20 Things Teachers Allowed in the 1950s That Would Be Banned Today

In the 1950s, the rules of the game were entirely different from the rules of the game in today’s classroom. Teachers held absolute power in the classroom, and discipline practices reflected this. Discipline practices that one could barely even think of today, such as physical chastisements, humiliation, and rules that seemed impossible to break, were the order of the day. Using rulers, paddles, or putting students in uncomfortable positions was not unheard of in the 1950s. There was no such thing as privacy in the 1950s, and emotional support was not even in the vocabulary of teachers either.

1. Corporal Punishment With Wooden Paddles

Corporal punishment, or spanking, wasn’t simply tolerated in American and British schools in the 1950s—it was expected. A teacher kept a paddle or ruler hidden in his or her desk, ready to be used at a moment’s notice if a student broke a rule. A child who talked out of turn, who neglected homework, or who interrupted the lesson might be spanked. The teacher would call the student to the front of the classroom or to the side of the room near the teacher’s desk, and the student would bend down slightly and be spanked several times on the hands or buttocks while the other students watched with a mixture of understanding and fear.

2. Teachers Smoking Inside Classrooms

In the 1950s, cigarette smoke could often be seen wafting down the school hallways. Teachers smoked while grading papers, writing on the chalkboard, or even while students read quietly in class. Ashtrays sat on the teachers’ desks in many schools in the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe. The smell of tobacco, chalk, and textbooks wafted through the air. Students did not even think to challenge the teachers’ behavior, as smoking was an everyday occurrence in almost every place in the world. In the 1950s, the health dangers of smoking were not well known. Cigarette ads could be found in magazines, billboards, and even school-sponsored sports programs.

3. Publicly Humiliating Students for Mistakes

In the 1950s, there were many classes that used embarrassment in front of the class to discipline the students. If a student got a question wrong or did poorly on a test, the teacher would yell at the student in front of the whole class. Some students were forced to stand in front of the chalkboard while their mistakes were written in front of the whole class. Others were given tags to wear around their necks that stated things like “I forgot my homework,” so everyone in the class would know the student forgot their homework. The idea was to prevent students from being careless and to hold them responsible.

4. Students Cleaning Classrooms as Punishment

Physical chores were a part of the punishment scheme in a number of schools in the 1950s. When a student talked out of turn, forgot homework, or misbehaved, staying behind to sweep the floors, wipe the chalkboards, or take out the trash was a typical punishment. Some classrooms in elementary school even had brooms and dust pans in the closet corners ready to go, anticipating this punishment. The student quietly got to work sweeping the floors while others packed their things and headed home, leaving the offender behind to sweep, as the classroom slowly fell into silence. This was believed to be a punishment: by completing physical chores, a student would become humble and respectful of the space.

5. Forcing Left-Handed Students to Write With Their Right Hand

Throughout the 1950s, left-handed writing was perceived as wrong or improper. Children who were naturally left-handed were subject to strict correction in class. The teacher would place a ruler or a strap near the left hand to discourage the use of the left hand for writing, and if a child picked up a pencil with their left hand, they were immediately told to change and use their right hand for writing, with some even giving the child a tap for emphasis. This practice was universal in schools all over the US, Europe, and some Asian countries. Right-handed writing equaled discipline and neatness, and the left-handed students felt the full force of the change, resulting in slower and more awkward writing.

6. Sending Students Home Alone as Discipline

Dismissal was another form of punishment teachers used in the 1950s. If the student disrupted the class by interrupting the teacher, the teacher would dismiss the student from school early. The student would have to walk home. If the town was small, the kids could walk to school. The teacher believed that the parents would take advantage of the situation to address the issue immediately. The child would carry a note stating the reason for the dismissal. This was based on the independence that children had at the time. Some children had to walk several blocks or even miles to get to school. The teachers did not have to supervise the children because the towns were small. They knew the neighborhood.

7. Teachers Keeping Students After School Without Notice

In the 1950s, it was common practice in many schools to punish kids by forcing them to stay after hours, and the parent was unaware of this. If a kid was talking too much, did not do homework, or was a nuisance, the word would come, “Stay after school.” The kid would sit at a lonely desk while the other kids packed up and left the school. Writing or quiet, individual study would fill the hours. In a crowded room, this would help the kids behave and remember that if they acted up, there would be a consequence. The parents would not complain, as the teacher was a person with power and was well-respected in the community. In many instances, the kid would sit there for half an hour or longer before leaving the school.

8. Displaying Student Test Scores Publicly

In the 1950s, classrooms frequently displayed academic performance, and bulletin boards and chalkboards served as public records. Teachers frequently displayed spelling test results, math grades, and reading rankings for all to see. In some classrooms, these lists were even arranged from highest to lowest score. Students quickly learned who was at the top and who was at the bottom. Teachers thought this type of visibility fostered healthy competition and motivated students to study harder. In some classrooms, charts were displayed to show weekly progress in areas such as arithmetic and handwriting. A student’s name was placed next to a number or star indicating their performance.

9. Teachers Searching Student Belongings

In the 1950s, for instance, teachers used to search through the students’ desks, backpacks, or lockers without permission. If they suspected cheating, misconduct, or the possession of prohibited materials, they would simply search the student’s desk or bag in front of the other students in the classroom. They believed that such authority helped maintain discipline and reduce interruptions in classwork. The administration supported such an approach, as discipline was the main goal of such classrooms. The teachers mostly searched for comic books, toys, or notes being passed around the classroom by the students during a lecture. On some occasions, they confiscated such materials and returned them at the end of the day.

