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Child Item

Unreasonable school rules

The Singing Beard

What were the most unreasonable school rules you can remember from your school-going days?

I was in secondary school from 2003 to 2008, (inclusive).

In my school, the front door was for staff and visitors only, if a teacher caught you going in this door, you had to go back out the front door, around the school and in the back or side door.

Drinking was completely forbidden in classrooms. If you even took a sip from your water bottle in class, the bottle would be seized and not returned until the end of the day.

Wearing any coats other than the €80 school coat was forbidden. If you were even seen by staff on the way to school with it on, they'd find you and take it from you. If if was a cold day, tough.

If you were between classes and had to send a text message some teachers would slither like a serpent and take the phone from you. Even if you were not in a class.

If you were late to school (even if it was the school bus drivers fault / traffic) you still got detention.

Was my school abnormally fascist or did anyone else have similar experiences? It wasn't a Christian Brothers School btw.

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SpaceTime

Our place was ridiculously laid back in comparison.

You couldn't get detention if you tried! They were too lazy to supervise it so they almost never gave it.

On the very very rare occasion it happened they gave up after 10 mins telling the detainees that they'd obviously learnt their lesson.

We used to go to the pub, with the teachers in 6th year!!

If you were late they'd only get annoyed if you made a fuss about it. There was no system of tardy slips or any of that. Provided you didn't cause a disruption or had a sufficiently funny excuse it was grand.

The leaving cert results were good and there was very little bullying tolerated by the students.

On one occasion we had to keep a teacher in the library until he agreed to correct all our homework and provide feedback.
So, in theory we gave the staff detention!

We also went on an all out strike once when a guy was suspended for something silly. They backed down and let him back to class.

I doubt I'd have survived ten minutes in some of the places described in this thread!

jimgoose

ivytwine wrote: »

...I know that there is still physical stuff that goes on, or there was in my time, and I'm only in my mid-twenties. I know people who were hit on a regular basis in rural primary schools. There's still a lot that's covered up in Ireland!

Well, I'm 42 and I earned a shot into the mouth from a teacher after I told him to polish his baldy head and use it as a prism when I was fifteen. But there is such a thing as looking for it! :pac::pac::pac:

ivytwine

jimgoose wrote: »

What I'm wondering is why the mad cúnt wasn't jailed for attacking and injuring a child like that. If a teacher did that to a young 'un of mine I'd put her in hospital. :mad:

I'm guessing the girl and her friends were just so shocked. I don't think she even believed it when she was telling us and she had a bandage over her eye. And it was at a funeral, so she probably felt making a thing of it wouldn't have been right until afterwards. This woman was terrifying as well.

I dunno what went on behind the scenes though, I would imagine that the school really crawled to the parents and played it down.

Agree though, but I know that there is still physical stuff that goes on, or there was in my time, and I'm only in my mid-twenties. I know people who were hit on a regular basis in rural primary schools. There's still a lot that's covered up in Ireland!

Green Giant

One part of my former secondary school was shaped in a square and, due to the occasionally high volume of traffic passing through it in between classes, a clockwise one-way system was in place. While undoubtedly logical, sometimes it was implemented to the point of being impractical.

I once had a class where two steps in the anti-clockwise direction would take me to the desired room, only to be yelled at by a teacher for breaching the one-way system and being made to instead turn a two-second trip into a two-minute one. Common sense obviously isn't in her dictionary. Her by the book nature also resulted in me being late for that class.

jimgoose

ivytwine wrote: »

...She said it was a disgrace for this girl to be wearing this and letting down the school at a funeral, disrespectful bla bla. She pulled it out and the girl actually bled. There was absolute war afterwards. Her parents went mad, but it was very near the Leaving Cert, so I think it just all blew over. Terrible when you think about it!...

What I'm wondering is why the mad cúnt wasn't jailed for attacking and injuring a child like that. If a teacher did that to a young 'un of mine I'd put her in hospital. :mad:

ivytwine

miss no stars wrote: »

What was the upshot of that? Like, she actually assaulted her and ripped a ring out through the skin?!

I wasn't actually there at the time, heard all about it afterwards. This was at the funeral of another girl's father, some of us were at the mass to sing. Can't remember why I didn't go.

