Skooldaze

[Estreeter]

Skooldaze





You can thank NIN for my great spelling

I went to a private Catholic school for a while, only my Dad knew he was wasting his hard earned money, I then finished my schooldays at a state school. Looking back I know my Dad made the right decision

I wasn't a brilliant student, I only had one problem, I was smart and did my work, but I was constantly in trouble....Most students were one or the other.

Hardly a week went by that I wasn't disciplined in one form or another

But I hardly ever wagged ( truancy) , I loved being there and even though I went out of my way at times to get into trouble, I actually did listen to teachers and respected them.

I hated the kids that were bookworms and even more than that hated the bully kids that you knew would end up in a dead end job or prison.

I miss school and even more my cigarette trading scheme that earned me 6 of the above picture

What were your days like ?

[Greenman]

I was bereft for weeks when I had to leave school. You get into a routine of getting up, having breakfast, racing out and getting to school by 8.30am to see your mates in the Quiet Room, whilst the rest of the 6th form gathered in the Common Room below and blasted out UB40s 'Red Red Wine' for the first of four times a day. I liked school as I got older, and I sometimes wake up and think, "Did I actually go there?" and then I see my box full of my school books, exercise books and rough books and it confirms yes, I was there. Technically, my school doesn't exist in name now, it changed name and the lower school became luxury flats. The upper school was re-done but it still looks the same after all these years.

I had some good teachers, and my favourite subjects were History, Geography and English Language although I attempted that exam 8 times and narrowly missed it each time with grades going D.U.D.E.?? and then a succession of 4 D's. I know I wasn't that bad and I suspect that some mistakes were made but they would charge you for re-marking in those days so it wasn't thought worth doing-I still reckon the bastard markers denied me an O-Level!

I left school with a CEE in History, which was equivalent to CSE Grade 1 which was an O-Level and I also got a few other passes. I put all my schoolbooks in a box and every so often I look back at them and reminisce. There were some funny incidents, like one April Fools Day we were upstairs working on something and we looked out the window and saw that the flag(we had our own one) on the pole had been replaced by a pair of bloomers! and we also had a stagnant pond outside the library, which was used for Biology purposes-lots of small insects and algae etc in it. If it was your birthday you were threatened with being dumped in it but I only ever saw ONE person do that and he was in serious trouble with the headmaster, not to mention the health aspect of god knows what he could have picked up!

I was hopeless at sports at school, always the last person to be picked for football and envariably ended up in goal! I was once given a 10min headstart for a local cross-country race and they still caught me and I finished last-we even used to run in the freezing snow along a main road-health and safety wouldn't like that these days-which was absolute hell. I hated taking my shirt off to play basketball(shirts v skins) but I did like the times we got to do somersaults off a vaulting horse onto a crash mat and weightlifting although the next day I could barely move my arms.

They say that your schooldays are the happiest days of your life-well in some cases that is true and you don't miss it until it's gone. I wouldn't want to be in school now, but back then we had a great time growing up in the late 70s and early 80s. Biggest event at school was all of us watching the very first Space Shuttle take off on lunchtime. I miss those times and of course loads of people I knew-some I still keep in touch with regularly but others moved away or married or disappeared. All in all you never forget your schooldays-no matter how good or bad-but I would hate to not remember at all.

[otokonomidori]

I'm old enough to have sat the 11-plus exam and you won't be surprised to hear I got an A.

This entitled me to go to a tough all boys Senior Secondary school in a decaying West of Scotland industrial town - this was the early 60's and there were still bombed out buildings from the war. Nearly all the pupils were violent thugs, the children of drunken shipyard workers. The teaching staff were even more psychopathic than the boys and it was not unusual to get belted in every single class.

Bullying and cruelty were the norm, survival was the only lesson I learned there - that , how to inhale cigarette smoke and how to forge my fathers signature on an absence note.

I left school second bottom of the class , being beaten for the wooden spoon by my friend Beaky Laing who simply didn't turn up for the exams whereas I at least wrote my name at the top of the paper.

Happy days!!

[NIN]

School Yard Rituals

The last School I was at was an all boys set-up, seemed like a good idea to me when i was 11 to choose a school with no girls and just rufty tufty guys, Cricket, Football, Rugby & Cross Country running in games rather than Rounders & general Sport I soon learnt to regret that decision

I was aware from friends that the 'break-times' could be an ordeal at our school, inbetween borrowing homework answers, selling ciggies or sweets, and the general chatter of the rumour mills, there were namely 4 things to avoid:

1. The Teacher on 'Break-Duty'

Generally a disgruntled junior of the Educational Team, perhaps new to the school and not happy about being ditched into the cold, noisy, crap & clutter of 250 unhappy, spiteful teenage lads, with just a half-full mug of crap instant coffee to sustain them.

