I'm a 68 years young retired teacher and this video was an incredible trip down memory lane for me, both as a child and a former classroom teacher. Thank you for the fun memories!❤
I'm an ancient relic at 54 , you sound like the type of teacher that actually taught, today's teachers are a joke , this was an unexpected trip down memory lane as well for me . Such a a different and better time. So glad I grew up in the Era I did I feel lucky. Remember all this stuff. Peace......
In the 1960s we had small square milk cartons at lunch, larger diameter pencils with dark lead, and we played marbles outside during recess. We had our individual desks that opened up to store your books. It was a time of fun and innocence.
We had to buy our milk (in cartons yes) from the janitor in the basement lunchroom even if we brought our own lunches. He was terrifying, always in a bad mood. We could only buy chocolate milk on Fridays.
@@bite-sizedshorts9635: We used the fat pencils - easier to grip with small hands . We had ‘wide line’ practice paper too . I remember having to write each letter 10 times each .
I remember everything U mentioned . Those small milk cartons could give U a splash of milk in your face , trying to open them, was a little tricky . We ate a cookie with our milk . Us kids took turns bringing in a package of cookies for the whole class . It seemed those windmill cookies were a big hit .😀
I started kindergarten in 61, my second grade teacher started every day with the pledge of allegiance, a Bible verse, and a song that she would accompany the class on the big old upright piano. All grades started the day with the pledge of allegiance. Great times.
I started kindergarten in 61 as well. We always sang The star spangled banner and God bless America after the pledge of allegiance every morning. We sometimes had square dancing as P&E and Oh Johnny Oh was usually the song the teacher picked for us to dance to.
I work in a bakery. I was stunned when I heard the new hire say she didn't know how to write in cursive. Cursive writing is required to write on cakes.
Don't get me started. I encountered a worker in my local Post Office who didn't know that New Mexico was one of the states in the USA. When I wanted to buy some of the pretty stamps that come on 10 x 10 sheets, I was surprised to see her counting out the 30 I had requested one by one rather than just tearing of three rows of ten. When I questioned her on this, she replied that she wanted to be absolutely accurate and didn't believe in that "new math." Multiplication is new?
@@paulawashington3175 - Try giving them change/cash...bloody clueless. Parents fault. It will be easy stealing from their accounts in the future. They won't know anything went missing.
I didn't think of that, and I know there are probably many more skills that require cursive. My grandchildren do not know how to write cursive, nor how to read it.
I grew up in the same school that my mom attended when she was a kid, and at times would find my moms name in the back of a library book from when she signed it out 30 years earlier. Something nostalgic about those library books and seeing the date stamp in the back from years past. It was almost as if schools didn't change much from the 50's to the early-to-mid 90's - but has changed a lot over the past 20 years.
I agree with you about schools not changing much until the 90's. I graduated high school in 1989, and everything from this video was present with me up until I graduated. Today's school are not even recognizable.
When they were corporatized for “efficiency.” Ironically, it’s when American public education began to spiral into the cesspool it is today. I cannot believe some of the things my high school-aged teen has related from his “teachers.” And I’m not talking about nutball conspiracy tripe. I’m talking about bias and misinterpretation. I have a master’s degree and I read and engage with the world. Teachers today don’t seem to do much of that. Far from academics, they seem to fall into categories previously constructed for employees of corporations, their skills measured and evaluated annually like some kind of corporate stooge. And we wonder what’s wrong with education? It begins and ends with money. If there is a way to insert a corporate entity into a public service for the purpose of making it better, we will do so. But far from improving things, they cheapen them to the point of worthlessness and keep the “profit.” Meanwhile, teachers are starving, kids go without necessary resources, eat lunches made of pre-packaged crap, and do more and more homework to make up for the dramatic failure of the process. Technology is not improving education, it’s destroying it.
@@codacreator6162 I wish I could give this comment a dozen thumbs up. So many excellent points. When my children were of school age, I was astonished to see the level to which the educational system had turned into an industry. My own memories of having been taught mostly by Catholic sisters (who received no pay and taught largely from a sense of dedication) seemed to be incredibly quaint all of a sudden. With all due respect to the brave men and women who were struggling to deal with a host of new problems and mandates, my children were encountering more and more "teachers" who seemed to have gotten into the field as a "job" of last resort. One unkind second grade teacher seemed to have zero awareness of what autism even was, and so resorted to making fun of the one autistic boy in the class, traumatizing him for life. Another could not pass her own elementary spelling tests and needed to use the teacher's "key" to be able to grade them. At that point I removed my kids from the school system and home schooled them -- not for religious reasons -- but just so that they would have basic academic skills. (Although they weren't getting a coherent religious education at the one religious school they attended either.) They're both doing fine today. They have solid academic skills and -- probably even more importantly -- they're not narrow-minded bullies either. But that's a topic for another day.
My dad was absolutely lost trying to help me with my school homework. I still remember the day I asked him to teach me how to write in cursive, he calls it long hand. He was so excited because not only could he finally teach me something but I'm the only student in my classes that writes in long hand. I know because my teachers keep commenting on that every year. Thanks dad.
He missed the set of encyclopedias in the library where we used to plagiarize our brief reports in elementary school before we learned we couldn’t just copy the information. The pages were almost always leafed in gold in the edges of the pages. I loved that!
I always felt so grownup going to the public library on a Saturday, with classmates, to do a report from those giant books. Tracing maps of other countries, writing about their farming and crops, history of the place, peoples customs, fashions, and livelihood, etc. Making a report book covered in construction paper to present to the class.
@@marissaweston1685 The World Book encyclo's at our school were all graffittied up with drawings of pee-pees and wee-wees drawn in by naughty little 4th and 5th grade boys. We never had a library cop like Mr Bookman protecting us.
Here in Canada during the 1980’s we had a ‘Scholastic’ brochure catalogue handed out by the teacher. One could order novels or other books by hand-filling out a form and sending in money. That was always exciting!
I always loved the scholastic catalog here in the US. I had to read each little blurb and narrow down my picks. Even better when the book fair would come to the library. All those books to read!
In California we had the Schoolastic bookmobile come to the school and we took turns stepping inside and choosing books. Later they added school supplies.
Out of the millions of channels on UA-cam your channel means the most . I’m 58 years old now and every time I watch a new video I’m literally reduced to tears . Both happy and sad each time I watch I finish the episode up more thankful than ever for the time I was brought up . I’ve lost allot of things in my life but my memories will live on until my dying day . Thank you and may God bless you and all the others who follow your channel .
I watched this and just got so sad. But one thing that I thought was interesting is that classroom presentations are now done in PowerPoint - the same as for businesses today. So Kids are actually better prepared for the work world today than if they had beautiful penmanship.
Filmstrips and slide projectors with the record player and the beeps telling you when to go to the next image. Man, getting selected as the one to press the button to advance was awesome!
I recall library books explaining how to connect one side (left or right) from the audio player such that beeps on that channel would advance to the next slide. Never had the pleasure of rigging it in practice, where used it was part of an AV kart or fixed display running in a loop. But yeah, I was the tech nerd who knew every detail on all those AV karts. Also did a few presentations with overheads made on the photocopier from my own originals (had to get very particular blank transparencies to not damage that expensive copier). Learning a flowing writing style (simplified compared to the past) was literal 1st grade stuff. I remember some math classes where we were all doing different calculations on the blackboard at the same time, and the DND (Do Not Delete) box in the corner where teachers put semipermanent messages. The convenient pencil trays on tables were long relegated to the past and a few old rooms, but hand cranked sharpeners were often on a windowsill or teachers desk and did much better and faster than the small personal sharpeners that I still use occasionally. I recall as an adult crafting some of the tech that replaced blackboards, but I also recall the multi-storey blackboards in science rooms and lecture halls all the way up to 18th grade. Blackboard erasing sponges were kept wet and clean in a classroom sink, using them dry worked for light erasing when not dried into a brick-like husk.
I remember in 1971 we went to a big classroom where they opened up the wall, wheeled in the color tvs and we watched the Apollo astronauts on the moon.
You mean like being a teacher's pet? In 6th grade there were 2 kids who always set up the projector and other stuff for the teacher they thought they were big shots but nope they were the teacher's pet
Just yesterday I was remembering that lovely smell and the honor of going to the office to make copies. We called it a mimeograph machine. I also miss smell of white paste from elementary school. I really miss the days of earning your own grades and NOT doing so many projects where a couple of students do the work and the slackers get the same grade.
I went to elementary school in the 70s. I loved the Weekly Reader and Highlights! Not sure if anyone remembers SRA. It was boxes that were color coded and had short story cards that you read and answered questions. The stories were so good! Also had music class in the rooms and the music teacher would roll in a piano for class! Those were the days!
ABSOLUTELY remember the SRA reading program. Mostly I remember it fondly, but one memory sticks out for a different reason. In 1976, we kept hearing about the bicentennial and freedom. Somehow I got that mixed up in my head with the fact that part of our reading time was spent on what was called "independent study." I didn't realize, being only nine, that this didn't mean we could make independent decisions about what to read, but merely that we were reading our SRA assignments independently of the other students. So when my teacher came up and fussed at me for being engaged with the wrong set of SRA cards (I think I had simply picked a different topic because the one I had that day was boring), I retorted, "I thought this was a _free_ country." SUSPENDED FOR THREE DAYS. 🙄😱😳
@@merrillhill1633 Seem to recall it being fairly self-explanatory. There were passages to read on the card and maybe some questions to answer afterward?
I remember SRA. A few of the more enterprising students in my class started trading color-coded story card answers the way other kids traded baseball cards: "I'll give you the answers to Goldenrod if you'll give me the answers to Lavender."
I loved those SRA boxes! I still remember getting stumped on a question where I had to find a word in a paragraph and the clue was ‘coffee’- the answer was ‘ground’; I’d never seen coffee grounds in my life at age 10, we only had instant in our family. Our teacher was tough and would keep sending us back to work out the answers.
I had a random thought just yesterday about school items from the 70’s: Who remembers the gizmos that held five pieces of chalk in metal grips so the teacher could draw parallel lines on the board for writing or even for music class? They could use them in both directions to make a grid on the board…they were very useful. I always wanted to play with them. Now that I’m thinking of it, I also recall our junior and high school Math teachers using large wooden geometry pieces for the chalkboard - a protractor, compass, etc - to demonstrate how we should use our own tools to draw and solve problems. Those tools fascinated me but I do recall the compasses didn’t work very well on the board some times.
Now I feel officially old. I remember all of this. Also something surprisingly not mentioned. Movie projectors. There were two kinds. The one with the large reels and sound and the other kind of smaller projector which needed to be turned by hand for each frame after a beep noise from an accompanying cassette tape. Everyone always wanted to be the kid picked to turn the wheel on the little projector. These were simpler times. I miss them. There were no metal detectors, or police patrolling in the schools. Just teachers and guidance counselors there who would call your parents if you misbehaved to deal with you. Makes me teary eyed to realize it's all gone forever.
@@RaptorFromWeegee No, Erich knows whereof he speaks. They were called filmstrips. They were like slides in that they showed still pictures, but they were connected together on a strip of film the same way moving pictures are. Erich is obviously a little younger than me. Most of the filmstrips I remember had a caption at the bottom. Either the teacher would read the captions out loud, or the duty would be passed around the room from one pupil to the next. There were no cassette tapes, but I do remember some space-age filmstrips that had records to be played along with their viewing--complete with the beep when it was time to turn the filmstrip to the next picture. Seeing actual moving pictures from a projector was a real rarity in a classroom back then. I don't ever remember seeing a slideshow in school.
I grew up in the 70's. I remember all the things in the video. Btw, those medal lunch boxes are collectables now. Some worth alot of money. Some of those things carried over into the 80's, when I started high school years.
@@Lettuce-and-Tomatoesyou're the one who claimed that the time of much racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, antisemitism, and ableism gave you your happiest times. I'm glad we've advanced to the current society. It's not perfect, but at least I can leave my house.
55 here, and back those school days, kids actually listened to good music that was current, whether it came off MTV (80s) or from American Top 40 (70s and 80s). Most music today is trash.
My third grade teacher used to read to us, maybe 30 minutes a day. (1958) It was so peaceful. I think some schools still do this. Her favorite books were the "Little House" books.
Heh. My 5th grade teacher (late-'60s) read to us - J.R.R.Tolkien's "The Hobbit"! She wasn't able to finish the book, and I dunno about anyone else, but I hadda know the end! Got the book, read it, and omg there were MORE books?!! LOL! Turned me into a lifelong Tolkien fan... Anybody remember the "Frodo Lives" buttons (pins)? 😆
Fond memories for sure. I remember The Weekly Reader, Halloween carnivals, Christmas plays with handmade decorations. Ordering paperback books through your classroom and being excited to receive the 3-4 that I ordered. I could go on and on 🤗
@@dawnmason2882 I'm in Calgary, Canada and I got to order Scholastic books in elementary school. One of my best purchases was the Girl Guide Cookbook from the late 60s-early 70s.
The Scholastic Books...I just loved going through the catalog and choosing the books I wanted. Great memories. ..it was something so simple and ordinary ..but I miss those times. 📻 📚 📺
Oh, that was such a wonderful time. I was in grade school and junior high and high school in the 50s and 60s. Girls wore dresses and boys wore khakis. We actually learned reading, cursive writing, history of our country and other countries, mathematics, science, biology, chemistry, home economics, foreign languages, art, and physical education class. Sex education was left up to our parents. We had total respect for our teachers. We may not have liked them but we respected them. My heart breaks for the “education” children are getting nowadays. It’s not education, it’s indoctrination.
