If a child went back to a grade school when you attended, what would they find odd or not even know what it was? -------

[debm55]

Learning cursive.

[cloudbase]

1. The mimeograph machine.

[Redleg]

34. And the smell of freshly mimeographed pages

Brings back memories.

[CrispyQ]

49. Vivid purple ink on stark white paper.

Sometimes the paper was still wavy from the dampness of the ink. I can almost feel my stomach clench since it was mostly for tests.

[Brother Buzz]

115. Mimeographed pages smelled, um, inky

However, the Ditto, or spirit duplicator had a seductively pleasant solvent smell

[Niagara]

116. Fast Times At Ridgemont High "Paper Sniff Scene"

[debm55]

37. Yes, I remember that. and the kids would sniff it. Thank you cloudbase.❤️

[3catwoman3]

62. I can still remember the smell.

[AZJonnie]

2. Pencil Sharpener?

I don't know I've not been in a classroom in a long time, maybe they're still common?

[debm55]

7. Yes, AZJonnie, The little individual ones and the ones bolted to teache's desk. It had Boston printed on it. Thank you

for sharing with us.

[ProfessorGAC]

76. Still Common

But, 80% of the time they are the electric type.
Kids use pencil for 95% of what they do in the schools I go to.

[sakabatou]

152. Most are electronic now, instead of the hand cranked ones

[Bluestocking]

3. Chalk board

I don’t think they allow chalk anymore

[debm55]

8. Thank you very much, Bluestocking. for sharing. I can see. Do you remember taking the erasers outside and hitting them

Against each other to dust out?

[Soul_of_Wit]

42. We had a room with an eraser vacuum

This was the late '60s. The vacuum was the only thing in a small storage room.

[debm55]

54. I remember that when I started teaching. It was in the teacher's "supply room" Thank you Soul _ of_Wit

[Bluestocking]

91. I went to public school, no eraser vacuum.

The teacher always had the students do it the fun way. Banging them together.

[debm55]

93. Thank you for sharing , Bluestocking. We used to bang them against the school building as it was yellow brick.

[reACTIONary]

171. For some reason this was considered ...

... a special honor. Only the "good" kids, or one who had recently accomplished something significant, were given this chore.

[hunter]

149. My fifth grade teacher would frequently send me out to clean the erasers.

The vacuum machine was in the same room where the playground equipment was kept.

I realize now it was a ploy to distract me when I started fidgeting more than usual and looked like I was about to do something that would disrupt the class.

And she didn't seem to care how long it took either.

Looking back, she had a whole lot of tricks like that.

I also spent a lot of time at an isolated desk in the back for "independent studies."

[ProfessorGAC]

78. Still In Some Schools

But most of the time, they are just there, replaced with a white board mounted elsewhere of a smartscreen.

[Maninacan]

103. Chalk allergy

I know someone with a chalk allergy. Art teacher wanted to fail her for not doing pastel project. Was a real bitch about it.

[debm55]

106. That is sad that the Art teacher would do that. I am sorry to hear that. There are so many media that the girl could of

used.

[karynnj]

4. The set of encyclopedias and the dictionary

[debm55]

9. Yes. I remember the encyclopedias and the individual ones and the one that was huge. Thank you, karynnj

[House of Roberts]

5. Analog CRT television.

Total lack of electronics, otherwise. No calculators, word processors or anything with a screen display.

[debm55]

11. Thank you very much, House of Roberts and the large analog wall clock.

[StoolPigeon]

32. Television? What's that?

For our video pleasure we had 16 mm projectors.

[House of Roberts]

41. We had to watch a lot of the NASA launches and recoveries.

Huntsville, after all, is known as Rocket City. A lot of the kids' dads worked for NASA here.
I do remember those 'educational' films, as well as the ubiquitous 'overhead projector' that allowed the teacher to project still images of just about anything onto a screen.

[reACTIONary]

173. And "film strips." Of the...

... educational sort, of course.

[Soul_of_Wit]

39. Black and white, watching Apollo astronauts (n/m)

[wnylib]

107. My school had a screen for old fashioned films and projectors.

The screen was mounted just above the blackboard and could be pulled down for showing films. We pulled down the window blinds and turned off the overhead light.

