People who grew up in the 80s and 90s are reflecting on Reddit about how certain behaviors by their teachers, once considered normal, would be seen as highly inappropriate today. Some of the most discussed stories involved teachers spending time with students outside the classroom, like one teacher who hosted a class sleepover in her backyard. Another user shared that their Spanish teacher invited top-performing students for a sleepover at her farm—something unimaginable in today’s world without significant parental concerns.
Other shared memories include teachers smoking in school, with one person recalling how their third-grade teacher smoked in a small office inside the classroom. Smoking in federal-funded schools has been banned since 1994, making such behavior now unthinkable. Physical punishment also came up, with multiple users remembering teachers throwing chalk or erasers at students for misbehaving or being distracted in class.
One of the more shocking recollections was about teachers attempting to force left-handed students to use their right hands. In one story, a kindergarten teacher tied the left hands of students to their waists in an effort to make them write with their right hands—a practice that was seen as acceptable back then but would now be considered abuse.
These anecdotes highlight just how much the educational environment has changed, with stricter rules and a greater emphasis on student welfare. What might have been a fond or funny memory for some now strikes others as troubling in today’s more safety-conscious and protective school systems.
