Older People Are Sharing The "Normal" Things That Used To Happen In Schools In The '50s That Will Make You Say, "Wait, WHAT"

We recently published a post revealing the "normal" things that used to happen in school during the '70s, and we got some absolutely wild responses.

So, we decided to keep this series going and ask older adults in the BuzzFeed Community who attended school in the '50s to share the "normal" things that used to happen during that decade — they did not hold back. Here are the responses that blew my mind:

1."Every Friday, a siren would sound for two minutes for the whole town. When school was in session, kindergarten through grade 12 had to 'duck and roll' under our desks. We were told we were preparing for nuclear war."

—Anonymous

2."In the '50s, we were lined up to take a polio shot. No parental permission was required. At a later date, we were given a small sugar cube with a liquid vaccine on it (I think it was called the Sabin vaccine; the first was the Salk vaccine) because the first one, supposedly, was not effective. Again, this was done without parental permission or involvement."

3."As a Pre-K/Kindergarten Director, I came across photos of classes at that school (for 4—and 5-year-olds) from the 1950s. In them, girls were seen standing on chairs, cooking at real stoves in Home economics, and boys were seen using real saws, hammers, and nails in a woodshop class."

—Anonymous

4."About a third of my class dropped out after 8th grade to get married and work the farm."

—Anonymous

5."In third grade, our class teacher had arranged for a 60-mile bus trip to a mental hospital for us to observe firsthand the patients and the mental illness they were experiencing."

6."A reward in elementary school was to take the chalkboard erasers outside and clap them during class time."

—Anonymous

7."When I was in the 6th grade in 1956 at a school near Marietta, Georgia, we would bring our handguns to school after Christmas in our packs and show each other what we got for Christmas. I know the teacher knew what was happening, but no one said a word."

—Anonymous

8."In elementary school, I lived in a suburb of Chicago. One class trip was to the Chicago stockyards, where the children saw beef being slaughtered and prepared for market. My dad wouldn't let me go. He was afraid I would become a vegetarian."

—Anonymous

9."During my junior and senior years, my shop teacher would take me to the bar across the street for a beer every Tuesday."

—Anonymous

10."We wore dog tags with our contact information in case of nuclear war."

—Anonymous

11."In 7th and 8th grade at my middle school in Southern California, twice a year, my Spanish teacher organized a group of parent volunteers to drive their personal cars and take as many kids as would fit in the volunteer and teacher's cars down to Tijuana for the day."

"We parked on the US side and walked over as a group before splitting up into spontaneous groups, some with and some without a teacher or parent chaperone. Then, we would meet at a predetermined location for dinner before returning to the border and driving home. Between the 3-hour drive each way and the day in Tijuana, all told, we were gone from 6:30 a.m. to midnight."—Anonymous

12."1950s public elementary school — Bible reading to start the day, but Jewish kids didn’t participate."

—Anonymous

13."School dances were also attended by the parents, except for prom where square dances had local farmers as callers."

14."In the late '50s, while attending Catholic high school in Mississippi, my chemistry project was a small homemade whiskey still. After explaining how it worked, I handed out samples to smell and taste. I got an A."

—Anonymous

15."In the '50s, in elementary school, we were permitted to leave the grounds for lunch. Some went home for lunch, and some went to one of the mom-and-pop confectionaries or drugstores for lunch."

—Anonymous

16."We didn't have access to lunch meat at the one faraway grocery store. So whoever could catch squirrels on their way to school would bring them to the cafeteria before class, and they would cook them up for us. It was a small, remote high school."

—Anonymous

17."In the '50s, and before air conditioning, the school would leave the doors open on each end of the building to allow a breeze to come through. I had a dog that would walk to school with me every day and was usually waiting for me when I got out. Once he found out where my class was and where I sat, he would frequently walk right into the classroom and sit by me. The teacher would ask me to escort the dog outside."

—Anonymous

And finally...

18."My mom went to high school in the '50s, and she used to work the lunch hour at the town café and then go back to school after lunch."

—Anonymous

Adults who went to school in the '90s— what "normal" things used to happen that are unheard of today? Let us know in the comments below, or use this Google form to remain anonymous.

Note: Some responses have been edited for length/clarity.