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30 Facts From The ’70s And ’80s That Seem Unbelievable Now, Shared In This Online Thread
Kids in the '70s and '80s had a different experience when growing up. No wonder your auntie Betsie never misses a chance to tell the same old story of her 10-year-old self walking 5 km to school in freezing winter. “These days kids, they don’t know!” she mumbles.
But she must be right. This illuminating thread shared by Dan Wuori, the senior director of early learning at The Hunt Institute, shed light on what kids in the past experienced in their daily lives and most of it is simply hard to imagine.
“My high school had a smoking area. For the kids,” Wuori tweeted before asking everyone to share “What’s something you experienced as a kid that would blow your children’s minds?” Below we selected some of the most interesting posts that reveal just how much times have changed.
Image credits: DanWuori
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Trawling through the library index first to find the right encyclopedia / reference publication then building your footnotes / bibliography to support your submission. Roughly 30 minutes for per reference...
Childhood memories are something most of us cherish throughout our lives. Prof. Krystine Batcho, a scholar in science of nostalgia and licensed psychologist, has developed a tool to measure our emotions towards the past using the Nostalgia Inventory Test. The tool shows how strongly and how often people feel nostalgic.
In a previous in-depth interview with Prof. Batcho, Bored Panda asked the professor about the role our childhood memories play in our lives. According to the professor, childhood memories can influence our adult lives in a number of ways. “They can contribute to our overall sense of happiness in life.”
This was "normal" in the UK in the 80s and 90s. Uniform was a skirt for the girls. In winter they simply wore woolly tights, which was also part of the uniform and had to be a certain colour. Boys wore trousers and it was only if it was really hot we could wear shorts and very occasionally it would be declared a "no tie" day.
It was my normal in the 2000s as well in my catholic school in spain. We were only allowed to wear trousers for the gym. We werent allowed to wear sandals, or show shoulders or knees "because they are erotic".
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Yeah, it was 1968 or 69 when several dozen girls in my high school wore pants to school as a protest against the dress code. From the reaction of the administration you'd think they had come naked. And murdered several people.
Same where I went to school in Maryland. Only canceled school in winter if you could not find your car in a snow drift. Had to wear dresses. Wore pants under them on the bus but those pants had to come off in the cloak room and be hung up with your coat. I think we finally were allowed to wear pants in 7th grade in Texas. Then it was double knit pant suits that had to cover your rear as not to distract the boys. Not kidding.
So times really haven't changed a ton. We are allowed to wear pants but still get dress coded for literally everything when the boys are wearing shorter shorts than ours!
Grew up in South Africa in the 80s and 90s. Although it never gets below freezing at ground level, central heating is uncommon there, and the school uniform for girls was skirts or dresses only. We wore opaque tights UNDER our woollen stockings. And were still cold. I was thankful to see from recent photos that my alma mater seems to have relaxed the uniform rules to include a warm, comfortable tracksuit option.
Also went to high school in SA. I started in 1976, which was a shockngly cold year. We asked our principal if we could wear trousers. Nope. So we, meaning the entire standard 6 classes, decided we would wear whatever clothes we wanted in order to stay warm When we received our reports at the end of the year, the letter was to advise that all girls could wear trousers, and black stockings. We won the privelege on behalf of all future female students. Right until the end of my schooling year, we gave the principal grief. On the last day of actual school before wrighting our final exams, he had the entire class of 1980 kicked off the school grounds.
Load More Replies... School uniforms. Ya. Glad kids can dress as they want now. Yet it still amazes me, some will will wear shorts in a blizzard.
We still have skirts as our dress code! The boys have an option of pants or shorts though 🤨
When skirts were getting shorter and shorter, teachers could make you kneel and if the hem of your skirt didn't touch the floor, you were sent home to change.
In religion class, the girls have to go up to the front of the class, and have the space between our knees and the hem of our skirt measured with an index card. If it’s too short they send an email to your parents
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We didn't have a uniform but when I wanted to wear a skirt for school I just wore warm pants underneath it and took them off when I entered school. That was very common. Russia, 2001-2011.
That happened at my HS in Queens NY. Winter of '69 we had permission to wear pants during a snowy period. Afterward we just kept wearing pants, then moved on to jeans. No one said a word, so we won a very quiet victory.
I lived in Minnesota and we could wear pants under our skirts but had to take them off when we got to school.
In elementary school we could wear long pants under our dresses. In 67-68, in college, we could not wear pants, only dresses and skirts, even in the winter.
