In Reply to: What they kept track of in elementary school posted by Bob Friedland on Thursday, March 16th 2023:

In the second grade from 1950-1951, at P.S. 217, I had the misfortune of having (either Mrs. or Miss) Selco. She had the gall to check our fingernails almost every day, to see if we trimmed them. Even when I was in basic training in the U.S. Air Force, the training instructors never did that! In her estimation, if one's fingernails were not trimmed to her satisfaction, or if they had the slightest amount of dirt, she either verbally accosted us, or kept the students in, after class. One day, when she was off for the day, another student and I were playing with a peg board game. I don't recall exactly what happened, but the table fell down, and one of the legs broke. When Ms. Selco came back. she ascertained that I was involved, and she kept me in after class for 30 long minutes. I can't tell you how traumatic that detention was for a six year old. It was just myself in the classroom; to this date, I don't know if the other student was ever detained. I don't think that my Mother was ever notified. Today, a teacher would be in hot water for harassing us over our nails, as well as an illegal detention. However, in those days, the teachers harassed the students, both verbally, and sometimes physically, and got away with it.

Reference ID: BK97024

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