Back in my Day|Pad Patter 10.27.17

[Juliestcyr]

Backpacks? LOL what are they? In my day.. LOL we had book bags and actually I never had one of them.. we had the text books covered in brown paper bags (your family had a bit of money to throw away if you had the bought book covers) and we would have the rubber band with the hooks on them to wrap around the books. (Now perhaps that was the pre bungi cord thingy !) I had a large purse and carried alot of pens and stuff in it

We were not allowed to bring drinks or food in the classrooms... I don't even think there was bottled water back then (I went to school in the 60's and 70's) or a bottle to carry water in besides a thermos.
@bestcee "Back in my day.." !

Just a few weeks ago my mom and dad explained the book bag thing to me. I had no idea! My kids hardly have any text books. For some reason, the school board has decided it's better (cheaper) to buy one text book, and then photocopy pages for the rest of the class.

 

[Tree City]

My kids hardly have any text books. For some reason, the school board has decided it's better (cheaper) to buy one text book, and then photocopy pages for the rest of the class.

I don't want to badmouth the school, but doesn't that break copyright law?

 

[Juliestcyr]

@Tree City, at least in Canada, there is pretty broad leeway in the copyright system for educational purposes. Still, they can't just photocopy every page of a textbook. They usually use a few different text books, and for example, will only photocopy the math exercises, but not the part of the books that provide the explanation.

 

[bbymks5]

When I was in school, elementary was k-5 at schools, middle/Jr. High was 6-8 and high school was 9-12. Now elementary in most of the schools is k-8 and high school is 9-12.

IMO, 6-8 really have zero business being on the same campus as littles as young as kinder...the way some of these kids dress and talk nowadays, just no. I'm sure most of the hear it at home, but it's different when it's seen/heard from strangers without any explanation. Maybe I'm weird in my thinking?

Back in my day, "high school" started in Grade 9. But, my daughter started at a "high school" this year in Grade 7. And, back in my day, when you were in high school, you wore your backpack to class, and either threw it under your desk, or hung it on the back of a chair. But at my daughter's school, they are not allowed to take their backpacks to class. So there are all these 12 & 13 year olds running up and down the hall, dropping water bottles and pencil cases, and phones and gym clothes. I asked the VP why they couldn't just have a bag, and he told me it was a tripping hazard.

@bellbird @jenn mccabe and our TV had rabbit ears ROFL!! I miss Saturday Morning cartoons...especially Loony Tunes!

Another back in the day that I've told my daughter when she's trying to find a library book...we had to use card catalogs!! Man I miss those!! And microfiche...

 

[Tree City]

@Tree City, at least in Canada, there is pretty broad leeway in the copyright system for educational purposes. Still, they can't just photocopy every page of a textbook. They usually use a few different text books, and for example, will only photocopy the math exercises, but not the part of the books that provide the explanation.

I can't wrap my head around photocopying saving much money, but maybe that's because I know that the 2 copiers in my DD's elem. school cost in the tens of thousands of dollars. (They rent them, but still.) I hope this works for your kids, and for the school.

 

[bestcee]

So there are all these 12 & 13 year olds running up and down the hall, dropping water bottles and pencil cases, and phones and gym clothes. I asked the VP why they couldn't just have a bag, and he told me it was a tripping hazard.

Oh the irony!
We had backpacks. And I started hs in grade 9 and grade 10. (Canada was a pk-8 school, and USA was a 8-12 then a 10-12 hs)

 

[bestcee]

Oh and I remind them we had ONE tv for the whole house.

We still do! If you don't count when we stream a show while playing on the computer. But that's just mom and dad.

I read an article suggesting that we let teens be kids. Why rush them?

I have no problem with that. I just like the social contract of "I'll buy the candy, you do your part". We had a few teens with costumes like an @sign on his chest from some video game? And another with a #. That at least was effort and I appreciate it. I'll even give candy to adults that dress up.

they'd get better candy more easily if I just bought exactly what they want from the store, but they really like it

But it wouldn't be the mix! And the random things like pixie sticks. My son got one last night and had no idea what it was.