2. The Bastard 'Monitors'

- Usually your peers, if a little older, but they had proved their usefulness to the other side by being snides, grasses or just simply goody-goodies - a group of teacher appointed thugs whose job it was to intimidate the youngest & weakest in the schoolyard. They'd vent their frustration in the strangest of ways,
'Ragging' plastic bags that you were carrying text & notebooks in - It was school practice to get your arse down to the Army Surplus shop & get y'self a canvass havasack to haul your back breaking amount of bookwork about in. Not long after that, you'd have to decorate it with Band names/logos - Never try to keep it pristine or it would get stolen, graffiti written all over in heavy marker pen, and not with anything flattering either (but a subject I'll come back to at a later post)
Monitors were also there to see you couldn't walk the corridors during break, in the vain hope of staying out of the cold cutting wind at the top of the hill where the school was sited - although they could patrol the inside of school OK I know they were keeping us little shits away from the Teach-bots, but they could take your name & even report you to a Year-Head resulting in minor punishment like detention or lines.

3. "Down The Shrubs !"

- This was peculiar to my school. The perimeter of the yard was a steep sloping bank about 10ft high & between the metal fencing was planted a dense shrubbery (Ni) This was strictly 'Out Of Bounds' & further to which, you couldn't even trust friends, It was like a scene from the Bodysnatchers if anyone went down there, everyone within earshot of the Teach' would holler "Down The Shrubs" and grass you-up, no hesitaion - even give you a helpful shove if the teach' was about to look in our direction & lie saying stuff like you were off for a smoke or some other bollox
anything to get you a detention or a ruler across the flat of your palm 6 times.

4. The Hom Machine

- definitely a thing to avoid, but being a group of teenage boys, the thing to do in break was gang-up with ya buddies & find a wall to lean against.
NEVER do it within 10 - 15 feet of the Hom Machine !
This was nothing more than a disused bracket from when the school was built that jutted out about 8 inches - and on occasions, a gang might grab an individual and push their arse against the 'Hom Machine' and if anyone saw you have any sign of enjoying it (i.e. not fighting for grim life against it) you'd be considered a hom and inherit a stigma that would never disappear.
Strange, but it did identify at least 2 guys in my year who have turned the other way

Ya can't beat a bit of bullying

[Estreeter]

Originally Posted by Estreeter

I went to a private Catholic school for a while, only my Dad knew he was wasting his hard earned money, I then finished my schooldays at a state school. Looking back I know my Dad made the right decision

I forgot too mention something

I distinctly remember Dad saying too Mum

What am I paying Brothers too belt him over the head for when it can be done for free

[victor meldrew]

I was never interested in school, although illness apart, always turned up. enjoyed maths, history and sport but hated the rest, especially English, which just did my head in.
At East End Schools (London) in the 50's and 60's, you learned to look after yourself or took the beatings. Most teachers treated you well, unless you stepped out of line, only one bad one, who loved to use the cane, for any minor infraction, the second year at secondary, was really tough for me, as he seemed to take great pleasure in seeing me wince.
The only other tale, from the infant school, a larger lad than me, i was only 4foot something, was knocking me about when one of my Godmothers walked through the school gate. He recieved a cuff round the ear and was informed she would be speaking to his father. After that little episode, the kid never came near me again. I later found out she was his aunt and his father, was her brother.

I prefered work, people were friendlier, school seemd to be a place of one upmanship or a fight.

[palo5]

Almost everyone in other countries seems to start earlier, but I started school when I was eight. I could read and write before that, of course

School was good, and I liked my teachers. Some were profound. Politics, history and languages were my best subjects. Mathematics and natural sciences were my weakest - I regret my lack of talent in mathematics

[Sir Honkers]

Looking back at my children's school days I remember being impressed by how caring and committed to their students, all the teachers seemed to be. I don't really recall any teachers who struck me like that when I was at school.

[tamsmith]

I went to a good Christian school that believed in The Bible.
Every Friday we had the Headmasters morning sermon. When he finished we had to show the various teachers OUR Bible.
If we had forgotten it we got a minimum of six-of-the-belt.

Good Christian attitude or just sadistic teachers??

[Estreeter]

Originally Posted by tamsmith

Good Christian attitude or just sadistic teachers??

Both

Originally Posted by palo5

I regret my lack of talent in mathematics

Here, Have this





Never too late to start palo
Might even lead up to a degree in physics and rocket science
And you could be the one to finally land a cosmonaut on the moon