What Were Your Teachers Like At School ?

[Illaveago]

Ooh! That reminded me of the teachers getting us to help them do some printing in junior school . I can only vaguely remember it , but I can remember that the sheets of paper came out soaking wet and smelled of meths !

 

[Tim Bennet.]

. . . but I can remember that the sheets of paper came out soaking wet and smelled of meths !

The Banda duplicating machine! (https://www.1900s.org.uk/banda.htm )

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

One of my very few fond memories from school was a favourite saying of an English teacher, “Onomatopoeia, not to be confused with on a Brighton pier”

 

[oldwheels]

You could make a fortune if you had one now. 😂

I have one. How much of a fortune are you offering?

 

[stephec]

I have one. How much of a fortune are you offering?

If you could lend it to @Mo1959 that would be better thanks

 

[Illaveago]

Our comprehensive school was set in a large park shared by 2 other schools . The Girls School and the Grammar school which had the old house which the park belonged to . Some mature oaks which looked they were once part of an avenue formed a break between the boys and girls schools . This area was No Man's Land and was patrolled during break times by teachers. It's a wonder they didn't put up guard towers at either end ! The gap between the opposing sides was about 20 yards and it was stricktly forbidden to enter that area. Occasionally a ball might stray there but we had to be careful in retrieving it . At times groups of kids would form lines on either side and stare at one another .
One year there was a strike ! I don't know who organised it but word got round and we refused to go back in after the dinner break . We wanted to be able to mix with the girls . This was before mixed schools . We didn't see why we were treated differently to the Grammar School . I think it was a coordinated strike between the Boys and Girls School but it eventually broke up after 15 minutes . We didn't half get a rollicking when we got back to our classes .

 

[presta]

I once got my applied maths teacher so angry with me he had to send me out before he completely lost it

Miss Pendle's thing was map scales. It should be 1 inch equals 1 mile, not 1 inch to 1 mile. Got it?
I wasn't having any truck with that rubbish, so I put 1inch to 1 mile.
Holy sh!t.
She didn't do anything to me, but the whole class sat wide eyed and wide mouthed as she threw a tantrum like Rumplestiltskin, beetroot faced, shrieking, stamping her feet.
My guess is that her teacher did the same when she put 1 inch equals 1 mile.

We had a good physics teacher. He was short with ginger hair moustache and beard a bit like a gnome .

Mr Jolly was the spitting image of Ron Mael from Sparks. Face, hair, moustache, swivel-eyes, the lot.

Computers were a thing on science fiction films in my school days and took up a whole room !

We once filled in an A4 form for the computer bureau to calculate the average of ten numbers in Fortran. The point of that was completely lost on me.

I must be relatively young, as I had one of those new fangled electronic calculator things!

I bought one of these as a student in 1975. I still have it in full working order with case, instruction book, box, and Boots till receipt for £9.99. They've got one in Oxford Science Museum now.

One of my very few fond memories from school was a favourite saying of an English teacher, “Onomatopoeia, not to be confused with on a Brighton pier”

Mr Le Good once walked in the door and wrote across the board:
__________________________________________________________________________ Continuous
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Continual

 

[Time Waster]

By the end of year 2 at school ... aged 6 ... we could recite all our times tables up to X12 ..
Because ..
Mrs. McCauley used a cane to lash our hands if we made a mistake ...
I went home from school one day with both both hands bloodied ..
We spent all our time in her class terrified of what she would do next...
My mother made some furious and screaming calls to the Police and other friends of the family and Mrs. McCauley left our school before I returned after my hands had healed.
Lots of others in my class suffered at her hands but the Headmaster would take no action ...
Back in the 60’s it was no use appealing to schools about nasty and abusive teachers.

My first 2 years at school possibly 3 was with a teacher who never used the cane just her hand on the behind. Any mark was where kids could hide it. Put it this way boys, always boys, learnt to dress themselves before parents saw the marks left by a beating. When the kid's parents found out they would complain to the head teacher who would basically not give a flying .... She'd basically listen then put the wind up the parents by saying she stood with her teacher as would all the other teachers. It couldn't be proven and she'd make sure the kid was labelled as a trouble maker which would go with him throughout his school life. Basically your son's going to take it more than ever now and if you make a fuss you'll ruin his life! That always got the parents.

BTW us kids all knew what was happening. We knew all the kids throughout the school who had been mistreated and assaulted by her. I knew of kids spanning 12 years. Big brothers of classmates who were broken, younger kid down our street 6 years younger who wet himself every school day before leaving home in fear!

I do not exaggerate. We knew everything! Right down to her personal family life difficulties that some parents gave to let her off. Small village, everyone knew everyone's business! Parents talk, kids listen and then talk.

Late 70s/ early 80s I was in primary school and these things happened. Institutional cover up. Now that teacher would be locked up or at least kicked out. Back then teachers were unionised and protected beyond acceptable standards.

Computers were a thing on science fiction films in my school days and took up a whole room !

My primary school got a lynx 80 computer in my penultimate year. We only got to sit in the tiny library area to watch the teacher struggle to turn it on once. No good without anyoneto use it, but bright new thing right?

Later on at grammar school we got to learn programming, now called coding, on a BBC B computer. Little cars linked by long tape cable Things to go around an object in its way.

