school

mariaalice

I know this is a bit of a nostalgia thread but!


I had my husband laughing about this today, some memories I have of primary school in the 1960 and 1970, we had cooking we made things like sponge cakes and scones we had to make the sponge cake with hand whisks we had to learn various hand stitches such as hemming and doing a button hole which we did on small pieces of gingham we then tacked them in to a sample book and keep them for the school inspector but the highlight of our sewing career was to hand make an apron, we also knitted slippers. We also learned to write using ink pens. The whole thing seem so old fashioned no wards days. A lot of the teacher we had were old so maybe that accounted for the way we were taught.

BBDBB

I remember being smacked by teachers on a regular basis, yet I dont remember being particularly naughty or daring
Its odd what you take from the past and bring into the present day isnt it

mariaalice

I don't know if its just me but I was never smacked in school it was very rare in my school, children were only smacked for serious misbehavior we did get a lot of books/ chalk trowed at you plus a lot of shouting and being grabbed by the back of the neck and told to sit up straight.

CrowdedHouse

mariaalice wrote: »

. We also learned to write using ink pens..

I had great fun with that being left handed
(although I wasn't forced to change unlike others in other schools)

A wooden pen with metal part to hold the nib.

Jellybaby1

I've chatted about school days here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056347214&page=2

mariaalice, you are a bit younger than me as I had left Primary school and was working full time at 15yrs in the late 60's. I remember walking to work one day when I passed some girls in school uniform, all older than me, shouting to one another about how many 'honours' they had got. They must have been talking about their 'Inter' cert. but I didn't even know what that was.:(

mariaalice

Now that i think about it I realize the sort of primary education I had was the remnants of the times when people left school at 14 so thats maybe why we had all that cooking and sewing.... practical skills that people could use in later life.

Jellybaby1

Well in the 60's and 70's very young people were expected to earn a living. They were treated like adults and were expected to behave like adults, even though we would now see them as 'children'. I have been having a quick look through the newspaper archives and found these adverts for jobs around 1976:

GIRLS to train as Machinists and Operatives 14-16 years, 5-day week, excellent wages and conditions.

INTELLIGENT BOYS required, 18 years and 14 years of age for warehouse duties, good prospects for selected boys.

MESSENGER BOY, 14-15 years wanted, Good wages and conditions.

OFFICE BOY required for city professional office, must be respectable youth with at least Primary Cert.

JuliusCaesar

I was in primary school in the 60s. We learned cooking and needlecraft. We embroidered tray cloths, we knitted socks and mittens, did a bit of crochet, and I won a tennis raquet from An Bord Gais for my apple pie! The boys of course didn't do any of this, but I don't know what they were doing while we were chatting and working. We enjoyed these classes because you could talk to each other. I wonder if my sample book is still in the attic somewhere?