this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
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[–] [email protected] 171 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

Back when I was in high school (in public school), chess caught on in a big way. Chess. It was the weirdest thing. It was a public school in a small farming town, and pre-Nerd Renaissance, so picture a stereotypical 80s or 90s school where jocks were top of the food chain--and then picture those same jocks in their letter jackets rushing to the library on their free periods to take turns playing chess. They set up tournaments and kept track of win/loss ratios and talked about chess strategies in the hallways.

So obviously something had to be done...I guess? The school started making rules and posting them around the school: one game per student per day. One game at a time in the lounge. No chess in classrooms or in the library! The chess board must be returned to the lounge supervisor between games, then signed out by the next person wanting to play--not just passed willy-nilly from one student to another! No outside chess boards allowed!

That pretty much strangled the chess fad. The jocks went back to stuffing nerds in lockers and sneaking out to smoke behind the school, and the chess boards returned to the shelf by the lounge supervisor, where they collected dust.

Problem...solved? The whole thing was pretty surreal.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 1 year ago (4 children)

A similar thing happened in my school with a card game called Euchre. Heaven forbid the students enjoy the small amount of time between bells or in a class once their work is complete.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Wh.... Why wouldn't they encourage this?

I mean, I know, but how dumb can they be?

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago

If you're having fun and are aware of it, that's a sin.

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[–] [email protected] 140 points 1 year ago (5 children)

"Zero tolerance" policy on fighting. Any "active" participation resulted in automatic suspension. That part sounds fine, but active participation included things like holding up your hands in self defense or trying to push the person sitting on your chest while punching you in the face off of you.

[–] Salix 73 points 1 year ago (8 children)

I really don't understand why schools have this rule (at least in many places in the US). Are they trying to teach you to not practice self defense and just let it happen? Doesn't sound like a great thing to teach.

[–] [email protected] 99 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It’s easy for the administrators. No investigation, no attempt to understand what happened.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Since the late 90s, school admins have become increasingly “police state light”; multiple vice principals with walkie-talkies, metal detectors, 3 hour after school detention, saturday detention, in-school suspension (you go sit in a room in silence for literally the entire school day), and zero tolerance. Imagine getting punched in the face and THEN being expelled for it. And I’m not even talking about “rough inner-city schools” or whatever; this shit happened in the Berkshires.

Of course, all their security theatre commands a budget increase and attempts to instill a sense of fear of the state into students.

We’re worried about school board meetings being taken over now but the administrations went full right wing fascist 30 years ago.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago

Funnily enough it had the opposite effect at my school

"If I'm getting suspended regardless, I'm going to stop it here and now."

Yeah they had to repaint some walls due to blood on a number of occasions. And tear carpet out.

It's was like the fucking thunderdome the moment shit started going down at my school.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I ran afoul of this.

Someone came up and suckerpunched the absolute fuck out of me from behind, Was someone who I never even interacted with, commented towards, or even thought about. I still think, to this day, he just wanted to look like a bad ass by hitting the biggest kid in the grade.

Because they used a crutch to get around due to a gimpy leg, and because I was over a foot taller, I was deemed the aggressor.. and no amount of witnesses saying otherwise would convince the principle of my innocence. and because the office was so convinced of it, no one in my family believed me either, so no one fought against it. I had to complete a program for "violent" teens before I was allowed to return to school.. a program that was little more than slave labor in the hottest not-summer-break months, where I got accused of being a (gay slur) because only (Gay slur)'s drink their drinks the way I did, apparently. Was a super happy fun time learning experience.

I totally don't still carry the rage and bitterness about it to this day at all. Nope. not at all.

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[–] [email protected] 119 points 1 year ago (3 children)

In 5th grade they defined every kid that can speak another language as ESL (English as a second language) even if you spoke English perfectly. Then they put all of the ESL kids in a different class on the opposite side of the school. The result was that the school became de facto racially segregated with all Asian and Latino kids on one side and all white kids on the other. It’s not like it served a purpose anyway since none of the teachers could speak anything other than English.

[–] [email protected] 61 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wonder if segregation was the intention.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago

Sadly, that’s sounds very intentional

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago

That's ridiculous, as a father of a future bilingual baby I would raise hell or move schools.

