30 Crazy Things Teachers Did In The 80s And 90s That Seem Unbelievable Now

To gain some insight from an expert on the 80s, we reached out to Steve Spears, co-host of the Stuck in the 80s podcast. Steve has been recording Stuck in the 80s for 17 years now and has recorded over 640 episodes, many of which include interviews with the icons of the decade, including Steve Perry, Huey Lewis, Martha Quinn, Nancy Wilson and many many more. "For our 500th episode, we did a live interview with MTV veejays Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood and Alan Hunter onboard a voyage of The 80s Cruise," Steve told Bored Panda.

When asked what sparked this fascinating podcast in the first place, Steve says it was his 20th high school reunion. "I built a website for the reunion, gathering memories of our time together in school, and the nostalgia was almost like a drug - I couldn't get enough and I didn't want to quit it," he explained. "As soon as the reunion weekend was over, I was plotting a way to keep the momentum going. A podcast - they were pretty rare back then - was the perfect vehicle. What began as a small hobby really took off when we started getting emails from listeners around the world, including Russia, South Korea, Croatia and even the South Pole."

"For my generation, the '80s were when we first accepted music as part of our lives - our teen years," Steve shared. "When you're 14 years old, nothing's more important than MTV, an REO Speedwagon album or tickets to the Duran Duran concert. The '80s were the first time when I had something personal - my connection to those musicians and the music. It was also perhaps the last era of innocence."

"Back in 2006, I interviewed Rick Springfield backstage before he played a big '80s show in Tampa Bay," Steve told Bored Panda. "Loverboy, Eddie Money and Scandal featuring Patty Smyth were also on the bill. When I asked him about the enduring appeal of the '80s, he said: 'It was really before all the crap hit the fan, you know, worldwide, I think it's a last safe time. I don't even think you can call the '90s a last safe time. I think the '80s is the last safe time. The wall fell. You knew by that time that no one was going to be dropping any nukes, but now we don't know that.'"

When asked what it was like to be a student in the 80s, Steve shared, "I love to romanticize my school days in the '80s - all you needed was a set of encyclopedias at home and a public library card to get all the research you needed for any class project. It didn't hurt to have a home computer - the likes of which couldn't power a toaster today. No cell phones, no Twitter, no TikTok. You needed a driver's license, access to a car, and a tape deck to play your Men at Work and Billy Idol albums. As a result, I think we were more focused."

We also wanted to know if he ever witnessed any wild things at school. "The craziest thing I saw with teachers at my high school actually happened right after graduation," Steve said. "Two teachers served as chaperones for several dozen newly graduated students for a 'Senior Cruise' on a cruise ship that sailed from Miami to Mexico and back. It was a total booze cruise once we reached international waters. It all started when the two teachers came around with boxes of liquor and handed out a bottle to each cabin. That really set the tone. These were the days when the drinking age was still 19 - and most of us were legal adults - so it didn't seem totally insane at the time. Also, overindulging in booze didn't have the stigma I hope it has for teens today. I still feel bad for the cabin stewards who had to clean up after our group."

We also asked Steve if he thinks kids are better or worse off today than they were in the 80s. "I'd like to think kids face a different set of challenges today," he said. "They have all the world's knowledge available to them 24/7 through smartphones and the Internet. But they also have the distractions and potential dangers that come with social media. I don't think teachers could get away with nearly as many stunts now that any anonymous social media post could effectively turn them in. All things being even, give me my times in the '80s back."

If you'd like to learn more about the 80s and hear personal stories from Steve and his fellow co-host Brad, be sure to check out Stuck in the 80s right here.

There are plenty of things that were different in the 80s and 90s. Without cell phones, kids were often able to run around unsupervised until it was dinner time or bed time, and there were not as many discussions about children being protected, from strangers, bullies or teachers. It was assumed that adults always knew better than kids, so even if a child complained about a teacher, it was not likely that their parents or the principal would take their side. Kids today have much less autonomy, as they are typically supervised at all times, but they also have more power in other ways.

