This was the type of school desk I had in elementary school

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Clear_Tangerine5110@reddit

We got those starting in Jr. High. Before that we had these:

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shinyspandex1234@reddit

I remember enjoying putting my head down on the desk after recess. I really liked the smooth cool desk top..

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CT_7@reddit

And sadly, this is about the same size space I have in my open office job as a professional.

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smoothAsH20@reddit

This was mine but with a plastic chair

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I cannot find a photo of the shitty MDF desks with the vinyl wood print and wobbly black legs that were never even, that we used in my school in the UK; but I found the shitty orange plastic chairs we had. They were usually encrusted with gum underneath, which was actually ok, because most of them were so broken, the gum was actually structurally beneficial.

I hated these so much. People were always leaning back on them, so your neighbour (because it was 2 to a desk) would often catch your leg with the chair leg and scratch all down the side to the ankle. Although, occasionally the chairs would break completely when doing this, and you'd feel a little justice was served.

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click79@reddit

In high school and left handed

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truefriend29@reddit

I've seen that exact desk back then, but only in certain classrooms.👦🏾👨‍🏫✏️📝✍🏽

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Rare-Boss2640@reddit

I had one at home too

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jdjr84@reddit

First thought = mountains of old stale chewing gum...

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Bacardi-Special@reddit

My first two years were in the ‘old school’, and for the next six years we had the plastic chairs, and desks had square tubal steel with a melamine top.

The first two years were a cultural shock. Trying to transition from watching cartoons at home, to something only seen in black&white TV shows.

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austex99@reddit

A two-seater... with INKWELLS?

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peregrine-l@reddit

Got two-seaters with inkwells in elementary school in 80s France too.

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LardLad00@reddit

We had inkwells also. Single seats though.

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Bacardi-Special@reddit

I think because the rooms in old school were smaller, and they needed to keep cramming us in.

Ones with lift up lids too.

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Independence-2021@reddit

Same thing here:) This was in a small village school. When I was in grade 4, we moved to a bigger building with a bit newer furniture.

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Bacardi-Special@reddit

Same here, a small village at the time, and now a popular place to relocate to, and commute to Dublin. My old school has doubled in size.

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Sectional_Soulmates@reddit

I think that is why we all have back problems in our older years. Metal and plywood and that curve, a young spine equals a question mark shaped spine.

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Workamania@reddit

That thing is brand new out of the factory too.

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Clerk18@reddit

Cries in left handed.

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MundaneWiley@reddit

Ah as a left hander, i hated these

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TheGuyUrSisterLikes@reddit

You know it's cuz you masturbating too much. The nuns wouldn't apply to me

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MightyCaseyStruckOut@reddit

I had one of these in kindergarten and it's the reason I switched from writing with my left hand to my right. I still swing a baseball bat, golf and throw left handed, but things that require wrist dexterity (writing, shaving, Frisbee throwing, for example), I do with my right.

All because of this type of desk.

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sarabridge78@reddit

I was made to write right handed even though I entered kindergarten fully able to write left handed. (I could have written my own Spot book, I was already that accomplished at writing). However, my identical twin sister was just as accomplished at writing with her right hand. Mrs. Migglan, my K teacher, didn't realize that such a thing as mirror image identical twins existed. So obviously one of us was doing it wrong. And obviously it was the left-handed child. To this day I am not sure why my parents didn't step in(my five year old self was too shy to defy an adult). So, I am randomly left-handed on some stuff and right handed on others. Some of it has no rhyme or reason why either.

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CommonNative@reddit

Careful, my hand is still smudged all these years later.

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forgetsalot@reddit

Erasable pens were a lie

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CommonNative@reddit

No, they were erasable. With my hand.

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forgetsalot@reddit

Well mine just smeared across the paper and my hand. Lol

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Jupitersd2017@reddit

Ugh same, shout out to brooms and cords as a Well

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Roklam@reddit

We had One Left desk if I remember correctly, and it was GROSS

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WindTall5566@reddit

gif

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meeplekrusher@reddit

They would have 1 left handed version of these types of desks in my class. Too bad there were 5 of us lefties.

