# What innocuous thing happened to you in school that might cause a parent to go apeshit today? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 11, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187 "2012-01-11T18:34:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/21 "2012-01-12T01:11:15Z")
I may live in one of the whitest states now, but back when I was still a wee little elf, I went to school in the city, with kids of all colors. There were only half a dozen kids as fair skinned as me, though, and on nice sunny days we were sent to the nurse’s office during recess while all the other kids got to go out and play. (I should add that two of these kids were not white, least you think anti-white discrimination is the point here) Why? So we wouldn’t get sunburns. Did they tell our parents? Oh no. Our parents would have insisted we be allowed to put on sunscreen which would be a hassle to oversee and there were so few kids that they thought would really get burned, so it was just easier to keep us inside. It sucked but none of us actually told our parents about it that I know of. I can’t imagine this going over very well these days. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/22 "2012-01-12T01:24:26Z")
Honestly, I don’t think schools have gone all that crazy: it’s the weird cases but make the news. None of these examples seem that odd to me: > [@Bob Ducca](#): > > I had teachers give me rides home occasionally without prior parental consent. Not something you’ll see happen nowadays. > [@Wheelz](#): > > One of my 7th-grade teachers had an indoor swimming pool, and once a year he had a pool party for his students. The year I went, one of my classmates slipped on the deck, hit his head and needed stitches. > There were no outraged parents, no lawsuits against the school or the teacher, no nothing that I’m aware of. The kid got his stitches and was fine. > > I imagine today the teacher, principal, superintendant and seven janitors would be forced to resign in disgrace. > [@aceplace57](#): > > We went on school trips within the state for Orchestra. Coming home at night I had the driver drop me off on the main road in front of my subdivision. A ten minute walk and I was home. Did this starting at ages 14 through 17 when I graduated. > > I’m sure today they’d insist that all kids return to school and get picked up by a parent. There’s probably a list of who can pick up the kid. Kids get hurt all the time in activities, including trips to the emergency room. Coaches and sponsors give kids rides home every day. High school students make their own arrangements to get home. The whole “nanny state” thing is really blown out of proportion because everyone enjoys a round of “kids these days”. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/23 "2012-01-12T03:02:28Z")
1. Walking the six blocks to school by myself when I was 6. 2. A junior high assembly that was basically a come-to-Jesus sermon 3. In high school, many of the kids came to school with deer rifles or shotguns prominently displayed on gun racks in their pickup trucks ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/24 "2012-01-12T04:19:04Z")
My elementary school had no telephone for student use. This was long before cellphones, and there wasn’t even a payphone. Unless there was an emergency, such as a death in the family (but nothing less), parents couldn’t reach their kids at school. My junior high school and high school each had one payphone that students could use for outgoing calls. Still no incoming calls or messages for anything except a death in the family. In grade 7, we could attend a symphony concert downtown. It was a matinee performance that took place during a school day, and the program included music we were studying in music class. The school took care of buying tickets (we took the money to school for our ticket), but it left getting to the concert hall to ourselves. We were expected to take the subway downtown, unescorted by any adults, attend the concert, and then return to school. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/25 "2012-01-12T04:34:55Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > 1. Walking the six blocks to school by myself when I was 6. Opposite way of the OP…but my neighbor had 2 kids (fraternal brother/sister ‘twins’) that started 1st grade. She had them walk to school…alone on the first say of their second week. Sounds bad eh? The school was essentially across the street from our homes. THE SCHOOL CALLED SOCIAL SERVICES on the parents. Did social services see how close the home was to the school? Irrelevant. The neighbors went through minor hell over the issue. Had to have meetings and inspections and the like from Social Services for, IIRC, a year or so. Both the parents and I discussed how when we were in first grade we walked much further to school alone. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/26 "2012-01-12T04:52:30Z")
In the early seventies, I had some friends that were going rabbit hunting after class back in high school. The lock was broken on the truck, so they tried to store their shotguns in their lockers. The only thing that happened to them was that they got chewed out by the vice principal. I was reading an article by a guy who went to grammar school in the 1940s in a rural area in West Tennessee. He said that kids would keep their shotguns and rifles in the cloak room. They were often hunting for their supper on the way home from school. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/27 "2012-01-12T04:53:48Z")
