I’m 78, those were the best years EVER! Your mother was home, school was good and we learned a lot. Neighbors were friendly and watched out for each others children. We didn’t have a lot but we had each other. I miss those wonderful days. 🥰
@nbenefiel I heard about that. It wasn't just that books were worn out. I have heard that students were treated like they were not expected to learn. Maybe because they were not expecting a future that involved education? One thing I noticed as a white mom with a long history in the north was this. We all knew it was our responsibility to educate our kids before they started school. There wasn't any Abbott Program or headstart or even nursery school. Our mothers told us what their mothers told them. Our children learned dozens of nursery rhymes. During those earliest years, this patterned their brains for memory work. We focused on counting as soon as they started pushing cheerios around the high chair tray. And we all had some sort of alphabet book for the kids. We were teachings our children phonics. Children were not legally required to start school until the age of six. Boys tend to be a little slower than girls. If our son has a summer birthday, we were advised to consider not starting him in school until we knew he could do well. I'm guessing things have changed a lot for black children who compete very well now. My daughters-in-law are immigrants,and they don't have this backround.
We did not have air conditioning back then just open windows. And who remembers making book covers out of grocery bags? And the class rooms had an American flag in it and everyone would stand with their right hand over their heart and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
We didn't have AC because we didn't need it back then in cooler times. I even can remember reciting the Pledge of Allegiance without the "under God" phrase because it was inserted when I was in the lower grades.
Absolutely we did that, covered our books with grocery bags. But we had text books, my granddaughter is going to be 12 in a few days and she started going to public school and I was shocked because they had no books and after 2 years she still couldn’t read. We started home schooling and now she can read. Today education is a joke, I think they are deliberately making American children stupid. I was born in 1946 and in October I will be 78. Those were the best times to grow up in. Our teachers actually taught us. They cared and so did our parents, my dad came home from WWII after serving in the Navy. The men were happy to be able to get married and have children.
At 71 I remember our desks still had holes were in previous generations had inkwells. I remember many bike racks as almost all children either walked to school or rode their bikes.i remember we were allowed to play anywhere in the neighborhood at an eary age. The rule was come home when the street lights come on. A much,much safer time. The best.
We still used the ink wells on our desks for many years. The teacher would walk around with the pitcher of ink to fill them up, and, each year, we got a new pen and blotting paper. I remember throwing my school bag over my shoulder and getting stabbed in the butt by the pen's tip! My brother always preferred a fountain pen throughout his life. I was excited when we got a ball point pen for the first time! I don't remember what grade that was.
I'm 74 & will be 75 on Feb. 6th. I remember those days very well, and they were very happy days for me. ❤ We were all very well behaved in class, and did what we were told, and everyone got along very well with each other.❤ There were Never any fights or violent outbursts anywhere. We always said ❤"The Pledge Of Allegiance" ❤in our first class Homeroom.❤❤ We all felt better after we said it too. I was supposed to Study Monday through Friday for school, and Saturday I was to do my share of the Household Chores, and do whatever I had to do for Myself, then I could go out to the Movies, or watch those great scary movies on Friday & Saturday Nights, which I always loved even to this day. We also went to Church every Sunday Morning, like good Christians do.❤ Then after that, we would go out to Sunday Brunch, then come back home and get out of our Sunday clothes to relax and chill out, or see what really good scary movies were on T.V. ❤ There was always a Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone which I love. ❤ Anyway, I remember the 1950's with great joy and pleasure and happiness, for me and my family at least.❤ I also remember hearing that Radio Program, "The Shadow Knows." And there was another Radio Program the same type, which the name isn't coming to mind at the moment, but one program was for West Coast Listeners, and the other program was for East Coast Listeners, and they came on once a week. And when that would be on, we'd be sitting in the Living Room, with the lights very low,and being real quiet, while munching on snacks and listening to the radio program. All I know, is that I felt very fortunate and lucky to have the life that I had back then, because I was a very happy kid with a happy life to look back on.😊😊❤❤❤😊❤❤
Thank you for sharing your wonderful memories of the 1950s! It sounds like you had a truly joyful and fulfilling upbringing - wishing you a happy early birthday!
I’m 72 and grew up in Southern California. It was an amazing time, new states were brought in, Sputnik was in the night skies, and rock and roll was just beginning to be appreciated. The sixties were tougher, drugs and changing morals made it a time to take stands. The 50s were golden.
I loved my childhood as a white middle class kid. Mom had to deal with 3 small kids, a drinking husband, and one car. Eisenhower did ok building the interstate. Not sure what else he did.
This was my time for grade school.I became a teacher and began in 1967 with standard 😅practices and retired in 2002 in the tech and computer age . Boy how teaching has changed!
We had to line the hallways and hold our heads down. We also, showed respect for our teachers (or else, lol). Sock hops were in the mix, too. was a wonderful time.
We had 70 children in my 1st grade class with one 5ft tall little nun in charge as the teacher(Catholic school)! She taught every subject, except art and music, when a lay teacher came into each classroom once a week! Recess and lunchtime was our exercise outdoors, every day except for rainy days! Not one peep of sound or unruly behavior came out of any classroom in that school! Great days, great education!😊❤
At the age of 77, I have warm memories of grade school in the 1950’s. We received a superb education, parents were parents not friends, and we learned the meaning and worth of personal responsibility and hard work. We played outside all day and were a lot more physically fit than today’s kids who spend their time in front of phones and video games. We respected our teachers, and if we got in trouble in school, our parents punished us, not the teachers.
The video was nice, but terribly incomplete. The 50’s was a time of teaching love of country, patriotism, teamwork, individuality, pride (in the good way) values of friendship and working together, sportsmanship, respect for authority and the elderly,family and all that it entails,and just a general sense of goodness, Love & trust in the atmosphere.I will admit, all these things were not universal in all homes & schools, but where I grew up it was the norm. You felt safe & secure and life was GOOD. The school, by & large was in general an extension of the home. A place to learn & grow into a decent human being. Classrooms were run w/ respect & discipline. The parents were on board w/ most of th teacher”s report of any behavior issues. Oh how I cried when I graduated. So sad to leave my school, my classmates and my hometown.😢Once that happened the big bad world came crashing down. Of course, things eventually leveled out again ......and in large part due to my wonderful childhood and schooldays😊Could we ever have such a lovely serene time as that again, my sweet Lord😊❤
We walked to school, walked home for lunch. I went to Catholic school we didn’t do duck drills. We spent hours doing grammar excercises and logic problems. I was never encouraged to focus on sewing and cooking. We had 52 kids in the class. No one misbehaved.I never saw a kid hit by any teacher. The nuns taught us reading, writing, and basic math. I wrote my first research paper in fifth grade, a minimum of three sources and footnotes. By eighth grade I was comfortable both with doing research and writing papers. My primary education prepared me for High School, university and graduate school. I am thankful for those nuns to this day.