[debm55]

109. Thank you very much for sharing. We had a similar setup

[Bmoboy]

6. Safety patrol

I wore a white canvas Sam Brown belt with a badge and shepherded kids across the street. One day a bike ran me down. I got hot chocolate after a morning shift on nasty days.

[debm55]

12. HAHAHAHAHAH. I remember the Safety patrol. Bmoboy, I hope you didn't get to badly hurt from the bike.

[Soul_of_Wit]

36. Getting out of school a few minutes early, for the win (n/m)

[debm55]

40. HAHAHHAHhAhaha, Very true, Soul_of_Wit.

[rsdsharp]

44. I was made "Captain" of the safety patrol. That meant I had safety patrol

EVERY FRICKIN’ DAY for a whole semester!

I even hated doing it for a week once every month or six weeks.

[debm55]

51. Oh my that is a bummer. rsdharp. Did you get any perks?? Our safety patrol got free tickets to an amusement park. You

must have been good to be made the "Captain"

[rsdsharp]

87. Yeah, the captain's Sam Brown belt had a gold badge.

WHOOPEE!

[debm55]

90. HAHAHHAHAHHAHAH.

[wnylib]

108. I was a patrol, too. Was not hit by any cars or bikes, thank goodness.

[sakabatou]

153. We still have those, just not in that uniform

[nitpicked]

10. Inkwells

[debm55]

13. Yes , nitpicked , we had them too but never used them for ink. Used to put that little pack of Kleenex in there.

[wanderer54]

184. Yes and we actually used them

[debm55]

14. PEE CHEE folder

[some_of_us_are_sane]

142. YES!!!!!

In 8th grade, 2 different girls would take turns "manning" the supply closet with a dutch door and selling supplies to students. LOL!! I STILL love the color and feel of a NEW PEE CHEE!

[debm55]

144. hahaha.thank you

[jgo]

15. Busing to aid desegregation

Started when I was in elementary school.

[debm55]

24. Thank you very much for sharing that milestone with us, jgo.

[crud]

16. being taught civics

Learning that our country is founded on religious freedom. What the words of America The Beautiful and the pledge mean.

I'm just guessing that they don't teach that stuff any more.

[debm55]

22. I had civics in 9th grade. In grade school. we had PA History in 4th grade. High school was Government. Don't know it is

still taught. Thank you , crud.

[Wiz Imp]

50. Civics is still taught to some degree.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_education_in_the_United_States

All 50 states have social studies standards which include civics and government. 39 states require at least one course in government/civics. 8 states require students to take a state-mandated government/civics test.

However, it is much less prioritized and detailed and than it used to be. So, most students today would be familiar with civics at a super basic level, but the vast majority would not have been taught a significant portion of the facts that were taught to everyone 50+ years ago.

https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/forgotten-purpose-civics-education-public-schools

Until the 1960s, it was common for American high school students to have three separate courses in civics and government. But civics offerings were slashed as the curriculum narrowed over the ensuing decades, and lost further ground to “core subjects” under the NCLB-era standardized testing regime.

It’s Not an Exaggeration to Say that Civics Education is in Crisis.
Only 25 percent of U.S. students reach the “proficient” standard on the NAEP Civics Assessment. White, wealthy students are four to six times as likely as Black and Hispanic students from low-income households to exceed that level. Here’s why: Students in wealthier public school districts are far more likely to receive high-quality civics education than students in low-income and majority-minority schools.

Contrary to Popular Belief, the Problem isn’t that Students Receive No Civics Education.
All 50 states require some form of instruction in civics and/or government, and nearly 90 percent of students take at least one civics class. But too often, factual book learning is not reinforced with experience-based learning opportunities like community service, guided debates, critical discussion of current events, and simulations of democratic processes.

[ProfessorGAC]

79. Every School In Illinois Does

It's state law. IL constitution test in 7th grade, US constitution in 8th grade. Can't graduate without passing the test.
I've subbed 8th grade social studies multiple times in the closer to home schools & have seen it being taken seriously at all.

[Ocelot II]

17. Blackboard with chalk, a pencil sharpener with a crank,

wooden desks with inkwells (we didn't even use the inkwells), 3-lined paper for learning cursive writing, books you covered with brown paper from shopping bags, pencil boxes, filmstrip projectors.