@@Felidae-ts9wp You hit me where I live. During my fourth and fifth grade years, Scholastic Book Services (and their subsidiary TAB-Teen Age Books) were part of my typical school day.
Yeah, the girls looked like proper little girls, and the boys looked like Beaver Cleaver. Mothers back then knew that sending your kid to school improperly turned out meant, at best, community gossip, and at worst, a visit from child welfare.
I remember getting the handout of the Scholastic books that I could choose and then buy for very little money. For a book lover, I loved those days when the teacher would pass them out. Also, remember when there would be one lefty student who would be looking diligently for that one left- handed desk. And the disappointment when there wasn't one. In many ways I wish our schools were still like that.
There are still scholastic books & scholastic book fairs. My elementary age son just had one at his school recently. The books just aren’t as cheap now hah. They have a website now too in case you don’t want to wait for the school handout
yep I was the only lefty in my grade school class out of 30 children! They did not know how to teach me cursive! only 7% of people are left-handed. My father was also left-handed. One advantage though with lefties is that we're more ambidextrous than right handers. Little things like being able to use a power saw with either hand... comes in handy. I was also a switch hitter in baseball (although I threw only left-handed). Remember Junior Scholastics & Weekly Reader? those were the days.
I volunteered in the library of my son's elementary school. The librarian asked me to help with inventory at the end of the year where we would sort through and discard books that were never checked out (they were offered to school families to take home). A few days in, I got a big surprise when I found a book I had checked out in kindergarten, in 1969! This was in 2006 so almost 40 years! It hadn't been checked out but twice in five years so I asked if I could have it. I was so happy the librarian agreed. I've kept it on my shelf all these years. A few years ago, I discovered junk journals and I was able to use the entire book, keeping the story intact, to create a journal. I use it to write school memories and stories in, along with special photos. It helps keep the good memories alive and push away the bad ones.
We had not only a projector, but it was part of the film that had to be fed onto reels. Cursive was required and good penmanship too. I still think it is pretty and I like writing notes to my family. Just think, in case of an EMF, we old ones will rule, cursive and manual transmissions. 🙂
I used to love film day. Which meant we got to watch a film. It was then time for the teacher to select someone to sit at the back of the room and control the lights. That was considered a respected position. Sometimes the teacher would need to call the maintenance guy because she couldn't load the film correctly. And, if we got really lucky, the teacher would run the film backwards after we were done watching it forward. It was so funny watching it backwards. Those were the days. ~1963
As a kid of the '50s/'60s, you pretty much nailed my entire childhood in school! GREAT to reminisce, but a bit sad, too. We'll never have those days back. At least we didn't have to walk through blizzards uphill both ways to get to school, and then have to stoke the old pot belly stove like my parents swore that they did.
I walked a whole block to grade school in the fifties, no tv, no library, beat the erasers on the brick walls outside, walked home for lunch, no AV, old lift top desks, cloak rooms. I could wait for school to start (only child).
Oh, they did all of that in Montana where my mother went to school and my grandmother taught school. Kids learned more by 8th grade back then than high school graduates today! 'They also learned some Latin so as to understand the etymology of words.
@@marilyntaylor9577 I remember that in kindergarten my teacher would make me sit on a chair in the cloak room for misbehaving. But the cloak room was just a little way beyond the sandbox and so I simply scooted the chair a little at a time until I got to the sandbox and I was able to still sit in the chair and play without the teacher noticing, 😅
Very enjoyable! I'm a school teacher, since 1996. Things have become very complicated and frankly sad. There's too many things to discuss here. I'll just say that Modesty and compassion in a student today is rare. Thank you for bringing so many happy memories!
Since when have they or teachers been compassionate? I was a child in the 80's and teachers watched violence happen. They did nothing. My experience isnt uncommon.
@@ShockResistor It probably depends on where you live. My daughter teaches school, and she's spent quite a bit of money buying kids gloves and hats. She's even bought a couple of coats. She's bought markers and all sorts of supplies for her kids. If teachers aren't compassionate, they have no business teaching.
@@ShockResistor As a recently retired teacher, I can tell you that your example has nothing to do with "Compassion". Today teachers are taught to NOT get involved as you may end up losing your job, and possibly in prison for simply touching students, even to break up a fight. It was in the news just a few years back, when a family tried to sue the school bus driver for not getting involved and protecting their child. They failed as the bus driver was "Not Allowed" to get involved past giving orders and demanding they stop. I know a bus driver was arrested for helping a young girl who's hair got caught in the bus heater (under the seat). In trying to position her to make slack in her long hair, his hand accidently touched a part of her body, and he was arrested. I understand that you should never touch someone in certain areas, but when you are being helped from an emergency of some sort ... If I firefighter has to grab my package to save me from a burning building, I hope he doesn't hesitate. But this is the world we live in.
I began my teaching career in the early 70's and retired in 2011. I remember all of the items you listed with fondness. I went from utilizing those items to the use of whiteboards, smartboards, computers, laser printers, and copiers. I saw many changes that took place over a span of thirty-eight years in the school system. Cursive writing was still being taught in the school system (at the elementary level) that I taught in for thirty-five years.
I dont understand why cursive has fallen out. I still use it on checks or if I write a letter. They say the easiest way to befuddle a youngster today is lock them in a straight shift car and leave instructions in cursive.
@sjdrifter72, Yes! From Chicago area here-Field Museum, Adler planetarium, Shedd aquarium, MSI (they once had a giant washing machine mock up!) Also the class trip to DC.
Yes, I remember being required to cover all my textbooks and workbooks. We could use paper bags or buy some, but the ones you bought weren't always long enough. So we opted for the paper bags that we got from grocery shopping. Then we'd draw all over our covers. The required materials for school shopping were much simpler back then: a folder, a three ring binder, loose leaf paper, subject dividers, pencils, pens, erasers, crayons. My school was built in 1898 and had a bell tower. When teachers wanted to show a movie, the class would go downstairs into the audio/visual aids room where the ONE film projector was. Our school did not have a library, so each year, teachers would take us on a trip to the local public library down the street, where the librarians would give us a tour, show us how to use the card catalog, the encyclopedias, and type writers! I certainly remember the blackboards and teachers having us go to the board to write our problems down. Half the kids didn't know how to hold the chalk correctly and tried to hold it like a pencil, causing really loud squeaking sounds, like finger nails on the blackboard.
Actual field trips! We went to all kinds of places...water treatment plant, dairy processing plant, gardens, plays, movies at a historical theater, and 2x I went to a week-long nature camp where we hiked up the sides of 2 mountains and slept in barracks. Yes it was really a field trip!
I even remember being on a trip to a newspaper printing room. We elementary school children were led though the loudly clacking machinery and told to keep our hands at our sides and not to touch anything. I was very apprehensive because I could see how easy it would be to lose a body part in that loud, crowded space. Today's children would never be trusted to navigate such a place. Somehow, we all left unscathed.
The clattering of the movie projector, as it ran the film, was part of the whole experience. I think every teacher must have taken a course in film splicing, as the film would occasionally break.
We also had the Bell & Howell sound projectors in the 1960s. My music class had a large reel-to-reel “Wollensak” 3M tape recording systems. Everything was large back then because of the vacuum tubes they put in everything. A school record player was portable but still built like a tank and very heavy. TVs would be wheeled into rooms and plugged into the central antennae system. Our school library was actually one of the larger ones.
Our school got a Video Recording machine, not a cassette-type. But there were no learning tapes on the market yet so the Vice Principal took it around to record classroom sessions for a girl who'd been in a car accident and had to spend 3 months in traction.
The elementary school that I attended in the 70s was built in the 20s. It was not uncommon to check out a book and see dates going back to the 40s, 30s and 20s! Even as a small child I was fascinated by that.
I got to learn cursive in the 2nd grade but my cousin lived in another state where they taught cursive in the 3rd grade so when i told him I knew cursive he thought I was lying and demanded that I prove it so I did and then he got mad because I learned something before he did.😂 kids!
I learned cursive before 1st grade because I had older siblings that taught me. In 1st grade, we were told to write our name at the top of the page. The teacher called me up to her desk after we turned in the work to tell me she meant “print”... We would learn “cursive” in 2nd grade. 😂😂
Watching this video makes me so happy that I went to school in the '80s and early '90s. Things were filled with wonder and fun and this video captured that very nicely. I'd hate to be in school now. They seem like such stressful places now devoid of very much fun.
well speaking as a sophomore in high school I can tell you that it isn't so bad. yeah sometimes teachers give a lot of work but other than that it's mostly chill
@@bonniefells7585 I feel like we can't really judge very well because the public has been excluded from public school. When we were in school a parent could come sit in on a class if they wanted, I don't think they allow that anymore. We really need a mechanism for public with an interest to monitor classes their kids/grandkids ect are attending. Although I appreciate oct197's viewpoint (s)he lacks a reference of how it was and has changed. Just as we did compared to our parents/grandparents in our age.
We never used cigar boxes. In elementary school, the thing to use was a "pencil bag" a large vinyl envelope with three holes along one side. It would clip to your three-ring notebook. By high school, they were out of style, and you just used your pocket.
@Dale Gribble I'm glad I never had to endure that. People in power tend to punish perceived offenses as well as real. One of our female church leaders spanked my little brother for clenching his fists on a cold Autumn evening because she thought he was being defiant over having to come indoors. We were so young then, but I have never forgotten.
Man...Does this bring back memories! The only thing you forgot, were the 16mm movie projectors. It was always a treat, when the film and projector were rolled in, and the "DA-LITE" screen was set up at the front of the class just in front of the chalk board.
another thing you forgot to add was the #firealarmhorns used for firedrills in the 50's,60,70's,80's and even 90's before the ada strobelights law and the #spectralerts.
I remember all of this! Thanks for the walk through school history. I also remember the brown book covers that we used for each textbook. I remember that sometimes I used brown paper bags in place of the commercial covers. It was so fun to fold the covers to fit the books. Good times!
Our local grocery stores would put a dotted line of the book cover on the inside of their paper bags to make it easier! We also used a book strap to hold the books together. I guess backpacks weren't a thing then?
Would you mind answering a question if you can, please? I’m 50 - I don’t know why it bothers me so much but you’ve probably seen the majority of people on this site do not/can not/will not understand “too” v “to or “loose” v “lose” and on and on. Did the curriculum just stop teaching these things? My hat is off to you and I thank you so much for doing what you do.
@@Mugwump7 I think kids today are bombarded by games and phones and tablets, and thus can't remember anything at all from school. They can't do simple math in their heads, locate their own state on a map, or name the three branches of the federal government. Facts were drilled into our heads way back, so we wouldn't forget. Ever. Rote learning of basic facts really works, despite all the new ideas of school management.
I miss Scholastic book club in the late 60s through the 70's I don't remember if it was monthly or quarterly, but the teacher would hand out a catalog that you could select books from and order them my mom would always let me buy a couple.
A Ditto machine and mimeo machine are two different printing devices. The ditto machine used an alchohol based fluid to apply to the paperb then the paper would come into contact with the master and a purple ink was deposited onto the paper. A mimeograph machine was a stencil that the black ink used to bleed thru the stencil and onto the paper
I wonder when 'they' will decide that the smell caused cancer and all the schools 'from the past' will be part of a billion zillion dollar lawsuit, like the bad water suit in Camp LeJeune... Oh, as a former 48 year music teacher just retired, I remembered everything you presented... those were the days! odd, though - apparently administrators haven't changed much. Now they are allowing gender issues... they really don't have a clue, never did and I am sure, never will.
I don't think modern kids learn less. They just learn different things. Kids today don't need to use the Dewey Decimal system because not all libraries still use the Dewey Decimal system. In fact, the Dewey Decimal system is considered a controversial organization system these days because it classified books by non-white authors under different categories from white authors. Some public libraries now use more general categories, like the ones book stores use, and university libraries tend to use the Library of Congress categorization system. On the other hand, by the time kids are teenagers, many of them know how to digitally alter photographs, edit digital videos (and audio) and post them to UA-cam or Tiktok, create their own websites, sell things they made themselves online through Etsy, start learning how to code, and can communicate with people in other countries, even play games with them and translate written languages they can't even speak. Nostalgia is interesting and fun, but it's not everything.
I went to 1st grade at a Catholic grade school that economized by utilizing old cast iron and wood desks bolted to wooden boards. The desks had a hole in the top for the ink bottle, since ball-point pens didn’t exist when they were built. Some of those old desks almost certainly dated from the 1800s, and are collector pieces today.
public schools as well until the 60s in the mid-west. followed by the sleek/modern chrome w/ glossy polished Formica - seats of smooth, form-fitting contoured resin in muted pastel hues. they really sprang for it!
We had the same desks in grade school in New York. I loved them so much. Some years ago we stumbled upon one that was for sale in an antique store. Listening to me reminisce my husband suggested we buy it. It took me a long time to resist the urge to purchase it, but only because I didn’t know where we would put it. If our son had still been school age we would have purchased it in a heartbeat.
Here in Southern California schools didn't have A/C in the 60's; there were windows that had a panel that opened up high; to open it there was a long pole with a hook or something on the end to open those panels. What a joy to be chosen to open the windows with that long, important pole! Also, each classroom had a sink with a drinking fountain. We had to line up before lunch and wash our hands.
In northern California we also had the transom windows. When I went to university on the Central Coast (Cal Poly) some of the university classrooms had them, and the pole was 16' long or more.
Ha! I remember those windows. The schools I went to in NJ were built around 1900 or so. In the late 70s, our schools finally replaced the original windows to the ones you described.