If you take your kid to a Trunk n' Treat, do they still go out on the 31st?

Mine does. The trunk or treat for us is our church party. We don't do it on the 31st, so kids will still go trick or treating. In my parents ward they always do it on the 31st, but early so kids do both. The first time I heard of it was in a ward (church boundaries) that was huge and had lots of rural areas. So the kids could go to the trunk or treat where they knew the people, and it was easier than the parents having to drive them to each house.

like making popcorn on the stove in a pan and having to heat up the oil and putting the kernals in and stirring until popped.. it was a fun time

We still do this occasionally. We do also have a microwave bowl that takes real kernals. The speed of the microwave, with the taste of kernals and then we add real butter. Mmm. Now I need popcorn.

For some reason, the school board has decided it's better (cheaper) to buy one text book, and then photocopy pages for the rest of the class.

The elementary that my kid is assigned to has done that for 9 years. This year they bought math textbooks. And now they are fundraising like crazy because they need to raise $90,000! They have to make payments of $9,000/month.
So, copying may have been a lot cheaper? @Tree City especially since one of the school supplies requested was a ream or 2 of paper per kid.

 

[bestcee]

And @Tree City my mom once talked about how her grandparents had an outhouse. So, my son has decided the 1950's were just like pioneer days. {My mom was born in 1959}. He asks my mother in law all the time: did you have milk? How did you get anywhere without cars? How many horses did you have?
On the bright side, it's led to great moments of history and stories. Like meat lockers where they froze your meat and stored it.

 

[Tree City]

The elementary that my kid is assigned to has done that for 9 years. This year they bought math textbooks. And now they are fundraising like crazy because they need to raise $90,000! They have to make payments of $9,000/month.
So, copying may have been a lot cheaper? @Tree City especially since one of the school supplies requested was a ream or 2 of paper per kid.

I am all for doing whatever we can to teach our children in whatever way is best for them. (And we all know that schools always face a budget crisis, so we have to constantly get creative.) It's just that I had never heard of a school actually encouraging photocopying books like that. As a proofreader and a bibliophile, it goes against everything I know. But that's not fair for me to push my experience, for many reasons, one of which is the most important: Julie doesn't live in the same country as I do lol! Laws are different. But to read, Courtney, that your kids' school does it, too? That's surprising. Copying a page for research purposes is one thing. Copying whole sections for a whole grades' worth of students is another. It just seems like we've gotten so lax with copyright laws, and that's just depressing to me. The other issue is, textbook makers will just start charging more per book, in order to make up revenue. (Cuz they're missing out on $90,000, if a school doesn't buy whole grades' worth of textbooks.) Heck, I have a friend, who wrote textbooks, and almost her whole department was let go from a major publishing house because their textbook division wasn't doing well. Maybe this is why...and maybe that's why I'm so upset. She worked on science textbooks for a big company. And textbooks weren't doing well. Now I'm thinking "No duh. Apparently schools buy ONE instead of buying 100 per grade." That's a whopping difference in revenue.

 

[cookingmylife]

I don't say things like 'back in my day' etc because the only other one in our house is my dh, who is 5 years older than I am. LOL He, however, comes out with all sorts of phrases that I have never heard of and we both grew up in the Washington metro area. I think he was surrounded by much older people growing up than I was because these phrases sure sound like ones that an old person would say. I've picked up really country ones from my late mil who had some real gems from southern VA.

But once long ago, my 2nd son was looking at old photo albums and asked me when the world became color. I couldn't understand what he meant but finally it clicked. All the old photos of my family were black and white as were probably all mine up until I was about 12. That's when I started using color film...and to his maybe 5 year old brain it made sense that the world changed.

btw, I too am appalled but sadly not surprised about the photocopying of a textbook. My mother spent lots of years in the Copyright Office so I used to know that law quite well. It's against the law! I mean our designers here are keen to include No Piracy sheets in their kits... but the mass copying of a textbook just stuns me. What are we teaching our children!