[debm55]

19. Thank you very much, Ocelot II. What a great selection. I do remember them all

[lastlib]

18. Big maps on the rollers you pull down....

...showing the Soviet Union......

[debm55]

20. Yes, I remember those. Thank you for sharing, lastlib.

[Ocelot II]

21. Mercator maps that distort the size of countries closer to the poles,

which is why Trump has probably wanted Greenland ever since he was in elementary school.

[debm55]

23. HAHAHHAHHAHHAHAHHAHA. That is very funny Ocelot II

[ProfessorGAC]

80. I See Them From Time To Time

Maybe in 4 of the 15 schools I go to.
The springs all still work, too!

[sakabatou]

154. Oh, yeah, by the time I was in elementary, it was replaced with Russia (URSSR was gone by '92 maps)

[LogDog75]

25. Seeng a film projector and pull down screen

Watching the jerky pictures on the screen and hearing the "clicking" of the film as it goes through the sprockets.

[debm55]

26. Yes to both, LogDog75, I do remember that the teacher gave a student and they would rewind the opposite way, HAHAHAHAHH

and the place in those metal canister to store. My teacher got some that were backward.

[MiHale]

27. Ink well at the top of the desk...

Edit to add…the wire chalk holder with 5 ‘slots’ for chalk sticks to be inserted…used for drawing music lines on the board…..🎼 ..like that emoji shows.

[debm55]

29. Thank you very much for sharing with us.MiHale.

Last edited Mon May 4, 2026, 04:28 PM - Edit history (1)

I do remember that chalk holder. I could be used for Music class and Writing.

[Silver Gaia]

28. Paste (not glue)

I can still smell it when I think of my first classrooms.

[debm55]

31. Yes! No Elmers. You had to put a small piece of paper and she would go around and put some of your paper. It was never

enough. I heard some kids would eat it.

[Silver Gaia]

96. We each had to have our own jar of paste.

They had screw-on lids with a dauber attached. And yes, some kids did eat it! I tasted it and thought it was gross.

[debm55]

98. Thank you for your answer.😊

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

30. In high school we had Americanism vs. Communism

It was a required course. Complete propaganda.

[debm55]

33. Thank you very much, iwillalwayswonderwhy. . My class was just American government.

[DBoon]

113. don't they still have that in Florida?

[Redleg]

35. Phonics

My own kids (in their early 20s) said they never learned this, at least not in the way we did back in the early 70s.

[debm55]

58. I remember the last year for me taking Phonics was when I was in Second Grade. It was taught as a separate class. Now

Phonics is in the Spelling book and the Reader.Thank you very much. Redleg.

[wnylib]

110. My father taught me phonics at home before

I started kindergarten. I was was excused from reading instruction in the classroom and allowed to do puzzles during that time.

That reminds me of something else not in classrooms today -- Dick, Jane, Sally, and Spot.

[debm55]

127. Oh thank you so much, wnylib. Didn't they have a little yellow kitten name. Puff? Anyone know or remember?

[wnylib]

131. Puff sounds familiar but I am not sure.

[malthaussen]

38. Well, my old school had a constant-flow urinal in the boy's room...

... for all I know, they still do, though.

-- Mal

[debm55]

59. HAHHAHHAHAHAHHA. Thank you very much , Mal. for sharing. That is funny.

[Polly Hennessey]

43. First things popped into my mind:

Blackboard with chalk and erasers; pencils; cursive writing ✍️; note passing in class; wooden desks with flip up lids.

Carrying school books in our arms (unless a boy carried them for you): 📚👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨

[malthaussen]

45. I often wonder what boys do now to court girls...

... since everybody has a backpack now.

-- Mal

[Soul_of_Wit]

48. You can still carry a backpack, but girls still have cooties (n/m)

[debm55]

60. Thank you very much for sharing , Polly Hennessey. I remember those.

[ProfessorGAC]

81. Pencils Are VERY Common

And, the actual #2 wooden pencils. Mechanical pencils are more common in HS though.
As to cursive, it's actually taught in some art classes!
I see kids competing for who has the best cursive handwriting at the junior high level!

[Soul_of_Wit]

46. We had a round communal sink to wash our hands in the boys' room

You stepped on a foot ring to make the water flow. There were at least 3 soap dispensers around the middle.