I’m a retired history professor. My students who came from Catholic schools were always well prepared and had a good work ethic. I would never want to expose a child to religious indoctrination, but I can’t deny that they got the academic part right. Those kids paid attention in class, did their assignments, and earned good grades.😊
@@HypatiaKI too went to Catholic School. We had a religious overview of Catholic dogma and the kids who were not Catholic, went to either Jewish overview or World Religions. It was 30 minutes once a month. Kids came from every background, color, nationality, language and so on. We all looked "front and center. " in the 6th Grade as we were leaving for the summer, Sr. Mary Reme asked if anyone wanted to know how to write a PhD paper. Everyone sat back down. Never happen today. 😊
I’m 76 the classroom’s held double the children the classrooms have now there was one teachers to a classroom yes we used books and paper and pencils we didn’t have computers and this way we had to use are brains we played out side where we had a lot of friends not sitting in front of a computer playing games we played game outside Rolling skating with friends we jump rope with friends these things were free I could go on and on but I won’t.
When I was very young, the Pledge didn't have the "under God" phrase. It was added during my childhood and sounded, to my ears, strange for a long time.
I started kindergarten in 1947 and graduated from high school in 1960. You can't get more "1950's school" than that! This video covered things pretty well. I do remember those atom bomb drills. At recent reunions, my fellow students and I mused at how pointless they were - a conclusion many of us had come to without discussing it before. Something I could add as a retired teacher: Class sizes were HUGE - over 40 kids per room! I guess the way kids were sorted out by ability back then was that those who could make it continued on, and those who didn't quit and got a job. Of course, better educated parents, with a mom who generally stayed home, were able to tutor their kids more than poorer parents. Blackboards, BTW, were black because they were made of thin sheets of slate, a rock, that would take being marked up by chalk. Once paints that could take chalk were invented, boards became wood and were painted green or tan.
Thank you for sharing your experiences! It's fascinating to hear about the 1950s school environment. The atom bomb drills and large class sizes certainly paint a vivid picture of the era. It’s interesting how the teaching tools and methods have evolved since then.
We lived in a big apartment building & were poor, but we had a television. Our downstairs neighbor's family came up to our apartment every Monday night to watch "I love Lucy". Those same neighbors had a telephone, which we did not have. On rare occasions mom would use their phone for an important call, or in an emergency, mom would receive a call through their phone. From ages 6 -11, I roamed & played in about 3 blocks in all direction ( so about 12 square blocks) I played marbles with my brother and kick the can at night during Summer. I roller skated, jumped rope and climbed trees. I always wore a dress. It was a free time.
74 here. Loved school while growing up in 50’s. Life was great then. Mama had supper on table by 5 pm and we all sat down and ate together. In bed by 9 pm and up at 6. Rode school buses every day and girls wore dresses, no slacks. We all knew what we were and we behaved. If you got in trouble in school you were in trouble at home because parents did not put up with unruly kids.
Thanks for sharing your memories! It sounds like you had a wonderful, structured upbringing. It's interesting to hear about the differences in how things were back then compared to now.
A simple reprimand...RIGHT. i guess that third grade teacher that laid open the knuckles of my right hand with the metal edged rular was just a vivid day dream.
They used corporal punishment, with gusto! Paddles,straps, many homemade boards carved for maximum pain extraction. I was "bad"so I experienced many attacks on my misbehaving buttocks 🤣🤣🤣
In NJ we didn’t call it “duck and cover” - it was an air raid drill. We did go under our desks. Some kids wouldn’t quite fit under, which became a moment of hilarity for all. Being proximal to NYC, within the fifty mile radius, we all knew our chances were slim in what they were already calling ground zero. When pressed, we were told we had about ten minutes depending on wind directionality. My home was in the next township. I was getting chubby and didn’t know if I had enough speed, but I decided I would run for it. I still feel that way.
It was the best time frame of this country! Born in 1950 I enjoyed the atmosphere of the hero’s of WWII. The country was growing, proud of itself and greatly admired. We were educated on what things happened as well as the reasons they happened.. of my 8 grandchildren only 3 are in school. Two just graduated from college and 3 are lifetime careers, yet they lack understanding what our constitution means and how often it is violated by our own government. We baby boomer grandparents have many conversations to pass on realities. Our children know as well but most are working parents. Kids are raised in day care.
I’m 79… was fortunate to go to a one room Country School. Every Monday morning, I put a Goiter Pill on every desk. We lived close enough, so we always started the fire in the furnace every morning!
Those were much better days. We had a childhood, and in my opinion we learned more including a value system. The classroom environment lent itself far more leaning and paying attention. It was a more disciplined environment, but not a stifling environment.
I was once lifted out of my seat by my ears for clicking my pen. It hurt like you couldn’t imagine. I was so terrified of my teacher that I would wet my pants any time she came near me. My parents just told me to respect my teachers, and wouldn’t do anything. School was absolute utter hell. Thank God things have changed.
The class room here looks exactly how my grade school classrooms looked! I was in a Catholic school and lots of my teachers were nuns. They prepared me well for high school, college, & graduate school 😊
I only remember once going out to the hallway and bending over on our knees with our hands over our head facing the wall. I thought it was for tornadoes. Discipline was strict. You hated it if your name was placed on the blackboard where it would stay as a mark of shame. We learned a lot and I liked all my teachers. I had two grades in the old part of the school with the fixed desks with inkwells and four grades in the new part of the school. At Halloween all the grades would march around the block. In May we would go to a nearby park for a picnic lunch and then walk back to school. Those days are surely missed. I am 74.
76. Discipline started at home. Parents were not our buddies. They were adults who were the bosses. They believed the Nuns (Catholic School for all 12 years!). Parents didn’t sue the school if kids complained. Kids didn’t complain! We did the duck & cover drills, but we weren’t too concerned since as long as we behaved we were going to Heaven anyway. Our lunches were brought from home in a brown bag or lunchbox. Milk, if provided, was in little glass bottles & kept near the radiator🤮. We wore uniforms to keep us all equal.
I had a big problem with my third grade teacher 1959 Norfolk Virginia. In fact my mother went out there and finally and finally had me transferred to a teacher in the school. She always believed me, because I didn't lie to her. Only kids who are afraid of their parents lie to them.
I went to Catholic school in Jamaica estates,NY. My parents were not strict, but well behaved. My nuns threw erasers and hit you with yard sticks if you talked. No one really misbehaved, we had a fear of the nuns. No uniforms.but very wealthy neighborhood and everyone was well dressed. Many had housekeepers, affluent area. Trump lived there as a kid. Didn't know him
78now, but I remember in high school I took auto mechanics. Best thing I ever did! The thing about elementary school was that we had to put our heads down on our desks for half an hour so we wouldn’t get polio. Boy, if I only knew then what I know now.
I do miss the home made fluffy rolls and other food cooked in the cafeteria, but school in those days was so strict. We couldn’t speak or move except in recess or PE. And we girls had to wear dresses. They hadn’t invented stretch fabric yet.
