It’s a different world now.

[Joey Shabadoo]

When I saw this thread the first thing that sprang to mind was recent programs I've seen with girls talking about putting up with being pawed by boys sticking their hands in their underwear. I think that's appalling, I don't recall anything of that kind when I was at school, even twanging bra straps was all just talk. We had nothing like that from the teachers, either.

Our school had grown like orphan Annie over the years and was a scattering of numerous assorted buildings, one of which was an old Victorian school house that had been condemned as unfit in the 1930s, but another was this large house that used to belong to Courtauld, the textile industrialist. It was converted into luxury flats a while back, and I copied some photos off Rightmove at the time:

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There was a modern science block on the right where those cream houses are now, my class was top right, headmaster's office was bottom left. There used to be a conservatory on the side, which was the biology lab. We used to climb out of the window onto the roof.

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My class was on the balcony, just off the top right hand corner of the photo. It was room C, so we were 5C, like the Fenn Street Gang.
In those days the walls over the stairs were clad in Zulu shields and spears, we wouldn't have dared touch them, but Health and Safety would be having kittens nowadays.

This was the main building in 2015, just before that too was converted into flats. Latterly it had been council offices, but that large hall used to be our dining hall, and it didn't have windows to stop you jumping off the balcony in those days.
Report - - County High School - Braintree - Summer 2015 | Residential Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Most of the mischief I got up to was of the subtle electronic kind, so the physics lab was an adventure playground. I used to keep one step ahead of the teachers, but when the other kids tried to copy what they didn't understand they made a hash of it and got a clip round the ear. I once made a hand shocker, electrified the classroom door handle, and managed to get Mr Garlick the maths teacher with it, who thought it was a hoot.

I copied this after someone put it on Facebook, it would have been about 1971:
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A lot of glum faces there

 

[SpokeyDokey]

A lot of glum faces there

Probably miserable as they really wanted to stand next to their boyfriends/girlfriends.

 

[Cycleops]

We had to wear short trousers until we were 13.

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but we made up for it during the holidays

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Cue song:


View: https://youtu.be/Dc3AovUZgvo

 

[All uphill]

It was the abusive, humiliating and sadistic behavior of PE teachers that made me hate all sports and put me off any kind of exercise for years to come until I started cycling again in my late 20s.

I'm with you there.

 

[PeteXXX]

Sex education is now all encompassing. When I were a lad, it was a copy of Parade and a box of tissues..

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

My PE teachers were great and no other teachers molested me.

Was it cos I was ugly?

 

[ColinJ]

My PE teachers were great and no other teachers molested me.

Was it cos I was ugly?

No other teachers did...?

 

[All uphill]

Your replies make me realise how lucky I was to go to a school in the 1960s where the headteacher had a firm grip on his staff.

PE was awful for this non-sporting person, but bullying and abuse by staff members were, so far as I knew, minimal.

I remember the head saying that if you had to raise your voice or resort to violence you have already lost the argument.

Working in the courts a few years ago I was reminded of this by a district judge who had absolute control of her courtroom without ever raising her voice.

 

[ColinJ]

Working in the courts a few years ago I was reminded of this by a district judge who had absolute control of her courtroom without ever raising her voice.

Charisma/authority is a weird thing, isn't it!

I saw a big teacher reduced to tears by his inability to control a class. That same class was shocked into silence by a single piercing stare from an intense teacher who was skinny and only about 5' 6" tall...

 

[All uphill]

Charisma/authority is a weird thing, isn't it!

I saw a big teacher reduced to tears by his inability to control a class. That same class was shocked into silence by a single piercing stare from an intense teacher who was skinny and only about 5' 6" tall...

I really believe expressing disappointment in someone is often more powerful than anger.

Before anyone suggests I am not in the real world I would say I base this on years' experience working with "troubled young people" and homeless people, as well as work in the courts.

 

[Oldhippy]

I really believe expressing disappointment in someone is often more powerful than anger.

Before anyone suggests I am not in the real world I would say I base this on years' experience working with "troubled young people" and homeless people, as well as work in the courts.

Likewise.

 

[Drago]

My PE teachers were great and no other teachers molested me.

Was it cos I was ugly?

My Dad was molested by a priest. Unfortunately for Judas Priest, Dad was a judo champion and in short order had the filthy pervert solidly on the ground. The police we called to deal with Father Wandering-Hands...and upon arrival they instead arrested my Dad for assaulting the priest. Nice times, eh?

 

[All uphill]

Likewise.

It took me ages to work out why disappointment is so powerful, used sparingly. It implies that there is a belief and high expectation in the person that has temporarily been let down.

 

[Oldhippy]

It took me ages to work out why disappointment is so powerful, used sparingly. It implies that there is a belief and high expectation in the person that has temporarily been let down.

Totally agree. I found it very useful (genuinely useful, not pretend work useful) working with heroin users. You knew some were doing their absolute best and would fall over at the last minute. I cried privately on more than one occasion when they overcame impossible odds and got through the other side though.

 

[numbnuts]

My games teacher went inside for 5 years I'd left school by then