johnnychips
Established Member
Were there any rules you considered stupid when you were a kid?
As a parent or teacher, are there any rules you think are ridiculous now?
I remember, as a child of the 70s, I was told by my headmaster (not headteacher) that ‘your hair mustn’t touch your collar‘ and ‘you need to have a shave’; and the Secret Diary of Adrian Mole was not a parody, as we were not allowed to wear red socks.
When I became a teacher, the first (mixed) school I worked at had a rule that prohibited ‘excessive displays of affection between students’, which I assume meant kissing in the yard. I never tried to enforce that - I mean, how do you determine what is excessive without a period of observation which puts your own motives as dubious?
More recently, as a supply teacher, a kid’s mobile phone went off in his bag. I was told by the other students that I should confiscate it and put him in an hour’s detention. I said I couldn’t do that as a supply teacher and all the other kids tut-tutted. At the end of the lesson the kid came up to me - this is a Year 7 11 year-old - thanked me, and cried, with relief I suppose, because I hadn’t done this.
Anyway, I am sure you will have your own serious and not-so-serious anecdotes.
As a parent or teacher, are there any rules you think are ridiculous now?
I remember, as a child of the 70s, I was told by my headmaster (not headteacher) that ‘your hair mustn’t touch your collar‘ and ‘you need to have a shave’; and the Secret Diary of Adrian Mole was not a parody, as we were not allowed to wear red socks.
When I became a teacher, the first (mixed) school I worked at had a rule that prohibited ‘excessive displays of affection between students’, which I assume meant kissing in the yard. I never tried to enforce that - I mean, how do you determine what is excessive without a period of observation which puts your own motives as dubious?
More recently, as a supply teacher, a kid’s mobile phone went off in his bag. I was told by the other students that I should confiscate it and put him in an hour’s detention. I said I couldn’t do that as a supply teacher and all the other kids tut-tutted. At the end of the lesson the kid came up to me - this is a Year 7 11 year-old - thanked me, and cried, with relief I suppose, because I hadn’t done this.
Anyway, I am sure you will have your own serious and not-so-serious anecdotes.