I still remember the exhilaration that came with seeing a TV and a video player being wheeled into my primary classroom.
It could mean only one thing: screen time! And back in the day, that was a seriously BIG DEAL. Kids these days have more screen time than they have actual have face time, but in the olden days, things were different.
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My kids will never learn to count with Cuisenaire rods like I did. I have no idea when they were discontinued in classrooms, but I mourn their departure.
If you were born in the 60s or 70s, you might remember these hallmarks of Australian primary school.
1. You used this (and tried to eat it, at least once):
2. You spent your spare money on these:
3. You were taught about the faces that graced every one of these:
4. This was your Google:
5. You went far too high in the playground on one of these:
6. You spent lunch break trying to become Queen Bee of this:
7. These reading challenges, or some variation of them, were either your friends or your nemesis:
8. All your books were covered with brown paper (then plastered with your current crush):
9. You attempted feats against gravity on this sucker in PE:
10. This was standard issue every morning (and sometimes it was off):
11. This death trap playground equipment was standard school yard issue:
12. This was how you learned to read (Jesus Spot, just run already):
13. You took your pencils to the front of the classroom and sharpened them with this:
14. You spent at least one craft lesson making these:
15. You burnt your arse on this:
16. You had a weekly savings account like this (though possibly not as healthy):
17. You learnt how to count with these (and can still remember blue was '9'):
18. If you were super good, you got one of these:
19. Your desk probably looked like this:
20. These were the shit.
21. Your name was stamped onto one of these each time you borrowed a library book:
22. You took home a money box that looked like this.
23. And ate racist biscuits from your lunchbox like these:
24. You went to school fetes that sold these:
25. This was your entire paint palette:
26. And this was your response to a jerk in your classroom:
27. You cut paper with "safety" scissors:
28. And you tortured entertained your parents with this:
29. Your classroom had one of these:
30. Your school bag was a 'port' like this:
31. You chose your destiny with one of these:
32. You can still smell each and every one of these
33. You would have sold your kidney for one of these:
34. You took food and drink to school every day in something like this:
Can you think of any other quintessential Aussie school moments that we've forgotten?
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