 
Ladia
Member
Username: Ladia
Post Number: 70
Registered: 05-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 1:27 am: |    |
1.i heard girls had to wear dresses to school and were not allowed to wear jeans?was that a rule in all schools?
2. i also heard dress shoes were worn and never gym shoes unless you were still a child. Gym shoes meant you hadn't grown up yet.
3.i also heard that teachers used to be quite brutal, when did that come to an end in schools.when did rules change to make teachers not beat the children. |
Gazhekwe
Member
Username: Gazhekwe
Post Number: 2487
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 6:30 am: | |
1. Yes
2. No one wore gym shoes anywhere. They were for the gym, or playing outside.
3. Hmmm, nobody was ever supposed to beat a child. Paddling and cracks across the knuckles were not considered beating. |
Luckycar
Member
Username: Luckycar
Post Number: 98
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 7:01 am: | |
Jeans to school meant getting sent home,or a note was sent if no parent was home.P.F.Flyers were for recess or gym period.The yard stick meant you really screwed up.No A.D.D. in the 60s,just a firm hand. |
9936sussex
Member
Username: 9936sussex
Post Number: 172
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 7:30 am: | |
I can remember instances of a teacher using her " board of education" (a paddle with holes drilled in it) for kids who were repetitive behavior problems. Gum stuck on your nose was also a punishment if you were caught chewing gum. We had gym shoes were strictly for gym, and street shoes for the rest of the school day. |
Richard_bak
Member
Username: Richard_bak
Post Number: 460
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 7:51 am: | |
Twelve years of Catholic school (1960-72). I could write a book. Maybe I will. |
Ed_golick
Member
Username: Ed_golick
Post Number: 1065
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 8:13 am: | |
Maybe I'll read it. |
Detroiterbybirth
Member
Username: Detroiterbybirth
Post Number: 5
Registered: 08-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 8:19 am: | |
Maybe you can expose the hypocrisy of some of those people masquerading under the false cloak of doing "God's Work" |
Detroitplanner
Member
Username: Detroitplanner
Post Number: 1826
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 8:20 am: | |
Richard, maybe we can collaborate. I has 12 years starting in 1971 and ending in 1984!
I can recall getting sent home from my high school for wearing canvas topsiders even though I had read the rules. It said topsiders were acceptable but athletic shoes were not.
You can't argue with nuns. |
Richard_bak
Member
Username: Richard_bak
Post Number: 461
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 8:24 am: | |
"Maybe you can expose the hypocrisy of some of those people masquerading under the false cloak of doing "God's Work""
OK. I jotted that down. That'll be Chapter 12. |
Gnome
Member
Username: Gnome
Post Number: 1668
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 8:28 am: | |
12 years of Sister Mary Asskicker.
Those ladies didn't play around. Rules were for everyone, and were strictly enforced. In our school, chewing gum was almost a capital offense.
Sister Mary would rub the offending gum into the small, soft hairs on the back of your neck; uniquely evil, becuase you couldn't move your head without the gum pulling your hair and since you couldn't see it, you couldn't get it out.
The longer the gum was was there the harder it got, the more painful it became.
good times |
Blueidone
Member
Username: Blueidone
Post Number: 304
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 9:02 am: | |
Dresses and skirts were the requirement. And the hem couldn't be above the middle of the knee. Shorts were never allowed. Blouses couldn't be too revealing.
You kept gym shoes for gym...it was all that was allowed on the gym floor.
One teacher at my junior high (middle school) had a rule against chewing gum. If you got caught by him anywhere in the school chewing gum, you had to stick the gum on the end of your nose for the rest of the day.
One would NEVER dare to talk back or sass a teacher. There would be dire consequences.
A high school chemistry teacher had one of those "boards of education" and would have a miscreant young person (both male and female) bend over and grab their ankles for a couple of whacks with it.
There was no smoking allowed anywhere. Drugs weren't a problem when I was in high school. But one could get suspended for smoking.
I attended high school from 1965 to 1967. |
Richard_bak
Member
Username: Richard_bak
Post Number: 464
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 9:07 am: | |
I remember the gym teacher whacking me on the ass with a tennis paddle and it shattering into four or five pieces. Guess I had the original Buns of Steel. |
Carolcb
Member
Username: Carolcb
Post Number: 4618
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 9:13 am: | |
I think we were allowed to wear pants to school starting in the 10th grade (1971). Before that, you wore a dress or a skirt! We never wore sneakers except for gym. I got in trouble at home in the 10th grade for doing something that I cannot remember - but I do remember the punishment - I had to wear a dress to school for 30 days. Of course I ended up wearing a skirt and changing into my best friend Pam's jeans....but I will say this - the jeans we wore were something else! I think it was called His for Hers? And we did wear those silly hot pants - my father was horrified. |
Slick
Member
Username: Slick
Post Number: 21
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 10:25 am: | |
12 years of parochial school with Biker Nuns, aka Felician Sister grad in 1967. Strict discipline, uniforms, so no rules to worry about breaking because we all dressed the same. Dont even come to school without the proper uniform.