I’m 75. In 7th grade, I remember training to get under those small desks and cover our heads if there were a nuclear attack. The alternative was to go into the hallway and sit on the floor in a line beneath the lockers. I think there was only one training session. We were located near an Air Force Strategic Air Command base and a Marine Corps supply center.
72 now and attended Armstrong Elementary School in Gastonia, NC. First grade in 1958. Each classroom had a cloakroom where misbehavior landed us for PADDLINGS. I was fascinated by Tarzan movies and wanted to BE Tarzan. One teacher wrote on a report card that I spent too much time daydreaming and talking about Tarzan. I loved the lunches especially soup and sandwiches. Our lunchroom and library were in the same room. I had big ears and was teased as Dumbo, Bigears, and Little Bobby Bigears. I had to agree and made fun of myself. Classmates liked that I could take a joke and in junior high was voted Wittiest and in high school voted Friendliest. I have four Woolworth’s photos of me with enormous ears acting like Elvis after seeing “Kid Galahad.” Wonderful memories. I have regrets but they’re that I should have “buckled down” as my mother used to say and studied harder. I loved school and my classmates. Saw one yesterday at Venecia Restaurant in Gastonia. Introduced me to his grandson. I said he couldn’t be old enough to be a grandfather. I’m so glad I attended school in the 1950s and 1960s. I still feed traumatized about learning of President Kennedy’s assassination while I was in a 6th grade classroom. Those were days that gave me precious memories.
Ì'm 80 a beautiful time in history, you were safe, could leave your doors open and nobody would bother you, the neighbors looked out for and helped each other. The community raised the children. In that the older people were great teachers and wonderful historiaedns. Story tellers and they taught right and wrong, was at home with my neighbors. Loved them, so many good memories of them. Was taught that if i was being bad they should spank me when they spanked theirs. 😢😮had discipline from parents. Liked school. Teachers were in control of the class rooms. Only bully in school was that 5 ft. heathern in front of the class wielding a ping pong paddle. ❤❤❤she was law and order. Bad behavior was not rewarded.get whipped at school, got one at home. We had two grades taught in one classroom . First and second grade in the evening, third and fourth in the mornings one room school. Then we went to a larger school. Seventh grade was in one room. Then high school was different. Two grades sometimes in one homeroom an classes separately.
In my book “Looking Out My Window” is a narrative poetic story of 4 grade in the ‘50’s with playground and classroom activities and the summers. Available through Amazon by Tom Firek actively writing at 77 yrs old.
Yup! I had between 48-52 kids in my class each year during grammar school. I'm turning 74 next month. I went to a Catholic school for both grammar and High school. In grammar school, we walked home for lunch. We had no cafeteria. In high school, we had a lunchroom where we could buy milk and a snack. You had to bring a lunch. For those 4 years, my "lunch" was a peppermint patty and a carton of milk. They were both great schools with NO violence.
I went to an all white school in the Midwest because farmers who had immigrated from Europe settled the area, built the town and schools. I understand the east and SE were different but I wanted to point out that being an all white school was not racism but a result of who settled in the area, many in the late 1800s.
@@richardalonzo5768 No one taught me, I taught myself all that time; I was reading before I started Kindergarten - by 2nd grade my spelling was in bad shape, and I told one about it; I just studied harder and harder because spelling was VERY important to me when I was 7 …
@@richardalonzo5768 I was only saying I didn’t need schooling that much, and I wish I was expelled in the 5th grade. And I didn’t like them pushing that sports on me, I was never never good at that or meant for it.
Aw, the 50's. I started first grade in 1951. School was orderly. My class sizes were much smaller than in the photos here. Going barefoot to school was not unusual nor was walking to school. Rulers were a teacher's aid for the unruly. I remember Elvis came to the County Fair. I didn't go but there was much hubbub at school the next day, 1955.
Duck and c 0ver was really interesting when you were the tallest kid in the c lass. Harder to get under the desk. I ended up in the aisle next to my desk, kneeling with my head down and my hands over my head. Probably would have been as effective as under my desk in an actual bombing 😅😂
The classroom in the 1960s was big enough, at least 25 kids, and by 5th grade only me, and one of the boys were becoming artists and making our own drawings …😊.
Although my school days in the 50s were very happy I was raised by my aunt and grandmother. My aunt a single woman was the bread winner who held minimum wage jobs to support us. Not all those years were as golden as portrayed or remembered by many people. Hopefully we can remember that time without the rose colored glasses. Just a few points of authenticity several pictures used in this article depict the 30s and 40s not the 50s.
I started first grade in 1948 and graduated in 1960. So, I experienced the full 1950s in school. Not a baby boomer. We were war babies. I lived in a suburban city to Boston that was industrial and had a population of 100,000. Regardless, in 1948 I went to a wooden red schoolhouse with two rooms teaching grades 1-6. So, the little red schoolhouse experience wasn’t only in rural areas. In fourth grade, we moved closer to the center of the city and my school was much like the description in the video. Two floors in a stone building. Same with junior high school. We walked more than a mile to that school. There were no school buses for us. There were buses for kids three miles out. High school same. Maybe three floors in a stone building. Teaching was pretty much like the video. Counselors told most of the boys that they wouldn’t get into college. Probably because of their own experience and that the city was industrial and needed non-college workers. Most of my friends did go to college and many to post graduate. After college at the state university, I got my draft notice for Vietnam. I was able to get into Navy Officer training, but still had to go to Vietnam. After four years and out of the Navy, I went back to college for a masters degree. Good thing I didn’t listen to the high school counselors. And, thanks to my father who encouraged me to go to college.
Thank you for sharing your experience-it's fascinating to hear. Your story really adds depth to the conversation about education during that era, and it's inspiring to see how you pursued your education despite the advice from counselors!
Lily white and very strict. I had African American cousins but no way we could visit until the Civil Rights Act was passed. We went up north to visit family. Some lady asked me why once? I bit my tongue. I wanted to say " We could get arrested" but she wouldn't understand it.
As a teacher, parent, and grandparent, I say: NO it should not. Beating kids (as my mother did me) teaches terror but not good behavior. There are other much, more effective methods that have been developed since then - isolation, loss of privileges, counseling, etc. I remember as, a new teacher in the early 70's, twice witnessing a beating, with a paddle by the principal, of misbehaving boys I'd sent to the office. I couldn't tolerate looking at their pain, so I stopped sending kids to the office. Figured out other ways to keep kids under control. There ARE other methods, really! I was always known for having quite, focused, well-disciplined classrooms.
@@susanmorrison1922 I really don't see how you can look around at the world right now and think this. I see animals nipping each other to correct behavior all the time. I can't imagine people being much different. If there are more effective ways, I'd like to see them be put into practice because whatever's going on now is not working.
@@hectornonayurbusiness2631 Humans have much bigger brains than other animal, so we can figure out other methods of discipline than physical brutality. And, yes, I look around at what's going on in today's world and see physical brutality everywhere, more than ever, at all levels. I don't think that more brutality will improve things.