I was denied entry to a hotel bar because I was wearing a trouser suit. A very smart trouser suit! Ah, those were the days!
We had to wear dresses, but when it got really cold we could wear pants under our dresses. I so very love leggings.
You all rock, it's because of people like yourselves that people like me suffered only a few years having to wear skirts or dresses. By the time I hit 4th grade we (girls that is) could wear jeans to school
Went to college in the Northeast, Until 1968 we were not allowed to wear pants. But we did wear them with long coats on top. Rules changed 1969
Went to a private school, we could wear pants under our jumpers until it became a pain for the teachers to monitor all the girls in bathroom while we all took off our pants...soon after we could wear pants in the colder weather
I went to a Catholic school in the fifties. We walked to school in the snow, uphill. lol We were allowed, after parents protested, to wear pants under our uniforms. The nuns were pissed.
Yes this! One girl decided to see if she could wear a maxi skirt and her mother had to come pick her up
Never was able to wear pants to school until I went to college. Oddly enough, skirts were always warmer provided there was no stiff wind. As an adult, I wore skirts always to work but in freezing cold windy days I wore snuggies underneath (long legged stretchy underwear). I was always toasty warm and the few times I wore slacks or jeans my legs were so cold. The cold air is right against a thin layer of cloth. Skirts create a bell-shape layer of warm air that keeps your legs warm.
I went to prison school (or a parochial school; same thing) and girls had to wear dresses the first few years. Never, EVER allowed to wear jeans.
We had to wear pants to school four days a week, shorts only on Wednesday. In the summer, In Florida
I remember this. It was 1971 when it ended in my school system and it didn't end until parents started complaining.
Moreover, Batcho argues that social experiences we had when little are crucial to our development and adult lives. “Positive childhood social events, such as family get-togethers during the holidays or parties to celebrate birthdays or achievements, help establish good self-esteem and healthy social skills in adulthood,” she told us.
Prof. Batcho’s life-long research suggested that “positive childhood memories are associated with more adaptive coping skills in adulthood.” For example, people with happier memories of childhood were less likely to turn to counterproductive ways of dealing with stressful situations, such as substance abuse or escapist behavior.
The amount of times I would burn my hands on the monkey bars from the hot Aussie sun 😤 the blisters! But my god was it fun!!!
That means that healthy coping is not something we’re born with, but rather “it is learned during childhood by role modeling trusted adults, and memories of how respected adults coped with adversity,” the professor explained.
If you deeply cherish your childhood memories and carry them throughout your life, you’re not the only one, Batcho argues. The professor explained that this phenomenon is called “rosy retrospection,” and it refers to a tendency to remember the past as better than it really was.
Ha. There was one bus stop in the entire village. Apart from the one and only school bus, the remainder of the bus service flipped between one an hour to two busses a week! I walked to primary school, including on my own from about aged 7 or 8, and cycled to secondary school which was 3 miles away in the nearest town. This is probably why I have such little patience with the Chelsea tractors (SUVs) doing the "school run".
“There might be an evolutionary reason for it, because a favorable focus on the past helps most people remain healthy and happy despite the practical and emotional challenges of adult life,” prof. Batcho explained. Having said that, it’s also important to note that memory retrieval and the way we feel about them is directly influenced by a person’s current mood and state of mind. It turns out that when we are sad or depressed, we are more likely to remember negative events in our past and remember past experiences less favorably.
The one I remember was mostly a toy: molded plastic seat, one inch plastic strap with a buckle, and a plastic steering wheel with a squeeky horn button.
Probably because they were hunting rifles, used for hunting and not assault rifles, used for God knows what.
Well at least the nurse tried to calm her down, though a newborn should not be near smoking!
We had Nitty Nora the head explorer. You were treated then and there. The shame of going back to class was dreadful.
Note: this post originally had 41 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Bigotry, racism, homophobia, and bullying were acceptable then. Really glad things changed.
Things are much better but i am afraid that we are going backwards.
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My seventh grade school field trip was to a state prison. When we entered the prison, the prisoners on the upper floors threw lit toilet paper at us. We ate lunch in the cafeteria with the prisoners with very little supervision, and we got a tour of death row. John Wayne Gacy was there.
I would love that tour as an adult! Probably a bit frightening for younger folk, though
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Our school bus driver kept a leather belt hanging on a hook beside his seat as a warning not to misbehave. We knew he would gladly use it on a student.
Ours was always tipsy or stoned. Made for some interesting bus rides...