But boys still drank illegally, girls got pregnant, so you can't rule all morality. Thought they tried.
I think schools are better of with uniforms or very strict dress codes, prepare you for the work environment, oh yeah thats another subject. |
Dtctygrl
Member
Username: Dtctygrl
Post Number: 47
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 10:33 am: | |
1) dresses or skirts only - pants could only be worn in the winter for the walk to and from school (pre-bussing). Once you were at school you had to remove them and hang them on the peg with your coat in the hallway. Boots were also exchanged for dress shoes.
2) Gym shoes were for gym.
3) I had Mrs. Villeaverdi for both 3rd and 4th grade - she was from Cuba - crimes or misdeeds were punishable by death.  Ear pulling, a sharp whack with a ruler on the knuckles, and army drills were mild by her standard. Of course, if sentenced to the principal you knew the dreaded paddle with holes drilled in it would be your reward. |
Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1670
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 11:25 am: | |
No pants, only skirts and dresses pre-1970.
Even in public school, they would send us home if the skirts were too short. No jeans for either sex. A teacher once explained that kids were better behaved when they were dressed up, and I have to admit I agree. |
Eriedearie
Member
Username: Eriedearie
Post Number: 2793
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 11:29 am: | |
Absolutely no jeans or slacks of any kind were allowed for girls at any of my schools: A.L. Holmes Elementary, Burroughs Jr. High, and Wilbur Wright Cooperative High School (class of July 1965). Dresses and skirts had to be below the knee. Socks and dress shoes. One popular shoe style was penny loafers for us girls. If you were wearing a pleated skirt they looked really nice paired together. In 7th grade we were allowed to start wearing nylons. Panty hose had not been invented yet, so we wore garter belts to hold up the nylons. Some girls did wear the elasticized “old lady” hose holder-uppers until they could talk their mom into letting them buy a garter belt.
Blouses or not to tight sweaters (nothing revealing) were allowed with skirts. No excess jewelry either. Maybe one bracelet or simple necklace was okay, but nothing that made “noise” when you moved.
Gym shoes were for gym class only. Starting in Jr. High, all girls had to wear a white button down blouse, navy blue gym shorts and white tennis shoes. For swimming class we had these “tank suits” that were made of a sort of tight knit material. Plus we had to wear white swim caps.
I recall getting caught chewing gum in 4th grade. The teacher, Mr. Kenyon called me up to his desk to face him, put my hands out, palms up, while he proceeded to pinch the tops of my hands repeatedly for what seemed like 10 minutes. More than my hands hurting me, I was embarrassed. I never chewed gum in class again!
In 9th grade typing class, if Mrs. Edwards caught you looking at the typewriter keys she would whack your hands with her ruler. A couple of the girls had it happen. Not very pleasant sound effects for the others!
If you did something really bad you were sent to the office and the Principal would give you the paddle. It never happened to me, but plenty of the boy troublemakers would tell about their experience in the Principal’s office.
BTW, the boys were not permitted to wear jeans to school either. Dress pants or pressed slacks, a nice dress shirt and dress shoes, or loafers with socks were to be worn.
Side note: I recall jeans were referred to as Levi's or dungarees back then. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 3522
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 11:55 am: | |
Yup, in the fifties, all the gals wore skirts and blouses or a dress. And they looked like a million bucks, even the rather homely ones, unlike today's school bums. Saddle shoes were popular, but you wouldn't be caught dead with gym shoes outside of gym. And the male teachers all wore suits, unlike today's teacher bums. Women teachers were dressed in business attire and looked respectful, unlike today's female teacher bums.
Guys wore slacks and a sport shirt, usually long sleeved, even in warm weather. The cuffs would be rolled up two folds, and that was fine. Levis might be occasionally if infrequently worn, but always when they were new and without a scuff or rip.
I was never a gum chewer, so I can't recall any gum chewing offense stories. However, I dislike anyone working and serving me (waitress, sales person, etc) chewing gum. You should not do that in a business circumstance.
Contrary to what you see on Happy Days, I never saw a girl wearing a poodle skirt.
I remember a few paddles being used in school, but it was strictly minor corporal punishment. It should be brought back.