@@susanmorrison1922 Do you really think applying a little brutality won’t work or are you morally opposed to it. Those are 2 different stances. Think of it as a knife vs a scalpel. Getting stabbed is bad, but when a doctor cuts you with a scalpel the ultimate goal is to help you in some way.
I’m 70 I walked past colored school number one on my way to Sam Houston Elementary. Schools were great for some not for others. Segregation was way of life. My doctors office didn’t have drinking fountains for Black people. They were colored only. Section colored seating sections, Jim Crow law throughout the south 1964 civil rights bill was passed, two years later, my school is finally integrated racism. Today is still alive and well.
Disabled kids often were not allowed to go to school and when they were they were segregated. We had to fight for disability rights as part of the civil rights movement. In my state, Arizona, Spanish speaking kids were not allowed to speak Spanish and often punished for it. They often fell behind because they didn’t understand the lessons and not encouraged to go to college. Remember, AZ once belonged to Mexico. We had Christian prayer in school, but I wasn’t Christian.
The "duck and cover" drills of the 50s are disparaged today, but they made sense then. An early atomic attack would have used less powerful weapons delivered by manned bombers that fought their way through to the target, if they could, and intercontinental ballistic missiles that had low to medium accuracy by todays standards. It was entirely possible to survive an imprecise hit by taking cover.
I went to schools in 1948 and on till I graduated from high school. We had to know our cursive writing where no ABCs or vowels how to dissect the sentence and find the dangling partaisble sentence. The classroom discipline was good because the teacher was in charge not the students people didn’t go to school looking like a bum with their butts hanging out or their girls with their shirts open start class. We start the class every day, but the pleasure of allegiance and the patriotism in the school was outstanding. We also participate in assault vaccine for folio and we had to take to Iowa achievement test in order progress up to the next class in essence, you worked your backside off in class and you had a fairly good amount of homework to do that had to be done for the next day not like today we have the pansy lazy generation, not all of them, but
NO and NO, in the 1960s, if there was an earthquake ( that didn’t happen at school in CA, even though at home I had 2 enjoyable earthquakes 😊😊) during those drills we would go under our desks, and intertwine our fingers over that bump on the back of our necks to protect it ; that one teacher said that is the main part of our spine and nervous system …
That's exactly what I did during a 6.2 quake while I was still in my classroom after school. I ducked under the nearest student desk and then scooted to under my teacher's desk as the quake continued. The floor was moving like water waves. Things fell off of shelves, but the building held up. The plumbing had to be replaced during summer vacation, however. Anyhow, those drills were essential to know what to do without standing around wondering.
Schools were so segregated that I thought everyone in Phoenix was White. As a high school girl I liked English so the counselor suggested I go to secretarial school. When I said I wanted to teach, they said, “what grade?” Even in college, women were not expected to teach at the college level. Females weren’t allowed to wear pants to school until 1972 when I started teaching high school. 😂 But I fooled them. I finally got to teach in community college.
In catholic school, if u talked, the nun would throw an eraser and hit u in the head. On Wednesday, the alligator farm man would come to school to pick up the kids who talked. I stood on line waiting for the truck. But, his truck always broke down so we missed getting eating by the alligators. My sister is 73 and has nightmares about alligators since then. My school was in the neighborhood of the Trumps. He didnt go to my school.didnt know him.but now I do.🤢
I was born in 1946 and most of my memories do not reflect life exactly as some remember it as all good and safe times. I did not hate the world as a lot of children today but I did see it faults. I never believed in fairytales such as George Washington chopping down a Cherry tree and saying I can never tell a lie. We were kids and did not understand we and all our friends and family would one day die and be forgotten. We believed totally in a evil that resided inside the Nazis, communists and murderers and such while Christian people were good and were going to save the world and we would all rejoice in heaven. That stuff was all lies but we were kids and wanted to believe.
I don’t believe they made us do boy things or girl things. They were things we wanted to do. I knew girls who were in shop rather than home ec. And I was a tomboy and always getting in trouble. Children were children. You make it sound like we were made to do things. At least in my school it wasn’t like that. 1956-69
The Learning was Paramount - Especially the BASICS ? Our Foundations were excellent ? No Union Leeches existed ? The Best Example is the New York City Public Schools ! Was Arguably the Best in Country ! LOOK AT TODAY - A Slow Moving Train Wreck ? My Observations and Opinions ! As it paid poorly - Teachers Did It As An Avocation - Not a Profit Center ? Educated Instead of Indoctrinated ? 😢
I am 78 and I loved going to school 😊I loved all my teachers😊
I’m 78, those were the best years EVER! Your mother was home, school was good and we learned a lot. Neighbors were friendly and watched out for each others children. We didn’t have a lot but we had each other. I miss those wonderful days. 🥰
Most of us were white, middle class kids.I think, had you been black and living in the south, your experience might have been a bit different.
🎉😢❤
@nbenefiel I heard about that. It wasn't just that books were worn out. I have heard that students were treated like they were not expected to learn. Maybe because they were not expecting a future that involved education? One thing I noticed as a white mom with a long history in the north was this. We all knew it was our responsibility to educate our kids before they started school. There wasn't any Abbott Program or headstart or even nursery school. Our mothers told us what their mothers told them. Our children learned dozens of nursery rhymes. During those earliest years, this patterned their brains for memory work. We focused on counting as soon as they started pushing cheerios around the high chair tray. And we all had some sort of alphabet book for the kids. We were teachings our children phonics. Children were not legally required to start school until the age of six. Boys tend to be a little slower than girls. If our son has a summer birthday, we were advised to consider not starting him in school until we knew he could do well. I'm guessing things have changed a lot for black children who compete very well now. My daughters-in-law are immigrants,and they don't have this backround.
Yep, this 71 yo dude agrees, I can remember the way all the moms on the street were the eyes for all us kids.😊
My mother always worked. We needed the money.
Oh yeah, I didn't mean to leave out "The Beav." ❤ "Leave It To Beaver" was always another favorite to watch on t.v.❤❤❤
We did not have air conditioning back then just open windows. And who remembers making book covers out of grocery bags?
And the class rooms had an American flag in it and everyone would stand with their right hand over their heart and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
We didn't have AC because we didn't need it back then in cooler times. I even can remember reciting the Pledge of Allegiance without the "under God" phrase because it was inserted when I was in the lower grades.
Absolutely we did that, covered our books with grocery bags. But we had text books, my granddaughter is going to be 12 in a few days and she started going to public school and I was shocked because they had no books and after 2 years she still couldn’t read. We started home schooling and now she can read. Today education is a joke, I think they are deliberately making American children stupid. I was born in 1946 and in October I will be 78. Those were the best times to grow up in. Our teachers actually taught us. They cared and so did our parents, my dad came home from WWII after serving in the Navy. The men were happy to be able to get married and have children.
@@patriciasmith7074Where is this?
It was so sweaty in September in Southern California, we stuck to our seats, and riding our bikes home was HOT!
Good times
I am 72. We baby-boomers got to grow up in the very BEST of times! 💜
Also 72 & totally agree.
I'm 73 and say amen
Yeah, segregation was the law of the land!
