Schooldays are the happiest days of your life.

Fred_Quimby said:
F..king hated school. I was bullied remorselessly and wagged as much as I could in the final year. If I ever met up with those cûnts again I would do serious damage to them. I joined up later and I learnt to handle myself. I got all my qualifications whilst in the army and it was no thanks to those barstewards.
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I also learnt a massive amount more after joining the army, miles more than I ever learnt at school!
 
ColinBellsjockstrap said:
And don't get me started on 60mph flying blackboard rubbers

Ahhh, happy days.
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Ha! I remember Mr. Howard who taught maths. He could draw a perfect circle on the board freehand and was a dead-eye shot with a piece of chalk, able to land it perfectly on a kid's head if they weren't paying attention. Once my mate Jimmy W. nodded off in class and Howard sent the chalk in a slow graceful arc headed right for Jimmy's nose, except that Jimmy yawned big & wide and the chalk went down his throat. And stuck there. Jimmy was gagging & turning different colours while Mr. H. went back to explaining Pythagoras's theorem. When someone eventually said "I think Jimmy's choking, sir!" he made it to Jimmy's desk in three giant strides, turned him over and brought his huge paw down on Jimmy's back, whereupon the chalk flew out along with lunch. As Jimmy regained his senses Mr. H. declared "clean that mess up, lad" and Jimmy dutifully went off to get a mop. None of us thought this was out of order at the time.

In general school gave me tons of "'interesting useless knowledge" but also a life-long curiosity for learning for its own sake. School sports got me fitter and instilled teamwork. Wouldn't want my teenage years over again but I'm grateful for the time spent in the classroom and sports field. Wouldn't have done my nearly 50 years teaching If I didn't think it was an honourable profession.
Jimmy eventually went into theatre and toured the world.
 
City Hobgoblin said:
My main negative about school, looking back, was that if you weren't naturally good at sport there was very little encouragement or coaching used to try to get you more involved or confident enough to want to be more involved.

On the whole it was ok, most teachers were in it for the right reasons and some were quite inspiring. Lots of arts and drama stuff going on. Head was what you might have called a progressive and the cane was hardly ever used. Valued staff stayed on for years so it was fairly stable.
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Our teachers picked lads not on merit but on the basis they were drinking buddies or pals with their dad's etc. The amount of favouritism and praise these lads received compared to none sporting folk was ridiculous. This is probably why many didn't cope in the real world or at uni once they stopped receiving attention. I joined a footy team outside of school which was a great laugh and enjoyed it. Lads were a lot more down to earth, witty and good fun.
 
Happiest day of my life when I left school (Hartshead in Ashton) in 1975. Absolutely detested it, the Teachers were generally a set of twats apart from Mr Stanley, Mr Cousil and Mr Parker. I was accused of trying to burn the school down (long story) and my best mate was compared to a member of the IRA.

One of our teachers was a paedophile, Alan Turner, Google him as “Ten Bob Turner” but we all knew him as “Bummer Turner” as did all the Teachers who never reported him, he finally got prosecuted 20 years ago.

Another teacher called Milner was also shagging one of my female classmates whilst she was in the fifth year, came out officially when she was 16 but we all knew it had been going on well before her birthday.

Set of absolute fucking wankers, i rebelled and was “invited” to see a Psychologist, I told him to fuck off in no uncertain terms.

After School I went to Tameside College then Manchester College on Aytoun Street doing Business Studies on day release, those 4 years were a complete joy, the Tutors were the antithesis of the wankers I encountered at School.
 
AliBobbyJ said:
Ha! I remember Mr. Howard who taught maths. He could draw a perfect circle on the board freehand and was a dead-eye shot with a piece of chalk, able to land it perfectly on a kid's head if they weren't paying attention. Once my mate Jimmy W. nodded off in class and Howard sent the chalk in a slow graceful arc headed right for Jimmy's nose, except that Jimmy yawned big & wide and the chalk went down his throat. And stuck there. Jimmy was gagging & turning different colours while Mr. H. went back to explaining Pythagoras's theorem. When someone eventually said "I think Jimmy's choking, sir!" he made it to Jimmy's desk in three giant strides, turned him over and brought his huge paw down on Jimmy's back, whereupon the chalk flew out along with lunch. As Jimmy regained his senses Mr. H. declared "clean that mess up, lad" and Jimmy dutifully went off to get a mop. None of us thought this was out of order at the time.

In general school gave me tons of "'interesting useless knowledge" but also a life-long curiosity for learning for its own sake. School sports got me fitter and instilled teamwork. Wouldn't want my teenage years over again but I'm grateful for the time spent in the classroom and sports field. Wouldn't have done my nearly 50 years teaching If I didn't think it was an honourable profession.
Jimmy eventually went into theatre and toured the world.
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casual violence was fairly commonplace. I vividly remember my favourite teacher in primary (who also took football) twatting a lad on the side of his face so hard he knocked him over a desk. I thought at the time 'he deserved that for being stupid'. Changed days.
 
