The Over 40s Club meeting
- Thread starter Miss Chicken
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Like those extremely old educational films (which were already old even when I was a kid) that they'd show in class, and the films were often so degraded that the audio would warble in and out? I remember films like that.
I also remember those ultraviolent driver's ed films, which often had names like Red Asphalt, Blood on the Highway, Brains on the Bumper, etc.
I also remember those ultraviolent driver's ed films, which often had names like Red Asphalt, Blood on the Highway, Brains on the Bumper, etc.
I seem to remember those Mimeograph smells actually made me dizzy a couple of times.
So did the valve oil from my old trombone case, actually. They caught me sniffing it a few times during band practice. It would explain how I turned out.
"This one time, at band camp..."
Eh?
Let me help
Brains on the Bumper? (
) My school district must have missed that one.
There was a series of really pretty darn cool educational films produced by Disney. I remember one that explained various forms of math - I seem to recall that Donald Duck demonstrated angles using a game of pool. And there was one that explained various things about the human body, including blood...
I don't know how useful they would be considered now, but they were pretty cool back then, let me tell you.
And - sorry to bring this up so late but I've been AFBBS for a while - I agree with those who've mentioned that back in my day, we went outside and played outside for hours, all around the neighborhood. "Go out and get some fresh air and sunshine," my mother used to say, and she'd say it even when it was 110 F outside, and the air really wasn't all that "fresh."
) My school district must have missed that one.There was a series of really pretty darn cool educational films produced by Disney. I remember one that explained various forms of math - I seem to recall that Donald Duck demonstrated angles using a game of pool. And there was one that explained various things about the human body, including blood...
I don't know how useful they would be considered now, but they were pretty cool back then, let me tell you.
And - sorry to bring this up so late but I've been AFBBS for a while - I agree with those who've mentioned that back in my day, we went outside and played outside for hours, all around the neighborhood. "Go out and get some fresh air and sunshine," my mother used to say, and she'd say it even when it was 110 F outside, and the air really wasn't all that "fresh."
I'm actually rather sad. Sorry to intrude on the club, seeing as I'm definitely not a member (
), but it seems that childhood back in your youths was something far superior to what I experienced and what children now experience. Your childhood sounds...fun. Or at least you can look back at much of it fondly, with a nostalgic smile. You were active, you got into trouble as a child ought, but as part of a learning experience, you...lived. Now, instead of "go out and spend the day having fun/exploring/learning through experience, it's a case of "stay under our control at all times, learn what we indoctrinate you into and sit still twiddling your thumbs because nothing else is acceptable".
We young people, eh? All we do is moan...
. Still, the picture you paint of childhood makes me envious...
), but it seems that childhood back in your youths was something far superior to what I experienced and what children now experience. Your childhood sounds...fun. Or at least you can look back at much of it fondly, with a nostalgic smile. You were active, you got into trouble as a child ought, but as part of a learning experience, you...lived. Now, instead of "go out and spend the day having fun/exploring/learning through experience, it's a case of "stay under our control at all times, learn what we indoctrinate you into and sit still twiddling your thumbs because nothing else is acceptable". We young people, eh? All we do is moan...
. Still, the picture you paint of childhood makes me envious...
Deranged Nasat said:I'm actually rather sad. Sorry to intrude on the club, seeing as I'm definitely not a member (
We young people, eh? All we do is moan...
Honestly, Deranged Nasat, my childhood was a lot like that shown in those 1950s-early 1960s American sitcoms - except for the trees, of course, since I grew up in the Mojave Desert, which is famous for not being heavily forested.
Think Leave it to Beaver, sans green lawns and oaks and plus cacti!
I remember when I was in 9th grade, we watched Threads in poly sci class.
Ho....ly....SHIT.
Ho....ly....SHIT.
I think we were left to our own devices to discover and make our own fun and learnings. Nowdays, kids' time seems too structured and outcome focused - do x to learn y. I've got 3 kids under 8 and I see it with our kids. One neighbor asked that the kids don't go ring the doorbell to play, but that I or my wife call and set it up.
I think some of it comes from both parents working, "free time" is seen as more compressed and valuable, therefore some objective has to be accomplished. Just running around the back yard or neighborhood is wasting precious time.
I think some of it comes from both parents working, "free time" is seen as more compressed and valuable, therefore some objective has to be accomplished. Just running around the back yard or neighborhood is wasting precious time.
^ You might be on to something, Hanson Bro, but I feel I must point out that both of my parents worked all through my childhood. My mother was a miracle worker, though - how she did all the stuff she did while holding down a demanding, full-time job just amazes me even now. My dad helped, maybe more than most fathers did in those days, but he wasn't nearly as involved as my mother, and I think my siblings would agree that the miracle worker in our family was our mother.