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AdmirableTable1677@reddit

🤣😭🤣

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meatee@reddit

But on the rare occasion there was a left-handed desk, it felt awkward because now you're out of sync with everyone in your row.

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elonmusktheturd22@reddit

I was ambidextrous, just as good with either hand, but teachers would smack my hand with a ruler, take my pencil and fircibly putbit in my right hand while saying "only use your right hand, its called the right hand because its the right hand to write with"

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OneSchott@reddit

Also as a left hander. We adapt. That's what we do because we have too.

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heyitscory@reddit

LOL

I came here to post "If I see one of these in an antique shop, I'm buying it and a bunch of right handed golf clubs to do an Office Space on this damn desk.

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Clear_Tangerine5110@reddit

These weren't too bad. At least the tablet reached all the way across. Once we got into high school they started being the right-sided tablets.

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_hi_plains_drifter_@reddit

Dude same

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katie_cat_eyes@reddit

Fellow lefty here. I broke my right elbow before my senior year and they had these tiny, tiny dark brown desks with an arm rest for the right handers. I basically spent most of senior year in a chair next to these desks so I could write.

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Enough_Sky9769@reddit

Kurt was our dude even morseo for playing lefty

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davesmissingfingers@reddit

Sigh. Yep.

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Chaparral2E@reddit

Preach it! And scissors!

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No_Feeling_9513@reddit

I could use a nap

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GABigBear@reddit

Ugh and my fat ass could never get bent over right to get my shit out of that damn cubby.

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apolliana@reddit

Mine was some version of this, the entire time I was in school.

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letterstosnapdragon@reddit

You mean the greatest chiropractic tool ever created?

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GABigBear@reddit

It really was!

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penguindik@reddit

These came in junior high for me. I’d put my feet on the basket of the person in front of me and have a nervous bouncy tick, they hated it “can you please stop shaking my desk?”. Weird I always loved it when people did it to me, it would put me to sleep.

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Doctor_WhyBother86@reddit

That a sign of adhd coming from someone diagnosed with it.

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BayouLuLu@reddit

This was jr high for me too.

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forgetsalot@reddit

Holy shit. I just remembered I round take all but one screw out of the bottom of the wood. The next person that sat there would not be happy

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Tribblehappy@reddit

My high school had these.

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fromthedarqwaves@reddit

1st and 2nd grade i had this. Catholic school.

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Impressive_Ad8000@reddit

Same! Victorian era schoolhouse that closed soon after. I didn’t understand the inkwell like Gen Z doesn’t understand the save icon.

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Checked_Out_6@reddit

Thats what we had in public school in rural wisconsin

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iwantmy-2dollars@reddit

I had this desk in my bedroom! Grandma worked at a school and they were retiring them. Circa 1985.

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LardLad00@reddit

Shiiiit these didn't get retired in my district until at least the late 90s.

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LardLad00@reddit

Right on. Had the same ones, ink well and all.

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ScreamThyLastScream@reddit

You were lucky if the inside of that thing wasn't a dumpster when you sat down for the first/last time.

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fromthedarqwaves@reddit

No doubt. Pencil shavings, tiny bits of paper, used Kleenex, gum. All the good stuff.

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Aggressive-Sort-115@reddit

I miss this, it was the best for popping your back

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Rott99Autumn@reddit

I had this in public school. 1st-6th. Then the dreaded right hand only desk pictured above.

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LangdonAlg3r@reddit

Yeah, more like that. That same kind of desk that flips open only the tops were completely flat and they had 4 legs and weren’t attached to the chairs.

At the end of every day we all took the chairs and flipped them over and put them on top of the desks.

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Chaparral2E@reddit

3-6th grade for this, for me. I’d buy an adult-scaled version.

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Donkeh101@reddit

Ours were similar. I can’t remember whether it was on a slant or flat but the chair wasn’t connected. I think we had plastic chairs and kids would do that magic trick and tip backwards. And bang. We also had them making one big table of six desks. Two on each side, facing each other, and two at the ends.