 

[bestcee]

Oh, the copying thing is crazy. I totally agree! I mean, I get there's a cost, and I'll admit I think $100/textbook is pretty crazy. Especially since that's apparently a discounted rate.
But it's also ironic to me how much honesty and not plagiarizing is pushed in middle and high schools, yet they are photo copying in younger grades.

 

[bestcee]

that your kids' school does it

Sidenote: my kid is homeschooled, and his teacher doesn't participate in that.

I only moved here last year, so some of this is what friends who've been here longer have told me {that it's been 9 years}, and the 2 months he was in school last year, everything was a photocopy. I have seen the older kids worksheets and such and it's all photocopies. No one has a book. The kindergarten kids had zero text books, and that includes those little early reader books. None of those. I do know my mom's school (different state) has some of those photocopied that they send home with kids. Supposedly, so they don't get ruined. But now I wonder if they only bought one set, and photocopied the rest. Those sets are cheap too. I bought one for less than $15.

(Sorry for the jump) I have seen the banner of how much money they need for textbooks at our neighborhood school. (Don't get me started on the fact they wasted money on a big depressing banner telling everyone they need money.) And I've seen all the fundraisers. It's truly ridiculous. And probably why NV is the worst schools in the nation.

 

[bcgal00]

Tonight was our church's Trunk or Treat Halloween Party.
If you haven't been to one, basically the parents sit by their car, some decorated, some not and hand out a piece of candy to the kids who come by. Some people do this instead of going trick or treating on Halloween.

Well, as we were handing out candy, I found the phrase "Back in my day" slipping out
"Back in my day, kids dressed up for Halloween." There were a bunch of kids walking around in tshirts and jeans. We asked what they were and their response: Teenagers begging for candy in the 20th century. I gave them the little Starbursts instead of the Sour Patch kids or Swedish Fish and a glare (Apparently, I was feeling unkind.).

So, have you used that phrase? Back in my Day or Back in my Time?

@bestcee The trunk or treat party sounds cool! No one has ever done that around here.

I always say "when I was your age" to the kids and probably drive them crazy LOL. The other think I hate about Halloween now is how expensive it has become to get the candy. We get a couple of hundred kids here and I always spend $50-60 dollars (and that's not even the really good stuff).

 

[bestcee]

No one has ever done that around here.

Maybe that you know of? I noticed that both our church {the Mormons} and another one church {a mega one} did it this year in our area.
Or maybe it hasn't hit BC.

and that's not even the really good stuff

Sigh, and your candy is better! My allergy friends would kill for your peanut free chocolate mixes. Pretty much all the 'cheap' chocolate here is made in nut factories.

 

[HavaDrPepper]

Backpacks? LOL what are they? In my day.. LOL we had book bags and actually I never had one of them.. we had the text books covered in brown paper bags (your family had a bit of money to throw away if you had the bought book covers) and we would have the rubber band with the hooks on them to wrap around the books. (Now perhaps that was the pre bungi cord thingy !) I had a large purse and carried alot of pens and stuff in it

We were not allowed to bring drinks or food in the classrooms... I don't even think there was bottled water back then (I went to school in the 60's and 70's) or a bottle to carry water in besides a thermos.

just last night Hubby and I were talking about cameras and how we would wait after mailing the film off to develop amongst other nostalgia things.

I think technology is great, but the kids today have lost out. Some of the memories are precious... like making popcorn on the stove in a pan and having to heat up the oil and putting the kernals in and stirring until popped.. it was a fun time.. I remember Mom doing that as a treat.. now you throw the bag in the micro and done. Lots of fun memories though.

Yup @bestcee "Back in my day.." !

Ditto this post! I grew up in the 60's with high school in the early 70's. We carried books in our arms that we needed until we could get to our locker. For some students that could be 4 huge books for before lunch and another 3 or 4 books after lunch if your schedule didn't have you near your locker during class change.

