ConfusedFather wrote:
It's fun when many posters refer to the relaxed atmosphere of their childhood, while mainly I miss the learning, guess we are all different
Visiting those schools and reminiscing classes on old mesopotamian civilizations, Egypt, onto Greece and Hellenism, then Rome!
Discussing with friends about the strategy used at Agincourt, Austerlitz or Stalingrad, then observing meiosis and mitosis, before having a debate about capitalism or communism, before ending on some mathematical problem.
Did you really enjoy it all so much at the time though? Like you, with the benefit of hindsight, I would love to have the opportunity to go back and learn all those varied and interesting subjects again, but if I'm being honest, at the time most lessons seemed pretty boring and school and studying felt like more of a chore. Its only now as an adult that I find I have an interest in science, maths, history and literature unfortunately.
In terms of then vs now, yes we probably had more freedom and less assessment (at primary certainly), but I think its a mistake to think of it as all rosy. Teachers are generally nicer and make more of an effort to make lessons interesting these days IMO. And while we didn't have social media problems back then, bullying was still common place. The majority of teenagers these days seem to be more accepting and understanding of others. Racism, sexism and homophobia were far worse back then IMO.