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monji_cat@reddit

Wow you had a cubby under the chair, we just ......put our stuff on the floor.

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DeniroDinero@reddit

Just cracked my back seeing this!

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Subosc@reddit

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Clerk18@reddit

Simpson’s did it! Simpson’s did it!

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82Rellik@reddit

Just push forward and lean back

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Jakes-buddy-1307@reddit

Through high school

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Physical_Dentist2284@reddit

Teachers: “why can’t this kid sit still??” Idk could it be my bony ass having to be planted in this torture chair all day??

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Doctor_Rod1678@reddit

I remember how creaky those desks were along with all of the ancient gum that was stuck underneath.

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Old_Car_2702@reddit

I had the desk that could store books and detached chair

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Bitter_Paint_7175@reddit

And look at you now, you can apparently read and write.But did you die?

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eatyourface8335@reddit

K thru 5

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fuckedyourdad-69@reddit

I bought one of these at the thrift store not too long ago. Perfect for back popping!

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jivemasterjohn@reddit

Damn. Memories

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osddelerious@reddit

That is 1950s vintage? Where do you go to school?

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randomwords83@reddit

Ohio & WV 80’s-90’s for me.

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ryhoyarbie@reddit (OP)

Dallas Texas area. All the schools had these types of desks.

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iheartbaconsalt@reddit

This was our desk too at Marlboro Elementary in 1980, and as far as I can remember to graduation we always had these same desks. It seemed like the class after us was getting a more shiny version with less metal, with a basket instead of a hole in the side. Went to a few schools between Waco and Abilene and all the desks were still the same! The only time I ever saw OTHER desks was for an art class in the 6th grade. They gave us tables and chairs.

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austex99@reddit

Same in South Texas in the 80s and 90s. I can still feel the scrape on the back of my legs from sliding into it while wearing shorts because the veneer was broken on the seat part.

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Puzzleheaded_Cat4127@reddit

Lol I had the exact desk in Catholic elementary school in the late 80s

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ProfessionalCan3732@reddit

They sure were built durable because they were still widely used in the early 70’s.

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Kazureigh_Black@reddit

My school had them up until I left middle school in 1996. Awful things. I was 6'6'' by that point and I was basically lifting the front if I wanted to put my legs in an upright position.

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InvestmentMain8414@reddit

Not on Canada. We had acrual desks with chairs. I started school in 84.

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devour_feculence___@reddit

I just recently had a therapy session about these chairs! A freakin' NIGHTMARE for the fat left-handers!

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Hefty-Squirrel-6800@reddit

I'm a Gen Xer, and you stole my seat.

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Riker_Omega_Three@reddit

I had these in first and second grade

in 3rd grade we moved into the portables and got the standard 4 legged desk and chair set

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BayouLuLu@reddit

We had these in some classrooms and others had something like these:

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SweetCosmicPope@reddit

These are what we had all through elementary. Then at the end of the year we’d clean them out and find all kinds of lost homework that never made it to the teacher crumbled in the back.

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toomuchtv987@reddit

I remember my 4th grade teacher was a huge bitch (like, would probably be considered abusive by today’s standards) and one time she took this girl’s desk and dumped it all out onto the floor and made her clean it up. This poor girl was no doubt undiagnosed ADHD or something and was scatterbrained, so it was messy. But to do that in front of the entire class, literally took her desk to the front of the room to do it, and make her sit on the floor to clean it up in front of us had to have been humiliating. I almost cried watching it.

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toomuchtv987@reddit

I had one of these at home when I was a kid. I also had a small chalkboard and some old textbooks from the 40s. My poor brother was forced to play school with me CONSTANTLY.

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myloginwastaken@reddit

Best chiropractor ever.

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OneSpirit6018@reddit

So there I was, doing my best not to fall asleep. Warm stuff room, quiet, and rows of these desks. Right on the cusp, i can feel my head bobbling. As i got relaxed, I happened to let out a fart.