In the 70s, we had to learn square dancing as part of the curriculum as a national dance one year. I also remember getting my hearing tested in school. "Raise your hand if you can hear the beep.." we raised our hands at the slightest of sounds to avoid looking like something was wrong with us. Weekly readers to keep us aware of current events, the book order forms that had to go back filled out and with money then you'd wait a month or more to get them. By the time you did, you forgot about them. White shirts on assembly day which usually was on a Wednesday. Tape recorders that played some type of story...The yard stick that was right by the chalkboard...
My all girls' high school had a class in the 60s that everyone took called Social Graces! We learned how to introduce people, how to have small talk, table setting, lots of dancing like fox trot, waltz, cha cha, stroll, lindy hop, etc. Formal and familiar manners, types of written correspondence, a bit about personal grooming, and more. Some needed this more than others, but we all came out polished!
This is spot on. I came up in New York City's public schools and taught in them for 45 years. I have seen all these changes over the years, including meeting high school students who could not read cursive. I made a point of teaching it to my students just in case they would ever encounter a primary source while in college. Third graders these days do too much standardized test preparation to have time to learn how to write in cursive. Apparently, knowing how to color in spots on a test is now a more important life skill.
I was born in NYC and moved to My in the 5th grade. It was a culture shock. The school system that I was in while in NYC was WAY ahead of the school I ended up in central NJ. Such a shame, too.
Third graders back in my school years were more educated than high school kids these days. We could write in cursive, count change, do mathematics pretty well, knew some geography, understood the history of the country, and knew what we were and how to dress. we were generally more polite as well. Different world!
Elementary school you had assigned desks. Inside the desk you usually had a box with things like extra pencils, crayons, scissors and glue. It was a place to also keep your books so you didn't have to take them home with you. That changed in Middle and High School. You normally got a wall locker for storage of jackets and coats, etc..and your books, which seemed like you were always taking them home every night lol.
They didn't let my children bring books home from school because they are so expensive. Or, maybe they're hiding something! Schools have got to improve.
Yes, I recall those. Lockers later on were small for us, though - no tall ones; these were three to a stack. You could cram in a coat and books, but it was tight!
Card catalogs! I loved them. It allowed for serendipity. You’re looking for one thing and stumble across something else of interest. Wow! You could learn about 2 or more things instead of being limited to the one. Same is true for encyclopedias.
I remember pulling volumes of the World Book off the shelf & reading whatever page I opened them to. Hours of fun & education without the pressure of a grade.
I remember the 16mm projector! Watching a school film on math or health, or how to use a telephone, the right way of greeting someone when answering, things like that. Where I went to school, the teachers would rent a Disney movie to show how much they appreciated our hard work and how hard some of us tried.😊 All the teachers I had were special and are apart of me, and help make me what I am today, along with my Mom and Dad!
I remember in elementary school we had old recycled wooden desks that still had a hole in the top where an ink bottle was supposed to be placed for your fountain pen... and later in middle/high school those AV carts had actual movie projectors, not TVs with VCRs, lol! I guess everything has to change, but I actually feel sorry for the kids today.
Same that is why when I become a teacher I will teach my students the skills I learned. I will be dammed if my kids don't know analog or basic map reading skills.
Oh boy do I remember the movie projectors. The worst part of them was the snap, snap, snap you heard if the celluloid broke! Movie time was over!! So was nap time!
Anyone remember the bookmobiles? The vehicles that would park outside of schools and we would go inside them and look at the books inside it and we would also get a catalog and we could circle the books we wanted and iorder them!
As a recently retired elementary school librarian, I’ve got to point out that children do still need to know how to use the Dewey Decimal System. While it is true that computers make it much easier to look up books and see their availability, students still need to know how to find the book on the shelf. For non-fiction books, that means using Dewey. Or asking the librarian to find it for you.
Looking things up with the decimal system and file drawers encouraged initiative and persistence that makes a person experience a certain joy and sense of accomplishment upon finding something really meaningful. The online ways have their advantages as well.
The last time I went to a library, a few years ago now but not that long ago, looking up on the computer and finding the book still needed an appreciation of the Dewey Decimal system.
@@matthewlivermanne4441I work in a library. Anyone working in a library has to know it. That is how the books are sorted on the shelf, making it easier for everyone to find the book they're looking for.
One thing that I wish weren't found in schools anymore: cellphones. As a substitute teacher, I can say, from experience, that cellphones are a severe impediment to education. Imagine if students back in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s had been allowed to bring mini, handheld TVs to school. What do you think it would have done to their minds?
Unfortunately, most schools in my county don't have lockers anymore. Only the high schools have lockers, and they can only be used for P.E. So, students are supposed to keep their phones in their back packs. Of course, as you can imagine, that doesn't work out. It's a constant battle throughout the day to keep students' hands off their cellphones. Most high schools I've been at have basically given up trying to strictly enforce cellphone bans during class. As long as the student is not making a phone call, playing video games, or watching a movie, teachers will often turn a blind eye.
@@Kevin-go2dw They are not banned from school, just from using them or having them during class times. It's not just one state (Victoria), it's most states and the NT. A lot of schools have had bans in place for awhile, I guess the government is just making it official for all government schools. 'Mobile policy' at my school came into affect at the start of this year, our phones have to be in our locker during class
THE SCHOOL OF TODAY DOESN'T TEACH MANDATORY FIRST AID CLASSES THAT TO ME IS UNACCEPTABLE THE KIDS OF TODAY WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT A JUMP KIT LOOKS LIKE OR EVEN GRAB IT WHEN HEADING OUT FOR THE EMERGENCY BUT I KNOW WHAT A JUMP KIT IS I'VE GRABBED A GOOD MANY OF THEM WHEN MY OLDEST BROTHER WAS AT HIS WRESTLING TOURNAMENT AT HIGH SCHOOL I WAS FAST ASLEEP CURLED UP IN A QUIET CORNER THE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR ASKED MY DAD IS YOUR FIRST AIDER HERE MY DAD SAID I'LL GO GET HER HE CAME TO WHERE I WAS SLEEPING HE GENTLY WOKE ME UP AND THE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR ASKED ME FOR HELP I ASKED HIM WHAT WAS THE TROUBLE HE SAID THE FIRST AIDER HAD QUIT I GOT UP GRABBED MY FIRST AID SHIRT AND PUT IT ON I SAID LET'S GO SEE WHAT THE TROUBLE WAS I LOOKED AT IT PRETTY EASY SIZE UP JAY HAD A SHOULDER SEPARATION THE SLING AND SWATH WAS USED I SAID TO DAD GET JAY TO THE HOSPITAL THAT NEEDS TO LOOKED AT NOW WE NEED THE BLOOD FLOW TO BE MOVING AT ALL TIMES AFTER JAY WENT TO THE HOSPITAL HE CAME BACK TO THE WRESTLING TOURNAMENT FOR PRESENTATION OF MEDALS FOR THE WRESTLING TOURNAMENT JAY STILL GOT A MEDAL EVEN THOUGH HE WAS INJURED HE SAID I OWE MY LIFE TO MY FIRST AID GANGSTER SISTER THANK YOU I SAID YOU'RE WELCOME
In my school in Brooklyn, once in a while someone would come into the classroom with a box filled with big warm salted soft pretzels that sold for about 10cents each. That made the classroom so happy. The teacher allowed us to eat them while continuing class. Or when the scholastic orders would arrive and the teachers would pass out what books or other stuff we’d ordered. I really enjoyed the 70-80’s. I am so glad I went to school in that time.
When I started school in 1953, some classrooms still had the old cast iron framed desks that had curved fold up seats, and the desk tops had holes for ink wells. Most of the old desks were ink stained. I still buy bottled ink and still use fountain pens. We had outdoor lunch tables before they built a cafeteria and put fold up tables and benches in the auditorium.
In my schools we had cloak rooms to hang our coats, take off rain or snow boots, and store our lunch boxes. All the way through eighth grade you would find a paddle somewhere near the teacher's desk. We had no air-conditioning, but we did have ceiling fans. I also saw some cast-iron radiators in you video. They were great for drying off gloves or mittens. In my K-2nd grade school we had a coal heater with large registers in the center of each classroom. It was fun trying to fit as many kids over the register as possible to warm up before class and after recess before the teacher would come to the room.
I went to my 50 year high school reunion this summer. One day they opened the school and we got to explore everywhere and remember what it was like to be in school. I went into one of the classrooms. And there it was -- a pencil sharpener just like in this piece. Those were the days...
wellguess what my mom bought us a pencil sharpener like that its red plastic case and the rest made of steel who nows when she got it but my aunt who is 92has a eletric one who knew
Yes!!! I went to Jesuit high school. The typing teacher was a priest who wore a cowboy hat & at the beginning of class told us to “Fire up your Kawazaki’s!” 😂😂😂 Oh how I miss Father Doyle. I finally bought a refurbished Selectric. I missed the rhythm of typing so much.
Yes! I learned to type on a big manual typewriter in middle school. I remember how hard it was to press the letter p, about bent my pinky backwards. In high school we had electric type writers and took the first computer class-- on an old Apple 2E.
I took typing in high school in 74. I did it to meet girls, never in a million years did I imagine I would be using a computer keyboard for my career in management. Odd how things work out. :)
In the mid 70's I did typing as an elective subject. Probably only one of two males doing the class. I can still touch type (perhaps not as fast) and every computer has a keyboard. 😀
Im sure someone mentioned this..but that smell that is spoken of in ditto sheets would make us get a contact high...hence why kids inhaled it...not even realizing it was a contact buzz. Who else remembers something called "microfiche" you would get to put in some sort of projector to read old newspaper articles...?
I remember most of these things. We also had slide projectors as well as movie projectors that were often used instead of the TV and VCR on a stand. Cursive was also far more important than most people realized and especially for taking notes in college. It was the fastest way to write things down while keeping up in class by far. I've tried using my laptop in college (this was early 2000s), but most of the time when I was in class I was taking notes in cursive. It was faster than I could type and I remembered more from the class that way too than when I used the laptop. To this day if I'm in a training class for work on some new tech or in a meeting were I need to take notes, I'm still the one that brings the notebook and writes things down in cursive. It's really something that should still be taught to kids. It's super useful in more situations in the 21st century than people give it credit for and it helps develop fine motor control in the hand at a young age too.
When I was in grade school, there were no TVs in class. For that matter, there no TVs in the whole building. We had a cafeteria that served hot meals. Some kids had lunch boxes but some brought their lunch in a paper bag. A lot of the things you showed I had in my classes. However, in talking to the kids in high school now, even with all the high tech stuff, they don't seem to know much. The reason being is why learn all the things needed in life when one can get the answer on a cell phone or laptop and this is sad.
I agree with you. The kids have access to more information, but they don't know how to distinguish between what is accurate and what is not. The glossy presentation is the same on real and bogus websites.
In religion class, we had beautiful color filmstrips accompanied by a record with the narration. A beep would tell you when to push the projector button to advance to the next scene. Pushing that button was a coveted privilege. In high school, we advanced to AV carts with TVs, but they were never met with the same enthusiasm. We all had TVs at home, so they were nothing special.
i think public education has moved away from life prep to college prep. effectively allowing the teachers to pass the buck to those college professors. the colleges also do this, but they pass the buck to everyone else. so you got hordes of useless people who fake it till they make it, displacing the nerds in the workforce who actually know what they are doing.
Don’t forget the pianos in every elementary classroom. I started kindergarten in 1964. For the first six years of my schooling, every one of my elementary teachers played the piano. We would get out old Silver-Burdett music texts and sing from them virtually every morning. It was a beautiful way to start the day.
A piano in every classroom is MUSIC (and I say that intentionally) to my ears, as well as my mind, heart and bones. In the words of the Bard of Avon--you know who that is--"if music be the food of love, play on". Schools, public, private, and parochial, should have pianos in the classroom.
Just a little younger than you, and we didn't have those. In the auditorium, yes, and a music room, but not in the classrooms. We did learn, though, and had art contests yearly as well.
I remember all of these things. One thing you did miss was the film strip projectors along with the vinyl record and later on, cassette tape, to provide the audio.
I used film strips and records until I retired fifteen years ago along with most of the things in the video. When they stopped using the mimeograph machine they gave it to me.
I love this so much! The better good old days, for sure! 😭🥰 Nothing compares to the metal lunch boxes, and each year getting a new one if you were so lucky. I remember being embarrassed when on hot dog lunch days, we rarely got them because we were poor. I felt really special at the times when I was able to buy one and eat the same junk food as everyone else. 😄
I still remember my" Land of the Giants" lunchbox. I also felt the sting during hot dog days, but was never ashamed my Parents were the best. How I miss then now,
The thing that is always overlooked about cursive writing is not only that it is aesthetically more pleasing, but like music it helps knits the brain together for creativity.
Not only that, but it is actually an important skill in later education. One of the big advantages of cursive is that you can write much faster, which is essential when you are trying to take notes while keeping up with a lecture. When I worked as a teacher, none of my students could write cursive, and, as a consequence, none of them could keep up with my lectures, so I had to slow down, which meant it took longer to cover the same amount of material. And what happens when they go to college, or need to take notes of a meeting at work? Do they ask a university professor or the speaker at a meeting to slow down so they can keep up?
As a drafter, I only ever use cursive to sign my name. Engineering drawings are ALWAYS done with printed letters, and the only cursive you will find on a drawing is the approval signatures. In drafting, printed letters are called "lettering." They are used because it is more clear, especially at smaller sizes than cursive. I haven't written cursive since I was in elementary school about 40 years ago... although I think it's important to be able to READ cursive.
