Did it seem like teachers in the 80s were all in a cult?

Posted by MPMorePower@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 42 comments

Maybe it was just me, but having been in public schools in the San Diego area, it really seemed like every teacher, counselor, and school official was using an exact script that was brain-washed into them. As a now 53 year old, their behavior baffles me.

Like, I generally refused to do the multiple hours per night homework they insisted on, and I frequently got into arguments with them about it. At first they would claim you needed homework to learn stuff, but when I pointed out that I aced ever test they ever put in front of me they would eventually state “The purpose of an education isn’t to learn, it’s to mold you into a productive member of society.” Always that exact phrase, word for word!

Like at least get a thesaurus and swap out mold for build or forge or something. Nope, always “mold” and “productive” (never successful or valuable or happy or anything else.

At the time I assumed they were forced to chant this phrase when they put on robes and went to the cool-aid parties run by the Illuminati, but as an adult I’m just stumped.

The other big thing was their “mafioso” routine. Again, always word-for-word: “You have such a great potential. It would be a real shame if you didn’t live up to it…” Wow, ok Fat Tony. Are you going to make me an offer I can’t refuse? Guess I better play ball with youse so I don’t end up sleeping with the fishes. Did teachers’ education in the 60s/70s/80s include a a unit on Chicago mobsters?

How in the hell did so many teachers not only agree with these statements/tactics, but end up using the EXACT same words as each other?

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met22land@reddit

Am English. It was similar across the pond. No interest in your actually understanding stuff , only that you could pass exams and make them look good. I’ve always felt that school teachers were either losers and/or perverts anyway. You’ve got a degree in STEM or something and you’re teaching in a school? You’ve done school, university, back to school again and you’re claiming to know how the real world works? Yeah, right.

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guy_n_cognito_tu@reddit

To be clear, you hold the opinion that anyone that chooses to educate children as a profession is a "loser" or a "pervert"?

Do you have kids? If so, how do you educate them?

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met22land@reddit

A teacher at my school slammed a kids head into the desk. Another teacher was sacked for asking a girl to undo her top button so he could photograph her. My friends have degrees in STEM and earn 3-4x what a teacher earns. So, yes, I am.

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guy_n_cognito_tu@reddit

Oh lord.

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met22land@reddit

We had to do sports in waist high snow, wearing shorts and a T shirt. We had to do swimming in a 0 degree swimming pool. Meanwhile, the teachers were wearing tracksuits, gloves, hats, scarves, drinking tea out of flasks and telling us we ‘lacked character’ and were ‘weak’. But yay, teachers, amirite?

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guy_n_cognito_tu@reddit

I'll take "Things that didn't happen" for $1,000, Alex. I mean, unless you went to school in the Soviet Bloc.

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met22land@reddit

Buzzer sound! I’m so sorry contestant, but it was an English grammar school in the early 80s!

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12be@reddit

I more interested in just how you “swam” in a pool that was at zero degrees 🤔

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met22land@reddit

It wasn’t easy! You actually kept underwater as it was warmer. The headteacher saw us shivering in our swimming trunks, went and got a thermometer, and that’s how we found out. This was in the early 80s,when such things were considered character building. Watch films a ch as ‘IF’ and ‘KES’ and ‘SCUM’ for what it was like. Even Grange Hill had an episode where a teacher bullied a pupil.

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guy_n_cognito_tu@reddit

"I know of two teachers that allegedly did bad things, and my friends tell me they make more than teachers, so I've decided that all teachers are losers and perverts".

Did your friends learn all that STEM knowledge on their own?

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met22land@reddit

These things are facts. Like the teacher who used to watch us shower, in order to make sure that ‘we were really clean’.

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met22land@reddit

Pretty much, yeah. The teachers were of no use.

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MPMorePower@reddit (OP)

Many teachers gave me an “F” despite getting 100% on every exam (both their own exams and the big state ones) because “homework is 50%” of your grade.” Some would bend the rules and give me an “A” or compromise and give me a “C”. But passing exams didn’t seem like a consistent goal for them.

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met22land@reddit

We were told to ‘show how you worked out the solution’ as it would get you extra marks. In the real world, however, we’re paid for our results not our methods. I left school knowing how to do logarithms and quadratic equations, but not how to write out a cheque. Or, indeed, any useful, real world skills.

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guy_n_cognito_tu@reddit

No, it didn't seem, even remotely, like they were in a cult. After reading your story, it seem like maybe you had a chip on your shoulder, constantly confronted your teachers, and they all adopted similar retorts because they were tired of dealing with you?

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MPMorePower@reddit (OP)

Well, I certainly got a chip on my shoulder and confronted them a lot, and I imagine they hated it. I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that large numbers of adults agreed that education wasn’t about learning and pretending to be an intimidating mob boss was a good idea.

And the exactness of the phasing still has me scratching my head decades later. Where were they all picking up the exact same phrases?

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guy_n_cognito_tu@reddit

Maybe you just have a convenient memory, because remembering it this way makes a much more interesting story...... Maybe it's because there's some truth to it.......