Now i thought it was going to be a little one, just a lil air.... negative, it was full flapping noise. However, the desk created an echo chamber, and that hard oak seat was the perfect thickness to enhance the reverberation.

I shot up quickly, completely awake. For some reason, my evil brin helped me out. I turned around and said "Chris! Come on man!"

This is the first time I am admitting this. Sorry Chris.

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HeightExtra320@reddit

My first chiropractor 🥹

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fromthedarqwaves@reddit

Modern equivalent.

These actually exist in our office. No one ever sits in them.

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DaughterOfTheKing87@reddit

I gotta show this to my 12yr old who thinks I’m exaggerating the whole desk thing. And my dad’s cousin who used to make me these totally embarrassing denim to hang from my desk as like a bag to hold my junk. The cousin is all highfalutin now, but she needed the cash back then, so I wonder if she’ll cop to it. I hated those damn bags.

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SpookySchatzi@reddit

Had this in middle school too. One of the best surprises ever was reaching in one day and finding a brand new box of Samoa Girl Scout cookies someone from the previous class must’ve forgotten….I should’ve left them….but they were my favorite, so I stuffed them in my backpack and told no one. They were especially delicious.

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HYThrowaway1980@reddit

With the lid, then pen groove and the inkwell.

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GenX_Leo@reddit

If you had that type of desk, your school got next to zero funding...

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elonmusktheturd22@reddit

Or had ass backwards priorities, like millions on a new gym and nothing on the library

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wagashi@reddit

K-8. 100 people including staff.

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GenX_Leo@reddit

Wow... obviously a small town

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wagashi@reddit

As of today, the total population is 66.

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WhtvrCms2Mnd@reddit

S-Tier

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CarfDarko@reddit

Feels very Fallout to me!

Never seen a design like this in Europe.

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kanakamaoli@reddit

Lol. We still have some of those at the university where i work. Those things will survive almost as long as the roaches.

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PercentageRoutine310@reddit

Went to Catholic school from 1991-1996. My middle school years had them like this.

Used to store all kinds of crap in that thing. We didn’t have lockers, so we had assigned seats and all our books would be stored even overnight.

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KyraWhalkern555@reddit

Elementary and into middle school. Middle school was when they started phasing them out little by little resulting in those classrooms with a mix of new and old desks.

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No-Moose470@reddit

High school for me

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Josephthebear@reddit

Too fat too bad

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bassman314@reddit

We had a few of those.

Also had some that I may or may not have added to the carvings already present.

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DoctorFenix@reddit

My mom bought one of these for me to study at when I was a kid.

Probably from the school I attended.

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jbandtheblues@reddit

Catholic high school - standard desk for sure 😎

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lee4man@reddit

I once farted on one while the bottom was empty. It was so loud I was sent to the office and it made the yearbook.

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ryhoyarbie@reddit (OP)

Great story.

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snowboard7621@reddit

Just… thank you.

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Papichuloft@reddit

My Catholic HS had these....bettr condition but still had these.

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Markaes4@reddit

Thats the kind I had in CCD (religion class) it was a super old building with every room made with tile and steam radiators... Grade school I had LEFT and high school RIGHT.

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ryhoyarbie@reddit (OP)

I had the desk on the right in high school.

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histprofdave@reddit

Personality, I liked them. I used to pretend it was a computer console from Star Trek. Yeah, I was that kid...

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smoot99@reddit

and college with a much much smaller desk!

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salmineo_@reddit

We also had the ones that lifted up and could store books , pencils , etc . These are the ones we had in high school

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WorgRider@reddit

Had the same desk in fourth grade.

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Mmphska@reddit

I had one of those ones that you could store stuff in and to this day I can remember the RANK smell of old bread/pb/jelly because I forgot a pb/jelly sandwich underneath a bunch of stuff for maybe a month or two in third grade. I did not pause to think that it was something in my desk

And then I discovered it during desk cleaning day and learned what decomposition and mold are. It might have been the reason my teacher decided it was time for us to have a structured desk cleaning period

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