That is exactly what happened. She said it was a disgrace for this girl to be wearing this and letting down the school at a funeral, disrespectful bla bla. She pulled it out and the girl actually bled. There was absolute war afterwards. Her parents went mad, but it was very near the Leaving Cert, so I think it just all blew over. Terrible when you think about it!

As for my skirt, the nun told me I wouldn't be left back into the school until I sewed it properly :pac:

Your silence teacher sounds like a character from Roald Dahl!

Also I forgot; there was an alleyway in town that we would use as a short cut to the shops. I think it was in like 5th year, there was a big fight between two of the girls in like 1st year or 2nd year. The lads from the boys school were there watching and one of them jumped up on a car and damaged it to get a better view. All hell broke loose after that. The guards came to the school and we were all banned from that alley way in our school uniforms. Used to walk down there on the weekends just cos I could!

blackwhite

Un Croissant wrote: »

Anyone else have moshes in the corridors between class? I just remembered them now reading this thread but we all had to get to class which very unfortunately led to a large blockage in the corridor. If some first years or a teacher got caught up then that was all the better.

It's probably all one way these days.

The genius that designed my old school decided it would be a great idea to have a courtyard in the centre of the building, surrounded by a glass-lined corridor.

The school ended up putting loosely-fitted plexiglass sheets into all the windows. Instead of breaking during a mosh they'd just pop out, with whoever was pushed against it falling through as well. They'd either have to fight their way back in, or wait for the mosh to clear.

They knocked that building 2/3 years ago and put in a brand new building instead - the students their now don't know what they missed out on!

The school didn't have too many crazy rules.

There were a set of stairs at the front of the building that only teachers and visitors could use. And the front avenue into the school couldn't be used by students because it was also the driveway to the Bishop's Palace, and there'd been too many incidents of damage done to flower beds, etc.

The uniform wasn't very strictly enforced:
you could wear whatever type of shoes, boots or runners you wanted;
the uniform was blue or white shirt, tie, school jumper and grey slacks - but by the time you were in LC year you would be generally left alone so long as you had the jumper and at least one other part of the uniform.

Smoking was generally ignored in the "designated" areas (behind the woodwork building, or beside the bike sheds), but strictly enforced outside of that. Strictly enforced usually meant a bollocking and having to surrender the box of fags.

miss no stars

I forgot about one headcase of a teacher I had in primary school when I was in 5th class. He had a real thing about silence. Everyone had to be absolutely silent if we weren't asked to speak - that included getting pens/pencils out of our boxes, opening and closing books - everything had to be done as silently as possible. If we were applauding someone, we couldn't clap normally. We had to clap using only our index fingers. We also weren't allowed to put up our hands unless we were asked to put them up if we knew the answer to something. If you wanted to go to the toilet you had to make a "T" with your index fingers. He didn't last long. Tbh I think he creeped the other teachers out a bit - he was never in the staff room. He'd stay in the classroom at break and lunch and was in the classroom in the morning before school started (other teachers were presumably in the staff room loading up on coffee).

perri winkles wrote: »

-there was a main set of red stairs that only teachers and 6th years could use. All the other plebs had to walk around the long way to he back stairs.

Same - except it was blue in my school :P I'd forgotten about that actually. To be fair, there was good reason - it was a fire escape metal stairs that wasn't sufficiently enclosed to deal with half the school trying to push one way up the stairs and the other half trying to push the other way down the stairs. Someone would have been pushed over the edge of it.

ivytwine wrote: »

No piercings, no make up, no jewellery. I went thru a 'punk' phase and put safety pins down my skirt One girl had a eyebrow ring and our principal actually ripped it out.

What was the upshot of that? Like, she actually assaulted her and ripped a ring out through the skin?!

_Redzer_

Looking back they're are so many stupid things I got given out to about and thrown into detention for, things now I'd tell them to shove it up their arse and stand up for myself.
Some teachers were just cúnts on a power trip and would try and make some students feel like crap, but you could never say anything to them. Even if I did mouth back to them, I still turned out well regardless, and I wish I did it more often.

razorblunt

RayM wrote: »

When I was at school, shoes had to be black. It didn't matter how respectable a pair of brown shoes looked - you might as well have turned up in a pair of white runners. I got away with wearing black runners for two years because, from a distance, they looked a bit like shoes.