[debm55]

68. That's different. Thank you for sharing, Soul _of_Wit

[u4ic]

219. We had one of those as well!

Both boys and girls washrooms. Imagine the water wasted when only one child washed their hands!

[CrispyQ]

47. The jungle gym, swings, & giant strides were all installed on a cement base.

A kid could fly off the giant strides the way we did it.

[TBF]

57. Recess!

We not only had gym class in the 1970s (which most people probably call PE) - but we also had 3 recess breaks a day: morning, after lunch, and afternoon. I was in the midwest & if it was really cold or raining they'd put us in the gym to play hockey or basketball. Kids need to run around a little.

[CrispyQ]

66. Are you kidding me? They've done away with recess?

We had the same, morning, lunch, & afternoon. Until jr high, which was 7th grade.

[TBF]

72. For my kids it was just the lunch recess -

and of course, PE class.

[debm55]

74. My school didn't have any equipment.except, balls, jump ropes. But my public playground had one on cement.. Thank you

for sharing. CrispyQ. Looking back it was dangerous, but we were too young to realize that.

[Tiny Tabby]

52. Atomic bomb drills

Duck under your desk and put your hands over your eyes!

I'm sure that will suffice!

[debm55]

75. Thank you very much for sharing. Tiny Tabby . We went into the hallway, knelt with hands covering eyes. We were safe

[TBF]

53. Lunch w/teacher -

** I went to a K-8 elementary in a very small town in the midwest. Grades were combined because it was so small. 1-2 in one room, 3-4, 5th grade on their own, and then down the hall 6-8 had a few rooms and full sized lockers. In those grades we moved back and forth during the day to "practice changing classes".

Many things are different, but one thing I noticed in my kids' big suburban elementaries is that there are lunch monitors - teachers go off for break at that time.

We all ate in the gym (multi-purpose room). Long tables set up with teacher at the head. We all sang the same grace every day and then ate together. This was a public school in the 1970s. Times were very different then.

[debm55]

88. Thank you very much TBF for sharing. As a child. I never ate lunch with my teachers. We didn't have lunch monitors

either. We were on our own getting the milk cartons open and the rest of it. We also started to change classes to get ready for Junior and Senior High.

[TexLaProgressive]

55. The communal ink bottle for fillin fountain pens, those pens

that were required for penmanship. Cursive writing, girls playing jacks, jumping rope, hop scotch- boys playing marbles and tops for keeps, yo-yo and all kind of unsupervised chasing games

[debm55]

97. Thank you very much, TexLaProgressive for sharing with us.

[TexLaProgressive]

101. There's more

Like all the boys carried pocket knives at least in rural schools.No telling what the girls carried

[debm55]

105. Thank you, TexLaProgressive.

[The Madcap]

56. Paddles

I saw thick wooden ones and wide ones like a pickleball paddle. The worst I saw was made of fiberglass and had six holes drilled at the business end. I was luckily never struck by one, but I admit that I came close a few times.

It's good that they are gone.

[debm55]

99. Thank you very much, Madcap. I am glad they are gone too. Was never struck by one. They would take boys and girls out in

hall and hit him. I can remember the screaming.

[genxlib]

104. Yes, I was going to say Corporal Punishment as well

Our Elementary and Middle school deans were terrifying and used to regularly spank kids with a solid piece of wood the size of a cricket bat. And yes it had holes for the extra sting.

It was barbaric...

But, then again, if I had to put up with hundreds of kids....

[Bayard]

159. That would be my answer too...

Big thick wooden things, about two ft. long. The principle had the one that could launch a boy into outer space (girls didn't get spanked--we stood in the corner.) I would say now that most of those boys had some version of ADHD. There was one kid that scared the crap out of me in third grade. He thought he was a robot, complete with sound effects, and his industrial lunchbox was his motor. He got walluped pretty often.

[sboatcar]

61. The super dangerous playground that was all made out of steel and just in the middle of a bunch of asphalt.

No padding, nothing. Sure a few kids every year broke arms and collarbones, but it was fun.

[debm55]

67. Thank you, sboatcar. We didn't have a slide or that merry go round thing. But we did have the asphalt to play on. And

The scrathes and bruises it came with.

[JoseBalow]

63. Library Card Catalog

[debm55]

100. Oh yes, I remember those in Jr and Sr High. Thank you very much for sharing, JoseBalow.

[sakabatou]

151. Oh, THOSE ones

Most catalogues were at least partly digital in my elementary days.