In high school, a couple of my buddies and I thought it would be funny to ambush my little brother and his jr high friends as they came off the schoolbus. I have to think a couple of teenagers attacking a bus while wearing balaclavas and brandishing those realistic waterguns that were popular in the 80s would get more than a “don’t do it again” from the principal. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/28 "2012-01-12T04:57:34Z")
The simple act of walking to and home from school without a grownup when I was 6. I’m appalled that my daughter’s school requires an adult to not only pick up, but go to the door and make eye contact with the teacher before the child is physically released from their custody. Like \*\*BlinkingDuck \*\*says, although my ex’s apartment is literally across the street from the school, she can’t go home on her own. But of the more sensationalist variety: The janitor in my elementary school used to let me help him distribute milk crates full of little milk cartons to all the classrooms. I don’t even recall what class I must have missed to do this. When we were done, he’d take me into his janitor’s lair by the furnaces, and let me choose a Tootsie Roll pop. Nothing inappropriate ever happened. But I just can’t imagine an elderly man working at an elementary school taking a young girl into an isolated area of the school to give her candy…that’s just not going to fly these days. We also had a (male) crossing guard who used to, occasionally, give my girlfriend and I a ride home. His crossing post was about 1/3 of the way home from school, and he lived about a block from us right at the edge of the “walkers” zone on the map. (We didn’t know him or his family socially; it wasn’t that kind of town). Most days, he made us walk, but if there was a real downpour or frigid temps, he’d wave us into his white pickup truck. We’d wait for him to finish his duties, about 20 minutes or so, and then he’d drive us home. Again, no funny business, but… My mom has been a sixth grade teacher for many years, and for a long time, she had a boy or two out of each year that were her special favorites. She’d have them over for dinner, take them out to movies, even hire them to do yard work. Often, she formed a pretty close relationship to his parents, as well. When I look at it through today’s lens, I’m shocked and appalled, but it seemed the most normal thing in the world back then, and she was lauded by parents and other educators for her dedication and compassion towards her students. ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/29 "2012-01-12T05:50:40Z")
1. One of my friends thought it was fun to boil mercury in science lab. 2. When we had naked free swim in the boys Phys Ed class, the teacher would blow a whistle and the last guy out of the pool would get whipped on the rear end with the whistle strap. ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/30 "2012-01-12T08:04:32Z")
I grew up on a military base in North Carolina. One year, mid 80s, there was a hurricane on its way and school got cancelled mid-day. Since the majority of children walked to school anyway, they just basically opened the doors and told us to walk home. Didn’t call parents or anything. Kids that used the bus got driven home and the rest of us walked. Though I have a feeling even back then that was not cool. Because that was the only time I remember them doing it that way. Every other time we had to sit in the ‘emergency hurricane position’ at school until our parents could be reached and come and get us. And anyone’s who’s ever experienced that crouch knows anything longer than five minutes or so is just horrible. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/31 "2012-01-12T11:59:18Z")
> [@AngelSoft](#): > > I grew up on a military base in North Carolina. One year, mid 80s, there was a hurricane on its way and school got cancelled mid-day. Since the majority of children walked to school anyway, they just basically opened the doors and told us to walk home. Didn’t call parents or anything. Kids that used the bus got driven home and the rest of us walked. Though I have a feeling even back then that was not cool. I’m sure it wasn’t cool. The same thing happened during a snow storm when I was in elementary school around the same time, and parents were super pissed. My mom had one of my classmates sit in our car until her mom came (with the car door open, since she’d been told not to get in strangers cars but was freezing, aww) because they school hadn’t told anyone before they tossed us out, and parents only learned about it by chance. Same school as in my story, actually… ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/32 "2012-01-12T12:37:27Z")
In high school, if you did not have a class scheduled for a particular time period, you were not required to be in the building or on the grounds. Also, my HS another school where there was a prevalence of long guns secured in the student vehicles. My grade school was in town, so the expectation was you got to school by your own means. However, bicycles were not allowed until the student was in the 4th grade. The other elementary schools in the district on the edges of town had bus service. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/33 "2012-01-12T12:55:03Z")