10. Making Students Stand in the Corner

Standing in the corner was a technique many 1950s teachers used. If a student were disrupting the class, talking out of turn, or not following the teacher’s instructions, the teacher might send the student to stand against the back wall of the classroom, with their nose touching the wall. The idea of this technique is to remove the disruptive student from the other students and stop the disruption immediately. The teacher believed that by standing alone in the corner, the student would be forced to reflect on their actions. This technique was used in many schools throughout North America and Europe. Some teachers sent the disruptive student to the corner for several minutes, or even for the whole class period.

11. Using Rulers to Strike Students’ Hands

In the 1950s, teachers kept long wooden rulers on their desks, not just to illustrate a point or two but also to discipline students. If a student was caught talking out of turn or did not finish the work assigned to him or her, he or she would be asked to place one hand on the desk with the palm facing upward. Then the teacher would hit the student on the back of the hand with the ruler, a swift way to discipline the student, right in front of the other students. In the past, this was a common way to discipline students, and most parents did not complain, considering that it was also a common way to discipline children at home.

12. Teachers Reading Students’ Personal Notes

In the 1950s, passing notes from desk to desk became an integral part of classroom life. When a teacher caught two students passing a note, they would take it on the spot. Instead of throwing it away, they would read it out loud to everyone in the classroom. The room would be filled with bursts of laughter and silence as they read out what was written on the note. This act of reading out loud was seen by teachers as a means to prevent other students from passing notes in class. This act was seen as a lesson to students who dared to pass notes in class. Students learned that what was meant to be private could be made public at any time.

13. Making Students Kneel as Punishment

In different schools in the 1950s, the use of kneeling was observed as a disciplinary measure. When the student was excessively interrupting the teacher and not complying with instructions, the teacher would remind the student to kneel near the desk or at the front of the classroom. The student would remain in that position while the class went on. In some instances, the student was even made to kneel on the floor for quite some time. Meanwhile, the rest of the students would continue reading and writing while the offending student would remain quiet and in place. This was observed in different nations, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines.

14. Allowing Teachers to Grab or Pull Students

In the 1950s, the classroom was more physically interactive between teachers and students. When a student hesitated to sit down or spoke out of turn, the teacher might grasp the student’s arm and direct the child to their desk. At times, the teacher would remove the unruly child from the classroom in a crowded room. This was done quickly and was seldom questioned because discipline was in the teacher’s hands. This was understood by administrators in general. The teachers believed that strong immediate control of the classroom would prevent larger disruptions. Parents expected teachers to discipline their children in whatever way necessary.

15. Making Students Write Lines Hundreds of Times

The most common punishment you’d hear about in schools in the 1950s was writing lines. If a student talked out of turn or broke a rule in the classroom, the punishment wasn’t so much scolding as instructing the student to take a piece of paper and write on it. The idea was to write a sentence over and over and over again on page after page of paper. The sentence might be something like, “I will not talk during class.” Some kids might go 50, a hundred, or more times before the teacher finally told them they could stop writing. The idea of the punishment is to teach the student a sense of discipline and responsibility by repetition. It also kept the student busy, doing their writing, while the rest of the class went on with their work.

16. Teachers Throwing Chalk at Students

In many 1950s classrooms, it was not out of the ordinary for a teacher to toss a small piece of chalk in the direction of a distracted student. If a student was looking out the window, leaning in to whisper to a classmate, or appeared to be lost in thought, it was not out of the ordinary for a small piece of chalk to fly through the air, landing on a desk or the student’s shoulder. This sharp noise would bring the class back to the teacher, and the room would fall into silence. This was a fast way to bring the class back into focus without stopping the lecture. This happened in classrooms throughout North America and parts of Europe, where chalkboards dominated the classroom.

17. Locking Classroom Doors During Lessons

Schools in the 1950s had a rule where, once the lesson began, the doors of the classroom remained locked. The idea behind this rule is quite simple—to reduce the number of latecomers and prevent the hallways from being filled with distractions. If a student arrived, even a minute or two, after the commencement of the lesson, they would find the door locked and remain outside quietly until the teacher finished the explanation of the current concept or the next break, when they might slip in quietly. This lock-and-quiet approach emphasized the importance of being on time, as it reminded the student of the fixed, unyielding schedules of the school day.

18. Teachers Confiscating Personal Property Indefinitely

In fact, in the 1950s, teachers would confiscate anything that took their students’ attention away from what they were teaching. Toys, comic books, slingshots, and even baseball cards would be taken by the teacher and placed inside their desk drawer. If a student came to class with any of these items, they might be taken by the teacher, and they would not promise their return. In fact, it would sit on their desk for weeks, and even for the entire school year. Students quickly learned that bringing their personal items to class had consequences. This was an important aspect of the 1950s, as it taught kids to behave and learn without distractions. Parents did not fight this, as they supported the teacher’s authority.

19. Teachers Separating Boys and Girls for Most Activities

In the 1950s, classrooms were run with a boy-girl approach. This meant that, on seating charts, boys were placed on one side, and girls were placed on another, which teachers claimed helped eliminate distractions and maintain classroom discipline. Before the day even began, some kids stood in line, then took their seats. This was usually followed by group work, reading groups, and games. This was similar to what was going on socially. There were clear ideas about how boys and girls should behave and what they should be like. Teachers saw it as a way to maintain classroom order and good behavior. Boys were considered energetic, and girls were quieter and more focused.

20. Teachers Allowing Students to Leave Campus During Lunch

In the 1950s, the lunch hour was more of an unstructured event in many schools. This was because the students were free to go anywhere they wished, and in many towns and suburbs, they would go to the diner, the grocery store, or simply hang out in the park. There was no supervision of the students during the lunch hour because the teachers did not know where the students went during the break. This was in keeping with the idea of the 1950s that children should be more independent and capable of managing their own time, as long as they returned in time for the end of the afternoon bell. For the adults in the school, the lunch hour was more of a personal event that was unsupervised.

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