[3catwoman3]

64. Film strips, with the dry, pedantic voices of the narrators.

[OldBaldy1701E]

70. Yes.

The coveted job was to be the one who hit the button to flip to the next frame. The record would go 'BOOOP' and you would hit the button on the controller and it would flip.

If you were one of the technically proficient kids, you usually set the thing up and took it down as well. That usually removed you from contention of being a 'button pusher', but one could still do both depending on the situation.

(The real coveted thing was the be the one to roll the cart back to the library/AV room. Running down the halls like bats out of hell trying to race the other classroom cart as it was being returned as well as the bell. You wanted to be back in the classroom when that went off.)

[debm55]

102. Agree. Thank you very much. 3catwoman3. for sharing with us.

[RockRaven]

65. A strange circular device, mounted high on one wall of each room, marked around

the edge with Arabic numerals, with three metal tabs of varying length and widths mounted on a central axis around which they rotate at different rates, under glass (or equivalent).

[debm55]

69. Sorry , RockRaven, I don't recall seeing one in my classroom. Maybe someone can help you.

[lastlib]

86. And we waited very impatiently every day.....

.... for the small slow one to get to three, and the faster middle one to get to the 2...... and when it did, we all exploded out of our seats and went home!! YAY!! (we didn't care about the really fast long one....)

Now the d@&% things are digitial.....

[DBoon]

114. didn't they call that a "clock"?

[debm55]

121. You got me,HAHHAHHHAHAHAHHHAHH,

[OldBaldy1701E]

71. Although they still get used in some schools...

These days, there is no actual ringing bell to mark class periods. They use tones from the intercom or the like for most places. At the school where I used to work, it was all about tones. Heck, we had a catalog of recorded prayers and chants to use as well. (Catholic school.)

I know that even when I was a senior, my school had replaced the bells with that kind of thing. I used to be able to imitate the sound.

Got us out of class early on a few occasions.

I guarantee that a child today would jump out of their skin if they heard the old fashioned bells go off. Especially during a fire drill.

[debm55]

73. Thank you so much, OldBaldy1701E. I remember an eighth grader would get out in the hall and ring the bell. It was kept

in a beautiful shine. Yes , those fire alarms. Half of the little ones would be holding their ears and crying.

[johnp3907]

77. If they went back to MY grade shool?

They'd be freaked out by being asked to put their lunch scraps into buckets so the Principal could feed it to the hogs on her farm!

[debm55]

111. That's funny. thank you johnp3907

[LoisB]

82. Teachers in suits and dresses instead of jeans and tee-shirts.

[debm55]

122. Thank you very much for sharing with us, Lois B

[ProfessorGAC]

83. While Some Things Selected Above...

...are very legitimate, there are several listed that are much more common than thought.
Pull down screens, pencils, cursive, civics, blackboards & chalk, sharpeners...
I see those 75-90% of the time when I sub.
I even go to 3 schools with uniforms!!

[debm55]

95. Thank you ProfessorGAC. I haven't taught for 9 years.

[rurallib]

84. The school I went to was built in the late 1900s

and featured some incredible wood work. Stairs, doors, windows and of course the desks with their flip up lids.I don't think anything like that still exists.
Sure it was a major fire hazard, but it was sure beautiful.

[debm55]

123. Thank you very much, ruralib. The school sounds beautiful.

[Niagara]

85. A few things and items that I want to mention:

I don't know if it's generational or pertaining to certain demographics. People in their 80's and 90's talk about grade schools that were numbered. Example: PS (Public School) #1 or PS (Public School)#45. When I went to grade school and my children went to grade school, the schools had names and were not numbered.



Metal lunch boxes discontinued by lunch box manufacturers and banned by schools, mainly due to kids beating each other up with metal lunch boxes. Not always the case, but generally.


Scratch and sniff stickers on perfect or nearly perfect quizes, tests and specific homework papers.


Paper grade cards in manilla envelopes that were used the entire school year. Today it's digital grades.


Do they still have music and art classes in grade school today? I don't know.


Also: Lunch Lady Peanut Butter/Chocolate Bars. They were the breakfast bomb at my grade school, I don't care what anyone else says about the the breakfast bars either. If anyone says "yuck/gross/barf" I'm just going to assume that person is insane.

