What were you like at school?

joanlawson

Hi

Remembering my schooldays, I was a bit of a rebel, and I played up the teachers something terrible, especially any weak ones. I can remember one French teacher running out of the room in tears after one session in which the whole class had ganged up on her. I am ashamed to say that I was one of the ringleaders :!: :oops: I also delighted in getting round the rules on uniform etc.

I don't know what made me do it ( probably partly normal teenage rebellion) and I am not proud of my behaviour when I look back. Eventually, I came to my senses, and calmed down somewhat. When I became a teacher myself, I always had sympathy with any rebellious pupils, having been one myself. It didn't make it any easier to deal with them though :!: :shock:

I'm still a rebel at heart though :!: Always will be!

What were you like at school :?:

Joan

tkachev

Hi Joan
I never want to think about my school days as I hated school.I liked learning just not at school.I once went to a school reuinion and that was great fun though
Elizabeth

I am sure the others will be more forthcoming!

moonseed

Hi Joan,

Loved the infants and juniors but hated the all girls grammar.
I'm probably one of the oldest on here so my schooldays now sound like they come out of the dark ages.
All the teachers were lesbians except for one!
And OLD, VERY OLD.
One had a full black beard which she shaved every morning. Her name was Mrs Hollace. She taught biology.
Then there was Miss Dyer (very fat) - needlework,
Then there was one whose name I can't remember at the moment who took R.E. She kept wiping underneath her armpit with her other hand then would sniff it to see if it smelt.
Then the absolute bitch of all **** was a woman named Miss Fuller who must have been in her seventies at least.
She wore a dark green gym-slip with a sash and a shirt and tie and huge brown brogues.
She stood at least 6' tall and was the ugliest woman I have ever laid eyes on.
She had a face like a road map.
We absolutely hated one another. She would throw board rubbers at me on a regular basis and once hit me across the back of knees with a brass-edged ruler!!
Needles to say, she took maths.
We had to walk (not run) in single file everywhere. Not allowed to speak at all in class.
It was 5 years of absolute misery.
I left as soon as I reached 16 and have never looked back or been back!!!!!!!!!!
Steph x

PS. Actually, now you have made me and think about it, she could well have been a man in drag!!!!

jaspercat

Hi, loved the infants and juniors and was a milk monitor, showing my age, hated the comprehensive at first, very big building frightening for an 11 year old, hated all science subjects, loved history and geography, didn't really enjoy sports, due I think to short skirts and boys looking at your knickers, went on to become a school prefect and deputy head girl, my sister was the head girl love Jaspercatxx

moonseed

delboy wrote:

Miserable

my words exactly!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the laugh
Steph x

frogmorton

Oh Moonseed
That armpit!!!! Eeeuuuwwww!!!!!!!
My ex used to do that too - and it wasn't his armpit.
Toni x

annie_mial

Well, now, I remember gymslips, navy bloomers with pockets in for my hankie, liberty bodices (anyone else?) and the thick black stockings which attached to the bodices. They made the backs of my knees itch like hell.
The primary school was one room and had a tortoise stove which in winter warmed up all our milk bottles. The little ones were taught at one end of the room and the bigger ones at the other. Another room was added when I had been there for a couple of years, plus an annex at the rear of the building which served as a canteen and an extra classroom sometimes.

The food served for school dinners was indescribably appalling...I'm still trying to forget.

I could read long before I started school at the age of 4, so I was definitely a 'swot' and a 'clever clogs' and consequently got bullied, but I had the edge over them every time as I had my own make-believe world to escape into.

This really continued much the same throughout my school life - my grammar school was very sports-orientated and as one born with a deformed foot I could never run (not that I wanted to, nature deliberately gave me a 'get out' there. Never understood the point of getting all hot and sweaty chasing about after a ball of any shape, size or description).

Whichever school I was in the library was my escape, my dream, my home..............and it's been that way ever since!

I was definitely a loner!

Annie

chile168

Hi,

I wasn't too much of a rebel at school as we had a very strict father. I started school in 4th year primary in England and hate it - also hated secondary school but that was probably due to not understanding english lol.

The rebel in me has got worse over the years and now I like challenging the medical profession!

Eve

mellman01

It was full of bullies and feckwits or was it full of feckwits and bullies??. :?

ninakang

All through my school years I was a swot and a geek (was SO excited when my primary school got their first ever BBC computer). I was part of the misfits gang, the kids who never fit into the sporty or the cool gangs.