@@redrackham6812 Though I write in cursive, I brought my laptop to some of my harder nursing classes and typed out my notes, so I could keep them organized, add my notes from the reading assignments, and create my study guides. (Of course I was the Summa cum Laude nerd, and everyone wanted copies of my study guides, lol.) Every child in my son's elementary school has a laptop assigned to them. Soon, we may be lucky if our children know how to hold a pencil!
I loved Weekly Reader with Buddy Bear ! Also got so excited to get a Scholastic book order and books used to be 35, 40, sometimes even 60, 75 or 95 cents!!!! Also loved sniffing Ditto machine copies! Purple ink!!!
I started kindergarten in 1972 so I remember all of this, and even (pre-video tape) actual movie projectors and big film canisters, which involved a lot of setup and invariably something went wrong with the film feed! Good memories.
I was in AV club and we ran the films for our school. Our school also had a VTR, a reel to reel video tape recorder. It was huge, heavy and had to be transported on a projection cart. The tuner was separate and we recorded programs from NET (National Educational Television) the predecessor to PBS. Lunchboxes then were displaying the Beatles, the Monkeys and Star Trek.
Being in class and learning involved so many more of the senses when I was in school than it does now. The sounds of writing on the chalkboard and rollling down one of the maps. The smell of pencil shavings and worksheets fresh out of the photocopier. Watching the teacher writing on the overhead projector and sneaking peeks at the gradebook. My son's classrooms seemed so sterile and lifeless to me with so much having been changed to electronics. I'm sure it makes it easier for everybody involved. But to me, an electronic learning environment feels less...real, I guess is the way to say it.
Less real, and less educational. Why should students bother learning, when they can look everything up? Most these days can't read or write well at all,, many can't even speak well. Almost none learn any real history or science, and the average student can't even count their change. I shudder o think how many homes these days don't even contain books. The average person posting online can't even use common phrases properly. "School" these days is more about programming than about education.
Every school classroom should have a large printed map of the world and of the country permanently on the wall, so it's something the kids see every day and frequently refer to. When I started working as a tutor I was surprised to learn these aren't standard in classrooms anymore.
@@KathyPrendergast-cu5ci That would be good! We hme schooled, and had both a U.S. and a world map on the wall. Seeing it brings some familiarity, at the least.
We also used opaque projectors alot. Where you could place a a book or anything under it to project on a screen. Useful for tracing maps and other things.
I recall having the TV on a cart rolled into the classroom for every space launch. We would watch all of the pre-launch commentary and then the launch itself. Those were fun days.
@@dukey19941 yes and no. there's kids in my school who usually aren't always on their phone and then there's kids who are always on it. just depends on the kid
Many of the schools I’ve taught in (inc. where I work now) have chalkboards. I love using different colored chalks and the kids love it too. When teaching English in Spain, all of my students were taught cursive and only wrote in cursive. I like that their schools teach them cursive but trying to read it is an entirely different story.
I started school in 1960. We never had lunchboxes, only brown paper bags. I remember all but the tv’s. It REALLY BOTHERED ME when our public library quit using the card catalogue. Not only was I lost without it , but that was how I often found an interesting book that I wasn’t looking for. Your pencil sharpener description was perfect 😂and I think our character was improved by it’s frailty. Thank you for this wonderful video!
I only used a lunchbox in the early grades. When I was in Grade 5 my school changed its policy about eating lunch at school and decreed that all kids who lived within a certain distance of the school had to go home for lunch, so that's what we did from then on. In high school you would have been laughed out of the room if you brought lunch in a lunchbox; there it was strictly brown paper bags. There were no cafeterias or lunch programs in any of the schools I went to in Canada; feeding one's child was believed to be a parents' job, not the school's. I guess for that reason I've always been a bit bemused by all the ongoing "school lunch" debates in the US.
Oh yes! We had a bank of closets that extended the entire width of the back wall. They had 2-3 rows of hooks and a shelf for lunch pails. The bottom was for bookbags and satchels. They were blond birch with chrome hardware.
People under a certain age wouldn't know what "cloak room" meant! I was sent there a lot as punishment. It wasn't punishment, the way I saw it, cause it got me out of a boring lecture.
I went to elementary school in a pre-war building in the early 60's. There were holes in the desks where the inkwells would be placed but they were long gone by then. The desktops were hinged lids and you could open them and place your unused books inside.
I can relate to everything you've shown in this video. Didn't realize that school had changed so much. Your videos always make me feel nostalgic for the past. I wouldn't give up any of my experiences for anything today. Keep your smartphones and assorted gadgets, my past memories can't be bought.
I remember, my art teacher cut off the tip of her thumb. We were extra careful using the paper cutter after she did this, even the smart alecs didn't play with a paper cutter.
They still have those, but usually students don't get to use them for obvious (as you stated) reasons. They were kept in the back office of the media center at the school I worked at, where teachers only were permitted to go (teachers' lounge in the media center).
as a retired teacher, i can tell you that so much crap is required that skills like critical thinking, organizing, and research aren't promoted. i loved the card catalog, and cursive writing does help both sides of the brain work together so all of us ended up with some creative, as well as knowledge, capabilities - making all of us more rounded in being able to understand and accept other ideals.
In my day one subject was required in all 4 years of High School. English. That is no longer the case. Well English happens to be a very expressive but complex language. But nowadays it ain't happening and it shows.
Does anyone remember using a paper bag as book covers lol
Yes! Hadn't remembered that in 50 years.
Yes, this brought smiles, thanks!
Yes, turned inside out so you didn't see the grocery store logo. 😊
Yup. Lol
@ethan Shelby skateboarding
I sure do it was so much fun to make them and then drawing on the covers. Great times I sure do miss!
I'm a 68 years young retired teacher and this video was an incredible trip down memory lane for me, both as a child and a former classroom teacher. Thank you for the fun memories!❤
Absolutely
I'm your age and we never had TVs in class. Even in high school we watched reel-to-reel films on a pull-down screen in front of the chalkboard.
Thank you for your dedication to educating kids. Sometimes going down memory lane is both sad and happy moment.
I'm 49 and I think a lot of things nowadays need to go back to the basics
I'm an ancient relic at 54 , you sound like the type of teacher that actually taught, today's teachers are a joke , this was an unexpected trip down memory lane as well for me . Such a a different and better time. So glad I grew up in the Era I did I feel lucky. Remember all this stuff. Peace......
In the 1960s we had small square milk cartons at lunch, larger diameter pencils with dark lead, and we played marbles outside during recess. We had our individual desks that opened up to store your books. It was a time of fun and innocence.
We never had the fat pencils. They would have been very difficult to write with. Starting in 1st grade at age 5, I was using a standard pencil.
We had to buy our milk (in cartons yes) from the janitor in the basement lunchroom even if we brought our own lunches. He was terrifying, always in a bad mood. We could only buy chocolate milk on Fridays.
@@bite-sizedshorts9635: We used the fat pencils - easier to grip with small hands . We had ‘wide line’ practice paper too . I remember having to write each letter 10 times each .
I remember everything U mentioned . Those small milk cartons could give U a splash of milk in your face , trying to open them, was a little tricky . We ate a cookie with our milk . Us kids took turns bringing in a package of cookies for the whole class . It seemed those windmill cookies were a big hit .😀
I started kindergarten in 61, my second grade teacher started every day with the pledge of allegiance, a Bible verse, and a song that she would accompany the class on the big old upright piano. All grades started the day with the pledge of allegiance. Great times.
I started kindergarten in 61 as well. We always sang The star spangled banner and God bless America after the pledge of allegiance every morning.
We sometimes had square dancing as P&E and Oh Johnny Oh was usually the song the teacher picked for us to dance to.
We had an afternoon nap with background music. You'd think the music would be varied, but no. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, every time.
I work in a bakery. I was stunned when I heard the new hire say she didn't know how to write in cursive. Cursive writing is required to write on cakes.
Don't get me started. I encountered a worker in my local Post Office who didn't know that New Mexico was one of the states in the USA. When I wanted to buy some of the pretty stamps that come on 10 x 10 sheets, I was surprised to see her counting out the 30 I had requested one by one rather than just tearing of three rows of ten. When I questioned her on this, she replied that she wanted to be absolutely accurate and didn't believe in that "new math." Multiplication is new?
Not for much longer...
@@paulawashington3175 - Try giving them change/cash...bloody clueless. Parents fault. It will be easy stealing from their accounts in the future. They won't know anything went missing.
I didn't think of that, and I know there are probably many more skills that require cursive. My grandchildren do not know how to write cursive, nor how to read it.
Or how to make change.
I grew up in the same school that my mom attended when she was a kid, and at times would find my moms name in the back of a library book from when she signed it out 30 years earlier. Something nostalgic about those library books and seeing the date stamp in the back from years past. It was almost as if schools didn't change much from the 50's to the early-to-mid 90's - but has changed a lot over the past 20 years.
Wow. That's so cool.
I agree with you about schools not changing much until the 90's. I graduated high school in 1989, and everything from this video was present with me up until I graduated. Today's school are not even recognizable.
When they were corporatized for “efficiency.” Ironically, it’s when American public education began to spiral into the cesspool it is today. I cannot believe some of the things my high school-aged teen has related from his “teachers.” And I’m not talking about nutball conspiracy tripe. I’m talking about bias and misinterpretation. I have a master’s degree and I read and engage with the world. Teachers today don’t seem to do much of that. Far from academics, they seem to fall into categories previously constructed for employees of corporations, their skills measured and evaluated annually like some kind of corporate stooge. And we wonder what’s wrong with education?
It begins and ends with money. If there is a way to insert a corporate entity into a public service for the purpose of making it better, we will do so. But far from improving things, they cheapen them to the point of worthlessness and keep the “profit.” Meanwhile, teachers are starving, kids go without necessary resources, eat lunches made of pre-packaged crap, and do more and more homework to make up for the dramatic failure of the process. Technology is not improving education, it’s destroying it.
@@codacreator6162 I wish I could give this comment a dozen thumbs up. So many excellent points.
When my children were of school age, I was astonished to see the level to which the educational system had turned into an industry. My own memories of having been taught mostly by Catholic sisters (who received no pay and taught largely from a sense of dedication) seemed to be incredibly quaint all of a sudden.
With all due respect to the brave men and women who were struggling to deal with a host of new problems and mandates, my children were encountering more and more "teachers" who seemed to have gotten into the field as a "job" of last resort. One unkind second grade teacher seemed to have zero awareness of what autism even was, and so resorted to making fun of the one autistic boy in the class, traumatizing him for life.
Another could not pass her own elementary spelling tests and needed to use the teacher's "key" to be able to grade them.
At that point I removed my kids from the school system and home schooled them -- not for religious reasons -- but just so that they would have basic academic skills. (Although they weren't getting a coherent religious education at the one religious school they attended either.)
They're both doing fine today. They have solid academic skills and -- probably even more importantly -- they're not narrow-minded bullies either.
But that's a topic for another day.
And you always looked at those library cards.
My dad was absolutely lost trying to help me with my school homework. I still remember the day I asked him to teach me how to write in cursive, he calls it long hand. He was so excited because not only could he finally teach me something but I'm the only student in my classes that writes in long hand. I know because my teachers keep commenting on that every year. Thanks dad.
Wow I haven't heard the term "long hand" in a really long time!
Long hand.. forgot about that you're correct they did NOT call it "cursive" back then!
That's what I always called it - Longhand. You have a good Dad.
taught you what a dad is at the same time too.....
👍👍 to your Dad.
He missed the set of encyclopedias in the library where we used to plagiarize our brief reports in elementary school before we learned we couldn’t just copy the information. The pages were almost always leafed in gold in the edges of the pages. I loved that!
I always felt so grownup going to the public library on a Saturday, with classmates, to do a report from those giant books. Tracing maps of other countries, writing about their farming and crops, history of the place, peoples customs, fashions, and livelihood, etc. Making a report book covered in construction paper to present to the class.
Hey, hey, hey, it wasn't plagiarism! I always changed the minimum number of words to make my reports my own :)
Yes my parents fretted that they couldn't afford a home set for us. But we had 2 dictionaries that if we asked how to spell....we were sent to first.
World Book. We even had a set at home.
@@marissaweston1685 The World Book encyclo's at our school were all graffittied up with drawings of pee-pees and wee-wees drawn in by naughty little 4th and 5th grade boys. We never had a library cop like Mr Bookman protecting us.
Here in Canada during the 1980’s we had a ‘Scholastic’ brochure catalogue handed out by the teacher. One could order novels or other books by hand-filling out a form and sending in money. That was always exciting!
I always loved the scholastic catalog here in the US. I had to read each little blurb and narrow down my picks. Even better when the book fair would come to the library. All those books to read!
My elementary school actually ordered extra books out of that catalog to stock our very own little bookstore. This was in 1967.
We had that in NYC in the 80s.
Yes, they still have those but they are all online. It's not as exciting.
In California we had the Schoolastic bookmobile come to the school and we took turns stepping inside and choosing books. Later they added school supplies.
Out of the millions of channels on UA-cam your channel means the most . I’m 58 years old now and every time I watch a new video I’m literally reduced to tears . Both happy and sad each time I watch I finish the episode up more thankful than ever for the time I was brought up . I’ve lost allot of things in my life but my memories will live on until my dying day . Thank you and may God bless you and all the others who follow your channel .
Don't listen to the obvious fake troll account who replied to you. I'm reporting it for impersonation.
You nailed it.
Totally agree and yes it brings me to tears too.