[debm55]

94. Thank you very much for your selection, Niagara. I remember the foil stars. Early in my teaching career. I used scratch

and sniff stickers. Haven't seen those in ages.Someone told me that they were made from toxic ingredients. I have my favorite as a teacher---scented markers. red was cherry, blue was blueberry and so on.Loved them. and so did the kids.

[intheflow]

89. The entire playground,

made of metal, set over pavement, no shade to speak of. As if getting burned from the the hot metal and occasional road rash from crashing onto the pavement while vying for space on the monkey bars wasn't bad enough, we also had "merry-go-round" that either sucked kids underneath them or made kids puke from spinning immediately after lunch. Fun times!

[debm55]

92. That is the one that we had at our local playground. I remember falling half way off after being spun by the older kids.

One of my legs got stuck in the darn thing. the other leg got dragged on the asphalt. Had a very bad brush burn for my ankle to my hip.

[Niagara]

117. I lost my balance on this thing once, fell, cracked my head open

and I had blood all the way down this light purple spring jacket that I had. None of the recess supervisors walked me down to the nurses station to make sure that I didn't pass out.


I received 3 stitches in the E.R. This was way before they used glue for stitches.


My mom forbade me to ever hang out on the Merry Go Round after that.

[debm55]

124. Oh I am so sorry. Niagara.

[Niagara]

132. Thank you, Deb

[Harker]

112. Mrs. Mudd.

[debm55]

125. Who is Mrs. Mudd? Don't leave us hanging this way, Harker.

[Harker]

130. She was a fourth grade teacher at my Illinois elementary school.

She was known to express displeasure with kids by digging her thumbnail into their chins.

Luckily for me, we moved to Colorado after third grade.

[debm55]

136. Very true. Lucky for you, Harker.

[Golden Raisin]

118. Mimeograph machine and its identifying scent springs first to mind

(from grade school through high school) but closely followed by: My High School had 2 buildings: the original (old) built in 1927 and the new circa 1960. The “old” building had very tall wood framed windows, almost 2 stories high with inserted glass windows. In order to open or close the top windows, the teacher used a VERY long, sturdy wooden pole with a brass clasp on the end to latch onto the window and open/close it. We had one strict Math teacher who, when he sensed the class was drifting off and not paying attention, would suddenly and noisily SLAM the pole on one of the front desks producing a mighty, noisy, cracking sound. We all woke up real fast.

[debm55]

126. Wow, he seemed like the teacher of the year. Thank you for sharing Golden Raisin.

[fargone]

119. In elementary school mid morning we all got half pint of milk and a saltine cracker

On Fridays we got goiter pills (iodine) from a big brown jar kept in the teacher's desk. A different student got to pass them out each week. They had a chocolaty taste.

[debm55]

120. Oh my, Thank you for sharing with us, fargone

[no_hypocrisy]

134. In 1963, that half-pint of milk only cost two cents.

[debm55]

138. Yes, That was low for kid's milk.Thank you, no_hypocrisy.

[sheshe2]

128. Duck and Cover

"Duck and cover" is a method of personal protection against the effects of a nuclear explosion.

Then again, today they have shooting drills and those are from the enemy within.

Odd, but not so odd.

Sorry to be a downer, I am just so depressed.

[debm55]

129. I remember those drills and the ones in the hall. I will keep you in my prayers tonight, sheshe2. I have battled

depression most of my adult life. Love you, Debbie.

[sheshe2]

135. Back at you, sweetie.

[greatauntoftriplets]

133. Nuns in habit where none of their hair showed and a ruler in their dominant hand.

At least for those of us who went to Catholic schools.

[debm55]

137. HAHAHAHHAHAHAH. Ours had the swinging long rosary. Sometimes innocent kids would be caught in the crossfire of the ruler

and the swinging rosary

[greatauntoftriplets]

139. Ah yes, I forgot the swinging rosary.

I was in high school when the nuns went into modified habits and their new veils showed some hair. Someone noticed that everyone had the same hair color.

That order were a lot more relaxed, and did not use rulers except to measure things.