This!
Bought a pair of brown shoes for my Confirmation (probably expensive enough for the parents at the time), not allowed wear them when I moved into 1st Year. Thank God for those cheap Fila shoes that were all the rage back then.

ivytwine

All girls Catholic school from the ages of 7-18. :eek:

Primary:

One teacher had a thing about TV. We couldn't talk about TV in class or even on break. If we were doing nature class we couldn't mention that we'd seen something on Planet Earth. Even if it was actually educational, that teacher hated TV.

We had to have slippers to walk around the school, because they'd gotten new carpets (like 5 years before) and they did not want them to be wrecked by shoes. You also had to wear black shoes to school. Once it was lashing down and my mother sent me to school in wellies, and I was sent home to get my normal shoes!

We had to bring toilet roll to school because apparently they couldn't afford to provide us with it.

Secondary:

No piercings, no make up, no jewellery. I went thru a 'punk' phase and put safety pins down my skirt

One girl had a eyebrow ring and our principal actually ripped it out.

There was this stupid journal that our parents had to sign every night, even in LC. You'd girls who were driving, voting, drinking, even one that had a kid, and they were expected to have mammy sign every night to say they were doing their homework :rolleyes:

We started off with short skirts, and rolled them up. Then they brought in long skirts. Our resident crazy nun decided we should wear long skirts. Some parents obviously bought skirts that the younger girls would 'grow into' so they were down to their ankles. The nun complained about this, and inadvertently made long skirts cool. Seriously, the more chance you had of tripping over your hems, the cooler you were.

perri winkles

I'm glad to know I'm not alone in how strict schools are. Mine was ridiculous. All girls catholic school, just a few of the rules included:
- hair ties had to be either blue or navy (school colours)

- you were not allowed be seen with boys while wearing your uniform. One girl was walking home with her twin brother and was stopped by a teacher asking what she thought she was doing.

-there was a main set of red stairs that only teachers and 6th years could use. All the other plebs had to walk around the long way to he back stairs.

-one teacher was particularly fussy about neatness and once told a girl to go home and wash her hair

-you couldn't leave the school grounds to go I the shop at lunch time

Ah I loved my school looking back on it now.

cloud493

I remember the deputy principal at the school I went to when I first came to Dublin trying to get people to shave. But he was an alright bloke, and long as you said to him you'd shave when you got home, he'd let it slide, same with wearing your own coat and the occasional smoking on school grounds.

CrazyRabbit

Dayum wrote: »

I have never, at any point in my life, heard of Ken Robinson.

Your post could have been written by him. You seem to have the same views about education/creativity. Views I agree with.

CrazyRabbit

dgt wrote: »

Stand on the yellow tile for being bauld

What punishment did they dish out for failing spelling tests?

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

This thread is a real eye-opener, one-way corridors and communal razors? Get to fcuk. Does that not end up with all the teachers' energy going into enforcing rules and dishing out punishment rather than teaching? That's what I always noticed about the rule-stickler teachers (generally my school really wasn't bad but there's always one or two isn't there?), ten or fifteen minutes would be spent at the start of the class making sure notes to parents had been signed and ties were done properly and all that shíte, I really think it's what drew them to the job. They'd just cream themselves over little power-trips and then phone in the actual teaching part.

DazMarz

Deleted User wrote: »

I remember hearing stories of schools that had a communal razor which would be handed out to students to shave with if any teacher felt they needed it. Dunnes Stores do the same and I anyone who would take a used razor and shave with it is either mentally ill or a complete push over. It's disgusting that anyone thinks it acceptable to force others to shave.

When I was working in Dunnes a manager came over and handed me the communal razor telling me that it was either shave or go home. I opted to go home as there's no way I was using the cheap and rusted razor they had which still had hairs from the last person who used it stuck between the blades. A week later I watched as the same manager went over to one of the other lads and handed him the razor, the poor bastard hadn't a bit of backbone and scurried up to the toilets to shave.

Sharing razors between people is a great way to spread blood-borne diseases (such as AIDS). Fúcking idiots for having a "communal" razor. Fúcking hell.

Fair play to you for not using it!