[–] [email protected] 111 points 1 year ago (21 children)

My high school had a rule about the "difficulty" of books you could read. You weren't supposed to read too high "above your grade". I assumed this rule was something with the school library and their Accelerated Reader program.

Nope! Tried to give me ISS because I was reading "Screwjack", which I brought from home. It wasn't even in class! I was a fucking junior. A high school junior should be able to handle Hunter S. Thompson.

According to them it was "college level" and therefore I shouldn't be reading it. My father raised absolute hell in that office. Don't think they tried enforcing that rule again.

They also tried bitching about girls tops until a group of very pissed off redneck fathers had questions about how they were touching the students to measure the width.

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[–] [email protected] 104 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A couple got caught behind the high school. Girl giving the blowie was made to apologize to the school over the PA system and then "encouraged" to go to a different school where she would "fit in better". Boy got no punishment.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, my high school had a similar issue. There was an "alternative" school that was basically worse in every capacity and every deviant student or pregnant student was "encouraged" to transfer. The wild thing was you would still walk the stage with everyone from the initial high school so graduation day was like 20% people you didn't even know or thought they moved away.

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[–] [email protected] 104 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

At my high school, the administration banned the color and word “fuchsia” (kind of a purple-ish, pink-ish color).

For some reason, the senior class (year 12, the class one year above me at the time) had become obsessed with the color/word. They had taken to wearing fuchsia shirts with the word “fuchsia” on them. On a given day, you’d likely see a few dozen of these shirts roaming the halls with students inside them.

The ban came because, allegedly, somebody had made up a story about a Mexican hooker named “Fuchsia” (because that’s a Spanish name, right?) that was the supposed inspiration of the color craze.

So naturally, the admins banned the color and any mention of the word. Using the word “fuchsia” in any context, or wearing the color in any way was three days in in-school-suspension (during-the-day detention where you sat in a cubicle with literally nothing to do - you weren’t allowed to read, no schoolwork, or anything — just stare at the wall for 8 hours). Second offense was a week out of school suspension. Third meant you failed your year and had to repeat the grade.

So, the seniors started wearing other obscure colors with the name printed on the shirt. “Indigo” “Chartreuse” “Vermillion”. Every single one of these colored shirts had the name of the color, and the words “You can’t ban all the colors” underneath.

It was by far the dumbest ass rule I’d ever seen.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Haha this is amazing and ripe for suing the district for a freedom of speech violation. Surprised it didn’t happen but sounds like the kids were just way smarter than the admins in that case.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, anyone who makes a child (or any person) just waste eight hours of their life doing absolutely nothing in some room for wearing a color or saying the name of that color is most likely very unsmart and/or on a power trip.

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[–] [email protected] 74 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wish I could remember the specifics but my high school had an extremely ridiculous dress code policy at one point. Mostly targeting girls, of course, but also had weird shit like “no large/long coats.”

What I do remember perfectly though, is that a friend of mine and I, angrily pouring over the details of the stupid dress code, realized that capes were perfectly fine according to the code as written. So we both got huge capes and that was like a whole year of high school.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Was this in the 2000s? After the Columbine shooting, a lot of schools banned big trench coats and other long jackets because you could have hIdDeN wEaPoNs under them

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[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I always thought the no hats rule was really stupid. The teachers enforcing the rule was more distracting from the lesson than someone wearing a hat.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Security guard at the school was out to get me. To this day I have no idea why. He'd let my lowlife friends get away with murder.

Taking me to the dean for wearing a hat, he's talking to another student, wearing a baseball hat. These guys were the same height, not like he missed it.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Security guards in schools are such a weird concept to me

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 year ago (4 children)

A private school I used to go to banned Listerine breath strips, the ones you put on your tongue, because too many kids were using them.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Our idiot principal for my first two years tried to come up with his own rule that shirts had to be tucked in. The written rule added the caveat "if it was designed to be tucked in". I purposely bought shirts that said they were not intended to be tucked in just so I could be a problem, and then made sure other people know which ones to buy.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago

My middle school required all shirts to be tucked in and they meant ALL SHIRTS. They went around making kids tuck in sweatshirts. It was dumb. And also racist because it was the 90s and the rule was made in response to baggy clothing being popular especially amongst black kids, so they considered large untucked shirts to be gang related.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Forced to read and write about bible in public school, violating separation of church and state.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We lost five days due to a hurricane. Rather than adding 5 days to the end of the school year, they added 20 minutes to the end of every day or 5 mins to the end of every class.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (3 children)

They did that to us in 2011 - added 15 minutes to our work day to make up for several snow days. 12 years later we're still working those extra 15 fucking minutes!