I watched this and just got so sad. But one thing that I thought was interesting is that classroom presentations are now done in PowerPoint - the same as for businesses today. So Kids are actually better prepared for the work world today than if they had beautiful penmanship.
I agree. We did not realize how blessed we were to be alive in a simpler time.
Filmstrips and slide projectors with the record player and the beeps telling you when to go to the next image. Man, getting selected as the one to press the button to advance was awesome!
And it was always a good day when the teacher wheeled in the 16mm projector.
I recall library books explaining how to connect one side (left or right) from the audio player such that beeps on that channel would advance to the next slide. Never had the pleasure of rigging it in practice, where used it was part of an AV kart or fixed display running in a loop. But yeah, I was the tech nerd who knew every detail on all those AV karts. Also did a few presentations with overheads made on the photocopier from my own originals (had to get very particular blank transparencies to not damage that expensive copier). Learning a flowing writing style (simplified compared to the past) was literal 1st grade stuff. I remember some math classes where we were all doing different calculations on the blackboard at the same time, and the DND (Do Not Delete) box in the corner where teachers put semipermanent messages. The convenient pencil trays on tables were long relegated to the past and a few old rooms, but hand cranked sharpeners were often on a windowsill or teachers desk and did much better and faster than the small personal sharpeners that I still use occasionally. I recall as an adult crafting some of the tech that replaced blackboards, but I also recall the multi-storey blackboards in science rooms and lecture halls all the way up to 18th grade. Blackboard erasing sponges were kept wet and clean in a classroom sink, using them dry worked for light erasing when not dried into a brick-like husk.
I remember in 1971 we went to a big classroom where they opened up the wall, wheeled in the color tvs and we watched the Apollo astronauts on the moon.
You mean like being a teacher's pet? In 6th grade there were 2 kids who always set up the projector and other stuff for the teacher they thought they were big shots but nope they were the teacher's pet
@@midnightcaller200 You completely misunderstand being a nerd and loving to fix up the tech.
Just yesterday I was remembering that lovely smell and the honor of going to the office to make copies. We called it a mimeograph machine. I also miss smell of white paste from elementary school. I really miss the days of earning your own grades and NOT doing so many projects where a couple of students do the work and the slackers get the same grade.
The white paste tasted good...lol...it was minty...
We tasted the paste; it was kind of minty!
I went to grade school in the 60's, so I remember so much of that. Thanks for the memories.
I went to elementary school in the 70s. I loved the Weekly Reader and Highlights! Not sure if anyone remembers SRA. It was boxes that were color coded and had short story cards that you read and answered questions. The stories were so good! Also had music class in the rooms and the music teacher would roll in a piano for class! Those were the days!
ABSOLUTELY remember the SRA reading program. Mostly I remember it fondly, but one memory sticks out for a different reason. In 1976, we kept hearing about the bicentennial and freedom. Somehow I got that mixed up in my head with the fact that part of our reading time was spent on what was called "independent study." I didn't realize, being only nine, that this didn't mean we could make independent decisions about what to read, but merely that we were reading our SRA assignments independently of the other students. So when my teacher came up and fussed at me for being engaged with the wrong set of SRA cards (I think I had simply picked a different topic because the one I had that day was boring), I retorted, "I thought this was a _free_ country."
SUSPENDED FOR THREE DAYS. 🙄😱😳
I have an SRA box!!! Not sure my students would know what to do.
@@merrillhill1633 Seem to recall it being fairly self-explanatory. There were passages to read on the card and maybe some questions to answer afterward?
I remember SRA. A few of the more enterprising students in my class started trading color-coded story card answers the way other kids traded baseball cards: "I'll give you the answers to Goldenrod if you'll give me the answers to Lavender."
I loved those SRA boxes! I still remember getting stumped on a question where I had to find a word in a paragraph and the clue was ‘coffee’- the answer was ‘ground’; I’d never seen coffee grounds in my life at age 10, we only had instant in our family.
Our teacher was tough and would keep sending us back to work out the answers.
I had a random thought just yesterday about school items from the 70’s: Who remembers the gizmos that held five pieces of chalk in metal grips so the teacher could draw parallel lines on the board for writing or even for music class? They could use them in both directions to make a grid on the board…they were very useful. I always wanted to play with them.
Now that I’m thinking of it, I also recall our junior and high school Math teachers using large wooden geometry pieces for the chalkboard - a protractor, compass, etc - to demonstrate how we should use our own tools to draw and solve problems. Those tools fascinated me but I do recall the compasses didn’t work very well on the board some times.
I do!!
my old school still use those 5 chalk lines
As a teacher who used those you are absolutely right, the blackboard compasses were kind of useless, at least in my hands 😂
I remember that 5 peice chalk mechanism! I was a child of the 50's so remember everything this video spoke about.
@LTNetjak ?? The device only drew straight lines. It couldn’t reproduce what you’d written so ... ??? How did you do this ??
Now I feel officially old. I remember all of this. Also something surprisingly not mentioned. Movie projectors. There were two kinds. The one with the large reels and sound and the other kind of smaller projector which needed to be turned by hand for each frame after a beep noise from an accompanying cassette tape. Everyone always wanted to be the kid picked to turn the wheel on the little projector. These were simpler times. I miss them. There were no metal detectors, or police patrolling in the schools. Just teachers and guidance counselors there who would call your parents if you misbehaved to deal with you. Makes me teary eyed to realize it's all gone forever.
I think you're thinking of the slide projector. Not as good as a real movie, but still better than practicing script.
@@RaptorFromWeegee No, Erich knows whereof he speaks. They were called filmstrips. They were like slides in that they showed still pictures, but they were connected together on a strip of film the same way moving pictures are. Erich is obviously a little younger than me. Most of the filmstrips I remember had a caption at the bottom. Either the teacher would read the captions out loud, or the duty would be passed around the room from one pupil to the next. There were no cassette tapes, but I do remember some space-age filmstrips that had records to be played along with their viewing--complete with the beep when it was time to turn the filmstrip to the next picture. Seeing actual moving pictures from a projector was a real rarity in a classroom back then. I don't ever remember seeing a slideshow in school.
@@bigscarysteve Yeah, I think you're right. Filmstrips, they called them. I remember hearing the narration from either cassettes or 33 records.
One brand of the film strip machines for individuals to use was Ducane. We had those at community college in the 1970s.
@@bite-sizedshorts9635 Any relation to Duncan yo-yos?
From a teacher’s and student’s perspective I can relate to every single thing mentioned. I miss those wholesome days!❤
Best days ever!
Me too
as a 60's kid i miss those day's.they were some of my happiest memories.
I was a kid in the 70's.. some of the most happiest times in my life!!
I grew up in the 70's. I remember all the things in the video. Btw, those medal lunch boxes are collectables now. Some worth alot of money. Some of those things carried over into the 80's, when I started high school years.
It's "days," not "day's." ?Were you happy, or just stoned?
Now now Lettuce and Bill, I think I have the word you’re looking for, it’s “daze”.
@@Lettuce-and-Tomatoesyou're the one who claimed that the time of much racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, antisemitism, and ableism gave you your happiest times.
I'm glad we've advanced to the current society. It's not perfect, but at least I can leave my house.
I'm 55 years old and remember all of this, great memories. It's crazy how much & how fast the world changes.
Me too. 54 here.
55 here, and back those school days, kids actually listened to good music that was current, whether it came off MTV (80s) or from American Top 40 (70s and 80s).
Most music today is trash.
Not for the better I think!
@@whooleo10 definitely not for the best.
......and it all (life) seems so short. :/
My third grade teacher used to read to us, maybe 30 minutes a day. (1958) It was so peaceful. I think some schools still do this. Her favorite books were the "Little House" books.
Back when I was in 3rd grade (2012) my teacher still read to us. She was the only one I have come across that still did that
Heh. My 5th grade teacher (late-'60s) read to us - J.R.R.Tolkien's "The Hobbit"! She wasn't able to finish the book, and I dunno about anyone else, but I hadda know the end! Got the book, read it, and omg there were MORE books?!! LOL! Turned me into a lifelong Tolkien fan...
Anybody remember the "Frodo Lives" buttons (pins)? 😆
Today, they have trans and Cross Dressers come in to read.
I read to my students EVERY day after lunch for 20-30 min. The kids loved it!
@@CatalinaThePirateawww this is too wholesome 😊❤ I bet your teacher would be happy she converted at least one student into a Tolkien fan 🥰🥹
I checked out an infrequently used book from the library, the check-out card had dates ranging back 20 years, it was like a time machine.
I always loved learning how often a book was checked out. Sad about that now, one can't tell.
I use to be fascinated by that too.
I started school in the early 60s, and this made me miss the America that I grew up in.
Same
Certain things. Certain things.
yes we had just boys and girls ...not 10 genders of today LOL
A wonderful time!
Yup. I started in 70
Fond memories for sure.
I remember The Weekly Reader, Halloween carnivals, Christmas plays with handmade decorations. Ordering paperback books through your classroom and being excited to receive the 3-4 that I ordered. I could go on and on 🤗
I always looked forward to the weekly reader and ordering Scholastic books! Read them cover to cover.
@@dawnmason2882 I'm in Calgary, Canada and I got to order Scholastic books in elementary school. One of my best purchases was the Girl Guide Cookbook from the late 60s-early 70s.
The Scholastic Books...I just loved going through the catalog and choosing the books I wanted. Great memories. ..it was something so simple and ordinary ..but I miss those times. 📻 📚 📺
Oh, that was such a wonderful time. I was in grade school and junior high and high school in the 50s and 60s. Girls wore dresses and boys wore khakis. We actually learned reading, cursive writing, history of our country and other countries, mathematics, science, biology, chemistry, home economics, foreign languages, art, and physical education class. Sex education was left up to our parents. We had total respect for our teachers. We may not have liked them but we respected them. My heart breaks for the “education” children are getting nowadays. It’s not education, it’s indoctrination.
@@Felidae-ts9wp You hit me where I live. During my fourth and fifth grade years, Scholastic Book Services (and their subsidiary TAB-Teen Age Books) were part of my typical school day.
The teachers and students were properly dressed, and the kids looked so well groomed.
Yeah, the girls looked like proper little girls, and the boys looked like Beaver Cleaver. Mothers back then knew that sending your kid to school improperly turned out meant, at best, community gossip, and at worst, a visit from child welfare.
@@RaptorFromWeegeebeaver cleaver🤣🤣
@@blair3047 I bet you're fairly young.
@@JoseyWales44s you too, I bet you're younger
@@blair3047 Whats your point? Tell us your age in comparison to Blair, from 'Facts of Life'?
I remember getting the handout of the Scholastic books that I could choose and then buy for very little money. For a book lover, I loved those days when the teacher would pass them
out. Also, remember when there would be one lefty student who would be looking diligently for that one left- handed
desk. And the disappointment when there wasn't one. In many ways I wish our schools
were still like that.
Unless, you were the left handed student!
There are still scholastic books & scholastic book fairs. My elementary age son just had one at his school recently. The books just aren’t as cheap now hah. They have a website now too in case you don’t want to wait for the school handout
i was the lefty, had to adapt as all the desks were not made for me.
yep I was the only lefty in my grade school class out of 30 children! They did not know how to teach me cursive! only 7% of people are left-handed. My father was also left-handed. One advantage though with lefties is that we're more ambidextrous than right handers. Little things like being able to use a power saw with either hand... comes in handy. I was also a switch hitter in baseball (although I threw only left-handed). Remember Junior Scholastics & Weekly Reader? those were the days.
As a lefty I found those desks more annoying than the righty ones.
I liked the desks that the chairs weren’t attached to better.
As a 80 kid this brought back so many memories
I volunteered in the library of my son's elementary school. The librarian asked me to help with inventory at the end of the year where we would sort through and discard books that were never checked out (they were offered to school families to take home). A few days in, I got a big surprise when I found a book I had checked out in kindergarten, in 1969! This was in 2006 so almost 40 years! It hadn't been checked out but twice in five years so I asked if I could have it. I was so happy the librarian agreed. I've kept it on my shelf all these years. A few years ago, I discovered junk journals and I was able to use the entire book, keeping the story intact, to create a journal. I use it to write school memories and stories in, along with special photos. It helps keep the good memories alive and push away the bad ones.
We got some nice books that way!
That's a good memory, thanks for sharing.
We had not only a projector, but it was part of the film that had to be fed onto reels. Cursive was required and good penmanship too. I still think it is pretty and I like writing notes to my family. Just think, in case of an EMF, we old ones will rule, cursive and manual transmissions. 🙂
I believe that's "EMP", for electromagnetic pulse
I used to love film day. Which meant we got to watch a film. It was then time for the teacher to select someone to sit at the back of the room and control the lights. That was considered a respected position. Sometimes the teacher would need to call the maintenance guy because she couldn't load the film correctly. And, if we got really lucky, the teacher would run the film backwards after we were done watching it forward. It was so funny watching it backwards. Those were the days. ~1963
Amen.
And opening your final report card and see the bottom statement, “promoted” was the best feeling in the world!
@Luca Angelo I’m well thank you! Grew up in North Florida, living in the Florida Keys now. Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate the holiday!🦃
@Luca Angelo today was a perfect 80° sunny and nice ocean breeze!
@Luca Angelo widowed, grown sons.
We found out who our teacher was the next year in grade school on the last report card.
it better been, lol
As a kid of the '50s/'60s, you pretty much nailed my entire childhood in school! GREAT to reminisce, but a bit sad, too. We'll never have those days back. At least we didn't have to walk through blizzards uphill both ways to get to school, and then have to stoke the old pot belly stove like my parents swore that they did.