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

[Deleted User]

I remember hearing stories of schools that had a communal razor which would be handed out to students to shave with if any teacher felt they needed it. Dunnes Stores do the same and I anyone who would take a used razor and shave with it is either mentally ill or a complete push over. It's disgusting that anyone thinks it acceptable to force others to shave.

When I was working in Dunnes a manager came over and handed me the communal razor telling me that it was either shave or go home. I opted to go home as there's no way I was using the cheap and rusted razor they had which still had hairs from the last person who used it stuck between the blades. A week later I watched as the same manager went over to one of the other lads and handed him the razor, the poor bastard hadn't a bit of backbone and scurried up to the toilets to shave.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Tin Foil Hat wrote: »

I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at here.

As Orwell put it:

"Ignore all the evidence of your eyes and your ears and beleive only what we tell you" - it was the party's final most important command.

Bipolar Joe

I went to school in England, it was pretty boss. Almost all the teachers realised that if you gave respect, you got respect.

Went to CBS for a month when I moved back (I'd already left school in England). All the stupid rules that seemed like they were only in place to give you a detention just blew my mind. Cut my hair? Fuck off. Shave? Fuck off. I'm not gonna take a massive trek around the school when I could just go four steps to the class next door. If I'm about to shit my pants, I'm not gonna wait around to get a bunch of forms printed and stamped. I have back problems because my feet are wonky, I'm not gonna wear shoes that aggravate the issue.

I was yelled at for ages because I didn't stand for some prayer. I'm not baptised, I'm no religion. I told her to get bent, and my Dad was called. The head acted superior, and my Dad said that if I didn't get an apology, he'd go to the papers. I ended up getting an apology, then got kicked out a while later. Good riddance. The place was a Hell hole.

Tin Foil Hat

The_Valeyard wrote: »

And parents like this will be the downfall of education in this country

I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at here.

The_Valeyard

Tin Foil Hat wrote: »

I've made up my mind on this. Someday in the not too distant future a court is going to decide that kids' constitutional right - no, obligation - to be educated cannot be interrupted by power-tripping gobsh1tes imposing stupid rules like this.

And parents like this will be the downfall of education in this country

The_Valeyard

Tin Foil Hat wrote: »

I've made up my mind on this. Someday in the not too distant future a court is going to decide that kids' constitutional right - no, obligation - to be educated cannot be interrupted by power-tripping gobsh1tes imposing stupid rules like this.

And parents like this will be the downfall of education in this country

Tin Foil Hat

Wacker The Attacker wrote: »

I got suspended for getting my hair cut.

I've made up my mind on this. Someday, in the not too distant future, a court is going to decide that kids' constitutional right - no, obligation - to be educated cannot be interrupted by power-tripping gobsh1tes imposing stupid rules like this.

on the river

Wacker The Attacker wrote: »

I got suspended for getting my hair cut.

Nazi style

Wacker The Attacker

I got suspended for getting my hair cut.

cloud493

They tried to enforce the £80+ school coats and £200 school PE kit at my school, but we only had a year to go so my class year just ignored it entirely, and they didn't punish us for it. Its enforced fairly fiercely now apparently.

[Deleted User]

The Singing Beard wrote: »

Drinking was completely forbidden in classrooms. If you even took a sip from your water bottle in class, the bottle would be seized and not returned until the end of the day.

Wtf. How do they get away with this? We were allowed water in class, but nothing else.

We were not allowed wear those Dubarry shoes. Because they had white soles :rolleyes: If anyone wore them the white bit had to be coloured black with a marker. Or gaffer tape. They were seriously overpriced anyway.

Our skirts had to reach our knees. Everyone rolled them up anyway. But the odd time the "uniform inspector" measured them. Now they have skirts that go down to your ankles instead.

We were only allowed walk on the left side of the corridor.

We were also only allowed the €80 school jackets and hoodies. What a pile of bollox.

We were also not allowed show public displays of affection in our uniforms. I remember a girl in my class kissed her boyfriend goodbye at the gates one day and her Mother was called in.

I went to a Presentation school btw..

Ihatecuddles

Whatsisname wrote: »

Didn't have any unreasonable rules really myself as my school was easy going but my girlfriends secondary school put a ban on popcorn

Mine too. Too messy apparently, but crisps were ok!