80s and 90s kids look back on 'normal' things teachers did that would be very weird in 2024
Most of us look back on our school days with fondness. From graduations and proms to study sessions and exams, nostalgia can make us yearn for simpler times.
But for us 80s and 90s kids, things were certainly different back then and over on Reddit, people have been reflecting on their time in education.
One user posed the question: "80s/90s Kids: What’s something a school teacher did to you that would not fly today?"
Hundreds of Americans were quick to share their stories, with a few main themes cropping up. The most prominent seemed to be spending time with teachers outside the classroom.
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One person shared: "My 3rd grade teacher had the whole class camp in her backyard after the last day of school. She took us to see the original TMNT [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles] movie in the theater, then we stayed up late telling ghost stories. One of my absolute fondest memories."
A second shared: "I had a 8th grade Spanish teacher invite everyone that did well on a test out to her farm for a sleepover. Girls got the house, boys slept in the barn. It was a ton of fun. I told my wife this story, and she said there was no way that would have happened in her school."
It's likely neither of these scenarios would be allowed today without some concern from parents.
Elsewhere on the thread, people recalled their teachers smoking indoors. This certainly wouldn't be acceptable today; law has prohibited smoking in federal funded K-12 schools since 1994.
"My 3rd grade teacher had a little office with a door inside our classroom, and she would smoke cigarettes in there while we were at lunch/recess," one person remembered.
Another said of their teacher: "In the 90's 5th grade - holding the classroom door to the outside open while smoking a cigarette".
Another reoccurring theme seemed to be the use of physical punishment to humiliate students.
One Redditor shared: "English teacher in high school used to cuss kids out for being noisy in class and if that didn't work, he'd throw the blackboard eraser at us... That chalk would leave marks on kid's backs for the rest of the day..."
A second told a similar story: "My fourth grade teacher was a softball player in her younger years. When you weren't paying attention she'd hurl a stick of chalk at you. She rarely missed. She was awesome too."
The final unusual experience that wouldn't wash today is teachers attempting to correct students who were left-handed.
One person recalled: "1994. Kindergarten teacher would tie all her left handed student's left hands to their waist to force them to learn how to write right handed."
A second shared: "In junior kindergarten, so 4 years old. Colouring left handed. I was somehow corrected; my parents won’t talk about it but I do know that I’m still left handed and my parents don’t talk about it except to say the teacher got in a lot of trouble."
Safe to say times have changed...
Ellie Kemp