[debm55]

141. I attended and worked in a Catholic school.Many nuns wear modest but regular clothing;

[greatauntoftriplets]

143. The nuns in my high school order even wear pants!

Even back when I was in high school, the nuns had a standing order at a local liquor store. It wasn't for sacramental wine.

[efhmc]

147. Love it.

[greatauntoftriplets]

148. So did I.

Now the few nuns left in that convent have been known to join anti-TACO protests.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

140. Remember these?

Chalk holder to hold 5 sticks of chalk to draw musical staffs on blackboard.

(Wow! Haven't thought of those in a while.)

[debm55]

145. Hahaha. Yes I remember Thanya.

[applegrove]

158. For piano class. Funny story I used to see the tinyist

sweetest lady in the elevator at my parents retirement home. Everyone called her Bunny. She was warm and friendly. When she died I read her obituary in the lobby and it turns out she had been my piano teacher for 3 or 4 years. I don't have a memory for faces and I had grown since I last saw her. I so regretted I did not recognize her. She was so fine a person.

[debm55]

161. Thank you very much for sharing with us, applegrove.

[debm55]

146. slide ruler

[sakabatou]

150. Microfiche

[debm55]

165. Thank you very much.

[applegrove]

155. The monkey bars where you'd hang down from and hold chicken fights with an opponent.

Basically your legs would fight another person's legs until they were caught and would let go and hit the ground. No way they have those any more.

[everyonematters]

156. I went to grade school in the 60s before bussing and walked to school every day.

I remember some very cold mornings. My parents never drove me to school. It was about a quarter of a mile.

[debm55]

162. Thank you very much, everonematters. I was 5 when I walked both way( 10 blocks) by myself to and from kindergarten. I

don't think people would do that now.

[Eugene]

157. open lunch - children walking home for lunch

elementary school, early 70's:
● warmer spring and fall months
● safety patrols out; find your own way back
● bring your lunch and eat in class during winter

That all ended around 1974 when in-school lunches were served in class.

[debm55]

163. Thank you very much, Eugene. I would go home occasionally. I would make my own lunch, and then walked back to school.

Mother was watching TV.

[enid602]

160. Gum

Beemans, Blackjack, Teaberry and Clove.

[debm55]

164. Thank you very much, enid602 , for sharing.

[area51]

208. Some of these

are still being offered.

[FM123]

166. Overhead Projectors

Considered pretty high-tech way back in the day.....

[debm55]

167. Yes, they were pretty high tech, back in the day. Thank you very much, FM123 for sharing that memory.

[CTyankee]

168. No black students in their class.

I was in legally mandated segregated schools in Texas before Brown. v. Bd. of Ed.

[debm55]

170. Thank you very much for sharing that with us, CTyankee.

[Morbius]

215. I went to a nominally integrated school.

There was one black child in every classroom, and 29 white children. So they could call it "integrated," I realize in retrospect.

The principal had a paddle, which he would use when he felt the need. I very much doubt they still use corporal punishment. My parents enthusiastically supported this.

[reACTIONary]

169. An ashtray full of buts...

.... on the teacher's desk.

[debm55]

172. That is gross. But that thank you for sharing, reACTIONary.

[reACTIONary]

174. (cough) You're (cough, cough) Welcome.

Take note: If you put something in angle brackets... it disappears from the post.

[debm55]

175. Coat racks no lockers in grade school

[GreenWave]

176. How the third floor window got replaced from a rock several decades ago which...

...refused to sail over the entire building...

[debm55]

179. HAHAHHAHhAHhAH. That's funny. That wasn't you, GreenWave, was it?

[GreenWave]

180. No, all those body cells have been replaced by now!

[displacedvermoter]

177. Green absorbent stuff the nuns threw on the floor when someone threw up ..

[debm55]

182. HAHAHHAHAHHAHHHAHHAH, OMG, I remember that stuff. Thank you displacedvermoter.

[OLDMDDEM]

178. Typewriters.

[debm55]

181. Thank you very much, OLDMDDEM. I had a typing class on a Royal typewriter.

[OLDMDDEM]

183. Me too.

[Old-8643]

185. Nuke drills

classroom to hallway then squat and cover your head because that will save you!
Even at 8 years old my classmates knew what a joke it all was.
We would say bend over and kiss your ass goodbye.

Here is another, that red stuff they would cover kid puke with.

Dunce caps?
Cleaning Blackboards?
Mimeograph smell?
The Pledge of Allegiance?

