Chapter 7
School Days
‘Today is the first day of the rest of your life.’ Charles Dederich
This was the time when we had primary school, middle school and high school. State education witnessed huge changes in the sixties and I was caught up in them, along with my school friends.
Unlike today, there were no nurseries back then, at least not that I know of, so for most of us our first day at school was probably the first time we had ever been away from home. Children started school in September in the year in which they were to have their fifth birthday, so most of us must have walked through the school gates, usually mum in tow, at the tender age of four. I wouldn’t be five for another 10 months.
At the beginning of the decade most children went to either grammar, technical or secondary modern school depending on whether they passed or failed their 11+. Much debate surrounds this type of education system even today. There are those who argue against the system believing that the 11+ was derisive and burdened those unsuccessful, with the stigma of failure, causing children to act accordingly. Whether this was the case or not, who truly knows.
How different things may have been if the Conservative government had been in power. As it was, the Labour government under the leadership of Harold Wilson, pushed for an end to selection at the tender age of 11 and promoted comprehensive schools, the idea being to promote community cohesion and keep all pupils on a level playing field. But what about those pupils who excelled or could have excelled had they gone to a different type of school? Were comprehensive schools the right place for those children? There is always another side to the argument.
Visits from the nit nurse to check for head-lice would break up the regular routine of being a pupil and all the children would line up to be examined in turn, their hair combed carefully with the dreaded nit comb to see if there was anything lurking. This sharply spiked metal instrument of torture, (or at least that’s what mum used) would remove any head-lice and eggs, and probably the top layer of your scalp into the bargain. I remember mum used Jeyes Suleo on our hair to make sure we didn’t get nits. Not a great experience; it absolutely stank. But it did the trick. It was even advertised in the British Medical Journal in September 1950. Interestingly head-lice prefer to live on clean hair, rather than dirty, thus dispelling the associated negative perceptions that people or groups of people who contracted lice were somewhat inferior or dirtier than those who didn’t. Despite attempts to challenge the associated stigma, it sadly remains.
And then there were the many vaccinations we endured, including polio, tetanus, TB, measles and German measles. All these diseases can be particularly nasty. It’s easy to find information about these and many more from the internet so I won’t labour here. But what I will say is in the view of most, the world is a safer, better place because of vaccines. Across the globe there are still too many children and adults die from a lack of these basic healthcare interventions, poor sanitation and lack of education.
And although public health and improved sanitation was to go a long way to reducing the risks, vaccinations still took pride of place in our school days in the 1960’s.
Even as a child I was aware of the need for vaccinations and the need for better housing and sanitation. I didn’t know it but I was sowing the seeds of a career working in public health. Although as many now say, all nurses work in public health and we could argue that’s true.
Much of our learning took place rote fashion, the old ‘talk and chalk method’. Who remembers learning their times table in this way. 1×2 is 2 – 2×2 is 4 – 3×2 is 6 etc. Not the best way to learn, but many of the classes would have been very big, this was, after all the time of the baby boomer generation.
Punishment for misbehaviour was swift; knuckles wrapped with a ruler and the dreaded cane. For some it was a badge of honour. I was never caned, or had my knuckles wrapped but I know those who did, and they told me it stung like hell. I must have been ‘good’. My husband tells me of the dreaded slipper at the boy’s school he went to; cry out and the intensity increased or the beating was prolonged. I just don’t get it. I really don’t.
Thankfully such punishment has been assigned to the annals of history. There are some who argue that this has led to a lack of discipline in schools. There are better ways.
I am currently on the Facebook page of one of my schools. It’s great hearing the stories of days gone by. Being reminded of the teachers who showed up to teach an often-unruly lot. Teachers help shape us into the adults we eventually become. It’s why I trained to be a teacher of healthcare professionals after nurse training. I wanted to play a part in the future education of the workforce, and in all honesty, I have never looked back. It can be challenging, but it is also rewarding. Seeing nurses graduate and take their rightful place as specialist nurses, nurse leaders and educators of the future makes me feel particularly proud. As I will say more than once, our school teaching has its place, but it’s what we do with that; what we do as adults that is important, if not more so. There is always a different way. It worked for me. It can for you.
