We are now in the third week of our Family Blogging Month Challenge.
It’s been wonderful to read all of the emails and messages that are being posted. Thank you so much for your support.
This week’s question is:
How have things changed since you went to school?
We think there will be lots of changes in classrooms – we look forward to hearing from you.
Technology is probably the biggest change since I was at School.
In Year 7 our school was very excited when we finally got a ( yes, one for the entire school)Commodore 64.
The other thing is the smell and mess of sheets that were fresh from the gestetner (old printing machine as there were no photocopiers)
What has changed since I went to school is that we all had to sit in rows two to a desk. We had ink wells and had to learn how to use pen with a nib and ink in Grade 3. It was a hard job to be an ink monitor because you would get covered in ink then your Mum was not pleased when you got home.
When I was at school the girls and boys were in separate classes.
You even had to play in the boys playground and not with the girls.
In Primary School we had a lot of male teaches and displine was quite harsh if you talked or moved in class you might even get smacked with the ruler. (Good it doesn’t happen anymore) We had a test everyday for spelling arithmatic (math) and comprehension.
I remember our classrooms didn’t have heating or cooling (except for a ceiling fan) and on really hot days we got to go home early as the classrooms just got too hot. We also didn’t have computers or interactive whiteboards, our classrooms had a blackboard and teachers would occasionally use an overhead projector with transparencies. We were also not allowed to write with a pen until we had got our pen license. You had to have very neat and well spaced writing to get one.
The shorts have got shorter, socks have got longer, every child seems to have shoelaces in their shoes and no patches in their trousers. I have noticed on inspection of Coopers class there seems to be absolutely no bubble gum under the desks and the lunch boxes seem to be several times larger than they were in my day. And all the toilets are on the inside!!!!!
I don’t see any of the traditional playground games we used to play which were great fun. Maybe one of the teachers could teach them to you? French elastic (skipping), juggling balls against the wall and hand clapping games. I spent most of my recesses and lunchtimes playing them!
Yes Sian, I forgot all about elastics!! My friends and I use to play that every recess and lunchtime and I haven’t seen anyone playing that game recently
School has changed SO much since I was there. The biggest advance has been the use of computers and the internet. We would have to scroll through encyclopaedias to gather information for projects, etc, now you can simply jump onto the internet and everything magically appears!
Hi Will,
It would seem that school is so much more exciting now than it was when I was young. Our teachers were mean, whereas yours are friendly and approachable. You are very lucky Will, so be a good boy.
I was in Grade 2 about 60 years ago, which must seem like a very long time. We had about 45 children to each teacher and used to sit at big wooden desks. The main subjects were reading, writing and arithmetic. Most time seemed to be spent in reciting the alphabet and learning our two times and three times tables. No computers – they were not invented then. Each day started with assembly, when we had to stand to attention and sing “God Save The Queen”.
Apart from the technology found in classrooms today, the other thing I have noticed is different is the broader exposure and opportunities primary school students are given. Foreign languages were not studied until High School; and music was limited to a triangle, xylophone, and tamborine…
Technology by far would be the biggest change. When I was in primary school we used to only have a few computers for the whole school to share and it was so exciting when it was finally your turn! We used to do touch typing program and when you were finished you got to play either Granny’s Garden or Carmen San Diego (I hope other mums & dads remember those games!).
No such thing a the internet, if you needed to research for a project you went to the library and looked up books and used the encyclopaedia. I wonder how many kids these days would know what one is 😉
Isn’t funny how all of us parents remember recesses and lunch times – maybe things haven’t changed all that much? But I do remember every day before school started standing at assembly and singing The National Anthem – not what you are thinking – It was God Save Our Queen.
P.S. – We also had Blackboards and chalk not electronic; no t.v. shows to watch but projectors and music was done via radio – Let’s Have Music.
Charlie (Maisies friend)
Gosh where to start?
The technolgy ismost possibly the biggest change.
I remember in my english classes having to rule out all the lines on a page and adding the margins before we could start our written work… If it was not neat enough we were made to do it again, oh & again… I think the times of smart boards and ipads are fantastic… wish I had been born in 2004…