Anti-Cheating Devices
Thinking about these is what sparked this new blog. Throughout elementary school, whenever there was a test, my teachers passed out these three sided folder-type things each student would put up at their desk. They were similar to the tri-fold huge cardboard presentation boards, with slightly different dimensions. Thinking back I think at my school they were made of laminated construction paper and electrical tape. They kind of make it so you have your individual room on your desk. I am blanking on the name right now, but we did call them something. If you are having trouble visualizing exactly what I am talking about, I have included a diagram below. Click it to view the full diagram.
Jessica has informed me that at her school, they put up binders instead. I would imagine that would take two binders, which got me to thinking, what about the content in the binders? Would teachers go around and check to make sure the material was not related to the test? Also with these test dividers, they did not take into account someone with an extremely taller than normal torso. At my school, the dividers were about as high as your average textbook. Those that started their growth spurts a little earlier were somewhat not affected by this attempt to stop cheating at a young age.
Boxes
I specifically remember the pencil box, and how I had bought a new one every year (how wasteful). A new school year, meant a new colored "SpaceMaker" pencil box.
Now I never participated in this act, but there was a huge following of people that would fill the indentation of the spacemaker pencil box with glue, and let it dry overnight. After it dried, people would pry the dried glue out revealing a solid glue mass with the imprint "SpaceMaker" on it, in my class commonly used as a bookmark. If students wanted to switch it up/ add a different variety, they could use the blue elmers gel glue (my glue of choice back in the day) or outline/fill the "SpaceMaker" logo with pen/marker before putting the glue in, causing the "Spacmaker" to be imprinted in the glue in a different color.
Waiting/Walking in a Line
Grades k-6 always lined up/ walked in lines. Everywhere. Didn't think much of it back then, but the concept is pretty ridiculous. And there were crazy variations too! There were boy/girl lines, lines where you had a specific order of people, "single-file" lines, and line leaders. Think of a high school teacher or college professor requiring two lines formed before allowed entry into class.
Supervisors"
At my elementary school we had this group of people that would supervise all of the playground activity. Making sure children played fair, didn't do anything too dangerous, stuff like that. At my elementary school there were two things that bothered me about them.
I didn't like to eat a lot back in elementary school, and often, the fact that the sooner I was "done" with my lunch, meant the sooner I could get onto the basketball court. I remember literally getting in trouble for throwing away food. There was this table they would make all the trouble makers sit at, whether it was for one the entire lunch, or a couple minutes, now that I think of it it was quite humiliating. The table was in front of all the other tables skewed horizontally so everyone could see you. But anyway, yah, i remember vividly times when I got in trouble for throwing away my own food, made to sit at that table for an extended amount of time. Can you believe that! I remember even plotting to throw my food into the trash as soon as the supervisors peripheral vision left the area of my trashcan.
Supervisors also carried huge megaphones. Hahahaha. If they needed your attention they would speak into it and what not. At the end of lunch/recess, they would toot the loud siren sound on those megaphones and it was everyone was expected to "FREEZE." Literally, stop what you were doing and not move... at all. Until of course they blew the siren again, which meant go line up in your corresponding lines.
Red Bouncy Balls/ Ball Retaliation
This is probably one of my favorites. While I do not remember thinking twice about it when I was a kid, I think the type of behavior I am about to describe would be absolutely hilarious to observe children doing.
Big red bouncy balls used for playing handball/dodgeball commonly associated with common elementary school recess equipment. We had many long walls, so it wasn't uncommon to have multiple handball games spread out along a common area. It was also common that a red ball here or there would go wildly into another groups game.
For some reason, a lot of the time that would happen, the other group would respond by kicking that other ball as hard as they could in another direction, maximizing distance between the ball retriever and ball. This would in turn cause the ball retriever to grab the other groups ball, and in retaliation kick their ball as far as they could, leaving both parties angry and with no means of playing. If you were really nasty, you would kick the other groups ball on the roof.
Basketball Court Rights
There was not necessarily a shortage of basketball hoops at my school, but some courts were better than others. Whether it was rims with nets vs. rims with no nets, rims with new nets vs. rims with old nets, gangster chain nets vs. regular thread nets, courts with volleyball net poles erected at the half court line. Anyway, once the siren sounded saying everyone could go out and play there was a mad free-for-all for who would get the best court. This was determined not by whoever set foot first on the court, but by whoever made the first basket on the court. And supervisors would not necessarily enforce the rule, but it was understood all around the school.
Coys Rules
A person left his legacy at my elementary school. A set of handball rules entitled "Coys Rules" named after an asian guys last name. The guy is real, i remember looking him up in a year book. He graduated five years before me. Before the start of every game, a court was designated as having "Coy's Rules" or not having them. I have no doubt the term is still being used today.
Coys Rules: One vs. One, No Americans (aka bullets), Ball hitting the awning meant the ball could bounce twice, slicies/cross-countries/babies allowed.
Child Labor
Class jobs. Every month or so you had a different job. Some were as basic as passing out papers, filling papers, feeding the class pet, hanging the schools flag. In reflecting about this, somethings make me think about them being semi-illegal.
Food Server: We had two lunch blocks, one for grades 1-3, the other for grades 4-6. 3rd and 6th graders were responsible for filling the position of lunch server helper. These people would cashier the snack bar, or pile whatever ingredient was on the menu onto the children’s plates (eg: beans, pineapples). These people would work the entire lunch period and get a free lunch. So wrong, esp. since no one wanted to do it.
"Dust-Buster" : When this job first came out in my class, it was the job everyone wanted because it was new and exciting. Your job was to at the end of every day, dust the classroom, with a feather duster. Wow.
Yah that’s all I got for now, im sure there was a reason for all of this being taught to Liberal Arts majors across the nation. I remember once I got in trouble for running after school. Like seriously, the Principal took me into her office and gave me something to have my mom sign informing her about how I was running after school... ahahahah. Ridiculous. To make this even better, I forged her signature on it, how terrible! It was the first time i remember ever doing anything bad in my life. Whats great though is my amatuer-ness shined through. I signed the paper, and didn't like the way it looked, so I crossed it out and signed it again right next to it... I mean seriously what adult signs something, crosses it out, and signs it again because they didn't like the way the first one looked. Huge red flag for the principal reviewing this document. Long story short I got caught and my mom was called in, hahahahaha. For running after school! Terrible. Terrible also that I felt I was in so much trouble that I went to great lengths so my mom wouldn’t find out.
Until next time... 1-2-3 WaterHog.
-Christian