I walked a whole block to grade school in the fifties, no tv, no library, beat the erasers on the brick walls outside, walked home for lunch, no AV, old lift top desks, cloak rooms. I could wait for school to start (only child).
Oh, they did all of that in Montana where my mother went to school and my grandmother taught school. Kids learned more by 8th grade back then than high school graduates today! 'They also learned some Latin so as to understand the etymology of words.
I remember walking 7 miles to school and 2 blocks from school to home. 😅
@@Hogger280 It helped if your parents were Catholic since in the past, mass was in Latin.
@@marilyntaylor9577 I remember that in kindergarten my teacher would make me sit on a chair in the cloak room for misbehaving. But the cloak room was just a little way beyond the sandbox and so I simply scooted the chair a little at a time until I got to the sandbox and I was able to still sit in the chair and play without the teacher noticing, 😅
Very enjoyable! I'm a school teacher, since 1996. Things have become very complicated and frankly sad. There's too many things to discuss here. I'll just say that Modesty and compassion in a student today is rare. Thank you for bringing so many happy memories!
Since when have they or teachers been compassionate? I was a child in the 80's and teachers watched violence happen. They did nothing. My experience isnt uncommon.
@@ShockResistor It probably depends on where you live. My daughter teaches school, and she's spent quite a bit of money buying kids gloves and hats. She's even bought a couple of coats. She's bought markers and all sorts of supplies for her kids. If teachers aren't compassionate, they have no business teaching.
@@ShockResistor As a recently retired teacher, I can tell you that your example has nothing to do with "Compassion". Today teachers are taught to NOT get involved as you may end up losing your job, and possibly in prison for simply touching students, even to break up a fight. It was in the news just a few years back, when a family tried to sue the school bus driver for not getting involved and protecting their child. They failed as the bus driver was "Not Allowed" to get involved past giving orders and demanding they stop. I know a bus driver was arrested for helping a young girl who's hair got caught in the bus heater (under the seat). In trying to position her to make slack in her long hair, his hand accidently touched a part of her body, and he was arrested. I understand that you should never touch someone in certain areas, but when you are being helped from an emergency of some sort ... If I firefighter has to grab my package to save me from a burning building, I hope he doesn't hesitate. But this is the world we live in.
I have been staying in touch with students and schools by substituting. In small towns where I teach, students are still very respectful.
There should be a video on how the school culture has changed.
I began my teaching career in the early 70's and retired in 2011. I remember all of the items you listed with fondness. I went from utilizing those items to the use of whiteboards, smartboards, computers, laser printers, and copiers. I saw many changes that took place over a span of thirty-eight years in the school system. Cursive writing was still being taught in the school system (at the elementary level) that I taught in for thirty-five years.
When I was going through school it was just called long hand. The first time I heard cursive was when my son was learning how to write.
I dont understand why cursive has fallen out. I still use it on checks or if I write a letter. They say the easiest way to befuddle a youngster today is lock them in a straight shift car and leave instructions in cursive.
@@Daehawk put a manual choke on the vehicle and it will never be started
Thank you for your service. I hope your students succeeded in life and remember you.
That third pedal is the best anti -theft system going.
I loved the card catalog. As I was looking for a book, I was always sidetracked by intriguing topics.
Text book covers, large pencil erasers, teacher's calk board compass, and field trips.
i recently bought a gum eraser
I LOVED the field trips! it was our way of getting out of the classroom and out of the school and ride the schoolbus to somewhere interesting.
@sjdrifter72, Yes! From Chicago area here-Field Museum, Adler planetarium, Shedd aquarium, MSI (they once had a giant washing machine mock up!) Also the class trip to DC.
Yes, I remember being required to cover all my textbooks and workbooks. We could use paper bags or buy some, but the ones you bought weren't always long enough. So we opted for the paper bags that we got from grocery shopping. Then we'd draw all over our covers. The required materials for school shopping were much simpler back then: a folder, a three ring binder, loose leaf paper, subject dividers, pencils, pens, erasers, crayons. My school was built in 1898 and had a bell tower. When teachers wanted to show a movie, the class would go downstairs into the audio/visual aids room where the ONE film projector was. Our school did not have a library, so each year, teachers would take us on a trip to the local public library down the street, where the librarians would give us a tour, show us how to use the card catalog, the encyclopedias, and type writers!
I certainly remember the blackboards and teachers having us go to the board to write our problems down. Half the kids didn't know how to hold the chalk correctly and tried to hold it like a pencil, causing really loud squeaking sounds, like finger nails on the blackboard.
The field were fun.
Text books that had former students names in them in the front. I loved seeing that I had my brothers or cousins or aunts old book.
It would probably be considered a violation of somebody's privacy nowadays.
@@Lava1964how ridiculous,lol!
Actual field trips! We went to all kinds of places...water treatment plant, dairy processing plant, gardens, plays, movies at a historical theater, and 2x I went to a week-long nature camp where we hiked up the sides of 2 mountains and slept in barracks. Yes it was really a field trip!
We went to a whaling museum on Long Island 🐳
Do they even still go on field trips anymore?
Our school goes on a lot of field trips.
I even remember being on a trip to a newspaper printing room. We elementary school children were led though the loudly clacking machinery and told to keep our hands at our sides and not to touch anything. I was very apprehensive because I could see how easy it would be to lose a body part in that loud, crowded space. Today's children would never be trusted to navigate such a place. Somehow, we all left unscathed.
@@mindyschocolateyep!
You missed the movie projectors that were used before there were VCRs. A movie projector in the class room was always a good sign.
And the teacher asleep in the back of the room while it played.
The clattering of the movie projector, as it ran the film, was part of the whole experience. I think every teacher must have taken a course in film splicing, as the film would occasionally break.
@@PBryanMcMillin Also the teacher (me) had to know the intricacies of threading the film and also of finding and replacing the light bulb inside.
We also had the Bell & Howell sound projectors in the 1960s. My music class had a large reel-to-reel “Wollensak” 3M tape recording systems. Everything was large back then because of the vacuum tubes they put in everything. A school record player was portable but still built like a tank and very heavy. TVs would be wheeled into rooms and plugged into the central antennae system. Our school library was actually one of the larger ones.
Our school got a Video Recording machine, not a cassette-type. But there were no learning tapes on the market yet so the Vice Principal took it around to record classroom sessions for a girl who'd been in a car accident and had to spend 3 months in traction.
The elementary school that I attended in the 70s was built in the 20s. It was not uncommon to check out a book and see dates going back to the 40s, 30s and 20s! Even as a small child I was fascinated by that.
You probably had a History teacher that was dead 40 years ,but no-one had noticed,so he was still getting paid
I remember getting to 3rd grade and being so excited to begin learning to write in cursive, I felt so grown up!
I got to learn cursive in the 2nd grade but my cousin lived in another state where they taught cursive in the 3rd grade so when i told him I knew cursive he thought I was lying and demanded that I prove it so I did and then he got mad because I learned something before he did.😂 kids!
Exactly 🎯!
I didn’t learn cursive until 4th grade
@@psnb1069 better late than never
I learned cursive before 1st grade because I had older siblings that taught me.
In 1st grade, we were told to write our name at the top of the page.
The teacher called me up to her desk after we turned in the work to tell me she meant “print”...
We would learn “cursive” in 2nd grade.
😂😂
Watching this video makes me so happy that I went to school in the '80s and early '90s. Things were filled with wonder and fun and this video captured that very nicely. I'd hate to be in school now. They seem like such stressful places now devoid of very much fun.
well speaking as a sophomore in high school I can tell you that it isn't so bad. yeah sometimes teachers give a lot of work but other than that it's mostly chill
@@oct197. Thank you for that viewpoint.
60’s and 70’s for me.
@@bonniefells7585 I feel like we can't really judge very well because the public has been excluded from public school.
When we were in school a parent could come sit in on a class if they wanted, I don't think they allow that anymore.
We really need a mechanism for public with an interest to monitor classes their kids/grandkids ect are attending. Although I appreciate oct197's viewpoint (s)he lacks a reference of how it was and has changed.
Just as we did compared to our parents/grandparents in our age.
Don't forget the cigar boxes where you kept your pencils and crayons.
King Edwards, or Ivory.
@@lelandgaunt9985 The boxes I remember are White Owl and El Producto. They were so handy for so many things!
@@Mick_Ts_Chick We had those and Dutch Masters.
And sometimes the pencil boxes where some people kept cigars! 😮
We never used cigar boxes. In elementary school, the thing to use was a "pencil bag" a large vinyl envelope with three holes along one side. It would clip to your three-ring notebook. By high school, they were out of style, and you just used your pocket.
Did we attend the same school? Geez. I had no idea all of this stuff was so universal. This takes me back. I can't believe how old I am.
Just imagine what Roman schools were like.
Television? VCR? Not in my day. I was proud that I could correctly thread 16mm film into the projector.
@@666toysoldier I can imagine how that'd be difficult with no color in the world and dinosaurs trying to eat you.
@Dale Gribble I'm glad I never had to endure that. People in power tend to punish perceived offenses as well as real. One of our female church leaders spanked my little brother for clenching his fists on a cold Autumn evening because she thought he was being defiant over having to come indoors. We were so young then, but I have never forgotten.
Man...Does this bring back memories! The only thing you forgot, were the 16mm movie projectors. It was always a treat, when the film and projector were rolled in, and the "DA-LITE" screen was set up at the front of the class just in front of the chalk board.
And Film Strips!
another thing you forgot to add was the #firealarmhorns used for firedrills in the 50's,60,70's,80's and even 90's before the ada strobelights law and the #spectralerts.
I remember going to the library in the late 70s and watch filmstrips.
I could smell the ditto paper as soon as it was being mentioned. Wow. What a memory!
Funny how that happens huh??
I could smell the B.O. of the kid sitting next to me.
And digging thru the trash can looking for the ditto master for tomorrow's test. ;-)
I remember the teacher passing out the freshly mimeographed paper and every kid lifting it up to smell it.
@@AllieinCali My teacher passed out too. Oh wait...
I love your channel. I often want to cry for what we've lost but I smile because I know I am not the only one that remembers.
I remember all of this! Thanks for the walk through school history. I also remember the brown book covers that we used for each textbook. I remember that sometimes I used brown paper bags in place of the commercial covers. It was so fun to fold the covers to fit the books. Good times!
And we would decorate those covers we made! I started school in 1955. So I remember all the things in this video!
For some reason this reminds me of PeeChee folders!
Our local grocery stores would put a dotted line of the book cover on the inside of their paper bags to make it easier! We also used a book strap to hold the books together. I guess backpacks weren't a thing then?
Omg yes! I'm born in 1962, and I'd forgotten about the book covers made from grocery bags. 😁😁😁 It was great because we could write and decorate them.
@@dawnmason2882 Also, decorate a cast on a student's leg.
As a teacher now, those old pencil sharpeners are gold! They don’t break, wear out, or need electricity! I love teaching kids how to use them. 😊
Who would have thought that a child needed to be taught how to use a pencil sharpener!
Would you mind answering a question if you can, please? I’m 50 - I don’t know why it bothers me so much but you’ve probably seen the majority of people on this site do not/can not/will not understand “too” v “to or “loose” v “lose” and on and on. Did the curriculum just stop teaching these things?
My hat is off to you and I thank you so much for doing what you do.
@@Mugwump7 I think kids today are bombarded by games and phones and tablets, and thus can't remember anything at all from school. They can't do simple math in their heads, locate their own state on a map, or name the three branches of the federal government. Facts were drilled into our heads way back, so we wouldn't forget. Ever. Rote learning of basic facts really works, despite all the new ideas of school management.
Add grammar to the list. When did it become acceptable to say “Me and him went to the game…” 😢
The past was the worst. I'm so glad I'm not stuck in the 50s and 60s.
I miss Scholastic book club in the late 60s through the 70's I don't remember if it was monthly or quarterly, but the teacher would hand out a catalog that you could select books from and order them my mom would always let me buy a couple.
I particularly enjoyed selecting the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books!
I loved buying the books.
Dynamite, the posters, joke books and books about baseball. Encycolpedia Brown and Three Investigators. Great stuff.
In Dallas they were monthly and the parents had to pay for them. This was late 60’s early 70’s.
Loved those! Always something good to buy.
I've never heard it called a Ditto machine. We knew those as mimeograph machines. I can still recall the smell of that purple ink.
Ditto was the brand name of the mimeograph machine. Just like Frigidaire was a brand of refrigerator.
@@glennso47 Gotcha.
A Ditto machine and mimeo machine are two different printing devices. The ditto machine used an alchohol based fluid to apply to the paperb then the paper would come into contact with the master and a purple ink was deposited onto the paper.
A mimeograph machine was a stencil that the black ink used to bleed thru the stencil and onto the paper
I wonder when 'they' will decide that the smell caused cancer and all the schools 'from the past' will be part of a billion zillion dollar lawsuit, like the bad water suit in Camp LeJeune... Oh, as a former 48 year music teacher just retired, I remembered everything you presented... those were the days! odd, though - apparently administrators haven't changed much. Now they are allowing gender issues... they really don't have a clue, never did and I am sure, never will.
I never used a machine but I used carbon paper with a squeegee type rubber thing that you would rub over top of the paper to make copies
I’m so glad I was born then. Kids today have it rough. I feel we learned a lot more because we worked for it.
We were a part of our education. It was practically hands-on.
You got that right friend, school is too easy now kids just use Google to cheat on their test.
@@melissagoings1 you got that, there wasn't no phone distraction back then unless you used the wall payphone in the gym.
