W-a-a-a-a-y back to school

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Aug 17, 2004 | by Contributors: Deb Acord, Dave Philipps, Bill Reed, Bill Radford,

"Back when I was a kid... " How many parents and teachers have uttered that dreaded phrase to a bunch of eye-rolling, know-it-all children who prefer to live only in the moment? Well, too bad, kids. With this month marking the return to school, we thought we'd take a time trip back through classrooms of yore. Consider it a history lesson for yourself, a nostalgia voyage for your parents and teachers. And who knows? Maybe you'll want a slide rule of your very own.

Find the '70s, '80s, '90s and 2000s on Page 2.

the '40s

THE TIMES: This was a decade colored by World War II, from the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 to the Allied Victory and subsequent baby boom. Talk about ending on a high note.

PROM SONGS: Dancing cheekto-cheek to Frank Sinatra's "I'll Never Smile Again," and jitterbugging to Glenn Miller's "In the Mood."

CLOTHES:

Today's girls would cringe. The look was rolled-up jeans, bobby socks, plaid knee-length skirts and "flats."

HAIR: Guys had the "little man" version of dad's no-nonsense short cut. Girls wore braids or double ponytails on each side of their ears, or let it flow soft and long, with bangs.

IN THE CLASSROOM: Kids young and old studied about the far-flung places where American troops were fighting. For arts and crafts, they'd recycle old rubber tires and metal, roll bandages and send packages of food to the front for the war effort.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES: No electricity needed: Pens and pencils

were it. Older kids got to play on manual typewriters. Teachers used blackboards and chalk and made disobedient kids clap erasers.

LUNCH: Kids dined at home because most moms didn't work. Others opened tin lunch boxes adorned with Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers. Inside: minced bacon and egg sandwiches, tomato soup, gingerbread cake or molasses. The Federal School Lunch Program began in 1942.

DISCIPLINE: The principal wielded a mighty paddle.

CLASSMATES: Diversity? What diversity? Many U.S. schools were segregated.

SHOW AND TELL: Erector sets, chemistry sets.

BEST FRIENDS: Whoever had a TV. Introduced in 1939, there were only a million sets in homes by 1948. Shows: "Howdy Doody," "Captain Video" and "Small Fry Club."

COMMUNICATIONS: Phones were rotary dialed. Some areas had party- line phones in which a single circuit connected two or more phones, usually in one neighborhood. There was a particular number of rings for your phone. If you answered when it wasn't your signal, you could hear someone else's conversation.

PLAYGROUND MOVIE TALK:

"Lassie Come Home," "National Velvet."

the '50s

THE TIMES: It was a prosperous and optimistic time, though we were on the lookout for commies trying to undermine our democratic ways. The birth of rock 'n' roll sounded a note of rebellion in an otherwise conservative era. Television stretched its reach, and families began to flock to the suburbs. Mad magazine, Mr. Potato Head and Hula-Hoops debuted.

PROM SONGS: Kids danced up a storm with "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets or slowed it down with "Love Me Tender" from some new guy on the scene, Elvis Presley.

CLOTHES: Heaven forbid girls should wear pants. Only dresses or skirts would do. Older girls wore poodle skirts and saddle shoes; younger girls wore their mary janes with white anklets. Marlon Brando and James Dean inspired the cool boys, who wore jeans and T-shirts.

HAIR: Ponytails and short bobs with short bangs for girls. Boys' hair was short, with looks from conservative to James Deaninspired cool. The DA (short for a duck's behind) captured that greased-back look.

IN THE CLASSROOM: Kids learned to read from "Dick and Jane" primers, and math geeks carried slide rules, not calculators. Students learned to "duck and cover" in case of a nuclear attack and lined up to receive the new polio vaccine. In darkened classrooms, teachers showed 16 mm educational films warning against drugs and hot- rodding.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES: Just those standard pencils, pens and manual typewriters.

LUNCH BOXES: Hopalong Cassidy, Davy Crockett and other Western stars ruled.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES: The policy of "separate but equal" gave way to integrated schools after a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court in 1954. The best-selling "Why Johnny Can't Read," by Rudolf Flesch, attacked the "look and say" method of teaching reading.

PLAYGROUND MOVIE/TV TALK: Creatures from outer space chilled moviegoers in "The Thing," "It Came From Outer Space" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause" spoke to alienated youth. On the small screen, "I Love Lucy" provided laughs, "Gunsmoke" and "Wagon Train" brought back the Old West, and "Father Knows Best" and "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" promoted family values. the '60s

THE TIMES: This was a decade with a split personality. Early on, it was a time of innocence and optimism, following on the shirttails of the 1950s. The mood darkened in 1963 with the assassination of a president and a war in Vietnam. It was a turbulent era that saw an exploding antiwar movement, the women's movement, the Black Panthers and the "start a revolution" mind-set.