Later on they got money from a charity I think and bought 15 to 20 PCs. We didn't programme with them only answer questions for an aptitude test that recommended occupations to go for. Our only careers advice other than how to fill out university application forms. Outcome was everyone got dustbinman as a recommended occupation. Bear in mind grammar school with incredibly bright kids. A quiet and not very impressive bright spark friend got all highest grade a levels and only one less than the UK record for that year. If our school allowed people to take more a levels he'd have the record for sure. Especially since he did one early out of school time.

 

[Dogtrousers]

58008

 

[Reynard]

BBC Acorns... Goodness, I remember those...

I think if you typed mode 127, you got the text on the screen to flash magenta and green. You could also get red & cyan and blue & yellow, but I can't remember the numbers for those. There was a mathematical game we were allowed to play, where you had to pick up different 3-d solids and some other bits to plug up the holes in a boat and escape from this building / island thing.

Funny, just the other day, I found a picture I scanned and printed at school on a dot-matrix type printer tucked into a book I took off the shelf. I'd forgotten all about it. This would've been about 1992, I think.

I really liked Mr Outen, the computer science teacher. Most of my classmates thought he was weird, but if you wanted to learn, he'd give you his time and encouragement. I wanted to do AS computer science, but there weren't enough takers and they pulled the plug on that. Which was a shame, but I still learned a lot puttering about in my lunch breaks and in some free study time.

 

[Chris S]

I remember our school getting a single computer around 1980. I think it was some sort of BBC micro and it cost about £5,000. That's about £20,000 today.

 

[swee'pea99]

I can remember my brother getting a digital watch . It had a dark red screen and illuminated numbers .

Can't recall his name but he was proud as punch when he arrived with his Brand New Digital Watch. It wasn't round it was square, it didn't have hands it had numbers, and it didn't have a winder, it had buttons! And the numbers lit up! And it didn't take long to discover that if you pushed the buttons in random ways/combinations, very soon it got confused and the little red lights went totally random and its owner burst into tears in a most gratifying way.

 

[swee'pea99]

She didn't do anything to me, but the whole class sat wide eyed and wide mouthed as she threw a tantrum like Rumplestiltskin, beetroot faced, shrieking, stamping her feet.

The revolt of Spadge, "one of those heavy, full-grown boys, thick-legged, red-fisted, bursting with flesh, designed for the great outdoors" from Cider with Rosie instantly sprang to mind:

The great day came; a day of shimmering summer, with the valley outside in a state of leafy levitation. Crabby B was at her sourest, and Spadge Hopkins had had enough. He began to writhe in his desk, and roll his eyes, and kick with his boots, and mutter; ‘She’d better look out. ’Er, – Crabby B. She’d better, that’s all. I can tell you …’

We didn’t quite know what the matter was, in spite of his meaning looks. Then he threw down his pen, said; ‘Sod it all,’ got up, and walked to the door. ‘And where are you going, young man, may I ask?’ said Crabby with her awful leer. Spadge paused and looked her straight in the eye. ‘If it’s any business of yourn.’ We shivered with pleasure at this defiance, Spadge leisurely made for the door.

‘Sit down this instant!’ Crabby suddenly screamed. ‘I won’t have it!’ ‘Ta-ta,’ said Spadge. Then Crabby sprang like a yellow cat, spitting and clawing with rage. She caught Spadge in the doorway and fell upon him. There was a shameful moment of heavy breathing and scuffling, while the teacher tore at his clothes. Spadge caught her hands in his great red fists and held her at arm’s length, struggling. ‘Come and help me, someone!’ wailed Crabby, demented.

But nobody moved; we just watched. We saw Spadge lift her up and place her on the top of the cupboard, then walk out of the door and away. There was a moment of silence, then we all laid down our pens and began to stamp on the floor in unison. Crabby stayed where she was, on top of the cupboard, drumming her heels and weeping.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

We had a young French teacher on exchange for a year. What everyone remembered about her was she always wore a striking silk scarf around her neck. Found out later it was to cover a scar where she tried to hang herself.

 

[BrumJim]

I remember our school getting a single computer around 1980. I think it was some sort of BBC micro and it cost about £5,000. That's about £20,000 today.

My recollection was that the BBC B micro was about £400 when I was at school, with a Sinclair Spectrum being about £100.

We had a computer room with a number of BBC B micros and a Computer Science lesson, with an 'O'-level option for taking this subject. (that dates it a bit, doesn't it!).

Don't remember the teachers at school being that bad. It was the other pupils that were evil, psychotic bullies. To me, at least. Some teachers certainly picked on some kids, either because they were trouble or because they just didn't like the cut of their cloth.

Being an ex-grammar school, there were some teachers still there who were unsuited to comprehensive education. Some were really scary, some really good, and some were out of their depth. Memories? Mr Smith, who played flanker for Leicester Tigers first team and taught maths. No one messed with him. Was good with the difficult kids, but I was rubbish at Maths when he was teaching me. Mrs Watson, a Glasweigan French teacher who taught me French for all 5 years. I have a strange French accent. Mr Randell for Geography. Despite being the class (year?) goody-two-shoes, I played up in his lesson and got sent out a few times. Don't know why. Sorry, if you are reading this. And Mr Sarson, the quintissential inspirational teacher.

Corporal punishment was banned by the time I got to Secondary School.