School was a mix for me - I went to about seven different ones (and not for my behaviour, my dad was a serial job hopper) and all of them presented different challenges with teachers and pupils. Favourite was Uppermill Primary School which was almost idylic. Least favourite was Richmond Grammar School in North Yorks which despite having a couple of brilliant teachers was very much like Tom Browns Schooldays including the bullying and fagging. The difference when it was merged with other schools to create a massive comprehensive was astonishing. What the constant changing of school gave me was an insular self confidence. A handful of teachers left their mark in a good way. Very different days today, my teenage granddaughters would freak out at the suggestion of moving schools (and friend base). It doesn't stop them stressing about absolutely everything on a daily basis though. I tell them not to worry about things they can't influence and I just get the look....They would certainly not claim that schooldays were best.
 
Primary - Yes.
Secondary - Nope.

I was lucky in primary. Got an amazing class. Everyone felt like your mate, you could sit next to anyone and chat with them and there were very few fights or disagreements. Was brilliant. Loved those innocent, happy days.

For secondary, while all my primary mates went off to the same comprehensive, I was sent to an all-boys grammar school. I know my parents thought they were doing the right thing, and maybe it all turned out fine in the end, but man I hated that place. Vast majority of the lads there were stuck-up arses who all thought they were the cleverest in the class, constantly in competition with one another, snide and cruel, and most of the teachers were smug and nasty as fuck.

It wasn't even posh, it was in a shitty area, but they wanted to make it feel posh since it was a "grammar school" so we weren't allowed to play football, only rugby or cricket. Had daft rules about hair length and uniforms as well, and they'd dish out detentions for almost anything. Horrible place.

Plus, spending my entire adolescence around nothing but boys was very detrimental. Left that place with ridiculous levels of social anxiety around girls which took me years to get over. A lot of the lads also left with very horrible attitudes towards girls and women and I know of at least two from my class alone who were done for rape once they got to uni. In short, same-sex high schools can get to fuck.
 
School was quite brutal in the 80s in senior school. I’d have that experience though over the different kind of brutality they face now.

Camera phones. Everything is recorded, shared and used as a bullying tool. Give me a smack in the chops back in the day any day over that, because once it’s online and shared amongst the groups they’re all in, their reputation is destroyed.
 
You know as a retired teacher this thread really upsets me. I just hope that the children I taught are not as disillusioned as most of you appear to be.
I know I was 'only Primary' as they used to say but I did start before the National Curriculum was brought in so could be more choosy with what I taught not rigidly stick to the NC.
For example there was the day one of my pupils found an injured pigeon on his way to school and carried it carefully into the classroom where we found a box for it, rang the RSPB who promised to collect it but said it would be afternoon.
So the planned lessons were scrapped and we explored everything we could find about birds. Comparing weights/sizes/for maths. Going into the class and school library for any books on birds to find where the different types came from for Geography. Writing about the journey Swallows and Canada Geese took to get over here English/Literature. Drawing the pigeon and other birds. You get the idea.
Of course that didn't happen every day but our school tried to teach the whole child and related to the differences (subtly) trying to maximise the potential of each child. I had a boy one year who struggled with his reading but boy oh boy did he have green fingers. He brought back to life some of my failing plants (I always had plants in the classroom) and he used to tell me about helping out at the local stables at weekend. This was a 10 yr old and many years later I saw his Mum in a supermarket and she told me he was working with horses and doing very well.
Not every child is what the powers that be feel they should be and interested in 'academia'. Hence the need to educate the whole child.

Sorry to go on but I sincerely hope that the majority of children I was lucky enough to teach didn't go away feeling like some of you do. :-) JMHO


EDIT: I'm not trying to say I was a perfect teacher or we were a perfect school but we tried our best. I loved teaching and even though there were days when I wanted to pack it all in the good days far outweighed them. Maybe it was because I had had my own children before I became a teacher, also because I was the eldest of 10 and had been surrounded by children all my life!! *lol*
 