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I sat in a smoking seat once on a flight to Mexico. With all the 2nd hand smoke haze hanging there in the section it was like you were smoking, you didn’t need to actually light up.
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I don't know why people are downvoting peoples' experiences. Telling an experience does not entail endorsing it. If you keep downvoting people they get banned from BP. Please think before you downvote. You should downvote if someone ADVOCATES something horrible like child assault, racism, etc. Not if they say they were a victim of it. Sheesh.
Milk being delivered to houses via a delivery van with teen boys hanging off the back, driving down our street to bring you fresh milk in glass bottles. I’d stand outside and listen for the cow horn and grab the milk from one of the lads and bring it up to the house :)
did you have those weird tokens to pay for the bottles?
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My only weird memory from the 80's is addressing the kindergarten staff as "comrade" - that's because the communist regime had not collapsed yet (that was in 1990).
That's cool, you'll be interested to know in South Africa our politicians (except the whites) still call each other comrade.
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In the 80's I could take a note to the liquor store and buy cigarettes for my mom.
Some things are much better. Some things are much much worse.
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The gym teacher was on cafeteria supervision duty & didn't like one kid tipping back on his chair. He warned him once. Next time he kicked the chair right out from under him. This would be mid seventies.
When my mom was 16 she had to take a permission slip to Girl Scout camp from her mom saying it was ok for her to smoke.
When I was little, everyone sent to the nurse at school for a big plastic spoonful of Pepto Bismal. Bug bite? Pesto. Headache? Pesto. Broken arm? Yep, you guessed it,Pepto!!
We always joked that our school nurse asked everyone if they were pregnant.
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A couple of these were still happening in the 90's... or even early 2000's if you lived in the middle of nowhere
That was a different time. In today's reactions, the teacher wasn't fired. Shockingly. In the mid-80s, she was probably written up. I should ask the girl - we occasionally see each other.
My mum had one of the early ATM cards, although they weren't called that at the time. It was plastic, with punched holes in it, £10 printed on it and that was what you got out of the machine. The machine ate your card and the bank sent it back to you in the post. True story
In grade 4 we had a great teacher (for once). He had a small farm and all kinds of animals and pets. End of year he was actually allowed to have us for an overnight stay at his house. Now, there was (as far as I knew or knowto this day) nothing nefarious in his invitation, just a treat. EXCEPT, it was only the BOYS allowed, because having us girls there too would have been unseemly. I mean, wt heck?
I was born in 1980. One thing I know from my mom was that in the 70's, a lot of school bus drivers were high school kids! We didn't have smoking in my high school, but our church camp still allowed it up until my senior year ('99). I don't know if smoking age is a state law issue, but it used to be 16 (though you had to be 18 to buy them). Parents would have to sign a permission slip and campers would get a bracelet. Half the kids either forged the permission slip or they'd trade the bracelets around. When they moved the age to 18, my camp cut it out because less than 1/4 of the kids would qualify.
We had a smoking area at my high school too. It was called "the hole" and the school security guard (before there were resource officers in schools) would hang out out there with us to make sure there was peace. There always was. We were just smoking cigarettes, talking, and playing hacky sack.
Ha. Ours was called "the pit" and it was exactly the same.
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I was born in '93 and some of these still aply to me! Like we had smoking area for my countrys version of high school (ages 16-18 so technically the older ones were adults) and when I was a child we only had 4 channels in TV too. Did the 70's and 80's come to Finland in the '90s? :D
Parental living like they didn't have children. Adults doing whatever they want. No wonder people want a return to those days. Nothing weird about hitting a kid on thei a*s with a wooden paddle.
My science teacher smoked 19 cigarettes inside the classroom during a 100 minutes class.
My science teacher would leave the room whenever my class frustrated her. Always returned reeking of cigarettes.
Load More Replies... Several of us had wednesday afternoons off in HS. We would all being our rifles to on the bus and leave them in our lockers. One of us had a car and we would take off at noon to a gravel pit for an afternoon of target shooting. Only comment I ever got was one teacher asked to see what type of rifle I had.
Bigotry, racism, homophobia, and bullying were acceptable then. Really glad things changed.
Things are much better but i am afraid that we are going backwards.
Load More Replies... My seventh grade school field trip was to a state prison. When we entered the prison, the prisoners on the upper floors threw lit toilet paper at us. We ate lunch in the cafeteria with the prisoners with very little supervision, and we got a tour of death row. John Wayne Gacy was there.
