Daft school rules

[Scotrail314209]

I’m not aware it was ever made into an issue. TBH the whole communal showering thing is a form of torture for youngsters, I imagine it still exists but is often the basis of bullying considering not everyone goes through puberty at the same time / same rate. Myself and others who were late-developers learned to dodge the shower where possible and put up with muddy legs inside our uniform during the winter months when it was usually rugby or (for one fabulous year only) football.

I never went through any of that at school, but I still have a fear of communal changing rooms, showers and urinals.

Stuff like that does just sound degrading and humiliating though.

 

[Drogba11CFC]

Blanket punishments were utilised all the way up through my schooling, as though I was in the army or behind the iron curtain. I remember an instance when, in the run up to the carol service, my year group was pulled from their classes and lined up in the music room like a Roman cohort undergoing decimation for spot testing.

My prep school had a house point system a la Harry Potter, and if you lost one you had to inform your head of house. My head of house looked like Goldfinger and openly boasted of going ballistic if you made the slightest slip-up (even if you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time).

 

[3rd rail land]

My most disturbing experience in high school (there were many) was also one of the first, the initial double-P.E. on a Friday morning, in my first week of Y7. This was in the late 1990s, and we were told to kit up for rugby. However the first 45 minutes turned out to be a lecture by the Head of PE on the importance of personal hygiene and how to shower properly. And very very specifically, how to wash ourselves beneath the foreskin. And then after a shortened PE session, we had to strip and shower with him watching, and demonstrate that we had listened to the instruction. (Yes, really!)

He left a couple of years later to coach a national hockey team, god knows what else he got up to in his career. It left me with a permanent fear of communal showering and I have difficulty using urinals in public loos.

When was this? 80s, 90s or more recently? I can't imagine any staff member would be permitted to do this nowadays. I'm not surprised you have a fear of communal showers/urinals as a result. You really shouldn't haver had to experience something like this.

Personally I've always hated communal showers and would never shower after games/P.E. I would always wait until there was an opportunity to do it either at home or when I was at boarding school in the boarding house which had individual showers in the bathrooms.

 

[Gloster]

At boarding schools you don’t get the choice. Showers after games were generally optional and unsupervised, but bath nights were on a rota and you were checked. With most of the house prefects the checking was limited to seeing that you had got in the bath, and then got out of it in time to rinse it for the next on the list: two baths in each bathroom and three boys got fifteen minutes each in each bath between 21.00 and 21.45. They did warn off one prefect who decided on rather too detailed checks that you had washed yourself properly.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

When was this? 80s, 90s or more recently? I can't imagine any staff member would be permitted to do this nowadays. I'm not surprised you have a fear of communal showers/urinals as a result. You really shouldn't haver had to experience something like this.

Personally I've always hated communal showers and would never shower after games/P.E. I would always wait until there was an opportunity to do it either at home or when I was at boarding school in the boarding house which had individual showers in the bathrooms.

Late 90s. To be honest the teacher in question seemed to be a product of an earlier time - there was definitely a culture of ‘encouraging hardness’ in a sporting sense, it did change once he’d left although his successor was the closest thing to a human-gorilla hybrid I’ve ever seen, in both the literal and figurative sense. Agree it wouldn’t be tolerated now, and would probably be filmed by a student with a phone.

 

[3rd rail land]

At boarding schools you don’t get the choice. Showers after games were generally optional and unsupervised, but bath nights were on a rota and you were checked. With most of the house prefects the checking was limited to seeing that you had got in the bath, and then got out of it in time to rinse it for the next on the list: two baths in each bathroom and three boys got fifteen minutes each in each bath between 21.00 and 21.45. They did warn off one prefect who decided on rather too detailed checks that you had washed yourself properly.

I'm glad checking that we had showered was not done at my boarding school in the mid 00s. Someone did complain to the housemaster when they realised I only showered every other day and he told me I had to shower once a day. Nobody checked I actually did this and I am pretty sure I didn't follow the instruction.

