The Law of the Playground...

[MinionZombie]

I was watching this last night on Channel 4, great show, but it isn't about the show specifically - hence not in Media Discussion - actually more about memories from school, random things etc.

It was interesting on the show when one chap said about how Primary School was just a marvelous time and the best years before High School when it all went a bit grim.

I have to say I agree. In my Primary School year there were 9 of us by the final year (Year 6), everybody got along, there were no complications, life in general was much, much simpler - then High School comes along.

You're all split amongst different Tutor Groups, then again due to Sets (do High Schools still use Setting/Streaming? If not, WHY not - it makes sense damn it) ... anyway, then of course you're not a bunch of fresh faced children anymore - now you're a bunch of greasy faced sullen teenagers wading in the seas of awkwardness, blimey. :lol:

Anyway, thought I'd start up a thread for school time reminiscences for any and all. :)

[Mike70]

funny that you should post something about school days. i am in the process of deciding whether or not to attend my 20 year high school reunion this summer. i am kind of ambivalent about it. there are people that i wonder about and people that i couldn't care less about it from that time. i think that sheer voyeurism will probably tip over to going and checkiing out what has become of some of these folks - particularly the really "popular" folks for whom high school might have been the high point in their life.

i only have regular contact with one person from my graduating class - my best friend becky whom i have known since i was three. so i am very tempted to go - as long a free luncheon is provided, of course.:D:cool:

[Tricky]

The thing for me was the primary school i went to was a fairly small village school,and barring a few bad eggs everyone was friendly enough,even if they were a bit cliquey,but we all got along.Then came secondary school,where i was pulled from my comfort zone & thrust among rough,badly behaved town kids,the like of which i'd never seen before!swearing at teachers,throwing chairs about,vicious fights in the playground,smoking,drugs etc!it was a hell of a culture shock & took some getting used to!:eek:

[MikePizzoff]

I have to say I agree. In my Primary School year there were 9 of us

:stunned: That is a small class! At my school there were two classes for each grade, each class consisting of 30 kids. That's 60 kids per grade! And my town is split into 5 separate elementary schools, so that's roughly 300 kids per grade in my town. I can't imagine what having 9 kids per grade is like.

[MinionZombie]

Bloody hell Tricky! :eek:

Aye, same as you I went to a village primary school, actually literally just down the road a smidge. When I went there were about 116 pupils TOTAL across the 6 years.

Mike - my year was 9 of us, but the year below was larger, about 20 or so. We were out of the ordinary.

I remember this funny little thing between my high school and high schools in the nearest city. The city schools thought that to survive a day at my school you had to carry a knife, and we thought about the city schools you had to carry a knife to survive a day...I can at least say the city schools were wrong about us, lol.

...

Also, as I just farted (hey, better out than in! :lol:) it reminded me of a couple of times all us boys got called into the assembly hall and had a stern-faced teacher inform us that someone had smeared poop all over the boy's toilets - not only was it grim enough to happen once, it happened AT LEAST TWICE - and I think it was about a year or two apart between incidents.

WHAT THE F*CKING SH*T?!?!

For a while after those incidents during break times teachers would be stationed to stand outside the boy's bogs, deary me. :eek:

[Chic Freak]

Apparently kids going from being relatively nice to each other and generally wanting to get along to being ruthless, c*nting bullies to each other from the age of 10 or so onwards is a cross-cultural phenomenon, suggesting it's hard-wired in on a genetic level :stunned:

No, I didn't like high school either, suprise suprise. All my friends were male, the long-haired smoking rock music types, which suddenly became fashionable in my second year, thus earning me the jealousy of pretty much all the "cool" girls in my year. Not fun at all :/

[Mutineer]

Weird how it all works

Up until 8th grade it was more or less easy going; then High School hit and things just get complicated.

I was a skater, rocker type with some punk sensibility. A definate rebellious person who floated between many cliques; the jocks, the skaters, the stoners, the preps and mods.

Was high school gnarly ? Oh yes, but worth every memory. Prepared me for how people are in life.

