Surviving High School in the 60's

I was thinking about how different high school is today than it was back in my day. I know some of you will be able to relate and others might say, "Are you kidding me?" No, trust me, I'm not.

My girlfriends and I liked to get to school early in the morning. See, the hallways in the school made a big circle, so every morning we would walk around the big circle until the first bell rang. The guys, on the other hand, had certain spots where they would hang out in the morning. Different groups of guys had their own special corners, or benches.... so if you got there early enough, you might pass those same guys 2 or 3 times during the hall walking ritual. If you had a crush on one of those guys....it was a worthwhile walk!

We had dress codes. Guy's shirts had to have collars and their hair couldn't hang over the back of their collars. Their shirts had to be tucked in and they had to wear belts! I remember one of the rowdy guys coming to school one day with a green mohawk. He didn't even make it to his first class and he was sent home. Caused quite a commotion.

Girls had to kneel on the floor in the locker room during gym class...all of us side by side....and if your skirt, dress or jumper didn't touch the floor you were on your way home too! Yep, they really could do things like that back then. I always kept an extra set of clothes in my locker just in case the fashion police didn't like what I was wearing that day. I would come to school in mini skirts just to see how long it would be before I got caught.

Smoking in the bathrooms was a big problem back then. Someone always stood lookout in the hall to be sure no teachers were coming while everyone else grabbed a quick smoke between classes! I didn't smoke, so I was usually the lookout.

The worst class for me though was gym class. We were required to take a shower every day after gym. The gym teacher stood at the shower entrance and when you walked out you had to tell her your number (no names, just numbers) and she would mark in her little book that you took your shower. Now, when you had your period, you said your number and then "P"...no, I'm not kidding. I was a rather modest little girl, so I was "6P" so often that she suggested I go see a doctor!!

My sister was three years ahead of me in school. The teachers loved her. Needless to say, my name and my reputation had reached them long before I did. We were sitting in the huge auditorium on Freshman Orientation Day. I'm chomping away on my gum, talking and having a great time with my friends....when the teacher running the show called me by my last name and said, "Are you chewing gum?" I immediately swallowed the gum and said, "Nope!" and that was the start of four very long years, and a lot of gum swallowing!

I do have many fond memories of high school. I had wonderful friends and I met my husband while we were in high school. Our kids went to the same high school we went to, and it was always fun to go back for open house and walk those halls again, except at open house we actually tried to get to class on time!