 

[MattA7]

Not quite a school rule but I remember one time one of the kids complaining about difficulty reading the board and the teacher asked him why he wasn’t wearing his glasses. He told her they didn’t work do the teacher decide to try them on then replied “I see what you mean you better ask your parents to get new ones”

I found it stupid that this teacher didn’t realize glasses only work on those who have been prescribed them.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Late 90s. To be honest the teacher in question seemed to be a product of an earlier time - there was definitely a culture of ‘encouraging hardness’ in a sporting sense, it did change once he’d left although his successor was the closest thing to a human-gorilla hybrid I’ve ever seen, in both the literal and figurative sense. Agree it wouldn’t be tolerated now, and would probably be filmed by a student with a phone.

The worry upon reading your post was the possibility that this man might still be teaching, and the fact it was only just over twenty years ago has not eased my worry. At least today's youth not only have ways of capturing such behaviour as you say, but are probably better educated and informed about what is and isn't okay. In my view, what you described was definitely not okay, and putting it down to a generational difference is far more charitable than I'd be comfortable being.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

I doubt he’s still teaching, would have been in his mid-50s so well beyond retirement now.

 

[johnnychips]

At my secondary school in the 70s there was communal showering, and there genuinely was no piss-taking or bullying. The staff would not make you have one, though most of us did.

In those days, few people had showers at home, and I think there was an expectation of BO. So during seven days I would have two communal showers and my weekly bath at home (with Fairy Liquid!).

These days I would be very surprised if any schools had communal showers as the kids just spray themselves in Lynx after sport then have a shower when they get home.

 

[krus_aragon]

We had to stand up whenever a teacher entered the room. 1998-2004, all boys grammar school. That rule was archaic even then.

I've taught at a fair number of schools in the past decade (as a supply teacher), and at least one school had reintroduced such a rule.

Stuff at school that is irrelevant in a modern workplace:

-School uniform / ties etc

-One occasion a teacher taking it upon himself to do up my tie for me when it wasn't done up properly (without asking first)

-Addressing teachers as "Mr / Mrs / Miss xxxxx". Aside from the unecessary genderisation, what other part of life still does this?

The Mr/Ms aspect, along with Sir/Miss, seems to be a dividing line between schools and colleges/universities. That formality seems to dissolve away once you get to tertiary education. (Though in other parts of the world, all lecturers are given the courtesy title "Professor".)

One area that is idiosyncratic to Welsh-medium education is the use familiar and formal terms for teachers (ti/chi, equivalent to tu/vous in French, or thou/you in older English). It was commonplace and expected in my upbringing, and remains relatively common in Welsh-speaking heartlands, but is less prevalent elsewhere, even in designated Welsh-medium schools. I always referred to other teachers as 'chi' in front of other pupils, but typically 'ti' in the staff room.

To my view, school uniform seems to be going in a cycle. In the 90s, my primary school replaced shirt-and-tie with a polo shirt, but my secondary school remained shirt-and-tie for all years. They later switched to polo shirts for all but the sixth form.

Other schools have recently moved away from the polo shirt, returning to shirt and tie. I theorise that it's to improve perceptions and standards (both internally and externally.) Curiously, two of the rougher schools I taught at (with many from deprived backgrounds) had blazers as part of the school uniform, which made for an interesting contrast.

Another school I taught at held a parent/pupil referendum on changing their uniform while I was there, and there was overwhelming support for a blazer in addition to shirt, tie, and v-neck. Kids grumbling about the blazers after their introduction were reminded of this fact.

Finally, one school planned to introduce a rule that not only shirts and jumpers, but also trousers/skirts must be embroidered with the school logo. Many teachers viewed this as a folly that would increase uniform prices by forcing parents to use authorised suppliers, but one department head viewed it as a masterstroke to get rid of various types of jeggings and jeans that pushed the boundaries of the "black trousers" rule. The presence or absence of a logo would be far simpler to police, with no room for arguments as to whether a given style of trousers broke the rules or not.

 

[Welly]

Two daft school rules I remember:

- no sign language allowed under any circumstances in my deaf boarding school! Most teachers sensibly turned a blind eye to that rule but some of them (the least popular ones of course!) relished yelling at the deaf kids using sign language. This caused me to feel ashamed of my deafness which I consider to be a bigger handicap than my deafness itself!

- The food was usually OK, but sometimes awful so there was a list of rules on the dining hall's door, one of which said, "Do not make faces and say the food is disgusting"

 

[Ianno87]

- no sign language allowed under any circumstances in my deaf boarding school! Most teachers sensibly turned a blind eye to that rule but some of them (the least popular ones of course!) relished yelling at the deaf kids using sign language.

What the what, now? Seriously?

 

[Welly]

What the what, now? Seriously?

That school applied that rule right through most of the 20th century in common with other UK deaf schools. Since then most UK deaf schools have either closed down or converted to using sign language. My old school still refuses to use sign language to teach it's pupils but now allow them to use it freely outside lessons!

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

I think the strict rules about and behaviour prepared people for military service, seems even less appropriate now.

Older or younger people hankering after rules and uniform can volunteer at a heritage railway instead.

 

[MattA7]

What the what, now? Seriously?

that rule is as bad as a school in my area that wouldn’t allow a blind girl to carry here white stick Incase someone tripped over it.

 

[3rd rail land]

- no sign language allowed under any circumstances in my deaf boarding school! Most teachers sensibly turned a blind eye to that rule but some of them (the least popular ones of course!) relished yelling at the deaf kids using sign language. This caused me to feel ashamed of my deafness which I consider to be a bigger handicap than my deafness itself!

I've never heard of deaf schools but that'll be because they didn't exist in the 90s/00s when I was a schoolkid. Then again I only have mild deafness and hearing aids are sufficient to manage this. I don't know sign language nor can I lip read. I went to private school but they were all mainstream schools with no special needs provision.

If a school catering for deaf children doesn't allow sign language what is the point of the school existing?

that rule is as bad as a school in my area that wouldn’t allow a blind girl to carry here white stick in case someone tripped over it.

That's discrimination pure and simple. If I were the blind kid I'd be asking my parents to put in a formal complaint immediately.

 

[Ianno87]

That's discrimination pure and simple. If I were the blind kid I'd be asking my parents to put in a formal complaint immediately.

I learned recently that the headteacher of my primary school once refused to admit a child with Down's Syndrom because it would "drag the school's results down".

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I learned recently that the headteacher of my primary school once refused to admit a child with Down's Syndrom because it would "drag the school's results down".

That reminds me of my primary school- who refused to even countenance the possibility of giving me a statement for ASD because they thought it might lead to me being withdrawn from mainstream schooling (it almost certainly wouldn't have). At that level I wasn't struggling academically but by year 9 I was- but without a statement there was no support. It took me until the age of 30 to get a diagnosis as a result.

 

[MattA7]

That reminds me of my primary school- who refused to even countenance the possibility of giving me a statement for ASD because they thought it might lead to me being withdrawn from mainstream schooling (it almost certainly wouldn't have). At that level I wasn't struggling academically but by year 9 I was- but without a statement there was no support. It took me until the age of 30 to get a diagnosis as a result.

I was diagnosed with ASD at primary 3 (aged 6 I think) although my primary 1 teacher knew and raised concerns within a couple of weeks after starting school however my dad was only recently diagnosed with ASD in 2019 at the age of 54 I always wondered why it took so long for my dad to get a formal diagnosis especially as everyone in the family strongly suspected for years

 

[PeterC]

That school applied that rule right through most of the 20th century in common with other UK deaf schools. Since then most UK deaf schools have either closed down or converted to using sign language. My old school still refuses to use sign language to teach it's pupils but now allow them to use it freely outside lessons!

A deaf friend told me that the idea was that becoming dependent on signing would be to the detriment of lipreading and would lead to excusion from mainstream society.

 

[LOL The Irony]

In my first high school, we weren't technically allowed to wear anything other than shoes. Considering we had a mutually rocky relationship, kind of figures that they never really brought me up on it. That, and they were steelies.

I'll just say try working in a school and then have the same discussion.

Excuse me if I have little sympathy.

I learned recently that the headteacher of my primary school once refused to admit a child with Down's Syndrom because it would "drag the school's results down".

I can attest to that. Have a mental disability and fail to toe the line and you'll see the true side of headteachers. I'm of the belief that being a complete and utter bottom feeder is a requirement of the job. I wish all headteachers who behave like that a poor ofsted rating.

 

[mikeg]

That reminds me of my primary school- who refused to even countenance the possibility of giving me a statement for ASD because they thought it might lead to me being withdrawn from mainstream schooling (it almost certainly wouldn't have). At that level I wasn't struggling academically but by year 9 I was- but without a statement there was no support. It took me until the age of 30 to get a diagnosis as a result.

Unfortunately if it's anything like the 90s that fear was well founded. I went to mainstream school but only after support was put in place, which had to be fought for. There was no question it seemed of taking the 11+ for the grammar school which we were in the outer catchment area for. I very nearly went to special school even further away as that was what the council's idea of support was. Yet my GCSE results had two A*s, the rest As and Bs with the exception of electronic products for which I gained a C. I still hold it against the council for denying me a decent secondary education and my parents for not suggesting the possibility of grammar school, especially since my brother got to take his 11+ exams, granted he didn't pass. The fact I was of good intelligence was never in doubt however.

Back on topic, our school used to allow us to use the library at lunchtimes, freely browse books etc, but I believe some schools no longer allow this. What do they have against kids learning in an extracurricular manner, one wonders?

 

[52290]

At my secondary school in the 70s there was communal showering, and there genuinely was no piss-taking or bullying. The staff would not make you have one, though most of us did.

In those days, few people had showers at home, and I think there was an expectation of BO. So during seven days I would have two communal showers and my weekly bath at home (with Fairy Liquid!).

These days I would be very surprised if any schools had communal showers as the kids just spray themselves in Lynx after sport then have a shower when they get home.

I remember reading in the papers about 20 years ago that communal showers had been abolished in schools by Tony Blair because it was contrary to our adherence to human rights legislation. They probably use them as store rooms now.

 

[bussnapperwm]

I remember reading in the papers about 20 years ago that communal showers had been abolished in schools by Tony Blair because it was contrary to our adherence to human rights legislation. They probably use them as store rooms now.

I must have showed in thin air then after PE in 2002-7

 

[52290]

I must have showed in thin air then after PE in 2002-7

Perhaps some schools weren't aware of this. There was a similar thing with corporal punishment.

 

[PeterC]

I must have showed in thin air then after PE in 2002-7

I don't recall the announcement but in any event I imagine that it would have only applied to new build or refurbishment. These days I have noticed kids travelling home still wearing sports kit which certainly was never permitted in my school days.

Last weekend I went to an open day at my old school (still boys only) which has just undergone a full refurbishment. Answering a call of nature I was struck by the total absence of urinals in the boys' toilets. The stalls even had full height doors rather than the American style ones of my youth.

 

[krus_aragon]

In my first high school, we weren't technically allowed to wear anything other than shoes.

It must have been cold for you, naked above the ankles!

 

[SargeNpton]

My senior school in the mid-1970s had a rule specifying the minimum circumference of boys trousers at the bottom of the leg, as a leftover from the days when drainpipes were fashionable 15 years previously. Laughable at the time as we were all wearing flairs.

 

[nw1]

You weren't allowed to eat your packed lunch in public. As I frequently wanted to visit the bus or rail station to observe things at lunchtime, that was annoying and frankly a bit silly. I broke it a number of times but generally in winter when I had a coat so the uniform could not be seen.

You weren't allowed to visit fast food outlets. McDonalds in particular was an absolute no-no.

Worst penalty I ever got was the Saturday detention. This was for writing an exam in messy handwriting, even though I got something like 60% in it. The teacher, an old Latin teacher heavily involved with the school cadet force, got me to re-write the thing but also get a signature from my father. I didn't want to tell my father so I rewrote minus signature. This severely irked said teacher and was enough to upgrade the penalty from regular weekday detention to the Saturday variety.

Pupils were banned from wearing coats or having bags with rap artists logos because there was a suggestion it promoted drug use. East 17 duffle bags were later banned following Brian Harvey's media antics.

That was after my time at school, must have been the mid 90s. That seems an incredibly, incredibly outdated attitude for that time, and quite frankly, really quite autocratic and violating freedom of expression.

I don't remember, for example, any bans on specific music artists during my time in school in the 80s, and there were quite a few the media got themselves into a tizz about.

And I thought the fast food ban and eating-sandwiches-in-public ban at my school was a bit much!