Or, again, maybe they were all sick if your BS, talked in the break room, and came up with and answer to make you go away.

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MPMorePower@reddit (OP)

I could almost believe the “break room” theory, but I went to several different schools and they all seemed to have the same scripts.

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guy_n_cognito_tu@reddit

Then it's likely a very convenient memory

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MPMorePower@reddit (OP)

Human memory can get a bit tricky I guess. I remember (or at least THINK I remember) the exact phrases because of how triggering they were.

Like saying “We’re trying to give you the skills to succeed in life” would have been roughly the same sentiment as “mold you into a productive member of society” but I really found the word “mold” to be especially de-humanizing. Like I’m just a formless lump of clay, not a human being with goals and values of my own. And “productive” seemed extra sinister. Apparently everything boils down to “how many units (of whatever) can you produce for you corporate masters?

And I’m still pretty livid about the mob-speak. Like multiple teachers at multiple schools thought the best way to deal with a rebellious teen acting out against authority was to pretend to be part of a mysterious, powerful conspiracy that would ruin my life?

As an adult I’m like, you were a 7th grade English teacher (and others), those were some mighty big balls you had pretending you had the power to ruin my life.

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guy_n_cognito_tu@reddit

They had a certain amount of control over you during specific times. Feels like you've fabricated the rest.

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met22land@reddit

Your replies are all emotional judgments. You keep using words like ‘maybe’ and ‘feel’ rather than any facts or logic. We’ve been giving you true stories and all you do is belittle the abuse that happened. Tell us, you’re a teacher, right?

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guy_n_cognito_tu@reddit

I’m an adult that believes in accountability and can see revisionist history a mile away, hun. Not a teacher.

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met22land@reddit

But not in facts. Or cognitive dissonance. And would you kindly not call me ‘hun’. I’m English, not German.

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guy_n_cognito_tu@reddit

Nah, all facts. Have a great night!!!

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MPMorePower@reddit (OP)

Hmm, many of my teachers didn’t seem to care in the least that I aced every exam. They still happily gave me an “F” for the course because of “Homework is 50% of your grade.” Some would bend the rules and give me an “A” anyway because of my test scores. Others would compromise and give me a “C”. But lots of them seemed happy to grade me an “F” regardless of how I did on both their exams and the state ones.

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yodamastertampa@reddit

Yes. The school system was basically built on a factory worker mentality. Independent thought was not encouraged. Luckily I was gifted and had some special courses that allowed me to breathe and think versus just going through the motions. I had trouble in college too and spent my time learning outside of school

I ended up as a software engineer and now have two bachelor's degrees and a MBA. But I did that on my own schedule through distance learning.

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MPMorePower@reddit (OP)

I was in the “Gifted and Talented “ program for a few years, but all that seemed to do was add “creative” projects on top of the endless mind-numbing homework everyone had to do.

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Bubblehead_81@reddit

I had the same experience.

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FistFullOfRavioli@reddit

My New York City teachers mostly seemed like 1960's hippies, Bohemians and left wing liberals. It was more apparent in High School and College, though. They were less formal than how teachers were portrayed on television at the time. It felt like you were just hanging out with them at times and it was a good environment for discussion and learning. Maybe it was because I was in an Honors Program? (drops mic)

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howardbagel@reddit

who the fuck did homework?

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MyriVerse2@reddit

Nope. Each one was way too different. Some were fun. A few were crap in shoes. One of my teachers is actually a family friend, and we would sometimes drink together.

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LadyMayhem02@reddit

I had hours of homework when I was in school. All the teachers demanded us to write the questions and answers down. Saying handwriting was important, which I won’t disagree, but a history question could take up over half of a page. Along with science demanding the same thing. Tons of time just copying out of the book.

My three, they never had to do it. My youngest is a senior this year. All three, zero homework during their senior year. They rarely had any homework all throughout school. Their handwriting is fine, they all flew through school with As and Bs, active in everything they could be.

I’ll never understand the demands our teachers had when I went. I don’t hold it against them. I did love all my teachers. Hated the unnecessary work we did. Going to school, I wondered if they taught it in college to make us write everything like they did. lol

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Familiar-Hunt-3792@reddit

Because teaching has always changed with different decades. In fact, when my grandmother was in school in the 30's, they told her parents she was not cut out for school because she didn't know how to read well or do math and English well. They put her through some homemaking classes and sent her on her way before high-school. A lot of the boys who didn't do well in school were put through shop class and sent on their way or just dropped out and worked on the farm. Heavy amounts of homework were not given due to most kids having chores to do when they got home. In the 80's and 90's they decided that wasn't a good way to do things. Farming and homemaking were not viable for most young people anymore. So they had to make a big push to try and get everyone through to graduation and encourage college participation. Hours of homework were given to push material down kids throats in the hopes that it would get kids prepared for hard academic study in college. We now know that this way of doing things has backfired as well. Degrees are becoming more and more useless.

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