I don't think modern kids learn less. They just learn different things. Kids today don't need to use the Dewey Decimal system because not all libraries still use the Dewey Decimal system. In fact, the Dewey Decimal system is considered a controversial organization system these days because it classified books by non-white authors under different categories from white authors. Some public libraries now use more general categories, like the ones book stores use, and university libraries tend to use the Library of Congress categorization system. On the other hand, by the time kids are teenagers, many of them know how to digitally alter photographs, edit digital videos (and audio) and post them to UA-cam or Tiktok, create their own websites, sell things they made themselves online through Etsy, start learning how to code, and can communicate with people in other countries, even play games with them and translate written languages they can't even speak. Nostalgia is interesting and fun, but it's not everything.
Kids today have it easy, claiming they have it rough. Woke Leftist culture have softened society.
I went to 1st grade at a Catholic grade school that economized by utilizing old cast iron and wood desks bolted to wooden boards. The desks had a hole in the top for the ink bottle, since ball-point pens didn’t exist when they were built. Some of those old desks almost certainly dated from the 1800s, and are collector pieces today.
public schools as well until the 60s in the mid-west. followed by the sleek/modern chrome w/ glossy polished Formica - seats of smooth, form-fitting contoured resin in muted pastel hues. they really sprang for it!
Mine had an ink bottle.
@@FRANKHDIETRICH😮
Still here.@@faithintheunseen1294
We had the same desks in grade school in New York. I loved them so much. Some years ago we stumbled upon one that was for sale in an antique store. Listening to me reminisce my husband suggested we buy it. It took me a long time to resist the urge to purchase it, but only because I didn’t know where we would put it. If our son had still been school age we would have purchased it in a heartbeat.
Those where the times of our lives. Thanks for sharing.
Here in Southern California schools didn't have A/C in the 60's; there were windows that had a panel that opened up high; to open it there was a long pole with a hook or something on the end to open those panels. What a joy to be chosen to open the windows with that long, important pole! Also, each classroom had a sink with a drinking fountain. We had to line up before lunch and wash our hands.
In northern California we also had the transom windows. When I went to university on the Central Coast (Cal Poly) some of the university classrooms had them, and the pole was 16' long or more.
Had the same setup at Sinsheimer elementary in SLO. Being one of the larger kids i was allowed to open the top windows and close them.
I remember the paste in grade school, it smelled and "tasted" minty
@@dianadurr-ramsey567 Yes! and it was fun to peel off our fingers!
Ha! I remember those windows. The schools I went to in NJ were built around 1900 or so. In the late 70s, our schools finally replaced the original windows to the ones you described.
In the 70s, we had to learn square dancing as part of the curriculum as a national dance one year. I also remember getting my hearing tested in school. "Raise your hand if you can hear the beep.." we raised our hands at the slightest of sounds to avoid looking like something was wrong with us. Weekly readers to keep us aware of current events, the book order forms that had to go back filled out and with money then you'd wait a month or more to get them. By the time you did, you forgot about them. White shirts on assembly day which usually was on a Wednesday. Tape recorders that played some type of story...The yard stick that was right by the chalkboard...
I loved square dancing in elementary school in the early 70's 😍 it was the easiest way to hold hands 👫 with the girls I had crushes on!!!
My all girls' high school had a class in the 60s that everyone took called Social Graces! We learned how to introduce people, how to have small talk, table setting, lots of dancing like fox trot, waltz, cha cha, stroll, lindy hop, etc. Formal and familiar manners, types of written correspondence, a bit about personal grooming, and more. Some needed this more than others, but we all came out polished!
@@susancorvalan6765 that’s wonderful! I recall my home life being a lot like that.
My fifth grade teacher had us square dance all the time...he called it "listening skills" lol.
I don't want to live in a society where having a disability means there's something wrong with you.
Wonderful memories with this video. Thank you.
This is spot on. I came up in New York City's public schools and taught in them for 45 years. I have seen all these changes over the years, including meeting high school students who could not read cursive. I made a point of teaching it to my students just in case they would ever encounter a primary source while in college. Third graders these days do too much standardized test preparation to have time to learn how to write in cursive. Apparently, knowing how to color in spots on a test is now a more important life skill.
Thank you Paula. I'm Paula Whittington. Taught in NJ. Also taught cursive to my students and my 3 kids.
I was born in NYC and moved to My in the 5th grade. It was a culture shock. The school system that I was in while in NYC was WAY ahead of the school I ended up in central NJ. Such a shame, too.
Ever spent time in the rubber room?
Third graders back in my school years were more educated than high school kids these days. We could write in cursive, count change, do mathematics pretty well, knew some geography, understood the history of the country, and knew what we were and how to dress. we were generally more polite as well. Different world!
Elementary school you had assigned desks. Inside the desk you usually had a box with things like extra pencils, crayons, scissors and glue. It was a place to also keep your books so you didn't have to take them home with you. That changed in Middle and High School. You normally got a wall locker for storage of jackets and coats, etc..and your books, which seemed like you were always taking them home every night lol.
yes, I remember that!
They didn't let my children bring books home from school because they are so expensive. Or, maybe they're hiding something! Schools have got to improve.
Yes, I recall those. Lockers later on were small for us, though - no tall ones; these were three to a stack. You could cram in a coat and books, but it was tight!
Card catalogs! I loved them. It allowed for serendipity. You’re looking for one thing and stumble across something else of interest. Wow! You could learn about 2 or more things instead of being limited to the one. Same is true for encyclopedias.
Computerized catalog just not as fun as the catalog drawers and Dewey system! Love the hands on experience.
I remember pulling volumes of the World Book off the shelf & reading whatever page I opened them to. Hours of fun & education without the pressure of a grade.
I remember the 16mm projector! Watching a school film on math or health, or how to use a telephone, the right way of greeting someone when answering, things like that.
Where I went to school, the teachers would rent a Disney movie to show how much they appreciated our hard work and how hard some of us tried.😊
All the teachers I had were special and are apart of me, and help make me what I am today, along with my Mom and Dad!
I remember in elementary school we had old recycled wooden desks that still had a hole in the top where an ink bottle was supposed to be placed for your fountain pen... and later in middle/high school those AV carts had actual movie projectors, not TVs with VCRs, lol! I guess everything has to change, but I actually feel sorry for the kids today.
Same that is why when I become a teacher I will teach my students the skills I learned. I will be dammed if my kids don't know analog or basic map reading skills.
Then you must have missed film strips, and sometimes you would have a record player playing and changing the slides.
Oh boy do I remember the movie projectors. The worst part of them was the snap, snap, snap you heard if the celluloid broke! Movie time was over!! So was nap time!
The projectors disappeared in the late 80s.
Anyone remember the bookmobiles? The vehicles that would park outside of schools and we would go inside them and look at the books inside it and we would also get a catalog and we could circle the books we wanted and iorder them!
As a recently retired elementary school librarian, I’ve got to point out that children do still need to know how to use the Dewey Decimal System. While it is true that computers make it much easier to look up books and see their availability, students still need to know how to find the book on the shelf. For non-fiction books, that means using Dewey. Or asking the librarian to find it for you.
Looking things up with the decimal system and file drawers encouraged initiative and persistence that makes a person experience a certain joy and sense of accomplishment upon finding something really meaningful. The online ways have their advantages as well.
I had to learn the Dewey Decimal system and still remember it.
I question the use of the computer for ease of lookup. I agree that computers do show availability (when one gets an exact match on your lookup text).
The last time I went to a library, a few years ago now but not that long ago, looking up on the computer and finding the book still needed an appreciation of the Dewey Decimal system.
@@matthewlivermanne4441I work in a library. Anyone working in a library has to know it. That is how the books are sorted on the shelf, making it easier for everyone to find the book they're looking for.
One thing that I wish weren't found in schools anymore: cellphones. As a substitute teacher, I can say, from experience, that cellphones are a severe impediment to education. Imagine if students back in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s had been allowed to bring mini, handheld TVs to school. What do you think it would have done to their minds?
Our mobiles aren't allowed in class. They have to be left in your locker and can only be used at recess or lunch.
Unfortunately, most schools in my county don't have lockers anymore. Only the high schools have lockers, and they can only be used for P.E. So, students are supposed to keep their phones in their back packs. Of course, as you can imagine, that doesn't work out. It's a constant battle throughout the day to keep students' hands off their cellphones. Most high schools I've been at have basically given up trying to strictly enforce cellphone bans during class. As long as the student is not making a phone call, playing video games, or watching a movie, teachers will often turn a blind eye.
I heard on the news today that one Australian state will ban (with exceptions) mobile phones from government schools from 2023.
@@Kevin-go2dw They are not banned from school, just from using them or having them during class times. It's not just one state (Victoria), it's most states and the NT. A lot of schools have had bans in place for awhile, I guess the government is just making it official for all government schools. 'Mobile policy' at my school came into affect at the start of this year, our phones have to be in our locker during class
The same thing it's doing to the minds of students today. Brain washing them.
I remember the Weekly Reader. I loved that paper. It was our own little newspaper with interesting stories.
This was school. I never thought it would turn out to be horrible today for school. It was great then, not so much now.
THE SCHOOL OF TODAY DOESN'T TEACH MANDATORY FIRST AID CLASSES THAT TO ME IS UNACCEPTABLE THE KIDS OF TODAY WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT A JUMP KIT LOOKS LIKE OR EVEN GRAB IT WHEN HEADING OUT FOR THE EMERGENCY BUT I KNOW WHAT A JUMP KIT IS I'VE GRABBED A GOOD MANY OF THEM WHEN MY OLDEST BROTHER WAS AT HIS WRESTLING TOURNAMENT AT HIGH SCHOOL I WAS FAST ASLEEP CURLED UP IN A QUIET CORNER THE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR ASKED MY DAD IS YOUR FIRST AIDER HERE MY DAD SAID I'LL GO GET HER HE CAME TO WHERE I WAS SLEEPING HE GENTLY WOKE ME UP AND THE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR ASKED ME FOR HELP I ASKED HIM WHAT WAS THE TROUBLE HE SAID THE FIRST AIDER HAD QUIT I GOT UP GRABBED MY FIRST AID SHIRT AND PUT IT ON I SAID LET'S GO SEE WHAT THE TROUBLE WAS I LOOKED AT IT PRETTY EASY SIZE UP JAY HAD A SHOULDER SEPARATION THE SLING AND SWATH WAS USED I SAID TO DAD GET JAY TO THE HOSPITAL THAT NEEDS TO LOOKED AT NOW WE NEED THE BLOOD FLOW TO BE MOVING AT ALL TIMES AFTER JAY WENT TO THE HOSPITAL HE CAME BACK TO THE WRESTLING TOURNAMENT FOR PRESENTATION OF MEDALS FOR THE WRESTLING TOURNAMENT JAY STILL GOT A MEDAL EVEN THOUGH HE WAS INJURED HE SAID I OWE MY LIFE TO MY FIRST AID GANGSTER SISTER THANK YOU I SAID YOU'RE WELCOME
In my school in Brooklyn, once in a while someone would come into the classroom with a box filled with big warm salted soft pretzels that sold for about 10cents each. That made the classroom so happy. The teacher allowed us to eat them while continuing class. Or when the scholastic orders would arrive and the teachers would pass out what books or other stuff we’d ordered. I really enjoyed the 70-80’s. I am so glad I went to school in that time.
I am glad I went to school in the 70's & 80's, too, before things got so crazy!
I remember when the pre-orders came in and i got the new Wimpy Kid before everyone else xD
I’m glad my kids are grown. The schools are insane and way too woke for my taste.
Book orders were the best!!!
And then we'd pour the remaining salt into our mouths.
When I started school in 1953, some classrooms still had the old cast iron framed desks that had curved fold up seats, and the desk tops had holes for ink wells. Most of the old desks were ink stained. I still buy bottled ink and still use fountain pens. We had outdoor lunch tables before they built a cafeteria and put fold up tables and benches in the auditorium.
I was born I 1944. All this is true.
In kindergarten we were given milk in small class bottles and a Graham cracker .
Thank you for sharing your memories
Fancy fountain pens can be a valuable tool that costs a lot but customers buy them
@@karenglenn2329 only one graham cracker?! That’s it?
@@oooh19 We are talking 1949. We did not care. The treats and snack thing had not mushroomed.
In my schools we had cloak rooms to hang our coats, take off rain or snow boots, and store our lunch boxes. All the way through eighth grade you would find a paddle somewhere near the teacher's desk. We had no air-conditioning, but we did have ceiling fans. I also saw some cast-iron radiators in you video. They were great for drying off gloves or mittens. In my K-2nd grade school we had a coal heater with large registers in the center of each classroom. It was fun trying to fit as many kids over the register as possible to warm up before class and after recess before the teacher would come to the room.
I went to my 50 year high school reunion this summer. One day they opened the school and we got to explore everywhere and remember what it was like to be in school. I went into one of the classrooms. And there it was -- a pencil sharpener just like in this piece. Those were the days...
My 50th high school graduation will be next year. When I think of that I wonder where all the years went.
I have one in my garage. We have one at work too, and people always ask what it is.
wellguess what my mom bought us a pencil sharpener like that its red plastic case and the rest made of steel who nows when she got it but my aunt who is 92has a eletric one who knew
Another thing that has disappeared is typewriters. In high school, my typing class used typewriters but not anymore as everything is on computers
Yes!!! I went to Jesuit high school. The typing teacher was a priest who wore a cowboy hat & at the beginning of class told us to “Fire up your Kawazaki’s!” 😂😂😂 Oh how I miss Father Doyle. I finally bought a refurbished Selectric. I missed the rhythm of typing so much.