I was bullied at secondary school but that soon stopped when I learned to stand up for myself and picked on the bullies one by one when they were on their own :-) I was in the chess club AND the computer club at secondary school too, I'm proud to say.

Not the happiest years of my life, but we did have a laugh more often than I felt miserable.

Nx

joanlawson

It is strange that although I was often rebellious at school, I actually loved it. I was lucky to have some inspirational teachers, and it was only the weaker ones I played up.

Somewhere about the age of 15, I suddenly grew up and realised that learning was worthwhile and interesting. From that point on, I became a different person, but it was something I had to discover for myself.

joanlawson

delboy wrote:

Miserable

That's sad, Delboy :!: Wasn't there ANYTHING you liked about it :?:

joanlawson

moonseed wrote:

Hi Joan,

Loved the infants and juniors but hated the all girls grammar.
I'm probably one of the oldest on here so my schooldays now sound like they come out of the dark ages.
All the teachers were lesbians except for one!
And OLD, VERY OLD.
One had a full black beard which she shaved every morning. Her name was Mrs Hollace. She taught biology.
Then there was Miss Dyer (very fat) - needlework,
Then there was one whose name I can't remember at the moment who took R.E. She kept wiping underneath her armpit with her other hand then would sniff it to see if it smelt.
Then the absolute bitch of all **** was a woman named Miss Fuller who must have been in her seventies at least.
She wore a dark green gym-slip with a sash and a shirt and tie and huge brown brogues.
She stood at least 6' tall and was the ugliest woman I have ever laid eyes on.
She had a face like a road map.
We absolutely hated one another. She would throw board rubbers at me on a regular basis and once hit me across the back of knees with a brass-edged ruler!!
Needles to say, she took maths.
We had to walk (not run) in single file everywhere. Not allowed to speak at all in class.
It was 5 years of absolute misery.
I left as soon as I reached 16 and have never looked back or been back!!!!!!!!!!
Steph x

PS. Actually, now you have made me and think about it, she could well have been a man in drag!!!!

Hi Steph

You really did have some old dragons as teachers, didn't you :?: :shock: There was a particular breed of female teachers in the grammar schools at that time, I think. Most of them were unmarried because at one time women had to leave the profession if they married. You might be right that many of the ones who remained were lesbians.

It is fortunate that you survived so well, but my guess is that you actually learned a lot with such strict teachers, not that I would condone their methods.

bertyboy

i enjoyed my school days i wasent the brightest , but loved my school dinners and most lessons [ i wasa good girl i was ]

joanlawson

I'm very pleased to hear it, Bertyboy :!: A gold star to you then :!:

barbara12

I was so quiet at school, everytime a teacher shouted I would burst into tears, we had one teacher who I loved to pieces, she was so kind, then we had the ones that loved to cane people(it was the 1950s)I am sure they got enjoyment out of it. Against all odds I did quite well in the exams.I tthink that some teachers have the ability to get the best out of there pupils.

moonseed

frogmorton wrote:

Oh Moonseed
That armpit!!!! Eeeuuuwwww!!!!!!!
My ex used to do that too - and it wasn't his armpit.
Toni x

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Noooooooo!!!!!!!! ##+%$$""!!##^^
I feel sick!!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks Toni,
Steph

valval

hi joan quiet very would not speak unles had to hated school to many people and to much noise. worked out if you sat at the front and kept quiet you could get away with doing nothing lol also went most days unles could get around mum lol as she got good left hook was one of the few who never looked back and thought best time of my life. but would rather have that body than this one any day lol

annie_mial

I do go along with Del, the teachers were sadists. I was sooooo lucky having an inbuilt defence....first my deformity, which while minor, obviously had an impact on them and secondly, the way I looked - as frail as a blade of grass in a gale. They were too frightened to clobber me too much, but it took me a long time to work that one out!

Annie

joyful164

I hated school so much for the reason that I was one of those who was targeted by the gang leaders and was bullied and beaten up most days.
Name calling was the worst

I had a headmaster in the Juniors who use to subject me to 'feeling up' experiences.
When I started thinking back to what he use to do, nowadays he would be sent to prison for child molesting. His actions left a nasty taste in my mouth for years.

I use to get high marks in my school work, but when it came to exams, I use to panic, just couldn't do them. Except English. I was ok with English Lit and Lang. I was very good at Geo.
No my school days were spoilt by the bullies and the overbearing teachers who liked nothing better than shouting and hitting you with rulers or anything else that was available.