[Mike70]

I was a skater, rocker type with some punk sensibility. A definate rebellious person who floated between many cliques; the jocks, the skaters, the stoners, the preps and mods.

similar to my experience. i was good at soccer and played in high school, so the jock crowd was cool with me, i was into thrash and punk so i was cool with that crowd, i also loved the minneapolis post punk bands and stuff like sonic youth, so i was cool with that crowd. about the only people i never dealt with or got along with was the band geeks and who gives a fook about them in high school anyway?:lol:

[Tricky]

I was a bit of a c*nt at secondary school,i wasnt majorly bullied,but i never stuck up for myself so i did get some grief,especially when i was in the first & second year!so in turn i would be an arse to people smaller than me & my younger sisters.It was a huge thing at my secondary school to be decked out in what was considered fashionable at the time (which looking back was all chav gear) and although we all had to wear uniform at school,you still had to have the right names on your school bag,shoes,trainers for P.E. etc or you were relentlessly picked on for being "cheap",my parents wouldnt buy me much of that gear (which now being a working adult with bills & whatnot i can understand,but back then i really resented my parents for it) so i had to put up with the songs & comments,and non uniform days were a nightmare where you can go to school in your ordinary clothes,so you had to be completely fashionable from head to foot!think i had one set of "decent" clothes i could get away with,and if they were in the wash it was £10 jeans & non branded T-shirts,served with a generous amount of p*sstaking for me!

Then there were the so called "popular" people at school,the lads who were either known for being hardcases that you wouldnt mess with,were good looking & could pull all the girls,played football or they just mixed with all the right people outside of school,18 year olds with cars or whatever.And popular girls who were either hard,went out with one of the popular lads,had already started getting served in pubs at 15 or were going out with a hardcase drug dealer/user lad who was 18 or more.Those people were looked on as almost celebrities at school!most of them are wasters now as well,once school was over all of a sudden they werent king of the hill anymore,and those of us who were picked on by them or just kept our heads down & were quiet at school came out of our shells!

[MinionZombie]

Those people were looked on as almost celebrities at school!most of them are wasters now as well,once school was over all of a sudden they werent king of the hill anymore,and those of us who were picked on by them or just kept our heads down & were quiet at school came out of our shells!

Hell yes, Sir.

It's like also with girls, the ones who were more reserved and hadn't grown into themselves yet (I don't mean boobs and such, I just mean in general, same thing happens with some boys) ... you don't necessarily look good as a young scamp, but the ones who don't tend to grow into themselves and look way better when they're adult - especially the girls who were attractive before, but end up becoming f*cking fit-as, and with none of the prissy cat-like cockiness that the girls who were fitches in high school had.

Does that make sense?

Anyway, remember slim jims? Wearing your tie with the thin end on the outside? hehe, classic. :D

Also - "Head" bags, I had like 3 or 4 in a row, and they were great for barging through the crowds in the school corridors when everybody was rammying against each other, I'd just barge through with my bag, muahahaaaaa.

[Chic Freak]

Does that make sense?

hell yeah.

I know you were seperating physical and emotional development there, but the two are definitely related, especially when you're that age and hyper-sensitive about how you look. I didn't get breasts until I turned 18, which was pretty much another thing to add to my "reasons to be insecure" list!! :lol:

I wouldn't be that age again if you paid me.

[MinionZombie]

hell yeah.

I know you were seperating physical and emotional development there, but the two are definitely related, especially when you're that age and hyper-sensitive about how you look. I didn't get breasts until I turned 18, which was pretty much another thing to add to my "reasons to be insecure" list!! :lol:

I wouldn't be that age again if you paid me.
Ah geez, yeah. I mean - I wouldn't mind being the weight I was when I was 18/19 :lol:, I was a trim-as-fook mofo back then, but then again that can be achieved on its own.

But heck yes, no way would I wanna go back to when I was 17 or 18 ... unless I could change a bunch of stuff with my knowledge of now. Like say "don't get all soppy over that girl, that's a retarded idea" or "stop dropping cash on the snack machine, use it to buy DVDs instead" or "kick that guy in the f*cking balls, geez". :p

If I met my 18 year old self now, I'd have to give him a massive slap...geeeeez.