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It does seem rather like a dystopian episode of Twilight Zone, doesn't it? Especially since there seems to be no rebellion. My Niece and Nephew have had a huge stretch of forest right behind their house their entire lives-- and they have never once shown any interest in exploring it. They have X-Box and Wii.
Yup, Twilight Zone....
The film strip I mention was so rudimentary and so ... archaic, I don't know if you could really call it "sex ed"; it was more of a "warm up" to sex ed. But, by the time we saw it, I'd already learned more on the playground at recess. Having friends with older brothers was great.
Like those extremely old educational films (which were already old even when I was a kid) that they'd show in class, and the films were often so degraded that the audio would warble in and out? I remember films like that.
I also remember those ultraviolent driver's ed films, which often had names like Red Asphalt, Blood on the Highway, Brains on the Bumper, etc.
We also had one like that for shop class, where they showed all kinds of gory accidents: fingers being chopped off, eyes being put out, and the topper was the kid who had the 2 x 4 kick back at him and impale him through the chest. Don't remember what it was called, but it was good times.
Like those extremely old educational films (which were already old even when I was a kid) that they'd show in class, and the films were often so degraded that the audio would warble in and out? I remember films like that.
I also remember those ultraviolent driver's ed films, which often had names like Red Asphalt, Blood on the Highway, Brains on the Bumper, etc.
The one we saw was called "Prom Night". It was bloody and disgusting and i had to leave the room b/c i almost passed out!
We never had "sex ed" but we did have the movie "Growing up and liking it". The girls went into the auditorium for that and the boys were sent off to the gym i think. And then the boys saw a film while the girls were herded off somewhere.
So you went to Parochial HS too?
Our Sex ed consisted of a single admonition: "Don't do it or you'll be struck down or go blind!" It worked as well then as now!YeomanRandi - I was supposed to watch that movie in Jr High but my friends were all involved in a very engrossing conversation about a certain Bobby Adams and we didn't absorb one thing! I remember some of the graphics being very seventies and swirly!
I went to Catholic schools, and we had very thorough, very frank discussions of human sexuality.
It could be in part due to nostalgia and selective memory on our part. We old people tend to do that. Ramble on about the old days....
"Now my story begins in 19-dickety-two. We had to say ‘dickety’ cause the Kaiser had stolen our word ‘twenty’. I chased that rascal to get it back, but gave up after dickety-six miles. I'd now like to digress from my prepared remarks to discuss how I invented the terlet."
I'm actually rather sad. Sorry to intrude on the club, seeing as I'm definitely not a member (
We young people, eh? All we do is moan...
It could be in part due to nostalgia and selective memory on our part. We old people tend to do that. Ramble on about the old days....
"Now my story begins in 19-dickety-two. We had to say ‘dickety’ cause the Kaiser had stolen our word ‘twenty’. I chased that rascal to get it back, but gave up after dickety-six miles. I'd now like to digress from my prepared remarks to discuss how I invented the terlet."
Yeah, no doubt nostalgia plays a big part - I mean, goodness knows there was plenty of indoctrination. But there was a lot less direct adult supervision, which has good points and bad points. I mean, somebody's mom or dad (or at least a resonably responsible older sibling) was usually just a loud holler away...but they certainly weren't right there, controlling us. Which also has good points and bad points, seeing as there are and were kids who need all the adult control they can get. But there are lots of kids, I think, who benefit from a little bit of benign neglect.
But RJDiogenes' story about his niece and nephew and that unexplored woods is really sad. At least it is to me. I can say with absolute certainty that there's no way it would have gone unexplored for very long if me and my siblings were around.
But RJDiogenes' story about his niece and nephew and that unexplored woods is really sad. At least it is to me. I can say with absolute certainty that there's no way it would have gone unexplored for very long if me and my siblings were around.
Me too. I was never inside unless I had to be.
But if we had the same technology as kids do today, would we have acted the same? Is it a bit of fantasy on our parts to say we would have left the Wii and the Internet alone and gone outside to play?
Yes, because our parents set limits and kicked us out of the house. Even when I had an Atari 2600 and a Commodore 64, we were not allowed to play either unless it was too cold to be outside, rainy, or dark. And even then, we loved to go outside in cold weather after we warmed up.
Owning an actual "record player" that was portable, came in a suitcase, and was covered in cheap plastic. It came with that little plastic disc you had to put on to play 45's otherwise the disc would move all over the turntable.(which of course you did anyway just because it was cool). Having to put a quarter on the back of the turntable arm when it broke so it wouldn't mess up your records.
YES!!! I particularly recall Bobby Sherman records on the back of Sugar Pops or Sugar Smacks or some sugary concoction.
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