Amen to that the Best
I’m 77 and agree!
At 71 I remember our desks still had holes were in previous generations had inkwells. I remember many bike racks as almost all children either walked to school or rode their bikes.i remember we were allowed to play anywhere in the neighborhood at an eary age. The rule was come home when the street lights come on. A much,much safer time. The best.
We still used the ink wells on our desks for many years. The teacher would walk around with the pitcher of ink to fill them up, and, each year, we got a new pen and blotting paper. I remember throwing my school bag over my shoulder and getting stabbed in the butt by the pen's tip! My brother always preferred a fountain pen throughout his life. I was excited when we got a ball point pen for the first time! I don't remember what grade that was.
@@Loveoldies50Where did you live? I can’t believe this!
At 79 now, I lived these school days and loved them.
I'm 74 & will be 75 on Feb. 6th. I remember those days very well, and they were very happy days for me. ❤ We were all very well behaved in class, and did what we were told,
and everyone got along very well with each other.❤
There were Never any fights or violent outbursts anywhere. We always said ❤"The Pledge Of Allegiance" ❤in our first class Homeroom.❤❤
We all felt better after we said it too.
I was supposed to Study
Monday through Friday for school, and Saturday I was to do my share of the Household Chores, and do whatever I had to do for Myself, then I could go out to the Movies, or watch those great scary movies on Friday & Saturday Nights, which I always loved even to this day.
We also went to Church every Sunday Morning, like good Christians do.❤
Then after that, we would go out to Sunday Brunch, then come back home and get out of our Sunday clothes to relax and chill out, or see what really good scary movies were on T.V. ❤
There was always a Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone which I love. ❤ Anyway, I remember the 1950's with great joy and pleasure and happiness, for me and my family at least.❤
I also remember hearing that Radio Program, "The Shadow Knows." And there was another Radio Program the same type, which the name isn't coming to mind at the moment, but one program was for West Coast Listeners, and the other program was for East Coast Listeners, and they came on once a week.
And when that would be on, we'd be sitting in the Living Room, with the lights very low,and being real quiet, while munching on snacks and listening to the radio program.
All I know, is that I felt very fortunate and lucky
to have the life that I had back then, because I was a very happy kid with a happy life to look back on.😊😊❤❤❤😊❤❤
Thank you for sharing your wonderful memories of the 1950s! It sounds like you had a truly joyful and fulfilling upbringing - wishing you a happy early birthday!
I’m 72 and grew up in Southern California. It was an amazing time, new states were brought in, Sputnik was in the night skies, and rock and roll was just beginning to be appreciated. The sixties were tougher, drugs and changing morals made it a time to take stands. The 50s were golden.
I am 75 and it was the best time in American history with the best president Dwight D. Eisenhower!
I loved my childhood as a white middle class kid. Mom had to deal with 3 small kids, a drinking husband, and one car. Eisenhower did ok building the interstate. Not sure what else he did.
Ike
Ike
I loved going to school.I loved all my teachers .I am 78 😊
Im 73, this was me🤗🤗
This was my time for grade school.I became a teacher and began in 1967 with standard 😅practices and retired in 2002 in the tech and computer age .
Boy how teaching has changed!
We had to line the hallways and hold our heads down. We also, showed respect for our teachers (or else, lol). Sock hops were in the mix, too. was a wonderful time.
A wonderful cafeteria food cooked from scratch, great food, we all ate well, no commodity !
“Those were the days my friend…I thought they’d never end” ✨
We had 70 children in my 1st grade class with one 5ft tall little nun in charge as the teacher(Catholic school)! She taught every subject, except art and music, when a lay teacher came into each classroom once a week! Recess and lunchtime was our exercise outdoors, every day except for rainy days! Not one peep of sound or unruly behavior came out of any classroom in that school! Great days, great education!😊❤
At the age of 77, I have warm memories of grade school in the 1950’s. We received a superb education, parents were parents not friends, and we learned the meaning and worth of personal responsibility and hard work. We played outside all day and were a lot more physically fit than today’s kids who spend their time in front of phones and video games. We respected our teachers, and if we got in trouble in school, our parents punished us, not the teachers.
Interesting to see into the past!
My oh my I’m 85 and thanks for the memories.
I'm also 85 years young, it was the best of times!!❤
I’m 15 can you please tell me how it was like back than?
80 years old and this is so true!
The video was nice, but terribly incomplete. The 50’s was a time of teaching love of country, patriotism, teamwork, individuality, pride (in the good way) values of friendship and working together, sportsmanship, respect for authority and the elderly,family and all that it entails,and just a general sense of goodness, Love & trust in the atmosphere.I will admit, all these things were not universal in all homes & schools, but where I grew up it was the norm. You felt safe & secure and life was GOOD. The school, by & large was in general an extension of the home. A place to learn & grow into a decent human being. Classrooms were run w/ respect & discipline. The parents were on board w/ most of th teacher”s report of any behavior issues. Oh how I cried when I graduated. So sad to leave my school, my classmates and my hometown.😢Once that happened the big bad world came crashing down. Of course, things eventually leveled out again ......and in large part due to my wonderful childhood and schooldays😊Could we ever have such a lovely serene time as that again, my sweet Lord😊❤
We walked to school, walked home for lunch. I went to Catholic school we didn’t do duck drills. We spent hours doing grammar excercises and logic problems. I was never encouraged to focus on sewing and cooking. We had 52 kids in the class. No one misbehaved.I never saw a kid hit by any teacher. The nuns taught us reading, writing, and basic math. I wrote my first research paper in fifth grade, a minimum of three sources and footnotes. By eighth grade I was comfortable both with doing research and writing papers. My primary education prepared me for High School, university and graduate school. I am thankful for those nuns to this day.
I’m a retired history professor. My students who came from Catholic schools were always well prepared and had a good work ethic. I would never want to expose a child to religious indoctrination, but I can’t deny that they got the academic part right. Those kids paid attention in class, did their assignments, and earned good grades.😊
@@HypatiaKI too went to Catholic School. We had a religious overview of Catholic dogma and the kids who were not Catholic, went to either Jewish overview or World Religions. It was 30 minutes once a month. Kids came from every background, color, nationality, language and so on. We all looked "front and center. " in the 6th Grade as we were leaving for the summer, Sr. Mary Reme asked if anyone wanted to know how to write a PhD paper. Everyone sat back down. Never happen today. 😊
There was no federal department of education to ruin our education.
Amen.
Why do you call basic instruction in our faith, indoctrination?@@HypatiaK
I’m 76 the classroom’s held double the children the classrooms have now there was one teachers to a classroom yes we used books and paper and pencils we didn’t have computers and this way we had to use are brains we played out side where we had a lot of friends not sitting in front of a computer playing games we played game outside Rolling skating with friends we jump rope with friends these things were free I could go on and on but I won’t.
Thank you for sharing your memories of the 1950s! It's truly fascinating to get a glimpse into the past through your experiences.
The rooms were bigger, too.