[kortick]

Wow
School is really different over there

I am totaly with Mike
an average class was 25-30 kids
and ther were two of them from k-6

then jr high grades 7-8 had 30 kids and
there were 7 classes of each grade

then high school was 9-12 and it was all mixed
you had freshman, sophmores, juniors and seniors
all in some of the same classes.

and I remember high school as being pretty messed up
in wood class one kid didnt like when the teacher
took a picture of his girlfriend away from him with the old
line " you'll get it back after class"
well he decided to whack him around
with a 2x4 and take the pic back instead
he got suspended, but it was a common thing.

and the time the gym teacher got caught having
sex with a girl in 10th grade was something.

and when people wanted to get out of class or a test
they would pull the fire alarm. Evacuate the building.
Flushing a m-80 (1/8th stick of dynamite) down the toilet
and blowing the pipes up was common too.
you flush on third floor so you'd know that
a classroom on second floor would hear BOOOM
and then it would start raining on them as the drain pipe
above them burst.

All this was every day things you got used to them
there are a ton of more things i could tell about.
Mike I'm sure you had stuff like that happen.

Did any of this happen in the schools in England?

[Danny]

eh, im gonna go against the grain and say i preffered high school, i was more of the class clown type, yknow, the character who would be the chunky dude in a teen comedy?, so i either got on with you or i was either too wierd or only good in small doses, i just whent to school to make my classsmates laugh rather than learn, hence hwy i got terrible gcse's ,except in english believe it or not, and i actually hated primary more, i moved about a lot adn was often the new kid and i probably had add or something as like my cousins who have add i was an attention grabbing little **** and got treated as such by the teachers who at primary school level just never seem to give a crap anyway.
the whole teen arquardness thing, man, i saw a lot of kids with that, people who tried to be "the goth" or "the jock" just becuase they needed to fit in, i was ,like i said, a clown so i never had that problem myself ,for 2 years i had shop class with the biggest thickest troglodytes in the school and even though my pudgy spotty ass was a prime target i never got ribbed on becuase i made people laugh.
though i never got bullied because i was famous amongst my freinds and there freinds of freinds and whatnot for having a punch like a wet noodle but being able to take a hell of a beating and stay standing so no one ever really tried **** with me, though when bothered my vocabulary steps up several notches and i badger them into a corner with bewildering banter to the point were most yobs would just go "yeah...well your gay", and they would then proceed to bray like a mule till they releaised they looked like dicks.
but freinds of mine did get bullied. a lot. from thumbtacks on seats to full on beatings, once a freind of mine got nearly pulverised by one of the biggest yobs and that was probably the only time i lost it adn whent on the offensive, i actually left my classroom next door with another freind of his and we both got the guy and pinned him to a wall, that was probably the angriest id ever been, i aint proud of that but thats probably why most of my close freinds got left alone since that whole shop class saw and in high school sometimes its just as helpful to be seen as someone who can stand up for themselves as much as the likeable joker.
but like i said at primary school i hated it so bloody much, and im going away from the point so i stop abruptly.

[EvilNed]

My high school was good. We didn't have any of the trouble you guys describe. It was definetly different from my primary school, which was a tough neighbourhood in some tough suburbs, but not really of the same type as described here.

In Primary, especially grade 7-9 (but it was around before that too), you really had to prove you were the toughest in order to get any respect. You'd have to insult elderlies and scream profanities and such. It never got to any extreme extent, but let me tell you, the political incorrectness of our classes was definetly in the extreme. Nazi-jokes, gay-jokes and racist jokes were the norm. At lunchbreaks we used to go to my house and play videogames in teams. The Nazis vs. the Blacks. We yelled obscene profanities high and loud.

Most people followed these routines, and those that didn't were pushed outside. Skipping class, destroying school property (like the kids playgrounds) and the occasional fight. Our class had to go into therapy, really, even though I don't think we got anything out of it. It was no problem that kids that age were willing to accept or deal with. It was just a fun thing, you know.

I know this may seem communist, but we didn't really have "classes" of cool kids and lame kids. If you could prove you were tough, you were accepted. But there was never any leader. Never anyone who was above everyone else. As soon as someone showed a weakness, you'd go for that weakness and everyone would join in to push that kid to prove himself. Drugs (the heavy kind) were even used by some (VERY few) in the 9th grade. I can only think of one, tops 3 who did and we were around 50 total in the 9th grade when I went there.