Yes! I learned to type on a big manual typewriter in middle school. I remember how hard it was to press the letter p, about bent my pinky backwards.
In high school we had electric type writers and took the first computer class-- on an old Apple 2E.
I took typing in high school in 74. I did it to meet girls, never in a million years did I imagine I would be using a computer keyboard for my career in management. Odd how things work out. :)
I started high school with typewriters and ended with computers.
In the mid 70's I did typing as an elective subject. Probably only one of two males doing the class. I can still touch type (perhaps not as fast) and every computer has a keyboard. 😀
Im sure someone mentioned this..but that smell that is spoken of in ditto sheets would make us get a contact high...hence why kids inhaled it...not even realizing it was a contact buzz. Who else remembers something called "microfiche" you would get to put in some sort of projector to read old newspaper articles...?
Micro film we called it, but it was the same thing.
@@glennso47 I think they still use that.
I remember micro fiche, used it in high school.
5:13 "Ditto" machines? "Ditto" sheets? If these were before photocopiers, then duplicators, perhaps? Never heard them called "ditto" before.
Mimeograph's were around before Ditto's
I remember most of these things. We also had slide projectors as well as movie projectors that were often used instead of the TV and VCR on a stand.
Cursive was also far more important than most people realized and especially for taking notes in college. It was the fastest way to write things down while keeping up in class by far. I've tried using my laptop in college (this was early 2000s), but most of the time when I was in class I was taking notes in cursive. It was faster than I could type and I remembered more from the class that way too than when I used the laptop. To this day if I'm in a training class for work on some new tech or in a meeting were I need to take notes, I'm still the one that brings the notebook and writes things down in cursive. It's really something that should still be taught to kids. It's super useful in more situations in the 21st century than people give it credit for and it helps develop fine motor control in the hand at a young age too.
When I was in grade school, there were no TVs in class. For that matter, there no TVs in the whole building. We had a cafeteria that served hot meals. Some kids had lunch boxes but some brought their lunch in a paper bag. A lot of the things you showed I had in my classes. However, in talking to the kids in high school now, even with all the high tech stuff, they don't seem to know much. The reason being is why learn all the things needed in life when one can get the answer on a cell phone or laptop and this is sad.
I agree with you. The kids have access to more information, but they don't know how to distinguish between what is accurate and what is not. The glossy presentation is the same on real and bogus websites.
Like I said - we learned gooder.
In religion class, we had beautiful color filmstrips accompanied by a record with the narration. A beep would tell you when to push the projector button to advance to the next scene. Pushing that button was a coveted privilege.
In high school, we advanced to AV carts with TVs, but they were never met with the same enthusiasm. We all had TVs at home, so they were nothing special.
i think public education has moved away from life prep to college prep. effectively allowing the teachers to pass the buck to those college professors. the colleges also do this, but they pass the buck to everyone else. so you got hordes of useless people who fake it till they make it, displacing the nerds in the workforce who actually know what they are doing.
@@larrybd100 gooder?
Don’t forget the pianos in every elementary classroom. I started kindergarten in 1964. For the first six years of my schooling, every one of my elementary teachers played the piano. We would get out old Silver-Burdett music texts and sing from them virtually every morning. It was a beautiful way to start the day.
A piano in every classroom is MUSIC (and I say that intentionally) to my ears, as well as my mind, heart and bones. In the words of the Bard of Avon--you know who that is--"if music be the food of love, play on". Schools, public, private, and parochial, should have pianos in the classroom.
Yes that was the way it was!!
No pianos in any of my schools. Except on the stage.
Old custodian here. Those pianos were HELL for us custodians to move around during summer clean up and classroom transfers!
Just a little younger than you, and we didn't have those. In the auditorium, yes, and a music room, but not in the classrooms. We did learn, though, and had art contests yearly as well.
I remember all of these things. One thing you did miss was the film strip projectors along with the vinyl record and later on, cassette tape, to provide the audio.
I used film strips and records until I retired fifteen years ago along with most of the things in the video. When they stopped using the mimeograph machine they gave it to me.
I love this so much! The better good old days, for sure! 😭🥰 Nothing compares to the metal lunch boxes, and each year getting a new one if you were so lucky. I remember being embarrassed when on hot dog lunch days, we rarely got them because we were poor. I felt really special at the times when I was able to buy one and eat the same junk food as everyone else. 😄
I still remember my" Land of the Giants" lunchbox. I also felt the sting during hot dog days, but was never ashamed my Parents were the best. How I miss then now,
Very sweet comment. ☺@@PhilipAiello-s8i You know, we are all still the same child inside us now as we were then.
Thank you! So nostalgic! I graduated in 1975. I hated school growing up ... but now I totally want to relive it, with a different perspective!
The thing that is always overlooked about cursive writing is not only that it is aesthetically more pleasing, but like music it helps knits the brain together for creativity.
Cursive, music, creativity? My cellphone is all I need. That and the quickest way to get through the metal detector.
Not only that, but it is actually an important skill in later education. One of the big advantages of cursive is that you can write much faster, which is essential when you are trying to take notes while keeping up with a lecture. When I worked as a teacher, none of my students could write cursive, and, as a consequence, none of them could keep up with my lectures, so I had to slow down, which meant it took longer to cover the same amount of material. And what happens when they go to college, or need to take notes of a meeting at work? Do they ask a university professor or the speaker at a meeting to slow down so they can keep up?
As a drafter, I only ever use cursive to sign my name. Engineering drawings are ALWAYS done with printed letters, and the only cursive you will find on a drawing is the approval signatures. In drafting, printed letters are called "lettering." They are used because it is more clear, especially at smaller sizes than cursive. I haven't written cursive since I was in elementary school about 40 years ago... although I think it's important to be able to READ cursive.
I agree. Cellphones and computers are overrated.
@@redrackham6812 Though I write in cursive, I brought my laptop to some of my harder nursing classes and typed out my notes, so I could keep them organized, add my notes from the reading assignments, and create my study guides. (Of course I was the Summa cum Laude nerd, and everyone wanted copies of my study guides, lol.) Every child in my son's elementary school has a laptop assigned to them. Soon, we may be lucky if our children know how to hold a pencil!
Yes, I remember the checkout card.
I loved Weekly Reader with Buddy Bear ! Also got so excited to get a Scholastic book order and books used to be 35, 40, sometimes even 60, 75 or 95 cents!!!! Also loved sniffing Ditto machine copies! Purple ink!!!
I started kindergarten in 1972 so I remember all of this, and even (pre-video tape) actual movie projectors and big film canisters, which involved a lot of setup and invariably something went wrong with the film feed! Good memories.
I was born 1972 (May 16th).
Yep, 56 here, those reel to reel films skipping and jumping more then a kangaroo, while grainy images were the best they had
I was in AV club and we ran the films for our school. Our school also had a VTR, a reel to reel video tape recorder. It was huge, heavy and had to be transported on a projection cart. The tuner was separate and we recorded programs from NET (National Educational Television) the predecessor to PBS. Lunchboxes then were displaying the Beatles, the Monkeys and Star Trek.
@@tadonplane8265 Don't forget Partridge Family,Brady Bunch, Flintstones,Scoobie Do,The Munsters
A bigger film canister meant a longer film which was welcomed by the students.
Being in class and learning involved so many more of the senses when I was in school than it does now. The sounds of writing on the chalkboard and rollling down one of the maps. The smell of pencil shavings and worksheets fresh out of the photocopier. Watching the teacher writing on the overhead projector and sneaking peeks at the gradebook. My son's classrooms seemed so sterile and lifeless to me with so much having been changed to electronics. I'm sure it makes it easier for everybody involved. But to me, an electronic learning environment feels less...real, I guess is the way to say it.
So much of what you posted is true - but you gotta admit that the occasional inadvertent fingernail on the chalkboard was downright traumatizing!
Less real, and less educational. Why should students bother learning, when they can look everything up? Most these days can't read or write well at all,, many can't even speak well. Almost none learn any real history or science, and the average student can't even count their change. I shudder o think how many homes these days don't even contain books. The average person posting online can't even use common phrases properly. "School" these days is more about programming than about education.
Every school classroom should have a large printed map of the world and of the country permanently on the wall, so it's something the kids see every day and frequently refer to. When I started working as a tutor I was surprised to learn these aren't standard in classrooms anymore.
@@KathyPrendergast-cu5ci That would be good! We hme schooled, and had both a U.S. and a world map on the wall. Seeing it brings some familiarity, at the least.
I remember the old copiers that made blue copies that stank to high heavens. I think they were called gestenter (I probably have the spelling wrong).
We also used opaque projectors alot. Where you could place a a book or anything under it to project on a screen. Useful for tracing maps and other things.
I miss those a lot, as a teacher today!
We had The 10 Commandments on the wall at school. We were also taught manners and respect.
When the 10 Commandments, Bible reading, and prayer went out of schools, it wasn't long before violence and mass shootings became the norm.
This makes so nostalgic. I miss those days.
I recall having the TV on a cart rolled into the classroom for every space launch. We would watch all of the pre-launch commentary and then the launch itself. Those were fun days.
We would watch channel 1. It was the educational channel history and civics!
Those were the days to remember. Great memories. Sure wish it was still this way for the kids today.
well I don't think many kids now would like much of these things. times have changed.
@@oct197. They can't lift their heads up from their phones for more than 10 seconds. So much obesity in kids today.
@@dukey19941 yes and no. there's kids in my school who usually aren't always on their phone and then there's kids who are always on it. just depends on the kid
Many of the schools I’ve taught in (inc. where I work now) have chalkboards. I love using different colored chalks and the kids love it too. When teaching English in Spain, all of my students were taught cursive and only wrote in cursive. I like that their schools teach them cursive but trying to read it is an entirely different story.
This video already started out newfangled. I remember the teacher rolling in the cart that held the reel-to-reel film projector
I started school in 1960. We never had lunchboxes, only brown paper bags. I remember all but the tv’s. It REALLY BOTHERED ME when our public library quit using the card catalogue. Not only was I lost without it , but that was how I often found an interesting book that I wasn’t looking for. Your pencil sharpener description was perfect 😂and I think our character was improved by it’s frailty. Thank you for this wonderful video!
I only used a lunchbox in the early grades. When I was in Grade 5 my school changed its policy about eating lunch at school and decreed that all kids who lived within a certain distance of the school had to go home for lunch, so that's what we did from then on. In high school you would have been laughed out of the room if you brought lunch in a lunchbox; there it was strictly brown paper bags. There were no cafeterias or lunch programs in any of the schools I went to in Canada; feeding one's child was believed to be a parents' job, not the school's. I guess for that reason I've always been a bit bemused by all the ongoing "school lunch" debates in the US.
He says 1,000,000,000 were sold from 1950 to 1970 That has be off by a few million
The old desks had inkwells too so we could fill our fountain pens when they ran out of ink. Our rooms had cloak rooms attached as well.
Yes! The cloak rooms.
Oh yes! We had a bank of closets that extended the entire width of the back wall. They had 2-3 rows of hooks and a shelf for lunch pails. The bottom was for bookbags and satchels. They were blond birch with chrome hardware.
@@susancorvalan6765 cubbies
People under a certain age wouldn't know what "cloak room" meant! I was sent there a lot as punishment. It wasn't punishment, the way I saw it, cause it got me out of a boring lecture.
I went to elementary school in a pre-war building in the early 60's. There were holes in the desks where the inkwells would be placed but they were long gone by then. The desktops were hinged lids and you could open them and place your unused books inside.
I'm so happy watching this. Nostalgia at its best.. 😊
I started school in 1960. These are certainly some fond memories of my childhood. Learned a lot in those old desks. Thanks for posting.
September 1960 on the Tuesday after labor day. Kings Grant elementary, VA Beach, VA. Grade one. 62 years ago. Man, how the time flies.
I used to love going to library and always thought how fortunate to access all those books for free.
I can relate to everything you've shown in this video. Didn't realize that school had changed so much. Your videos always make me feel nostalgic for the past. I wouldn't give up any of my experiences for anything today. Keep your smartphones and assorted gadgets, my past memories can't be bought.
Those old pencil sharpeners could also scrape a knuckle or two, depending on the brand and where they were mounted. 😁
...and they were pretty difficult to use if you were a lefty!
Went to grade school in the 1950s, Thanks for the memories.
I was always amazed no one in my school lopped off a finger in the old paper cutter
A daughter of a teacher I worked with did that very thing to the tip of her finger. There was no guard on the paper cutter at the time. Awful!
I remember, my art teacher cut off the tip of her thumb. We were extra careful using the paper cutter after she did this, even the smart alecs didn't play with a paper cutter.
They still have those, but usually students don't get to use them for obvious (as you stated) reasons. They were kept in the back office of the media center at the school I worked at, where teachers only were permitted to go (teachers' lounge in the media center).
Or had any serious accident on the "Monkey Bars" or "Jungle Jim"!
I did, but only when I was over 30 and working in an office in the '80s. (And it was just the tip!)
as a retired teacher, i can tell you that so much crap is required that skills like critical thinking, organizing, and research aren't promoted. i loved the card catalog, and cursive writing does help both sides of the brain work together so all of us ended up with some creative, as well as knowledge, capabilities - making all of us more rounded in being able to understand and accept other ideals.
In my day one subject was required in all 4 years of High School. English. That is no longer the case. Well English happens to be a very expressive but complex language. But nowadays it ain't happening and it shows.
Welcome to the dumbing down of America.
Oh my, I'm so sad. This brought back so many memories. The smell of ditto....