Everything changes. From tone-deaf jokes in once-adored TV shows like 'Seinfeld' or 'Married... with Children' to now heavily scrutinized 'crunch culture' in a corporate environment, it seems that everything has an expiration date.
High school, then, serves as a captivating and amusing example of how the passage of time shapes our perception. Remember the days when we had to plead with teachers for permission to use the restroom? It's either this or whatever yummy yet weird meal cafeterias had served in the past that makes us sigh whenever we think of it. Bored Panda has compiled a collection of the most memorable and outrageous aspects of school life that make us cringe, providing a delightful opportunity for those who haven't lived it to take a closer look at the current cultural quirks of school life.
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Super strict dress codes. Being sent to detention. Begging for toilet privileges. All of this might sound weird, sure. But as a VICE journalist once put it: "It’s hard to imagine things being any different, if only because we put up with it for so long. [...] It feels off for schools to still implement these kinds of rules now, as perceptions on discipline, education, gender, and individuality have evolved."
Looking back on it now, there's one bizarre rule that was recently revived due to the times we live in: mock air raids. Of course, depending on which part of the world you live in - particularly if you're situated in Ukraine - ducking for shelter under your desk might still be part of a student's routine. But if you live in America, you're likely aware of its active invader drills which force teens to participate in terrifying simulations.
The United States is not alone in having questionable school norms, as other countries also exhibit their own peculiar practices. In Japan, for instance, students with non-black or non-straight hair are often required to provide evidence of their hair's natural color or texture. On the other hand, in many Indian schools, there are specific restrictions imposed on the interaction between male and female students.
Another questionable norm that ceased to exist (at least to our knowledge) is barring latecomers from entering the classroom. You know, being late by 1 minute and not being allowed to join the class, everyone's eyes saying "uh-oh." And while it's understandable that dealing with consistent lateness can be annoying, especially for teachers who face disruptions because of unmotivated students - what good does making a kid sit in the cafeteria playing their Gameboy bring to their overall education?
While bullying was considered to be a rite-of-passage of your average school student, influencing countless jocks in coming-of-age dramas and comedies, it seems like the rate of bullying has significantly dropped. In 2013, a nationwide survey in the US found that 20% of high school students were bullied on school property in the past year. Meanwhile, another, more recent study published in the journal Pediatrics, discovered that instances of bullying, including perpetrating and witnessing it, have decreased.
I have to say I actually do like knowing that mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell and that Athens and Sparta fought the Peloponnesian War and that the square root of 144 is 12. Yeah none of this helps me in my day to day life but school introduced me to many ideas and facts that I'm very happy to know.
TIL: Catalan is spoken in Spanish Catalonia (around Barcelona). This differs from the other language areas in Spain. This has been a problem since the Romans ruled the area, because Catalan was the language spoken in Carthage. Even Spanish acquaintances never learned that at school.
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wait till there's a global pandemic and you do not understand what the scientists are saying and you go "derp derp aah don't have to have a vaccine! derp derp". because you didn't pay attention to the bit about mitochondria, RNA, etc.
It's ironic that school teaches and prepares us for the future, but dosn't.
Surely teaching children about taxes and managing money is the parent's job?
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Just wait until you get to University an graduate school where you will learn tons of magical things that will serve you in the world of academia but not in the real world.
Loki, I took (suffered) all three levels of undergraduate calculus in my Uni days '88-'93. Didn't really bother me because although I hate mathematics passionately I was cursed to be good at it. What killed me was paying over $100 for the text that was to cover all three years and having it superceded between my second and third year. C'mon, calculus hasn't changed a bit since the Newton/Leibniz days- but I had to cough up another $100+ on a research assistant's pay just to finish the course. Insult to injury? Book was superceded so I couldn't sell it back. It's sitting there, on my math/science shelf, laughing at me 30 years later. And goddammit, nobody fires a cannon straight up just to provide a math problem! There's much easier and neater ways to commit suicide. That was the wrong answer on the test, btw.🤬
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Shout out to Ms F for teaching American and Economics in a very practical way: we learned our taxes, balance check books, understand credit cards and credit, mortgages, how to vote, how voting works. We also could take accounting as an elective…. Sadly I see acquaintances from high school re hashing the ‘school was dumb’ sentiment when I KNOW for a fact they took Ms F’s class. Before anyone jumps to conclusions about school budget, we were a ‘D’ /at risk school…school was poor and students were poor. Maybe we just got lucky with some awesome teachers
my typing teacher in 1971 taught us how to do very complicated tax forms. helped me very much later in life.