I had a good time. I had good friends, and I've always been a people person so I was on good terms with everybody. I got into trouble a few times, tho I stayed away from physical fighting. I never had a reason too. The only guy I wanted to fight was too dumb, and not liked by anyone even though he saw himself as the coolest guy around. He did not like me neither. Maybe because I hit him over the head with a plate once in pre-school? But generally, I was the only one who would verbally challenge him and ignore him whenever he tried to act cool and be smart. That's what pissed him off about me, I guess. Once he tried to challenge me, as revenge for the plate incident, but when he realized I wouldn't fight he let go. He had two friends with him, too, so I'd be beaten to a pulp if I tried anyway. I got "attacked" by another big dumb hulk once too. A HUGE hulk as a matter of fact. He was easily the strongest, yet dumbest, guy in my age. I had no chance against him, so once again I opted not to fight... Instead I told him, if he hit me I'd make sure he'd never be able to go to this school again. I bull****ted, but it worked.

High school was much better. I landed in a great class and had my best friend with me from the previous school. This school was much "nicer" but it held a large plethora of different groups. However, none of them stood above or below others in rank nor did they have any trouble interacting with each other. It was great. Communist paradise, perhaps? All the violence and general "evilness" was gone. Everyone got along with everyone. Me especially so, being a people person.

The different groups were (might be interesting for non-Swedish comparison):

The Rich Folks: Nice, but maybe a bit posh at times. The school was close to some rich areas, and there were many students there from those places. These are not the equivalent to popular chicks, seeing as they were not regarded as such and they did not hang out with the sporting guys. They kept a low profile, mostly. Like everyone else. Some felt that they kept too much to themselves, I did not. I had many friends amongst this group, and as you might have figured, I'm not rich.

The Aesthetics: Our equivalent to goths, perhaps? But not goths, even though goths and emos are counted amongst these people. These are the guys that would study creative courses such as music or theather. Nice people. Sometimes they looked like goths, sometimes like metal-fans, sometimes just plain ordinary. Often considered a bit "crazier", than the rest but just as nice.

The "Jocks": Not like the jocks of high school films. These were like any other guys, except that they often walked around in groups in the hallways with sportsbags thrown around their shoulders. Infact, no matter where you saw them: Surfing the internet, chilling in the cafeteria or whatever, they always seemed to have sportsbags with them. I did not have that many friends in this group, but mostly because I had almost no classes with them. I did have some tho, and they were very nice. Not popular at all. Infact, very low profile. Like most others.

The "Vehicle Guys": Extremely low profile! You hardly ever saw them! These were only guys. There were two classes in my age, and there was only one girl I think. They walked around in workproof pants and did little else what I saw. Mostly walked. I had no friends here. No classes together with these guys, but my image of them was that they were a bit more testosteron-ridden than the rest. I wonder what gave me that idea...

The "Media Gang": That was us. Media folks were like ordinary people. Sometimes from the different groups listed above, but we had one thing incommon: We were extremely lazy and extremely good looking. I kid you not, we probably had 60% of the schools pretty faces in our six classes (total, two per year). I do not count myself to be one of them, even though I can be kinda cute if I ever get around to cutting my hair. We also had lots of girls for some reason. In our class we were 9 boys, out of 31 total.

Everyone Else: These were the majority of the school and, of course, included many different kinds of people. Goths, rich folks, sports guys etc. etc. Some bookworms also, of course. Low profile as always, but most of them had their gang of friends they hung with. I knew some, they were nice people. As always. This is getting repetive.

So yeah, there you have it. Of course we had small gangs of people, but that's just ordinary. You can't hang with everyone. Altough I hung out with most.

[MinionZombie]

Kortick - while my primary school year was exceptionally small, I think the average was more around 20 to 30...as for high school, it was generally always 30, sometimes damn near 40 greasy teenagers, 3 or 4 people on a desk made for 2...having to chaff chairs from other classroom's so everybody could sit down.

Generally there was enough to go around, but not always. The rooms were packed, what with everybody's bags and such. A right rammy.

We never blew up our toilets though, but we don't have M-80's over here, not that I'm aware of anyway ... we just had the one unknown freak who'd sh*t and smear it all over the toilet block ... yeah ... true story - TWICE. :eek:

I remember one of the IT teachers mysteriously disappeared, we found out he had a mental breakdown and had to leave, which was the talk of the town for a while.

There was nothing overly dramatic, but then again my high school wasn't a city high school, it was a town high school in a rural area, so things are fairly different from the city.

