Going to High School in 1955

[Paa_Paw]

Many of the young men here tell of sad experiences. I thought I would relate what it was like in my youth.

First off, PE was every day and you would be expected to change into athletic clothes For Physical Education. At the end of the period you were expected to shower before changing into your street clothes. There was no privacy or screens in the locker rooms or showers. This was true starting in grade 7 and continuing throughout High School.

High School dress standards. We were taught that we were professional and that our profession was learning. Since we were not at school for rough play or hard labor, we were expected to dress in a professional way. The young men wore slacks, a shirt buttoned up the front had to be tucked into the pants, leather shoes, and either suspenders or a belt. Jeans and a tee shirt were not apropos for school wear. The young Ladies were expected to wear either a dress or a skirt and blouse. The hemline of the dress or skirt had to be below the kneee such that the kneecap did not show. The top should be long enough to tuck in so no flesh was exposed at the waist. Short cap sleeves were ok but sleeveless styles were not allowed. The amount of exposed flesh at the neckline/cleavage must be no larger than the young ladies hand. I lived in a Citrus growing area of Southern California, and our lives were very much affected by the weather. The young ladies were allowed to wear slacks only if we had a frost warning.

There was a payoff. We were treated like adults and our teachers addressed us as Mister or Miss. Our campus was totally open and I did not know what a hall pass was. There were standards for notification of teachers and the offices that we would be absent and the reason for the absence, but basically we were free to come and go on our own. Horseplay did not much exist on campus.   

[hammer]

Times sure have changed! I use to clean my finger nails with my old timer pocket knife in class, and I can remember bringing a gun to school for gun safety class, (my 20 gauge shot gun)!

[HellandBack]

Dang Hammer! U would have been put in an insane asylum back then  I am sure a lot of kids could benefit from all the respect that was shown and given back then in schooling.

[hammer]

yes, as I said time have changed.

[Paa_Paw]

I remember with several friends Riding our bicycles holding our 22 cal rifles across the handlebars. We would stop at the hardware store and pick up several boxes of shells, Then ride on several miles to a place where the hills provided a safe backdrop for shooting. At that time, in the 1950's The sight of 5 or 6 teenagers armed in that way went by without notice.

Even earlier, I was going to serve as a Color Guard for some event at school so I was in my Boy Scout uniform. That included a sheathed knife with a razor sharp blade well over 6 inches in length on my belt above my right hip. That too recieved little or no notice.

There was another event, Several of us boys, armed with recurve bows and a dozen or more arrows each, Boarded a Streetcar in Los Angeles. After making several transers and then walking a mile or so we reached an Archery Range. Day over the trip was reversed; Once again without notice.

None of these things could happen now without serious police presence.

[headheldhigh01]

Aaah, life was different inheriting the legacy of the late 60s and early 70s.  Most of my schools were not like this, but let me tell you about one year of grade school just for contrast, it was on a native reservation, so it was a little unusual, especially compared to a parochial school i knew with coats and ties, but it was interesting all the same.  

We called our teachers by first names.  It wasn't disrespectful, but it did instill a great deal of affection and trust in them, including one wonderful elder woman who had to be in her 70s who could teach even grade schoolers to sketch competently.  Everything they could try to do differently they did, we'd rotate in groups 2-3 times a day to different teachers in a fairly open space.  We learned math not by just memorization but by illustration, practical exercises, and even games and puzzles I spent hours on I'd never have done if it had been "homework".  It registered.  We learned Newton's laws by firing off a model rocket.  Even students could assist in certain contexts.  We learned history and archeology not out of text but by listening to speakers and visiting a dig site.  The basics were supplemented by elective fun like not just band but drama in which we wrote and produced our own plays.  It was fun getting taught by the hippie types ;-)   

You had touches of that into the early 80s - math and others were out of normal texts, but in English if you were advanced enough, you could do independent study, deciding what book you'd read for that week with a teacher and writing a competent 5-page paper - good prep for college.  Language classes were supplemented with visits to places you really did have to speak the language -  it wasn't just pass some written test, you had to get the idea you needed to speak this subject the same way you spoke English.  I kicked the AP exam's butt around the block and back.  

I definitely think that era did good things for education, although ultimately the most important thing is less the method or the philosophy than the enthusiasm of the teacher.