, since kids can't 'reason' in the same was as adults. Saying that, many kids seem far more mature than some adults, and I think introducing corporal punishments for adults (like lashings) might help a bit. Of course I'm not advocating it, but you know..

I don't think corporal punishment in schools have really much to do with crime rates in adults..

Many of the worst criminals were beaten, abused.etc by their parents, and this just made them worse. Of course with kids it's different, since kids can't 'reason' in the same was as adults. Saying that, many kids seem far more mature than some adults, and I think introducing corporal punishments for adults (like lashings) might help a bit. Of course I'm not advocating it, but you know..


I will have to disagree with you there. Kids use to learn respect of their elders in school, these days they have utterly no respect for anyone in authority. This is a direct result of schools and parents being forbidden from using any decent form of punishment.

And the many Uni and police studies have proven that the "worst" criminals - actually came from perfectly normal homes and loving families. Those from "disfunctional" families tend more towards petty crime like burglary and car theft.

Dont forget Trimac - you live in the same city as some of the worst teen killers known in Australia. All were proven that even tho they were "kids" - they were capable of sensible reasoning. They knew what was right and wrong and they were charged accordingly. There are more held here at the govenors pleasure than any other state in Aus and the rest are on life terms (scarily the bully from my primary school is not the only one I know on that list!).

Only one could actually claim to come from a disfuctional family yet strangely no one else in his entire extended family has ever committed a crime - they all had the identical upbringing as he did yet they all chose to lead a normal productive life.
My primary school bully came from a very normal loving home. There was nothing in his family life that gave any hint to the actions he would perform in his life.

One of the greatest differences was the old reel to reel films we got to watch, the narrator of those movies seemed to be the same no matter the topic.  With all the modern technology now, who gets the honor of running the DVD?  It used to be the biggest deal to be able to thread the reels!

As for all the disfunctional...it was the same then but less public

Dont forget Trimac - you live in the same city as some of the worst teen killers known in Australia.


Really, never heard about any of them. Tell me more about it. Streuth, better think about moving to Queensland...

One of the greatest differences was the old reel to reel films we got to watch, the narrator of those movies seemed to be the same no matter the topic.  With all the modern technology now, who gets the honor of running the DVD?  It used to be the biggest deal to be able to thread the reels!


Oh man, how many used that as snooze time. LOL I remember in the show 'Wonder Years' how they often showed those films. I always thought those film strips/slides were the the most boring thing ever invented.

I used to be utterly fascinated by those old nature docos...while the rest of the class was probably falling asleep  :).

Really, never heard about any of them. Tell me more about it. Streuth, better think about moving to Queensland...


Like I said - I am not stupid enough to put their names here. They are all sitting in cells with nothing better to do with their time than to google their own names. Its not difficult to research them yourself. Log in the Wests archives and read the news since hmmmm 1979.



One of the greatest differences was the old reel to reel films we got to watch, the narrator of those movies seemed to be the same no matter the topic.  With all the modern technology now, who gets the honor of running the DVD?  It used to be the biggest deal to be able to thread the reels!

Funnily - I remember distinctly watching someone threading the reels - but for the life of me I cant remember anything we actually may have watched !

We were lucky tho - instead of watching a nature doco - we just went outside. We were living in the desert surrounded by amazing feats of nature, stunning gorges, creeks, caves and seriously cool animals. We were taken to see ancient rock paintings by the local aboriginal tribe, and shown how to catch and cook goannas and snakes. We went bush walking every few weeks.
Another great excursion was when they drove us up to the Iron Ore open cut mine and we got to watch the massive explosions when they blew open the side of the mountains about 4 times a year.

When I moved down to Perth I felt the school excursions were really dull ! Stuffed goanna's in the local museum just arent as cool as seeing the real thing in its own environment.

Actually the bush walking reminds me of a funny moment. Our grade 4 teacher took us for a half day walk and we arrived back to school sweating hard and covered in red dust, twigs in our hair etc. We had all worn our daggiest shorts and torn t shirts for the day. Anyway - we get back to school and the headmaster runs up and shouts "where have you all been, you are so late, quick - line up here".

Our teacher had totally forgotten it was the annual class photo day !!!! The photographers only came up from the city (2 day drive) for the one single day each year.
So in the school magazine that year there are all these fab classes photos of neat clean children in nice shorts and the school t shirt - and theres the grade four class looking like they got dragged out of the local garbage dump backwards !! Our parents were so proud !!!!

Thats hilarious.  Im envious of your 'hands on' education.  We had to watch films with the drone explaining the life cycle of the aloe plant....

One of the greatest differences was the old reel to reel films we got to watch, the narrator of those movies seemed to be the same no matter the topic.  With all the modern technology now, who gets the honor of running the DVD?  It used to be the biggest deal to be able to thread the reels!

As for all the disfunctional...it was the same then but less public



In third grade, if there was enough time after we watched "the movie", my teacher would play it backwards (without sound of course). We all got a kick out of it.




Cat

In third grade, if there was enough time after we watched "the movie", my teacher would play it backwards (without sound of course). We all got a kick out of it.




Cat


Kids were so easy to entertain back then.

I never pooped while I was at school after 1979.



Coincidentally, that's the same year that the album "Candy-O" by the Cars came out.