Adults Are Revealing Things Their Teachers Did In '80s And '90s That "Would Not Fly Today" And There's A Lot Going On Here
Recently, Reddit user u/theSandwichSister asked: "80s/90s kids: What’s something a school teacher did to you that would not fly today?" — and some of the answers were either hilarious or heartbreaking. So we gathered a few of them for you to read below.
1."A 6th grade teacher would take three kids every Friday to McDonald’s for lunch. She was cool as hell. Smoked during the drive and everything."
2."I told my biology teacher that I wasn't feeling too well. He said that I didn't look sick, and as punishment, made me stand in the corner until I fainted."
3."In high school, we would sometimes play knee soccer which was in our wrestling room (wall-to-wall wrestling mats) and it was really just handball but on our knees. The PE teacher (football coach) let us play rough since it was an all-male class and we were on our knees and couldn't do too much damage. During the game, two of the students were grappling for the ball and as these things go, one of them accidentally knocked the other a little too aggressively. The kid that got hit (a known asshole of the school) got pissed and stood up and kicked the other kid. The PE teacher (a 225-pound jacked military haircut) stormed over and shoved the kid who flew about 10 feet before crashing to the ground.
"The kid gets up ready to fight whoever shoved him and the teacher closed the gap and started screaming at him. Then the teacher lectured the entire class about sportsmanship and honor. The teacher never got in any trouble."
4."English teacher in high school used to cuss kids out for being noisy in class and if that didn't work, he'd throw the blackboard eraser at us. I wasn't on the receiving end of the eraser. That chalk would leave marks on kid's backs for the rest of the day so everyone knew who pissed him off."
5."My elementary school teacher used to say to kids 'you're cruising for a bruising' and once washed out my friend Jermaine's mouth out with soap. This was circa 1987."
6."It was my first-grade teacher. I shook the ruler in my hand, and the teacher took my ruler and hit me with it causing my nose to bleed. Few years later, I found out that she also had been working as a school psychologist."
7."One of my English teachers smoked a joint in his car every day during his planning period. Same guy had a hall pass that was a sandwich board reading 'I am missing out on a valuable educational experience because I have to tinkle.' He also called me a sarcastic little shit, which I totally deserved."
8."My elementary school principal would pull loose teeth. You could go to his office, have him pull your loose tooth and he would give you a lollipop."
9."In elementary school, we had a teacher who, if you leaned back in your chair with your chair on two legs, would sneak up behind you and kick the chair out from under you causing you to fall and possibly smack your head in the floor. He could have seriously hurt or killed a kid by doing that, but no one batted an eye at it."
10."My 3rd-grade teacher had the whole class camp in her backyard after the last day of school. She took us to see the original TMNT movie in the theater, then we stayed up late telling ghost stories. One of my absolute fondest memories."
11."I had a high school Spanish teacher tell me after class one day that she wouldn’t say anything if I sucker punched this one annoying bully in the class that she also hated."
12."When I was in first grade, I asked to use the bathroom during recess. My teacher said no because I just had lunch and could’ve used it then (when I didn’t have to go). So I pooped my pants behind a tree and had to go through the embarrassing aftermath during nap time."
13."I had a teacher that would throw foam balls at students when they fell asleep."
14."In 8th grade, the science teacher calls a kid to the front of the room for some minor infraction, has him bend over, then kicks him in the ass. However, the student stepped out of the way just in time, and the teacher kicked the blackboard’s chalk tray, sending chalk flying everywhere. The humiliation was on the other foot then as the teacher chased the kid around the room a few laps. Chaos."
15."'90s kid here. If we ever had to go somewhere a bit far away and take a bus, our teacher let us go there by ourselves and come with his car. We were 9–12 years old. He would ask if anyone knew where the place was and made them a leader to take the class there."
"Also, because the school pays for these trips, he would give the school’s bus card that had like 500€ loaded into it to someone so we can pay for those kids who didn’t have the bus ticket."
16."Not something done to me per se, but my 3rd grade teacher had a little office with a door inside our classroom, and she would smoke cigarettes in there while we were at lunch/recess."
17."My middle school teacher confiscated my lunch after catching me trying to eat some of it during class and then he ate it in front of everyone and sent me to lunch with nothing. My mom cried when I told her what happened and complained to the school but nothing happened to him."
18."Had my chair taken away for half the year by my 8th-grade teacher. I could stand or had to sit on the floor."
19."If my teacher thought your desk was too messy she’d flip it over and dump out all of the contents in the middle of the classroom and then make you pick them up while everyone watched you. We were six years old."
20."I had a second-grade teacher that everyone LOVED. He told hilarious stories and he had great games to help us learn. He was genuinely a great teacher. And one of the rewards that you could earn if you did well was a 'Charlie horse' where he would basically hit you on your leg (roughly just above the knee) in a way that felt like hitting your funny bone but in a more mild way. So many kids were so excited to do this. As far as I can tell, nobody was traumatized by this and nothing creepy was going on, but he was hitting students for their amusement. No way that would fly today."
21."In the early '80s, our teacher let us play a modified version of dodgeball... in the classroom."