We were taught patriotic songs , the pledge of allegiance and the star spangled banner.
When I was very young, the Pledge didn't have the "under God" phrase. It was added during my childhood and sounded, to my ears, strange for a long time.
My first day of school in Indianapolis IN 1950 at the age of 5 years old. I LOVED IT.❤
A wonderful time to be alive , no chaos , just good times,
I started kindergarten in 1947 and graduated from high school in 1960. You can't get more "1950's school" than that! This video covered things pretty well. I do remember those atom bomb drills. At recent reunions, my fellow students and I mused at how pointless they were - a conclusion many of us had come to without discussing it before.
Something I could add as a retired teacher: Class sizes were HUGE - over 40 kids per room! I guess the way kids were sorted out by ability back then was that those who could make it continued on, and those who didn't quit and got a job. Of course, better educated parents, with a mom who generally stayed home, were able to tutor their kids more than poorer parents.
Blackboards, BTW, were black because they were made of thin sheets of slate, a rock, that would take being marked up by chalk. Once paints that could take chalk were invented, boards became wood and were painted green or tan.
Thank you for sharing your experiences! It's fascinating to hear about the 1950s school environment. The atom bomb drills and large class sizes certainly paint a vivid picture of the era. It’s interesting how the teaching tools and methods have evolved since then.
We lived in a big apartment building & were poor, but we had a television. Our downstairs neighbor's family came up to our apartment every Monday night to watch "I love Lucy". Those same neighbors had a telephone, which we did not have. On rare occasions mom would use their phone for an important call, or in an emergency, mom would receive a call through their phone. From ages 6 -11, I roamed & played in about 3 blocks in all direction ( so about 12 square blocks) I played marbles with my brother and kick the can at night during Summer. I roller skated, jumped rope and climbed trees. I always wore a dress. It was a free time.
74 here. Loved school while growing up in 50’s. Life was great then. Mama had supper on table by 5 pm and we all sat down and ate together. In bed by 9 pm and up at 6. Rode school buses every day and girls wore dresses, no slacks. We all knew what we were and we behaved. If you got in trouble in school you were in trouble at home because parents did not put up with unruly kids.
Thanks for sharing your memories! It sounds like you had a wonderful, structured upbringing. It's interesting to hear about the differences in how things were back then compared to now.
A simple reprimand...RIGHT. i guess that third grade teacher that laid open the knuckles of my right hand with the metal edged rular was just a vivid day dream.
They used corporal punishment, with gusto! Paddles,straps, many homemade boards carved for maximum pain extraction. I was "bad"so I experienced many attacks on my misbehaving buttocks 🤣🤣🤣
In NJ we didn’t call it “duck and cover” - it was an air raid drill. We did go under our desks. Some kids wouldn’t quite fit under, which became a moment of hilarity for all.
Being proximal to NYC, within the fifty mile radius, we all knew our chances were slim in what they were already calling ground zero. When pressed, we were told we had about ten minutes depending on wind directionality. My home was in the next township. I was getting chubby and didn’t know if I had enough speed, but I decided I would run for it.
I still feel that way.
It was the best time frame of this country! Born in 1950 I enjoyed the atmosphere of the hero’s of WWII. The country was growing, proud of itself and greatly admired. We were educated on what things happened as well as the reasons they happened.. of my 8 grandchildren only 3 are in school. Two just graduated from college and 3 are lifetime careers, yet they lack understanding what our constitution means and how often it is violated by our own government. We baby boomer grandparents have many conversations to pass on realities. Our children know as well but most are working parents. Kids are raised in day care.
I’m 79… was fortunate to go to a one room Country School. Every Monday morning, I put a Goiter Pill on every desk. We lived close enough, so we always started the fire in the furnace every morning!
I just remembered we had air raid sirens. Not at school but in the city and they could be heard all over the city.
Those were much better days. We had a childhood, and in my opinion we learned more including a value system. The classroom environment lent itself far more leaning and paying attention. It was a more disciplined environment, but not a stifling environment.
I am 79 yo and my wife is 76. We watch a lot of news programs and I have often been heard to say, “Honey, we lived in the best of times.”
I was once lifted out of my seat by my ears for clicking my pen. It hurt like you couldn’t imagine. I was so terrified of my teacher that I would wet my pants any time she came near me. My parents just told me to respect my teachers, and wouldn’t do anything. School was absolute utter hell. Thank God things have changed.
Girls played physically active games as well while in grade school. Sewing and cooking were later on in high school.
I’m 73 and remember these days fondly.
76 here. The best times and the best schools!
We did duck & cover but they were called bomb drills and took place in the hallways.
Amazing…….what was once normal and worked is now treated with contempt and scorn and even hatred….sad .
77,Catholic grade school ,1953-1959 ! Fear the Pinguins !
That was a much better time. Kids were taught respect, which is nonexistent now.
The class room here looks exactly how my grade school classrooms looked! I was in a Catholic school and lots of my teachers were nuns. They prepared me well for high school, college, & graduate school 😊
I only remember once going out to the hallway and bending over on our knees with our hands over our head facing the wall. I thought it was for tornadoes. Discipline was strict. You hated it if your name was placed on the blackboard where it would stay as a mark of shame. We learned a lot and I liked all my teachers. I had two grades in the old part of the school with the fixed desks with inkwells and four grades in the new part of the school. At Halloween all the grades would march around the block. In May we would go to a nearby park for a picnic lunch and then walk back to school. Those days are surely missed. I am 74.
76. Discipline started at home. Parents were not our buddies. They were adults who were the bosses. They believed the Nuns (Catholic School for all 12 years!). Parents didn’t sue the school if kids complained. Kids didn’t complain! We did the duck & cover drills, but we weren’t too concerned since as long as we behaved we were going to Heaven anyway. Our lunches were brought from home in a brown bag or lunchbox. Milk, if provided, was in little glass bottles & kept near the radiator🤮. We wore uniforms to keep us all equal.
I had a big problem with my third grade teacher 1959 Norfolk Virginia. In fact my mother went out there and finally and finally had me transferred to a teacher in the school. She always believed me, because I didn't lie to her. Only kids who are afraid of their parents lie to them.
I was transferred to another teacher in the school.
I went to Catholic school in Jamaica estates,NY. My parents were not strict, but well behaved. My nuns threw erasers and hit you with yard sticks if you talked. No one really misbehaved, we had a fear of the nuns. No uniforms.but very wealthy neighborhood and everyone was well dressed. Many had housekeepers, affluent area. Trump lived there as a kid. Didn't know him
At 74 I can still remember grade school having cornbread and soup beans every Monday for lunch, then all the tooting began!
78now, but I remember in high school I took auto mechanics. Best thing I ever did! The thing about elementary school was that we had to put our heads down on our desks for half an hour so we wouldn’t get polio. Boy, if I only knew then what I know now.
That makes no sense. It was probably an excuse to give the teacher a break.
I do miss the home made fluffy rolls and other food cooked in the cafeteria, but school in those days was so strict. We couldn’t speak or move except in recess or PE. And we girls had to wear dresses. They hadn’t invented stretch fabric yet.