As far as "disrespectin' a teach", hehe, it'd go no further than back-talk and maybe a swear word, then the kid would get chucked out.

lol, I remember in Maths class in Year 11, we had this guy a complete twat who'd left a private school for only girls (presumably high paying) to come and teach in our relatively small and pokey rural town high school (rumours were rife he'd fiddled some under 18 boobies and va-jay-jay's, but it was never confirmed at all) ... anyway, he was an odd sort, I personally had no respect for him and he had no confidence in me whatsoever - he said all I'd ever get at GCSE Maths was a "D" if I was lucky - I went away with a study guide and taught myself all I needed for the exam in under a month and got a "B", the maximum you could get in Set 2 Maths - have that ya nob'ed, I thought. :lol:

Anyway, there was one pupil who'd always get thrown out of class, and he wasn't a bad egg or anything (he's in the army now), he'd just end up getting thrown out because of confusion or miscommunication between him and the teacher - guaranteed, every lesson. :rolleyes:

[Danny]

We never blew up our toilets though, but we don't have M-80's over here, not that I'm aware of anyway ... we just had the one unknown freak who'd sh*t and smear it all over the toilet block ... yeah ... true story - TWICE. :eek:


oh ive got one of those, i left spanish class to take a whizz and theres this wierd looking kid whos like the sterreotype of "a gypo" ,one gold earing, missing some teeth, about a head shorter than everyone else, buzzcut ginger hair gelled up at the front in a retardedly triumphant wave, the whole shebang, i pee (in a stal mind, the kid was just standing there), leave and then 10 mins later im grabbed out spanish by the headmaster. turns out the little **** snuck out of class to "TRY AND SET FIRE TO A TOILET" and ebcuase i swiped my card out as i left the room and he didnt the system said i was the only one there.
WHO THE **** TRIES TO SET FIRE TO SOMETHING THATS MADE UP OF A PORCALINE BOWL FILLED WITH WATER?!?:lol:

[MinionZombie]

and ebcuase i swiped my card out as i left the room

The f*ck kinda prison school do you go to?! Swipe your card to leave a room?! :eek:

In my day, if a kid left and didn't come back, it was their too bad for missing out on "tha nah-lidge" :lol:

haha, what a numpty, yeah because as well all know, up and down the land there are cowboys throwing another sh*t-spattered toilet on the campfire before they turn in for the night. :D

[Chic Freak]

Aye, sounds like we went to similarly middle-class countryside schools MZ. I hated attitudes there, but must say I still count myself very lucky to never once have had to worry about physical violence against me while I was on campus. It just would never happen.

[SRP76]

I always hated school of any variety. From Day One of pre-kindergarten, the only part I liked about school was when it let out.

[MinionZombie]

Ahhh the Kyrle...spent 7 years there.

A mixture of lower class and middle class students. I think the highest class of student would have been upper middle class - but very rare...or at least what I perceive to be upper middle class ... and even then, to break it down further, the lower end of upper-middle-class. :)

I'm middle-middle-class, Senoir Average.

While students wouldn't be violent to teachers or throw chairs around and stab people, physical violence amongst students was as common as anywhere else. I myself was on the receiving end at times, at the worst I ended up concussed and had to take a couple of days off school.

Over-the-piece though, for a standard high school it was and is a good one. There's plenty of tossers and assholes there, but there's plenty of decent folk. The main problem with the school however, affects all the schools in the country - the education system itself, which teaches to cram information for an exam - not for retention. Nor does it teach useful things a lot of the time:

Music Class - what an absolute joke that was.
Physical & Social Education (when I was in school anyway) - again, a massive joke.

Just two examples.

I think the education system has been rotten for a very long time, and has just been going down hill.

But nation-wide educational problems aside, my high school was pretty average I think ... not sh*t hot by many means, but far from gash.

...

Oh and Sports Day - what a freaking joke waste of time suck-balls thing that was. :lol:

[Chic Freak]

Physical & Social Education (when I was in school anyway) - again, a massive joke.

Thanks for reminding me about PSE! We had a lesson every other week and it was the funniest f*cking thing. The sex education movies we watched all seemed to have been made in the 80s... :thumbsup:

[MinionZombie]

Gawd, you got sex ed movies? We got NOTHING, literally NOTHING.

PSE was homework time for us every other week, and that means talking time. An epic joke. Very rarely we'd be asked to fill in some random questionnaire which would take 5 minutes and that was it.

As it was before lunch we'd often be excused at least 15 minutes early. :lol:

At least you guys got sex videos. :D