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I mean, the stuff they do teach is good enough so that you can understand basic concepts. In my country they teach you how to calculate simple & compound interest, how to calculate taxes etc so I guess the school is doing something right
With some reading on my own, I’m able to do my taxes and do my stock investments. I didn’t really think math and calculations would be useful when I was in school.
In my state, some kind of financial literacy class is now required for graduation. Higher ups recognized that there was a problem
I graduated HS in 1994, and I was in a class that taught us how to balance a checkbook, what interest rates were & why they mattered, how to file taxes, etc. We must have been the last generation to do that, from everything I hear about this.
I learned taxes at school. It's useless now though because I didn't really pay attention.
Also School system later on: " You know what? Scratch that. Mitochondria is the ATP synthesis site of the cell. There. Fixed it."
Abd then we wonder why people think the Earth is flat, NASA is a hoax, and climate change is a scam.
Biology is the only Science subject that I was interested in back then. There were Chemistry and Physics too, but they were a tad more difficult for me to understand compared to Biology. Chemistry was only fun because of the lab practical activities :D
How would they even teach how to do taxes? It's an individual process, one that tends to get more complicated as you get older. Oh, and the tax code is constantly changing-- the info you'd learn in school would be out of date by the time you graduated. This is why people go to university and spend years learning to be an accountant. Also, let's be honest-- what teenager would actually pay attention learning about taxes? At least mitochondria are interesting.
Speaking of the bygone school practices that seem outrageous by today's norms, we should mention the dunce cap seen in cartoons (like The Simpsons) and vintage films. A student who struggled with their studies would be made to wear this cone-shaped hat, marking them as the "class idiot" for all to see. Today, we shudder at the thought of publicly shaming students, realizing that such practices only perpetuate low self-esteem and discourage learning. Thankfully, the dunce cap now resides in the realm of history, where it belongs.
This. The pledge is so dumb. I never, ever stand for it. Had several teachers yell at me for it, but you just get numb to it after awhile. America is taking my rights and you want me to worship it?? Hell naw
Speaking about the inevitable evolution of societal norms - whether in school or the open world - Catherine Sanderson, the Manwell Family Professor in Life Sciences at Amherst College and the author of 'Why We Act', thinks some of the most bewildering things that were appropriate at the time didn't raise any eyebrows precisely because it was something that people were used to. "The example that I often give is: when I was in 7th and 8th grade, right before high school, I had a wonderful teacher who smoked cigarettes throughout the entire day in the classroom," she told Bored Panda in an email. "When I say that now to somebody, they're like 'What?'"
At 57, still is... but then swearing and cussing about stupid things 'co'workers do which mess up my job.
Omg not the f*****g barkers. They're the same ones who'll grab each others' asses while still somehow being homophobic
Of course, in the '80s and '90s, smoking in public spaces seemed as harmless to bystanders as vaping does today. People would smoke on airplanes, in cinemas, and in restaurants without much concern. However, in the late '90s, schools began considering banning smoking due to scientific evidence of its harm. A New York Times article from 1990 stated: "Report had recommended in part that schools ban smoking because of indoor pollution and the influence the districts carry with young children and teenagers."
Mile Monday's were a horrible invention. My friends and I would just walk around the track while talking and ignoring the PE teacher who was yelling at us to run.
Scientific evidence, Sanderson argues, is one of the most important things in fighting norms that are deeply rooted. "What we know is that calling out specific norms and saying, 'Hey, this is not going to work,' is really important. I will also say that's coupled with science." She gave an example of her mother, exactly how in the 1960s there would be 'Duck and Cover' drills in classrooms which urged students to comically hide under their desks - as if that would save anyone. And that's exactly why they ceased to exist. As UnitedStates.org explains: "Civilians soon became aware of the fact that a thin wooden school desk would offer very little if any real protection against a high-yield nuclear bomb."
Married to High School Sweetheart. Going on 22 years together. We actually had middle school 6th grade class together and choir but i dont rmbr him then. Whoops sorry Love.
"One of the challenges is that, in some cases, people privately think that one thing should be the norm, but they think other people feel differently," Sanderson argued. Remember how you wanted to ask something during class and after you glanced at your peers, none of them were raising their hands? It's awkward and embarrassing. Most likely then you lowered your knowledge-hungry hand, fearing the possibility of appearing like a bookworm. "So there's a case in which the public norm is: 'Don't raise your hand' - even if every single person does have a question."