When I pass a high school today, I shake my head over the sloppy appearance of nearly every student. |
Pamequus
Member
Username: Pamequus
Post Number: 169
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 12:28 pm: | |
hmmmmm RAY "teacher bum"??? My son is a teacher at a local highschool. Has a M.Ed. and is a nationally certified teacher. He dresses usually in Khakis and a polo shirt. Hardly a bum. |
Richard_bak
Member
Username: Richard_bak
Post Number: 474
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 12:35 pm: | |
I think Ray should go sit in the cloak room for the rest of class and think about what he has done. |
Frankg
Member
Username: Frankg
Post Number: 516
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 12:45 pm: | |
I had to sit out in the hall for three days in second grade because I wrote left-handed, and couldn't write with my right hand. St. David's Elementary, Detroit, 1968 or so. |
Blueidone
Member
Username: Blueidone
Post Number: 305
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 12:57 pm: | |
I attended Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak for 2nd and 3rd grades...this was during Father Coughlin's tenure (anyone remember him?).
As training on walking properly, we had to walk around the red tape rectangle in the gym making sure that both our heels and toes were on the line at all times.
As training for learning to write in cursive, we had to make concentric circles on the paper..filling up sheet after sheet...and they all better be between the lines and even, or the ruler would tap your knuckles.
You never spoke in the hallway...or in class until you were spoken to.
And when you ate lunch, you ate EVERY bite because there were starving children in China who would be happy to eat what we had. Your tray was checked as you exited the lunchroom to be sure that you left nothing.
Recess was in the school parking lot..no slides or swings or toys of any kind.
My older sisters graduated from Shrine...women all took courses to lead them to be trained to be secretaries or nurses. My eldest sister was a math whiz, but was encouraged to excel in typing and stenography instead.
Of course we wore uniforms, which I agree is really a pretty good idea, except for the cost. The tuition and uniform was just too much for our family...thus the switch back to public schools. |
Scs_scooter
Member
Username: Scs_scooter
Post Number: 106
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 1:01 pm: | |
I got yanked up out of my chair for whispering to a friend. My arm was 6 inches longer than the other one for weeks! I was then put in a chair that was inside an old refrigerator box decorated like a dog house. I was in the 1st grade and the teachers name was Miss Sibley. I am 50 years old now and remember that like it was yesterday. Yup, and I was wearing a skirt and cute little Mary Jane shoes. No sneakers or pants until high school. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 3524
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 1:13 pm: | |
"He dresses usually in Khakis and a polo shirt. Hardly a bum."
Only referred to "bums" as in poor dress code. Tell him if he wears a shirt and tie and suit coat (or sport jacket) he'll command better respect among his students.....and his peers.
I'm sure otherwise he's a fine educator and person. But with me khakis and polo shirts don't cut it. That's how I feel, and I ain't a-sittin' in the cloak room to think about it. |
Chuckjav
Member
Username: Chuckjav
Post Number: 608
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 1:14 pm: | |
The gym teacher/safety patrol sponsor at Duffield Elementary (middle 1960s) swung a mean-ass wooden paddle.
Seems to me that the abandonment of corporal punishment in the Detroit Public Schools coincided with the city going to hell in a hand basket.
But......
You could say the same thing about DPD disbanding the Big-Four patrol cars and S.T.R.E.S.S.
Thoughts? |
Redvetred
Member
Username: Redvetred
Post Number: 252
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 1:26 pm: | |
No one mentioned "facials". Sister Mary Priscilla SSJ (Sisters of St. Joseph) would grab your face with her fingers on the left cheek, thumb on the right cheek, squeeze hard and shake your head for all it was worth. These "facials" were for serious violations otherwise a three-foot pointer was used to crack the knuckles. Boys and girls were treated equally for the same offenses but boys seemed to get it more often. |
Detroiterbybirth
Member
Username: Detroiterbybirth
Post Number: 8
Registered: 08-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 1:32 pm: | |
Yes, our teachers way back when were a bunch of sadistic brutes.
I can bet however, the lot of us are better people for it. |
Jcole
Member
Username: Jcole
Post Number: 3299
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 1:34 pm: | |
If not better people, we are people who obey |
Richard_bak
Member
Username: Richard_bak
Post Number: 477
Registered: 04-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 1:42 pm: | |
Remember Robert Hall's? They went out of business at exactly the same time Catholic schools started closing left and right. They made a small fortune selling powder-blue shirts and navy clip-on ties to the parents of parochial kids. (I assume they also sold the plaid skirts and stuff the girls wore.)
The boys were never allowed to roll up their sleeves. That meant worn elbows and very stuffy days in the classroom in Sept. and May. |
Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1673
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 1:47 pm: | |
Ah, those hot fall days...the memories of wearing a scratchy wool jumper or pleated knee-length skirt, with matching wool sweater during a September heat wave... |