If a child came home from school today and complained about a teacher rubbing their shoulders in class, there would immediately be a phone call made to the school, and that teacher’s job would be in jeopardy. It could become national news, and Netflix would release a documentary about it one year later. In the 80s and/or 90s, however, teachers could get away with striking kids, washing their mouths out with soap and publicly humiliating them without any repercussions. Ah, the magic of the past.

Obviously, not every teacher back in the day was a menace to their students. I’m sure there were plenty of wonderful educators, but there just were not the same systems in place that we have today to ensure kids are safe and cared for. The general opinion back then was that adults know best and that if something happens to a kid, they probably deserved it. I’m not talking about the extreme examples such as assault and abuse, of course, but if a teacher decided it was best to dump out a kid’s desk or force them to stand in the corner, well, they probably knew what they were doing.

Helicopter parenting was also not a common thing back then, or it had not been 'invented' yet, so it’s likely that parents just did not know what was happening when their kids were away learning. Today, many parents keep a close eye on their little ones at all times and even take an active role in their education. Although the PTA, or Parent Teacher Association, has been around since 1897, it has become much stronger in recent decades. Parents are taking a much active role now in their children’s lives and working hard to ensure that their kids are treated much better than they were in school. 

Some of the things on this list were dangerous or borderline abusive, while others were mostly harmless like seeing teachers smoke during recess. Then there are some that address cultural sensitivity. Over time, society is constantly becoming more progressive and understanding how to address sensitive topics, and some of the things on this list that teachers said, whether they were intended to be offensive or just jokes, would definitely be deemed discrimination today. That’s one of the great things that has changed over time; teachers today cannot get away with spouting ignorant, ableist, racist, xenophobic or homophobic rhetoric. And although I went to school in the early 2000s, I vividly remember all of us kids dressing up as either pilgrims or Native Americans for a Thanksgiving feast at school… Thankfully, that does not happen any more. 

Joni Edelman wrote a piece for Scary Mommy titled “13 Ways School Was Different In The 80s”, and she brings up several of the things parents, teachers and children were never scared of until recently, including sending kids home from school alone. “We walked both to and from school. ALONE,” Joni writes. “And we wore our house key around our neck. We got home and ate Twinkies and watched TV and talked on our corded phone and never did homework. No one thought this was a bad idea.” As a kid, I never even lived close enough to my school that I would have been able to walk. But even if I did trek the hour or two there, the roads would have been extremely dangerous to walk on, let alone without an adult. “Didn’t kids get hit by cars?” You might be wondering. And the answer is yes, they did. In fact, my father got hit by a car walking to kindergarten the very first week and ended up spending his first couple months of “school” in the hospital. 

Joni also writes about how physical education, or PE, was a completely different beast back then. Today, there are not always winners, and only the teachers get to pick teams to spare everyone’s feelings. But as Joni says, “In PE in the 80s, we pelted each other with dodgeballs. Ruthlessly. Get hit in the face? Too bad. Remember Red Rover? Yeah. You’re going down. NATURAL SELECTION.” Even in the early 2000s, I thought PE was brutal. We had rules that you couldn’t aim for people’s faces or heads, but accidents happen right? I can’t tell you how many times I sacrificed myself during dodgeball so I wouldn’t be caught off guard by a bouncy ball to the face. 

Today, teachers tend to have a reputation for being gentle, nurturing and caring, even if they are strict. Back then, however, it sounds like teachers were more like prison guards or military generals. While most of the stories on this list are shocking or horrifying, some things teachers did that were kind can’t even happen today. For example, when I was in school I remember having a bus driver who would make cupcakes every time it was one of our birthdays. In hindsight, that was incredibly thoughtful and took so much effort on her part. Today, however, people have to be so cautious about allergies to gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts, etc. And you cannot feed a child anything without their parents' consent. I can just imagine that sweet bus driver receiving angry phone calls today from a parent whose child is vegan and took a cupcake or a parent who does not allow sweets in the house. No good deed goes unpunished.