In my school you had a shower after, it was just a big shower block with no curtains and all the girls had to shower in there, I would of rather been sweating and stinky all day than having to go through that as a teenager, it was so degrading.
Bragging about how you hurt your bodies is something to be neither ashamed nor proud of. I frankly think that most teenagers' sleep cycles and school timing are utterly incompatible, like I cannot imagine wanting to do Math at 7 am. On top of that, excessive homework, assignments, and exams to study for that takes up a lot of time along with other activities. With that being said, please recognize that sleep is important for you no matter your age. You're not tough for being able to survive on four hours, it's not funny just because it's a relatable experience, and you're actually being less productive and not more because sleep deficiency impedes your cognitive abilities along with many other side-effects. Start small, aim for consistency rather than an instant fix. Your body works day and night to help you survive, please give it the rest it deserves.
I went to a Catholic school in Spain. 1980, I remember one kid being dragged out of clase by a priest teacher, desk and all and being kicked like a football. Priests drags the kid away screaming , comes back, puts the desk in back in its place and carried on. Never saw the kid again. I'd only been in Spain for a few months and spoke little Spanish so I never found out what's he said or what happened to him.
For Christmas they used to stuff the entire school into the gym and force us to sing songs or get detention.. ``\0.0/``
At one point in my life my older sister worked at Chick-Fil-A, and she said that they are mostly home school (like herself).
That's because the other football team had a player that did the same thing and God had to make a choice
Had something similar in my high school. Learned to eat and talk really fast. BTW 25 minutes.
Lol I’m in high school I’ve never cared about being popular or “fitting in”. If I really wanted to I could, because the popular girls asked me to sit with them once and they’re pretty nice to me, but I just want to have a drama free social life
Having big bubbly handwriting had a perk until we started typing every page counted paper
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The cane being a legal form of punishment in UK state schools until 1987.
High school in the USA is a wild experience, I guess. Nobody I know actually gave a c**p about being popular. We just wanted to pass and get over that s**t.
I wish I got to actually go to high school. To anyone considering homeschooling your kids or teenagers, PLEASE DON'T unless they explicitly ask to be. Before I started, I would cry to my parents becuase I hated the idea so much and just wanted to be able to interact with other people my age and find friends with similar interests, but apparently that was the worst part for them, so I was the only kid graduating that year from our small primary school who would not be attending the local high school with everyone else.
I remember girls wearing pants tucked into their socks, oversized men's sweatshirts, sweaters that went down to their knees and hiking boots. No makeup but lots of hairspray.
Oh the hairspray girls! That section of the main hall, there was a cloud of sticky hairspray hanging by the lockers that you had to cut through to get to art class!
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I went to an English state secondary school from 1981-1985 (11-16yo). A good proportion of the teachers would never be allowed anywhere near a classroom now. The usual assortment of pervs, sadists ,and alcoholics. At the time, it seemed perfectly normal, but looking back now? Yeah ,I can't really argue or disagree with you.
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Our music class room in high school had keyboards, that could be set to various sounds. One key was a man saying “dictionary”. So of course, the boys would press it multiple times to make him say “dic-dic-dic-dic-dictionary”. I still think about it a lot.
The cane being a legal form of punishment in UK state schools until 1987.
High school in the USA is a wild experience, I guess. Nobody I know actually gave a c**p about being popular. We just wanted to pass and get over that s**t.
I wish I got to actually go to high school. To anyone considering homeschooling your kids or teenagers, PLEASE DON'T unless they explicitly ask to be. Before I started, I would cry to my parents becuase I hated the idea so much and just wanted to be able to interact with other people my age and find friends with similar interests, but apparently that was the worst part for them, so I was the only kid graduating that year from our small primary school who would not be attending the local high school with everyone else.
I remember girls wearing pants tucked into their socks, oversized men's sweatshirts, sweaters that went down to their knees and hiking boots. No makeup but lots of hairspray.
Oh the hairspray girls! That section of the main hall, there was a cloud of sticky hairspray hanging by the lockers that you had to cut through to get to art class!
Load More Replies... I went to an English state secondary school from 1981-1985 (11-16yo). A good proportion of the teachers would never be allowed anywhere near a classroom now. The usual assortment of pervs, sadists ,and alcoholics. At the time, it seemed perfectly normal, but looking back now? Yeah ,I can't really argue or disagree with you.
Load More Replies... Our music class room in high school had keyboards, that could be set to various sounds. One key was a man saying “dictionary”. So of course, the boys would press it multiple times to make him say “dic-dic-dic-dic-dictionary”. I still think about it a lot.