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Eccles Blue said:
You know as a retired teacher this thread really upsets me. I just hope that the children I taught are not as disillusioned as most of you appear to be.
I know I was 'only Primary' as they used to say but I did start before the National Curriculum was brought in so could be more choosy with what I taught not rigidly stick to the NC.
For example there was the day one of my pupils found an injured pigeon on his way to school and carried it carefully into the classroom where we found a box for it, rang the RSPB who promised to collect it but said it would be afternoon.
So the planned lessons were scrapped and we explored everything we could find about birds. Comparing weights/sizes/for maths. Going into the class and school library for any books on birds to find where the different types came from for Geography. Writing about the journey Swallows and Canada Geese took to get over here English/Literature. Drawing the pigeon and other birds. You get the idea.
Of course that didn't happen every day but our school tried to teach the whole child and related to the differences (subtly) trying to maximise the potential of each child. I had a boy one year who struggled with his reading but boy oh boy did he have green fingers. He brought back to life some of my failing plants (I always had plants in the classroom) and he used to tell me about helping out at the local stables at weekend. This was a 10 yr old and many years later I saw his Mum in a supermarket and she told me he was working with horses and doing very well.
Not every child is what the powers that be feel they should be and interested in 'academia'. Hence the need to educate the whole child.

Sorry to go on but I sincerely hope that the majority of children I was lucky enough to teach didn't go away feeling like some of you do. :-) JMHO


EDIT: I'm not trying to say I was a perfect teacher or we were a perfect school but we tried our best. I loved teaching and even though there were days when I wanted to pack it all in the good days far outweighed them. Maybe it was because I had had my own children before I became a teacher, also because I was the eldest of 10 and had been surrounded by children all my life!! *lol*
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I wouldn't take it personally Eccles. Teaching, like many other professions, has good and bad people working in it.

Most people seem to be recalling secondary school experiences rather than primary, which I think for most, is a much more difficult time with all those hormones racing around.
 
It's sad reading some of these posts.
I was fortunate, absolutely loved my school days back in the 70's & 80's
 
I'm the perfect example of the "wish I could go back and do it again, knowing what I know now" cliché.

I liked school for all the wrong reasons and what I should have been there for, I hated.

Was predicted decent grades all the way through but a combination of dicking around and going to pieces in exams meant I left with nowt!

Also treated some of the teachers like absolute shite too and often look back and think of how much of a dick I was. I got one supply teacher sacked cos he called us "little bastards" in class. Failed to mention the fact that we wound him up so much to the point that he snapped.


Found out last year that one of my old teachers (well known in Greater Manchester, particularly to many of the local professional footballers) is up in court for Noncing, though the alleged allegations were from well before my time at the school.
 
PPT said:
Remember the wars well. Clayton, Failsworth & Droylsden boys going at it. Happy days.
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Was it like GDR?
Gorton, Denton and Reddish wars?

Wright Robbie was a war zone in the 70's ...school was fucking mental. I learnt fuck all.

(apart from making Kung Fu stars in mekal work for fights with Spurley, who rarely turned up)
 
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mancityvstoke said:
Was it like GDR?
Gorton, Denton and Reddish wars?

Wright Robbie was a war zone in the 70's ...school was fucking mental. I learnt fuck all.
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Probably. As we know, the 70's were violent times: At school, on the terraces and in general. We used to run the coppers ragged!
 
Eccles Blue said:
You know as a retired teacher this thread really upsets me. I just hope that the children I taught are not as disillusioned as most of you appear to be.
I know I was 'only Primary' as they used to say but I did start before the National Curriculum was brought in so could be more choosy with what I taught not rigidly stick to the NC.
For example there was the day one of my pupils found an injured pigeon on his way to school and carried it carefully into the classroom where we found a box for it, rang the RSPB who promised to collect it but said it would be afternoon.
So the planned lessons were scrapped and we explored everything we could find about birds. Comparing weights/sizes/for maths. Going into the class and school library for any books on birds to find where the different types came from for Geography. Writing about the journey Swallows and Canada Geese took to get over here English/Literature. Drawing the pigeon and other birds. You get the idea.
Of course that didn't happen every day but our school tried to teach the whole child and related to the differences (subtly) trying to maximise the potential of each child. I had a boy one year who struggled with his reading but boy oh boy did he have green fingers. He brought back to life some of my failing plants (I always had plants in the classroom) and he used to tell me about helping out at the local stables at weekend. This was a 10 yr old and many years later I saw his Mum in a supermarket and she told me he was working with horses and doing very well.
Not every child is what the powers that be feel they should be and interested in 'academia'. Hence the need to educate the whole child.

Sorry to go on but I sincerely hope that the majority of children I was lucky enough to teach didn't go away feeling like some of you do. :-) JMHO


EDIT: I'm not trying to say I was a perfect teacher or we were a perfect school but we tried our best. I loved teaching and even though there were days when I wanted to pack it all in the good days far outweighed them. Maybe it was because I had had my own children before I became a teacher, also because I was the eldest of 10 and had been surrounded by children all my life!! *lol*
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Bet you told the kids it was a barm.

Brain washing kids....disgraceful.
 
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