My grandfather started school in 1944. He could not remember his elementary school but he went to Lawrence Junior High in Trenton, New Jersey. When he started junior high he was 13, he stayed back a year. His school had twelve classrooms and thirty kids in each room.
His parents (my great grandparents) could not afford a car so he had to walk to school. He said it was a three-mile walk! I also asked him if it was more strict than it is now or less strict. He said it was much more strict because they could whip you and find very cruel ways to punish you.
He also said the teachers sometimes seriously injured students by whipping them, striking them, and kicking them. He went to Junior high for a total of four years because he stayed back for one year.
What my grandfather told me the most about were the punishments. He said he was punched, whipped on his knuckles by a ruler, put in a closet alone, and was hit in the head with pencils.
Update: 2003/01/25 05:16:48
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