Great days of my life. ❤
In school 1945-1958.. mostly in TX. Never did “duck & cover.” I was a Girl Scout, went camping.
I’m 75. In 7th grade, I remember training to get under those small desks and cover our heads if there were a nuclear attack. The alternative was to go into the hallway and sit on the floor in a line beneath the lockers. I think there was only one training session. We were located near an Air Force Strategic Air Command base and a Marine Corps supply center.
72 now and attended Armstrong Elementary School in Gastonia, NC. First grade in 1958. Each classroom had a cloakroom where misbehavior landed us for PADDLINGS. I was fascinated by Tarzan movies and wanted to BE Tarzan. One teacher wrote on a report card that I spent too much time daydreaming and talking about Tarzan. I loved the lunches especially soup and sandwiches. Our lunchroom and library were in the same room. I had big ears and was teased as Dumbo, Bigears, and Little Bobby Bigears. I had to agree and made fun of myself. Classmates liked that I could take a joke and in junior high was voted Wittiest and in high school voted Friendliest. I have four Woolworth’s photos of me with enormous ears acting like Elvis after seeing “Kid Galahad.” Wonderful memories. I have regrets but they’re that I should have “buckled down” as my mother used to say and studied harder. I loved school and my classmates. Saw one yesterday at Venecia Restaurant in Gastonia. Introduced me to his grandson. I said he couldn’t be old enough to be a grandfather. I’m so glad I attended school in the 1950s and 1960s. I still feed traumatized about learning of President Kennedy’s assassination while I was
in a 6th grade classroom. Those were days that gave me precious memories.
Our teachers in NY were forbidden to touch us.the nuns just hit us with yard sticks or throw erasers. Paddling is inhumane
Ì'm 80 a beautiful time in history, you were safe, could leave your doors open and nobody would bother you, the neighbors looked out for and helped each other. The community raised the children. In that the older people were great teachers and wonderful historiaedns. Story tellers and they taught right and wrong, was at home with my neighbors. Loved them, so many good memories of them. Was taught that if i was being bad they should spank me when they spanked theirs. 😢😮had discipline from parents. Liked school. Teachers were in control of the class rooms. Only bully in school was that 5 ft. heathern in front of the class wielding a ping pong paddle. ❤❤❤she was law and order. Bad behavior was not rewarded.get whipped at school, got one at home.
We had two grades taught in one classroom . First and second grade in the evening, third and fourth in the mornings one room school. Then we went to a larger school. Seventh grade was in one room. Then high school was different. Two grades sometimes in one homeroom an classes separately.
I am 85. Had all my schooling in southern Indiana. I never heard of Duck and Cover till a few decadse later.
In my book “Looking Out My Window” is a narrative poetic story of 4 grade in the ‘50’s with playground and classroom activities and the summers. Available through Amazon by Tom Firek actively writing at 77 yrs old.
Yup! I had between 48-52 kids in my class each year during grammar school. I'm turning 74 next month. I went to a Catholic school for both grammar and High school. In grammar school, we walked home for lunch. We had no cafeteria. In high school, we had a lunchroom where we could buy milk and a snack. You had to bring a lunch. For those 4 years, my "lunch" was a peppermint patty and a carton of milk. They were both great schools with NO violence.
Thank you for sharing your experience! It's amazing how different things were back then.
I went to an all white school in the Midwest because farmers who had immigrated from Europe settled the area, built the town and schools. I understand the east and SE were different but I wanted to point out that being an all white school was not racism but a result of who settled in the area, many in the late 1800s.
And I am glad I never grew up with those lousy computers …
Yes it was great. I was taught the three Rs reading,righting, and rithmatic
@@richardalonzo5768 No one taught me, I taught myself all that time; I was reading before I started
Kindergarten - by 2nd grade my spelling was in bad shape, and I told one about it; I just studied harder and harder because spelling was VERY important to me when I was 7 …
@@JoanSmith-t7k I’m not sure how to take this , are you bragging about how studious you are ?
@@richardalonzo5768 I was only saying I didn’t need schooling that much, and I wish I was expelled in the 5th grade. And I didn’t like them pushing that sports on me, I was never never good at that or meant for it.
Aw, the 50's. I started first grade in 1951. School was orderly. My class sizes were much smaller than in the photos here. Going barefoot to school was not unusual nor was walking to school. Rulers were a teacher's aid for the unruly. I remember Elvis came to the County Fair. I didn't go but there was much hubbub at school the next day, 1955.
50's? Down here Fl. That looked like the 70's and 80's except for what they had on.
Duck and c 0ver was really interesting when you were the tallest kid in the c lass. Harder to get under the desk. I ended up in the aisle next to my desk, kneeling with my head down and my hands over my head. Probably would have been as effective as under my desk in an actual bombing 😅😂
Thanks for sharing your story and watching our video; it sounds like you have some memorable experiences!
IM 74 & I LOVED GOING TO SCHOOL IN OAKLAND CALIFORNIA😊😅😅😊❤❤❤
Bring back Home Ec and shop!
And make sure both sexes take both classes. I sure would like to have learned how to change the oil in a car and do carpentry.
I85 an
I remember school
We walked home for lunch dm
Kids in grade school today have so much more pressure on them. To grow up faster and engage in activies a lot sooner than we did.
The classroom in the 1960s was big enough, at least 25 kids, and by 5th grade only me, and one of the boys were becoming artists and making our own drawings …😊.
I remember those duck & cover drills.
Although my school days in the 50s were very happy I was raised by my aunt and grandmother. My aunt a single woman was the bread winner who held minimum wage jobs to support us. Not all those years were as golden as portrayed or remembered by many people. Hopefully we can remember that time without the rose colored glasses. Just a few points of authenticity several pictures used in this article depict the 30s and 40s not the 50s.
I started first grade in 1948 and graduated in 1960. So, I experienced the full 1950s in school. Not a baby boomer. We were war babies. I lived in a suburban city to Boston that was industrial and had a population of 100,000. Regardless, in 1948 I went to a wooden red schoolhouse with two rooms teaching grades 1-6. So, the little red schoolhouse experience wasn’t only in rural areas. In fourth grade, we moved closer to the center of the city and my school was much like the description in the video. Two floors in a stone building. Same with junior high school. We walked more than a mile to that school. There were no school buses for us. There were buses for kids three miles out. High school same. Maybe three floors in a stone building. Teaching was pretty much like the video. Counselors told most of the boys that they wouldn’t get into college. Probably because of their own experience and that the city was industrial and needed non-college workers. Most of my friends did go to college and many to post graduate. After college at the state university, I got my draft notice for Vietnam. I was able to get into Navy Officer training, but still had to go to Vietnam. After four years and out of the Navy, I went back to college for a masters degree. Good thing I didn’t listen to the high school counselors. And, thanks to my father who encouraged me to go to college.
