30 Facts From The ’70s And ’80s That Seem Unbelievable Now, Shared In This Online Thread

Yay! This! It’s like Stranger Things

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...

well then...

We made those for our dads, for mom we made potholders.

I remember when there was only BBC and ITV

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.

You think that's bad. When I was a university, I didn't have a phone and used the public call boxes at the end of the street. Doesn't sound too bad until I say that I lived in the red light district and got propositioned whilst on the phone to my mother! LOL

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!!!

My English teacher could have thrown a board rubber for the olympics

And even if they missed the kid would at least get covered in chalk dust

Some of the classrooms had a long wooden pointer for the blackboard, and a couple of my teachers were in the habit of smacking it across the table of whoever was distracted. Instant pre-adolescent heart attack.

My 6th grade social studies teacher launched a book across the room one day. I can't even remember why. Just yeeted it right at a wall.

Jr. High, 1974 (USA grades 7-8). Biology teacher. A very eccentric man nicknamed Uncle Al the Kiddies Pal. He could throw a very well used chalkboard eraser so that it landed chalked side down for a small infraction, or chalk side up for a medium infraction. Chalk side up resulted in a choking cloud of chalk dust rising to face. Long after I had graduated he lost it and threw a stapler. Didn't hit anyone but he got suspended.

This! Multiple teachers who would throw a chalkboard eraser at the head of any sleeping student, with excellent aim!

Saw a lot of the more old school (pun intended) teachers throw blackboard erasers at kids many time. This was in the sixties, and they were old old old, and may have been teaching since WWI or the twenties. Oh yes, schools still paddled kids as punishment in those days. I remember a teacher sending me to the office—-not to be punished but to pick something up for her—-and seeing the paddle. It was one of the ones with holes drilled into it to make it hurt more. I think it also made it make noise as it was swung, for a much fuller effect, but I might be wrong about that, as I never had the dubious pleasure of receiving a paddling.

My teacher has permission from most of our parents to throw, slap us if she needs to lol

Chalk

Our math teacher picked up a kid's desk and threw the whole thing out the door. Told the kid to follow his desk out and he could walk back in the classroom when the desk did.

My grandfather parked a semitrailer on the parade grounds after my uncle's hair was cut because he punched a kid.

Yup. And when they hit you it was your bad. If you had been paying attention you could have ducked.

My Jr high band teacher had a deadly aim with an eraser. She always kept them heavily chalked so you always knew who had got beaned with one of her erasers.

Teacher threw a desk at my brother once. Parochial school. They were a bit harsher than public school

I had that happen in 5th grade. I was turned around talking, the teacher threw an eraser at me, and the kid who sat in front of me caught it. lol Great days.

I would have thrown it back or sued

the class ahead of me, the teacher caught a girl next to the eye, with the corner of a hardback book. that was the e. n. d. of that. the throwing, not the teacher, are u kidding? lol

My reading teacher was known for her great aim with a chalkboard eraser.

Male teachers carried paddles, if they saw an infraction of the rules, we were told to bed over and get "swats." I skipped a stair hurrying between classes once, got whacked with a sawed off golf club. This was middle school 1960 or 1961.

Or used a yardstick to smash your desk, to get your attention.

my teacher would throw my heavy backpack to us if we late. it was in the 90s

Had one drag me to the office by my hair in 86.

Ms. Kellog was a damn sniper with chalk board erasers. She almost always managed to hit kids in the chest with the eraser part so there was a dusty blast and they were covered in chalk. It was the best.

My English teacher in 7th grade got fired bc he threw a desk across the room when a child was ignoing him

Or the use of yard stick but not for measuring. THE STRAP.

And had permission to hit us-New Jersey

A girl in my second grade class got thrown against the chalkboard by a nun!

I had a racist 6th grade school teacher (white) that threw dirty chalk board erasers at the (black) students' heads and faces and then told them not to wipe off the mess until class was over. The teachers and schools would be sued if the same incident was to happen today.

I had an older substitute teacher slap me across the top of my hands with a wooden ruler for asking my neighbor for a pencil

Yes! I still remember when an Art teacher threw a small plant at a kid who was misbehaving and being a jerk.

My Religious Education teacher threw a bible at a pupil's head whilst shouting he was a gobs@#£e... That was in 2000. Tbf, he WAS a gobs@#£e

And had a ruler cracked over your knuckles.

Mine threw a book. We learned to dodge fast

My band teacher threw his baton! I switched to choir.

A teacher once threw a stapler at the wall, flew right past my head only inches away. This was the 90s though.

I remember being in the Philly school system coming to the USA, was put in esl (English as a second language) class, the teacher I had would hit our back hand with rulers, I thought this was normal, I guess not

Wooden chalkboard erasers were a geography teacher favourite; and a 12" wooden rule to slap the palm of your hand.

Chalk & chairs!

The nuns beat us with rulers and yardsticks (1955-1963). My mother gave permission. grrr One made a really big mistake of slapping my face that left a large handprint. Mother was pissed and pulled us out of that hellhole after 8 years. It also saved her thousands of dollars.

Some still do. Im 25 now and i knew a teacher that would throw with chalk or even her shoe