A boy in my forth grade class, a natural performer type, and general troublemaker, was given the part of a policeman in a skit. He was asked to bring in any props he thought would fit a policeman, so he brought in his dad’s pistol. Before the skit, he handed the gun over to our teacher, explained that it was real, but not loaded, and could he use it for the play, please? Our teacher, a man who would be SO fired today, checked for any ammo, declared it unloaded, and said, “I’m not 100 percent comfortable with this, but I guess it’s okay.” The boy aimed the gun at another kid’s head during the skit. :eek: ETA: This was in 1994. ---
**Author:** ![Foxy40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/34 "2012-01-12T14:28:30Z")
This wasn’t something that happened to me, but my son who was 9 or 10 at the time. He was in band and was distracting his fellow students. Meaning, he wouldn’t shut the hell up. The band director threw a pen at him from across the room and hit him in the head. The only reason I know about this incident was because the band teacher called me that night to apologize. I have a feeling it was also to access my outrage and whether or not I was planning to pursue the matter. I explained to him that my son didn’t tell me, which means he was talking, and feel free to use something heavier next time. ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/35 "2012-01-12T15:03:10Z")
I played Hitler in a class play in grade school. Must have been 1979’ish. They did change dialogue from “kill” to “hurt” though. That has stuck with me. I think they choose me cause I had darkest hair. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/36 "2012-01-12T15:39:20Z")
My high school had a smoking room for the students during lunch. One of my classmates brought in a hand grenade for show and tell-no explosive, just the shell. I imagine that would not go over well today. One of our high school science class had specimens of asbestos rock in the back…see how the fibers peel off! Thank God nothing went wrong but in elementary school the entire student body would gather in the cafeteria to watch the mercury space launches. Don’t know what they would have done if any blew up like the Challenger. But those guys had The Right Stuff. In Little League baseball I had my nose broken when we were playing on a field with no cage backstop for foul balls. The coach asked for volunteers to catch any balls that got the catcher, I did, the second pitch was fouled off and hit me in the nose, oh, maybe 25-30 feet in back. I don’t nose who paid for the hospital bill (at first they sent me home and after lunch my parents decided to call a doctor). Never heard of my parents getting any money but I wonder what a lawsuit would get me nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/37 "2012-01-12T16:35:14Z")
“Th’underpants gang” in PE if you forgot your kit. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/38 "2012-01-12T16:36:11Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > In Little League baseball I had my nose broken when we were playing on a field with no cage backstop for foul balls. The coach asked for volunteers to catch any balls that got the catcher, I did, the second pitch was fouled off and hit me in the nose, oh, maybe 25-30 feet in back. I don’t nose who paid for the hospital bill (at first they sent me home and after lunch my parents decided to call a doctor). Never heard of my parents getting any money but I wonder what a lawsuit would get me nowadays. Likely nothing. Your parents would have to sign all sorts of waivers to get you on the team (I know my parents did when I played Little League back in the late 80s) and one of those papers would definitely include a line about the league having no liability for injuries in the normal course of play. You could argue your position as the backstop wasn’t part of the normal course of play, but getting beaned by a foul ball is extremely common. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/39 "2012-01-12T16:40:40Z")
In first grade (1962?) the teacher would tie disruptive students to their desks and put tape over their mouths. I never got tied down but I did have tape over my mouth a few times. I would go apeshit if a teacher did that to one of my kids. In high school, a guy I knew brought a gun to school and held the room hostage (his girlfriend broke up with him.) His good friend was in the class and talked him into letting everyone else go, then talked him into giving himself up. He (guy with gun) spent some time in treatment and then a “special” school but came back to public school about 2 years later. These days he would probably be locked up forever. edit: I guess that isn’t “innocuous” but I’m including it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187/40 "2012-01-12T16:41:47Z")
In 1st grade (late 60’s) my mom was in the hospital for about a month. My dad would get me up, give me breakfast, set an alarm and leave for work. When the alarm went off I’d walk to school a few blocks away. In early high school we were doing a play that required a gunshot sound effect. The on stage gun was fake because it was going to get dropped a bit. I did the sound effects by firing blanks with my .22 rifle backstage. The last year of high school in Advanced Chemistry we did an experiment to demonstrate something about statistics by dropping Lawn Darts from the window of the chemistry room on the 3rd floor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-innocuous-thing-happened-to-you-in-school-that-might-cause-a-parent-to-go-apeshit-today/609187.md?page=3)