'80s And '90s Kids Are Recalling "Normal" Things Their Teachers Did That Would Be Extremely Weird In 2024
Going to school in the '80s and '90s meant teachers may have had a little more "freedom" with their teaching methods. So when asked, "80s/90s kids: What’s something a school teacher did to you that would not fly today?" a lot of people from the BuzzFeed Community provided their stories. Here are some of them below:
1."5th grade teacher. Every year, the class would take a field trip to his house. We would ride bikes, watch The Longest Day, and then jump on his trampoline. This was in 1990. No parents came. Just us and Mr. C. His wife would be waiting for us with homemade peanut butter and jam sandwiches."
2."So, I'm Black and grew up in Mississippi. I was in the 7th grade and was in class the day after the yearly TV broadcast of The Wizard of Oz. Coach McBride was leaning on his desk, looking at me with a smirk on his face. He said, 'Tonya, didn't I see your family on TV last night? Those flying monkeys on Wizard of Oz?' My grandmother's fighting spirit must have been with me that day because I shot back quickly with, 'Yeah, we were working for your mother.' It's been over 30 years ago, and I still get twisted when I think about it."
3."We had a sleepover at my 4th-grade teacher's house on the last day of school. She lived right by the beach and bought us all pizza, and we watched Jurassic Park. She was the coolest."
4."When I was about 15, there was a girl in my year who went out of her way to make my life hell. It was never anything physical, but underhand psychological and mental bullying that was hard to prove or witness, so nothing could really be done — but my form tutor knew and believed me. At parents' evening, she told my mum that if one day, I snapped and punched the girl, there would be a dozen witnesses in the staff room to say I was nowhere near her. It was unorthodox, and I never actually did, but it gave me a major confidence boost to know that she had my back."
5."'70s high school. I had a poli-sci teacher who also taught government. I worked in catering at the Hyatt, and on the first day of the new quarter, I was super hung over. I told him my co-workers and I snatched a case of champagne from the walk-in and spent the night chugging it in one of the rooms the front desk manager blocked for us. He said if I could get him a case of champagne, he would give me A’s in both classes, and I never had to come to class. The next morning, he pulled his car up next to mine in the student parking lot. We opened our trunks, and transferred the case of champagne from my car to his. I never attended a done day of either class, and when report cards came out, there were two A’s. One for each class."
6."We had a substitute in 3rd grade who was genuinely nice and loved chatting with the students. Somehow, the convo turned to horror movies, and she rambled on and on about how much she loved Friday the 13th. At one point, she actually put the movie on for us 3RD GRADERS. She skipped the smexy parts but let all the gore and swear words slide. She told us not to tell anyone. We never saw her again after that."
7."During the early '90s to 2000s at my grade school, during PE class, our teacher would lead the class in stretching to the Boys II Men song 'I'll Make Love To You.' I doubt that would fly today."
"At our middle school dances (7th grade), they’d play 'Me So Horny,' and no one batted an eye."
8."I had a high school history teacher who would mess with kids whenever they fell asleep. Some of his methods were tipping over your desk, smacking a gavel on your desk, or BLOWING A DANG AIR HORN next to your head."
9."My preschool teacher held me down and force-fed me applesauce in the early '90s. It's been 30 years, and I still can't eat applesauce."
10."My mum was a secondary school teacher in the 1970s. When she was just starting out, she got really sick of a group of 15/16-year-old bullies who would constantly wait outside the classroom for the younger kids (think 11/12 years old) to rough them up. So one day, she went outside, kicked them all in the shins, and asked if they still thought it was funny. Apparently, they never picked on the kids again."
11."When my dad was a biology teacher, he would often bring our two dogs to school. The school didn’t care, and the students loved it. For his class, as a special treat, two students who scored the highest on a quiz/test or who were generally well-behaved for that day got to take the dogs for a walk during the last 15 minutes of class. This was high school, and every student did their best so they could earn the honor. He was also just a great teacher as he loved teaching and really encouraged his students to learn; he was voted best teacher among the students every year. He was also the golf/basketball/ski coach. Unfortunately, we lived in another county, so my siblings and I never had him as a teacher, but when we were young, he would sometimes take us when our schools were closed for some reason. I miss you dad!! RIP."
12."In elementary school (the '80s), it was normal to be sent to the principal's office. He had a paddle with holes in it hanging on his wall. He would have you put your hands on his desk and spank you hard. Then, he would send you back to class. It was universally condoned by the parents. Also, my first-grade teacher duct-taped me to a chair for standing up in class. She totally embarrassed me in front of the entire class.
13."We had a smoking area outside the cafeteria for the students. You had to be 18 or older or have a permission slip from your parents allowing you to smoke. Since the drinking age was 18 at the time, when we had our prom, we could sneak over to the hotel bar and get hammered while the prom was going on. A footnote: when we had our 30-year reunion, it was at the same hotel. We drained their legs and just about cleared out their hotel bar. Then the elevator got stuck at 2 a.m. because all the drunks wanted to use it at the same time."
"We had a student smoking section, too. There weren't any age restrictions on it either, but by 1992 it was gone."
14."At my dad's school, some of his teachers smoked in classrooms. One teacher had a pug on her desk or in a basket beneath. Her dog usually growled at whoever went up to her desk. Tried to bite my dad's hand when he was putting his paper on her desk. She didn't discipline her dog over that."
15."My 4th-grade teacher would have a few of us girls rub her shoulders during Bill Nye the Science Guy. Our reward was candy, usually Twizzlers. My 3rd-grade teacher punished me for talking. Instead of sending me to the hall, she sent me to the janitor's closet/room. There were chemicals, and the light would shut off because there was no movement. The worst part was she forgot about me for over two hours."
If you went to school before the 2000s, tell us the things your teachers did that would absolutely not fly today in the comments below.