No food or drink either... not even for the teachers! My mother was a teacher and they had to drink their coffee or other drinks before going to their classroom, during lunch or during their work period while they were in the teachers' lounge.

All math was done with paper and pencil or in your head. No calculators. Heck, I didn't even have a calculator until I was out of college. Didn't need one for my only math class and again, any math needed in business classes was done with paper and pencil. Hand held calculators were still expensive so pretty much only the math or science majors had them when I was in college.

My mother did take photos but what I remember most was that my grandparents never had physical photos. When they took pictures, they were developed as slides! I can't tell you how many slide shows we would watch at family gatherings. Wonderful memories! Side note: I was able to get some of these slides and have photos made of them when I first started scrapping.

My dad used bacon grease to pop popcorn. He still made it that way 20 years ago. Microwave popcorn wasn't used consistently until the late 90's for my family.

 

[HavaDrPepper]

Trick or treat in my area is no longer held on Oct 31. My town has it the Thursday night before the 31st from 6 to 7:30 p.m. It has been this way for many, many years. I think my mother was still alive when this started and she's been gone over 20 years. If your porch light is off, the kids don't stop. Because of my mom's health the last few years she was alive, we never turned the porch on (see paragraph below as to why...)

Trunk or treat has become very popular around here as well. A local church has had it for quite a few years in their parking lot but not on Oct 31. I believe they have it on the Saturday afternoon before the 31st. Some churches in the area will have a Trunk or treat on Sunday afternoon as well.

Also, in this area a lot of the towns have their Trick or Treat on the same night. "Back in my day" people from other towns would just drop car loads of kids off in various towns to do the trick or treat thing. My neighborhood was hit hard in the 60's since it was on the edge of town (at that time). We knew that the kids were not from this town but were from the larger city north of us. All of the small towns had this problem so that's when the town officials actually got together to figure out how to combat this. So most of the small towns do it on the same night and it alleviates the problem.

 

[cfile]

Ditto!! I grad in 1979.. my dad took slides. I have a slide scanner that I was able to scan git scrapping.. love your post!!

 

[LeeAndra]

Trunk or Treat is a huge thing here! I took my kids to 2 churches' trunk or treats + the one at the local zoo (which I hate but it's free with our membership) over the course of this past month. They also do trunk or treat at the local humane society + the mall + the main library branch (and tons of other local churches, too). My friend's husband volunteers at a local famous haunted house every weekend in October so she takes their 6yo DD to every trunk or treat she can find & logs it all on Facebook. I'm pretty sure she made it past #20 this last weekend.

My kids go regular trick or treating, too. Our neighborhood is a little on the shady side so we drive over to my sister's neighborhood, have pizza, and then we take my kids out. My nephew decided a couple of years ago that he's too old to ToT but he comes with us & brings their dog who is dressed in costume.

It blows my mind to think that my children can watch practically anything practically anytime and they get FRUSTRATED when they have to watch commercials on regular TV. It also blows my mind that my kids are growing up in a world where you can learn or see almost anything at anytime because the Internet is constantly on & at our fingertips. As a scrapper, I marvel at the 1000s of photos I have of my kids just doing regular things vs. the handfuls of photos of my childhood that are all event/holiday photos.

 

[MrsPeel]

So, my son has decided the 1950's were just like pioneer days.

hey, he is kinda right.... lots of great things started in the 50s!!!!!

{My mom was born in 1959}.

oh my word..... so I am one year older than your mum.... I feel even older now

He asks my mother in law all the time: did you have milk? How did you get anywhere without cars? How many horses did you have?
On the bright side, it's led to great moments of history and stories. Like meat lockers where they froze your meat and stored it.

Love him!!!!!!!! you should scrap these things!!!!!!![/USER]

 

[bestcee]

you should scrap these things!!!!!!!

I've scrapped one of them!