There was good discipline. At the worst the classrooms turned a little rowdy if the teacher left the room for some reason. There were supposedly a few kids who simply wouldn’t comply with the rules and we heard they were moved to another special school for delinquent kids. I never knew anyone who was so I am not sure this special school even existed.
Few girls got pregnant but this time was before the sexual revolution and birth control pills. I never heard of drug use in our school although the neighboring school system in a small city might have had some kids who used marijuana. In my school some kids smoked cigarettes but that was about it.
There were a few fights and some bullies. I broke one bully’s nose and never had any serious problems after that. I received no discipline for doing so as he had started the fight by slapping me. The school brass obviously felt a student had the right to defend himself if attacked. Fist fights happened but boys didn’t fight “dirty” — no kicking or punching while your opponent was down.
Boys carried pocket knives while at school but I don’t remember anybody ever being stabbed or a knife pulled during an argument I heard a rumor that a guy once sexually molested a girl in a stairwell but that might have been an exaggeration.
We actually got what by today’s standards might be considered an excellent high school education including a good background in world and American history and civics. Few students dropped out but no one was passed through if the teachers felt they were not ready for the next grade.
I am not saying we were perfect little angels by any means. I tended to be a little rebellious and somewhat of a pain for my teachers. I later learned to see the teachers viewpoint better when I spent some time in the Air Force as an electronics instructor. Of course we had excellent discipline in the Air Force for students who stepped too far out of line. They just were punished by spending some time pealing potatoes on KP duty. I never had to do more than threaten a student with that to resolve a problem.
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