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I went to a private religious school and they made a rule that there couldn’t be any PDA (public displays of affection) between opposite sexes. And they ruled that pretty well with an iron fist.

So we took that in the opposite direction, and I don’t think the administration ever saw so much guy on guy slapping of butts, “Hey bigais”, or pecks on the cheek in their lives.

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 year ago

No shorts, even when it's really hot and there's no AC.

So some older boys started wearing skirts.

They changed the rule.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago

No jackets. My school was using a wing of a building under construction as additional classrooms and you had to take a bus from the main building. In the winter you could not wear or carry your jacket around prior to your class in this building, so you had to spend your passing time visiting your locker to pick up your jacket and hope you make it to the bus in time to not be late to your class. The school was not small so I was frequently late or didn't wear a jacket.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago (7 children)

My school strictly prohibits vehicle use, and considers all violations a strong offense that is on a three-strikes out rule.

Yes, it includes e-scooters and swan boats.

Yes, it includes whether you are in uniform or not.

Yes, it includes whether you are in school or not.

Yes, even if you are licensed.

Yes, it is enforceable anywhere.

The rule is obnoxiously blanket.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

wdym in school or not. How can they regulate what you do in your own time. surely that must be illegal

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It is illegal but so far nobody wants to raise an issue with it because it's a school that has a lot of govt officials, diplomats, expats, and businessmen sending their kids there. No one wants to risk stinking their own reputation by raising an issue.

As for "how", apparently if someone accidentally snaps a picture of those kids riding things they shouldn't be, anytime, and a school disciplinary officer sees it, anywhere, he can give out the warning. Has done so a few times actually.

The rationale of the rule is that vehicle operation is something not befitting the image of a student, especially a student at this (supposedly) prestigious school.

Suffice to say the damn rule made me apprehensive of riding in a friend's car for a while, and of the idea of getting my own license when I became of age.

When I decided to ask the school about the apprppriateness and legality of the rule (as an alumnus), they said "we are disappointed in you. You were a great student. We did not expect you to become someone who tries to force us to change our ways of life." That said, unless you grow up to become a nationalist or a right-winger, you are a disappointment to them, so maybe even without this vehicle use thing I'm still a disppointment to them anyway.

This story sounds absurd but yes it is supposed to be this absurd.

I still pass by this school many times as it's on my way to work. I wish I could tell those kids and new parents who might not be aware of "the system" something they should know ...

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago

gender-based dress codes, especially haircuts and earrings. WGAF.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Not sure if it was a rule since I think it was temporary but putting a whole year level in detention because a few students from that year level broke the rule, that really passed me off even though my year level wasn't being punished for anything

This school didn't care about students at all with teachers stereotyping and playing favouritism

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago

No listening to music during breaks. If you were caught with headphones on you without even using them, you could face punishment.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We weren't allowed to wear shirts with text on them. Didn't matter what they said; there could be no words of any kind on your clothes. It was some old ass rule that was still in the charter for the school or something from like 50 years ago, and one of those things most people just wouldn't enforce. My school enforced it, though. Fuckin VP would be out front every day turning every kid he saw with text on their clothes back home to change.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Everyone should have started wearing pants with a ton of text on it.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago

"Juicy" across the ass.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

It's not enforced by my schools, but when I was little, speaking local languages at school is forbidden. It's getting better now, but at that time, only the official language was allowed.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago

No D&D in the halls during recess like seriously? Gotta love the "everything I don't like is witchcraft" period of the 90s

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago

My school had a semi-loose dress code. Polos and button ups and the like. Also hoodies were allowed but what kind was usually based on the person who saw you in it. The one thing that never made sense to me was that girls couldnt show their shoulders. Wasnt an issue with guys, hell in weight training class guys and girls could wear tank tops. But anywhere else, even when school was out, the smallest amount of shoulder could get a girl wrote up. Even as a guy, this shit made no sense. It wasnt like some guy was gonna get aroused by a little shoulder so it didnt make much sense to play that “distracting guys” argument. And almost every teacher enforced this. My friend went on a long winded rant about it to me while waiting on the bus and ever since then its been confusing.

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