[debm55]

187. Thank you very much, Old-8643. We never did under the desk drills but we did the hall drills

[debm55]

186. Punch cards. There was a class for this in High School

[debm55]

188. Portable record players to play Chicken Fat aka Gym

[LudwigPastorius]

211. Yes!

[debm55]

212. I know. Thank you , LudwigPastorius. That was our gym class.

[Ilsa]

189. Girls wearing dresses. Boys wearing shirts, not Ts. nt

[debm55]

194. Thank you very much. I remember those days, especially on winter morning walks to school, TY lisa

[jmowreader]

190. Math records

The school I went to had a set of records - the kind you put on a record player - of a man sitting there reading off math problems with just a few seconds between each problem.

It was like "3 plus 2" pause a couple seconds, "6 + 9" pause a couple seconds...

They had a set for each grade. I didn't start at this school until third grade, and at that level you got five seconds per problem. By the time you got to sixth grade you got half that much time. And these fucking records were a huge part of your grade.

These records are the reason I only took one year of math in high school.

[debm55]

193. Thank you for sharing jwowreader. We didn't have in my school. That sounds messed up especially being part of your

Grade, We had flash cards, I didn't like those either.

[retread]

191. Vaccination lines. Not just polio shots. Still have my smallpox vaccination scar.

[debm55]

192. Thank you very much, retread. I have mine too.

[debm55]

195. Metal containers in the bathroom stalls, that held individual pieces of Toilet paper that were like sandpaper.

[u4ic]

196. Kids WALKING to school

I've lived near so many elementary schools, and for the past couple of decades, the amount of kids walking to school is minute. My mother walked me to kindergarten every day, and then for grade 1 and beyond, it was just me. 1970's. I lived about a km away from my elementary school (actually grades 1-8, so included junior high as well).

Also those icky pink pills to show you where you still needed to brush your teeth. They were rancid 🤮

[debm55]

198. Thank you very much for sharing, u4ic. Walked to school k-8, I agree with the pills. Yuk

[some_of_us_are_sane]

197. Cloak Room!

That little room off of the classroom to hang coats and umbrellas! Or boots in the winter.

[debm55]

199. HAHAHAHHAHHAHA, I remember that and it was called a cloak room.TY some_of_us_are_sane. I thought to myself "What's a

Last edited Fri May 8, 2026, 12:24 PM - Edit history (1)

cloak?"

[some_of_us_are_sane]

204. "Cloak room" makes us sound like

Phantom of the Opera! LOL!!!

[debm55]

205. HAHAHAHAHhAHA. Hang up your cloaks in the cloak room

[debm55]

200. Teachers changing classrooms but not students.

[Polly Hennessey]

201. Deb, my sister reminded me of one.

Gym class and the long rope hanging from the ceiling. We had to shimmy up the rope and then move down. The PE teacher would be shouting, “go higher”. If you slid down you would have rope burns on your hands. Such fun! 😆

[debm55]

202. Thank you and your sister very much for sharing with us. We did this in High School. Hated it.

[Old-8643]

218. oh yes The Rope

I was small for my age, but I had strong arms. I was able to scale that rope fast all the way to the truss, then I stayed up there for a couple minuets. My coach was not happy with me shouting "come down from there"
These days I have a real diversion to height, go figure.

One of those rare times I was the best! Thanks for the memories.

[debm55]

203. Very big radiators near the windows. In first grade you had to stand on a chair to look out the windows but be careful

not to touch the radiator.

[prodigitalson]

206. Teacher here

It today's middle schoolers Id like to send to the 1970s

[debm55]

207. HAHAHHAHAHAHHAH, Teacher here too. Taught for 42 years. Thank you very much, prodigitalson.

[NNadir]

209. The entire school gathering around a small black and white TV to watch a rocket launching an astronaut.

[debm55]

213. Yes, I remember that. Thank you NNadir.

[LudwigPastorius]

210. Not sure about this one, maybe kids still use them, but...

SRA cards?

[debm55]

214. Thank you, LudwigPastorius. I used that when I first started teaching. I don't believe they are still used.

[oasis]

216. The words "under God" was added to our daily

pledge of allegiance to the flag.

[debm55]

217. Thank you very much, oasis.For sharing with us.