While you sit around doing much,reading the paper, watching a dull TV show, taking a shower (or bath), whatever, mowing the lawn Ect,

Does a special memory from your school days ever pop into your mind? Tell us about it.

My favorite is from the 1940s, in a 7th grade Math class. All the desks were for two. 3 in a row, five rows. Our teacher insisted that we did NOT talk in class unless it was to her.

So of course someone always whispered to each other. Her responce? The boys that got caught were put under her desk. and she would walk around the room for a few minutes, then let them go back to their desk.

If it was a girl, she would take a fluffy erayser from one of those huge chalk boards
and throw it at them.

Oh, HAPPY DAYS.....

Memories...oh yes. I was in the 7th grade in my math class. It was St. Patrick's day. Then the teacher saw a girl who had nail polish on. "No nail polish is allowed on girls on this campus". "Go to the shop class and use acetone to remove your polish and then return to my class". She was terribly embarrassed. Imagine MY horror when I looked down and remembered that I had painted my nails bright green in honor of the day! I spent the rest of that class scraping the polish off with my fingernails, hoping the teacher wouldn't notice that my hands never left my lap. Yikes!

Oh yes. I remember back to grade school when I was skinny.

I was both the teacher's favorite and the teacher's worst nightmare. Depended on the teacher. My third grade teacher, Sister Caroline, a nun, used to make kids sit through the class with gum on their nose if they were caught chewing gum. When she would catch me, I would swallow it and she would then make me hold my knuckles out so she could slap me with her wooden ruler which was always tucked up her sleeve.

One day towards the end of the year, I decided to act upon one of her statements which was, if you were chewing gum, she would ask if you had enough for everyone, if not, you had to put it on your nose. This one time, I did not swallow mine and instead said I had enough for class and did indeed pull out a piece of gum for every child. She sent me to the principles office.

To this day I remember her telling me I will never grow because the gum will stick to my ribs and stunt my growth. I think she was right.

Ana

So these are school days memories?

My folks moved a lot when I was a kid, so I saw a lot of schools, kids, and teachers - good and bad. One institution really stood out though. They could have done a sitcom about THIS place.

It was the late 70's at a rural middle school. The school had outgrown its walls, so many of the classes were in trailers, and their weirdest teachers were in them.

The first English teacher of the semester had a nose like W.C. Fields. She made personal comments about the students and kept making us take the first test over and over (like dozens of times) - insisting we hadn't had them yet. Then - about a month in - she happened to look out a window and saw a local hobo passing by up near the highway. She bolted from the classroom and chased the poor man down the road. According to the papers, they ran for miles. The hobo eventually found a police car and banged on the doors until they let him in. The teacher was hauled away for 'observation.' They must have liked what they saw because she never came back again

[She was replaced by the previously retired English teacher. She was quite good & I liked her very much]


- same school, same year-
The science teacher in the trailer was finishing her dissertation on group behaviors and would fill up the four large chalkboards with notes from her projects and demand we write them all down. Then she would require that we speculate on her questions about their behaviors using the data provided.

She also played movies on baboons, wasps, seagulls, and other birds - often while she still expected us to be writing. When the lights were down, the boys would razz her about the class earning her doctorate, switch reels so they would play out of order, have rubber-band fights, etc... She would lose control and holler like Captain Bligh. Christian (a boy) even threw her beloved rubber plant 'overboard' one day. lol

Sending any of us to the office didn't help her, as the principal was perpetually unavailable and the vice-principal actually running the school recognized we weren't getting a real curriculum. He sympathized with our honest complaints. The limits on the rebellion were set by him. He was a nice guy, a real brain, and had a lovely accent. This was because he was actually an immigrant from Africa with several degrees who had taken what he could get upon arrival. He really should have been at a college or uni. The African art in his office was for real.

The other science teacher was a handsome 'fun guy' who was rumored to have supplied that hobo-obsessed teacher. He wasn't caught until long after I had left that school. I am not sure if he was caught for the untaxed income, the substances sold, or events associated with the extra-curricula parties at his home. I had him as a teacher for a couple of weeks the next year, until my family moved, and he was inviting the whole class to his house day after day.

The counselor and gym teachers were also nuts. The principal was obsessed with golf, and anytime you went by, he'd be using those indoor putting toys. Then there were the gypsies that were allowed to stay on the athletic field that fall...

Memorable place!

I thought about saving these stories for some kind of book, but nobody would believe it!

I studied music at school and as part of my "experience" was invited to provide the piano music every day for a week whilst pupils marched into morning Assembley - plus the hymns to be sung during the service and then more music again for marching out.

This was for the Headmistress, all the Teachers and 500 pupils.

I was so nervous the first day that I must have played everything at breakneck speed because during her "address" the Headmistress mentioned (with a twinke in her eye) that everyone might like to take a moment to catch their breath .... in readiness for the "gallop" out of the hall !!

I remember my 8th grade English teacher who everyone called a mean old spinster because she did not tolerate any nonsense in the classroom. I loved her class. I thought she was a wonderful teacher.
She was originally from Texas and she knew I loved to read and loved horses. On the last day of school she kept me after class and gave me a a set of beautiful bronze horse bookends. They were a gift from her Dad that meant a lot to her and she wanted me to have them. After more than 50 years I still have them and think of her every time I take a book off the shelf.

Oh, School memories....how about my geometry teacher who was a million years old and slept every day through class. Or the math teacher who was also the coach who spent class periods reading us Snoopy books. Or the math teacher who was a sweet man but who had zero control over the class to the point where it was almost dangerous and certainly no learning took place. Hmmmm, no wonder I stink at math.

Gee Salar of Myst, I think I saw that movie!