Thank you for sharing your experience-it's fascinating to hear. Your story really adds depth to the conversation about education during that era, and it's inspiring to see how you pursued your education despite the advice from counselors!
The very best of times!
Lily white and very strict. I had African American cousins but no way we could visit until the Civil Rights Act was passed. We went up north to visit family. Some lady asked me why once? I bit my tongue. I wanted to say " We could get arrested" but she wouldn't understand it.
Maybe corporal punishment should make a comeback.
As a teacher, parent, and grandparent, I say: NO it should not. Beating kids (as my mother did me) teaches terror but not good behavior. There are other much, more effective methods that have been developed since then - isolation, loss of privileges, counseling, etc. I remember as, a new teacher in the early 70's, twice witnessing a beating, with a paddle by the principal, of misbehaving boys I'd sent to the office. I couldn't tolerate looking at their pain, so I stopped sending kids to the office. Figured out other ways to keep kids under control. There ARE other methods, really! I was always known for having quite, focused, well-disciplined classrooms.
@@susanmorrison1922 I really don't see how you can look around at the world right now and think this. I see animals nipping each other to correct behavior all the time. I can't imagine people being much different. If there are more effective ways, I'd like to see them be put into practice because whatever's going on now is not working.
@@hectornonayurbusiness2631 Humans have much bigger brains than other animal, so we can figure out other methods of discipline than physical brutality. And, yes, I look around at what's going on in today's world and see physical brutality everywhere, more than ever, at all levels. I don't think that more brutality will improve things.
@@susanmorrison1922 Do you really think applying a little brutality won’t work or are you morally opposed to it. Those are 2 different stances. Think of it as a knife vs a scalpel. Getting stabbed is bad, but when a doctor cuts you with a scalpel the ultimate goal is to help you in some way.
I’m 70 I walked past colored school number one on my way to Sam Houston Elementary. Schools were great for some not for others. Segregation was way of life. My doctors office didn’t have drinking fountains for Black people. They were colored only. Section colored seating sections, Jim Crow law throughout the south 1964 civil rights bill was passed, two years later, my school is finally integrated racism. Today is still alive and well.
in school we said plge of alegence every monday / we sang a frog went a corten / in the good ol summer time / on top of old smoky
Disabled kids often were not allowed to go to school and when they were they were segregated. We had to fight for disability rights as part of the civil rights movement. In my state, Arizona, Spanish speaking kids were not allowed to speak Spanish and often punished for it. They often fell behind because they didn’t understand the lessons and not encouraged to go to college. Remember, AZ once belonged to Mexico. We had Christian prayer in school, but I wasn’t Christian.
I will review this as I was there!
The "duck and cover" drills of the 50s are disparaged today, but they made sense then. An early atomic attack would have used less powerful weapons delivered by manned bombers that fought their way through to the target, if they could, and intercontinental ballistic missiles that had low to medium accuracy by todays standards. It was entirely possible to survive an imprecise hit by taking cover.
AH, memories!
I started first grade 1953
Im remember standing the pledge of Allegiance to our country every mourning Im 76 born Sept 3 1948 thats before all the traders got into our country
1st grade in 1952, I remember the duck and kiss your butt good by, and being driven to the countryside field trips ❤️♍️🗝🧙🏻♂️
I would love to see what they were like in 60s-70s I’m 68 now
Hiding under desks was a response to an imagined air raid, not to a nuclear attack.
Not in 1963. Ha ha
I went to schools in 1948 and on till I graduated from high school. We had to know our cursive writing where no ABCs or vowels how to dissect the sentence and find the dangling partaisble sentence. The classroom discipline was good because the teacher was in charge not the students people didn’t go to school looking like a bum with their butts hanging out or their girls with their shirts open start class. We start the class every day, but the pleasure of allegiance and the patriotism in the school was outstanding. We also participate in assault vaccine for folio and we had to take to Iowa achievement test in order progress up to the next class in essence, you worked your backside off in class and you had a fairly good amount of homework to do that had to be done for the next day not like today we have the pansy lazy generation, not all of them, but
You should have paid more attention to your spelling and grammar lessons!
This was like when I was there
NO and NO, in the 1960s, if there was an earthquake ( that didn’t happen at school in CA, even though at home I had 2 enjoyable earthquakes 😊😊) during those drills we would go under our desks, and intertwine our fingers over that bump on the back of our
necks to protect it ; that one teacher said that is the main part of our spine and nervous system …
That's exactly what I did during a 6.2 quake while I was still in my classroom after school. I ducked under the nearest student desk and then scooted to under my teacher's desk as the quake continued. The floor was moving like water waves. Things fell off of shelves, but the building held up. The plumbing had to be replaced during summer vacation, however. Anyhow, those drills were essential to know what to do without standing around wondering.
Schools were so segregated that I thought everyone in Phoenix was White. As a high school girl I liked English so the counselor suggested I go to secretarial school. When I said I wanted to teach, they said, “what grade?” Even in college, women were not expected to teach at the college level. Females weren’t allowed to wear pants to school until 1972 when I started teaching high school. 😂 But I fooled them. I finally got to teach in community college.
Wa, wa 😂
I lived it .
We’re the children asked to wear uniforms as in the UK
In catholic school, if u talked, the nun would throw an eraser and hit u in the head. On Wednesday, the alligator farm man would come to school to pick up the kids who talked. I stood on line waiting for the truck. But, his truck always broke down so we missed getting eating by the alligators. My sister is 73 and has nightmares about alligators since then. My school was in the neighborhood of the Trumps. He didnt go to my school.didnt know him.but now I do.🤢
I was born in 1946 and most of my memories do not reflect life exactly as some remember it as all good and safe times. I did not hate the world as a lot of children today but I did see it faults. I never believed in fairytales such as George Washington chopping down a Cherry tree and saying I can never tell a lie. We were kids and did not understand we and all our friends and family would one day die and be forgotten. We believed totally in a evil that resided inside the Nazis, communists and murderers and such while Christian people were good and were going to save the world and we would all rejoice in heaven. That stuff was all lies but we were kids and wanted to believe.
I don’t believe they made us do boy things or girl things. They were things we wanted to do. I knew girls who were in shop rather than home ec. And I was a tomboy and always getting in trouble. Children were children. You make it sound like we were made to do things. At least in my school it wasn’t like that. 1956-69
In my school in the late 50's, boys took shop classes while girls took cooking and sewing.
The Learning was Paramount - Especially the BASICS ? Our Foundations were excellent ? No Union Leeches existed ? The Best Example is the New York City Public Schools ! Was Arguably the Best in Country ! LOOK AT TODAY - A Slow Moving Train Wreck ? My Observations and Opinions ! As it paid poorly - Teachers Did It As An Avocation - Not a Profit Center ? Educated Instead of Indoctrinated ? 😢
Omg it was a different country. It would take to long to explain
We had air r as if drilled swe didn't hop on a bus
Were are all the fat kid's, think about it.
There were no frozen meals back then. Everything was cooked fresh.
@@susanmorrison1922 banquet pot pies & Swanson Dinner 🍲 !