I would love that tour as an adult! Probably a bit frightening for younger folk, though
Load More Replies... Our school bus driver kept a leather belt hanging on a hook beside his seat as a warning not to misbehave. We knew he would gladly use it on a student.
Ours was always tipsy or stoned. Made for some interesting bus rides...
Load More Replies... I sat in a smoking seat once on a flight to Mexico. With all the 2nd hand smoke haze hanging there in the section it was like you were smoking, you didn’t need to actually light up.
Load More Replies... I don't know why people are downvoting peoples' experiences. Telling an experience does not entail endorsing it. If you keep downvoting people they get banned from BP. Please think before you downvote. You should downvote if someone ADVOCATES something horrible like child assault, racism, etc. Not if they say they were a victim of it. Sheesh.
Milk being delivered to houses via a delivery van with teen boys hanging off the back, driving down our street to bring you fresh milk in glass bottles. I’d stand outside and listen for the cow horn and grab the milk from one of the lads and bring it up to the house :)
did you have those weird tokens to pay for the bottles?
Load More Replies... My only weird memory from the 80's is addressing the kindergarten staff as "comrade" - that's because the communist regime had not collapsed yet (that was in 1990).
That's cool, you'll be interested to know in South Africa our politicians (except the whites) still call each other comrade.
Load More Replies... In the 80's I could take a note to the liquor store and buy cigarettes for my mom.
Some things are much better. Some things are much much worse.
Load More Replies... The gym teacher was on cafeteria supervision duty & didn't like one kid tipping back on his chair. He warned him once. Next time he kicked the chair right out from under him. This would be mid seventies.
When my mom was 16 she had to take a permission slip to Girl Scout camp from her mom saying it was ok for her to smoke.
When I was little, everyone sent to the nurse at school for a big plastic spoonful of Pepto Bismal. Bug bite? Pesto. Headache? Pesto. Broken arm? Yep, you guessed it,Pepto!!
We always joked that our school nurse asked everyone if they were pregnant.
Load More Replies... A couple of these were still happening in the 90's... or even early 2000's if you lived in the middle of nowhere
That was a different time. In today's reactions, the teacher wasn't fired. Shockingly. In the mid-80s, she was probably written up. I should ask the girl - we occasionally see each other.
My mum had one of the early ATM cards, although they weren't called that at the time. It was plastic, with punched holes in it, £10 printed on it and that was what you got out of the machine. The machine ate your card and the bank sent it back to you in the post. True story
In grade 4 we had a great teacher (for once). He had a small farm and all kinds of animals and pets. End of year he was actually allowed to have us for an overnight stay at his house. Now, there was (as far as I knew or knowto this day) nothing nefarious in his invitation, just a treat. EXCEPT, it was only the BOYS allowed, because having us girls there too would have been unseemly. I mean, wt heck?
I was born in 1980. One thing I know from my mom was that in the 70's, a lot of school bus drivers were high school kids! We didn't have smoking in my high school, but our church camp still allowed it up until my senior year ('99). I don't know if smoking age is a state law issue, but it used to be 16 (though you had to be 18 to buy them). Parents would have to sign a permission slip and campers would get a bracelet. Half the kids either forged the permission slip or they'd trade the bracelets around. When they moved the age to 18, my camp cut it out because less than 1/4 of the kids would qualify.
We had a smoking area at my high school too. It was called "the hole" and the school security guard (before there were resource officers in schools) would hang out out there with us to make sure there was peace. There always was. We were just smoking cigarettes, talking, and playing hacky sack.
Ha. Ours was called "the pit" and it was exactly the same.
Load More Replies... I was born in '93 and some of these still aply to me! Like we had smoking area for my countrys version of high school (ages 16-18 so technically the older ones were adults) and when I was a child we only had 4 channels in TV too. Did the 70's and 80's come to Finland in the '90s? :D
Parental living like they didn't have children. Adults doing whatever they want. No wonder people want a return to those days. Nothing weird about hitting a kid on thei a*s with a wooden paddle.
My science teacher smoked 19 cigarettes inside the classroom during a 100 minutes class.
My science teacher would leave the room whenever my class frustrated her. Always returned reeking of cigarettes.
Load More Replies... Several of us had wednesday afternoons off in HS. We would all being our rifles to on the bus and leave them in our lockers. One of us had a car and we would take off at noon to a gravel pit for an afternoon of target shooting. Only comment I ever got was one teacher asked to see what type of rifle I had.