I was beaten up at Secondary Modern and after ending up at home with a broken nose, black eye, hair pulled out and covered in mude, my parents took me away and I went to a Convent School for Girls. My work suffered though, there were one or two nuns who were a bit like Hitler in drag but I managed to stay there 4 years before I went to college.

Why is that some kids like the power that bullying other children gives them.

Joy

mellman01

I think the term hunted sums it up well for poor old bullied me!

joanlawson

delboy wrote:

Secondary Modern in the 1960's, teachers ex-concentration camp guards.

Lasher - Because he used to unscrew his false arm to beat you with it.
Jumper - Made you jump over a cane then hit you on the back of the knees so you fell on your face.
Knotted climbing ropes, knotted bunson burner tubes, handle off rubber bucket, blackboard ruler, cane, blackboard wiper and rulers were just some of the things to throw or beat you up with.

Made to swim in an outdoor pool in the Winter (Supposedly built character), gym lessons in the snow while wearing plimsolls and shorts and nothing else (More character building).

If you actually produced any work of worth you were immediately accused of cheating.

Hopefully they are all rotting in hell now.

If anyone ever tells me that school days are the best days of your life I'll not be responsible for my actions.

Hi Delboy

Now I understand why you wrote miserable about your school days. You were very unfortunate to be treated so badly by these horrible people, and no wonder you wish them all in hell. It's where they belong.

joanlawson

Reading through the responses to this thread, I find it sad that several people hated their school days because of the way they were treated by the teachers, or because they were bullied.

It is to be hoped that things have improved these days, and of course physical punishment of any kind is not allowed, thankfully. When I started teaching, it was still allowed, but I am happy to say that I never ever resorted to it. It would have been an admission of failure on my part if I had, and it only taught children to use violence.

I have experienced two violent attacks against myself though, one from a parent, and one from a child. These kinds of attacks against teachers are on the increase, unfortunately.

livinglegend

There has to be one.

While at Junior School in a pretty tough part of the town where we lived, I did reasonably well. Got in trouble, got six of the best with the taws a few times, but otherwise did fairly well. Then I passed my 11+ to the local grammar school to everyone's surprise.

Went on to Grammar School and was reasonably well treated, mainly because I hid at the back of the class.

Grammar School is something I didn't always appreciate until I looked back after many years. One thing I always remember was our Geography teacher who always wore a gown and mortar board and carried a long wooden pointer around with him. If you played him up, he would look at you and just shake his head slightly with a real look of sorrow and that was it. But you knew, you could do better.

One day he said to us, "Am I here to teach you Geography? No! Am I here to teach you any subject? No! I am here to teach you something that will keep you in good stead for the rest of your life, I will teach you how to learn. Because if you can learn, the world is yours to do with as you will". Great man, he makes me proud to be an Old Blue.

Looking back through the mists of time, I remember the good, the bad and the indifferent of school life. Because I can write this, I owe it to them to remember.

Joseph 8)

trisher

When I first started school, we just played. We had hamsters and rabbit in our class and we all looked after them.

I remember a sunny day and we would take them outside to play and let them exercise more.

We also had a large rocking horse in it, witha leather saddle and stirrups. It was grey and had a long a mane. We had to have our names written down to have a turn.

When we moved, I went to another school, so very different from the other one. There was no horse, no coloured stricks to help you with math.

I remember this teacher Mrs Davey, shouting at me because I asked for the coloured sticks. That yeaar although I was well behaved I came bottom of the class. She frightend the life out of me.

My mum went up there to find out why I was so upset. They decided that I needed a little help.

The following year I was top of the class. I carried on like that, always coming top, but now without the teacher's help.

When I moved up to junior school, I was the only one who was allowed to use a fountain pen.

I went on to represent our school in playing netball, swiming also rounders and hockey. I still have my medals somewhere.

I still remember that horse and hope it is in someone's attic.

Trisher

fester

Went to catholic school and got a slap across the face because my parents we're sending me to another school as i could almost recite my catechism backwards but could not write or do simple maths.

From there went to a junior school where in the second year got told to shut my mouth,look like a goldfish by my class teacher. Thereafter got stuck with the nickname 'Fish' which i state hate to this day (may she burn in hell, rotton bitch!).

Comprehensive school was a breeze as only lasted about a total of 2 years from 11-16 as was off ill with Arthur!

School days the best years of our lives...i don't think so :roll: