It was the same at my school, but possibly even more so. For 'A' level History and English Literature were placed with French in one group. Geography ended in the second year unless it was thought you weren't 'A'level material, so I couldn't even take it at 'O' level, a shame as it was undoubtedly my best subject. I failed French at 'A' level.
I am really shocked that this sort of out-of-the-ark behaviour was going on during this century. At my school in the 1980s (and I went to a strict, but basically humane, school) they wouldn't have dreamed about anything like that, even though one of the PE/games teachers was a bit of an a-hole.
We were expected to take 10 subjects at O level. From the 4th form we had to pickone of Biology woodwork, art music or a third foreign language.
That reminds me of an even more bonkers option group my school used to do 10 years or so years before my time.
That’s very daft because those are two humanities subjects with a strong overlap in interest. Like saying you can take chemistry or biology but not both.
I know that my own state grammar had problems with a few boys who fancied themselves as "teds" in the 50s but the rules were never so prescriptive. The new head who started in 63 didn't like hair over ears or collars or sideburns. Nothing was written but if he thought your hair was too long he would slide a pencil along the base of your ear at its highest point and flick it upwards. If the hair fell onto the ear itself you were ordered to get it cut by the next morning.
As a little boy aged about 4, I was fascinated by the idea of 'teddy boys'. I think I thought they were a sort of hybrid of teddy bears and boys. I can still recall my disappointment when, on a London bus, my mother pointed out of the window and said 'Look! Some teddy boys!', and I saw some fairly normal looking human teenagers.
Safety hazard?
No different than offices, and it's accepted there (rightly). There were always a few who pushed it and got away with it - there were about 5 girls in sixth form year who did wear proper high heels despite being banned and no one commented against it, one wore towering 6 inchers! Was out 6th form totally wild or just normal? I don't know. The only uniform violation we heard a 6th form girl get in trouble for was showing her midriff. The stilettos never got called up on (despite being totally against the rules), and there were plenty who broke the skirt length rules, including one who had a split right up to the hip. Some blouses were lower than the rules allowed, and one girl not only showed loads of cleavage, but oiled it every day to make it stand out even more. I kid you not.
Sounds about right from my experience too.
It's not an unhealthy obsession to check out the girls surely. My story was in the late 90s, early 2000s - still issues about boys stopping by tennis court when girls were serving. Teachers had no problems with girls standing around wolf whistling at boys' tennis though. Even a few who flashed the boys tennis game! That was ignored. But boys just standing there having a little look, in trouble.
I've spoken out against single sex schools before, like the one I endured. When I was in the fifth form a particularly obnoxious and friendless prefect suddenly disappeared. All became clear about a fortnight later when the local newspaper reported his pleading guilty in court to stealing panties from washing lines asking for 270 similar occurrences to be taken into consideration! He never reappeared in school and nobody mourned his leaving, but I can't help feeling his unhealthy obsession had its roots in his upbringing and schooling.
I can see why they banned it if it made the person uncomfortable but it doesn't explain why it doesn't work for both genders.
