School B.Day Celebrations

[Taem]

I'm curious as to what your high-school did for your birthday when you were in high-school, or more specifically, what the student body did. The reason I ask is because I hear in most schools, they genuinely wish you well on your b.day. A small percentage of schools to my understanding will give you a well-placed b.day arm slug, but all in jest.

The school I went to I guess is different, and apparently not much has changed in that school since the time I went there. You see, in the school I attended, if anyone found out it was your birthday, they [the students] would wait until lunch or better yet P.E., surround you when there where no teachers around, and proceed to kick the shit out of you. It was a favorite pastime guessing when someone’s birthday was and seeing the terrified look in their faces when another student called out, “it’s so-and-so’s birthday!” pointing at the poor sap. There was also a favorite way to beat up a birthday kid in the P.E. room affectionately called “the taco”. To perform The Taco, someone had to quickly sprint into the back of the locker room, kick open the locked door to the gym (not easy) before the b.day victim arrived, set-up the sit-up mat in an vertical position with some help, and then lie in wait all before the birthday boy arrived. Once the birthday victim got to the gym door, the other knowing, smiling students behind him would shove the victim into the sit-up mat who then become immediately wrapped in it like a taco by the students holding the mat up, and then kicked relentlessly until a teacher came in to save them. I've seen my share of broken noses due to the taco, as well as called in “sick-days” on ones birthday due to sheer terror of coming to school on your birthday! I've been told this behavior is not typical of high schools, so I'm curious as to your [Lurkers] high school experiences on your birthdays.

[Jester]

"Very well, where do I begin?

My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink, he would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Some times he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy, the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical, summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds, pretty standard really. At the age of 12 I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum, it's breathtaking, I suggest you try it."

Or, slightly less snarkily, I was never wrapped in a gym mat and beaten. That just wasn't on the cards. I seem to remember it being a bit of a non-event, to be honest.

-Jester

[vor_lord]

I don't remember birthdays being an issue. But I've spent 20 years trying to forget everything about high school, so...

[LochnarITB]

I've spent 20 years trying to forget everything about high school

and then, when I'm finally rid of the haunting, Facebook brings it all back!

Geez, I hate Facebook.

Back on topic, I don't remember much at all done for anyone on birthdays. But, I had the perfect foil to any shenanigans directed my way, a summer birthday.

[Tal]

[Rustweaver]

A Birthday was another day at my High school, no one cared other than your tight nit friends. I went to a HS which everyone just tried to get through the day without anything holding them up getting; in and out was the priority.

Jr. High was a little more ritualistic, a birthday was broadcasted on the PA system for all to hear and you would receive your customary slug(s) in the arm depending on where you fit on the social hierarchy you would receive more. Fighting back would either get you more, or earn you respect it really depended on the variables at the time. Those who were known to simply slug back were held in higher esteem and would usually only get a couple of hits from those who dared challenge them.

[Zyn]

I usually spent my b-day getting suspended or sent home for wearing my "Birthday Suit."

Srsly! What gives!?

-Z

[Nystul]

Just another day at school.

[shoju]

Huh.... When it was your Bday at my school, You pretty much had a great day. Free lunch, your pick of anything, a small cake ish thing, and as a senior, you normally got leave early. I think the principal came to excuse me from class about 1:30.

[LennyLen]

Just another day at school.

That's the way it worked at my school too. If anyone did know somebodies birthday, nobody cared except for the person's friends. My birthday is in January though, so always fell during the summer holidays.

[kandrathe]

Just another day at school.

That's the way it worked at my school too. If anyone did know somebodies birthday, nobody cared except for the person's friends. My birthday is in January though, so always fell during the summer holidays.

Same for me. Birthday's were not publicized, and you usually didn't advertise them except to your close friends.

Although the getting beat up thing was also just a normal daily function. In 5th grade (my first year at the new school) I remember out of 200 days, successfully avoiding the gang of bullies and making the run for the bus at the end of school about 1/2 the time. Of the remaining 100 days, I avoided a scuffle about 2/3rds of the time and was merely verbally humiliated. the other 30 days I got a beating by a group of thugs.

[eppie]

I'm curious as to your [Lurkers] high school experiences on your birthdays.

What the hell man? What kind of school was that?
I was born and raised in a developed country instead, where there are certain rules about what is and what isn't allowed in school.


@ Jester I hate Belgians.

[Jester]

@ Jester I hate Belgians.

Hey, now. I love Belgians. Wonderful people. A little funny about their politics sometimes, but then, who isn't?

-Jester

[Maitre]

Yeah, birthdays were not a thing in my school (at least they weren't when I was there 15 yrs ago); most folks celebrated outside of school. And, anybody that faced a beating like the one Taem described would file charges.

Other fun fact: my son (5 yrs old) is forbidden to distribute invitations to a birthday party to his friends in school, unless he is inviting everyone in his class (to be clear, he is free to selectively invite people from his class, so long as he does not distribute the invitations in school).

[Taem]

What the hell man? What kind of school was that?

That's whats beginning to concern me. It seems "trends" in school will remain indefinitely unless stricter enforcement is issued. The principle at my sons school was a teacher when I was there, and before that was a student at that school. They may be aware there is a problem, but have no idea how to change it. The only way I see change happening in a stagnant environment like this is to bring in fresh blood from out of the area! The effects of stagnation happen all over the place, in any job... for example, my boss sometimes sends me to our stores to observe what is happening, and I'd say a good 50-75% of the time, I'm able to spot obvious oversights that the other manager did not see because they [the manager] are engulfed in their environment and have become used to, no oblivious as to whats going on. I've also seen this trend occur as young as the grade-school I attended; whenever a train went by, all the children would run and jump on a object so that their feet were not touching the ground - I have no idea how long this trend started before I came to the school as a child, however I was surprised to find they are still doing it to this day without the guard duty's or any teachers encouraging the effort... it's a learned trait passed down from generations. And having said that, it "could" be unlearned also. Which brings me back to my original thought and concern, if trends like the birthday bash at my old high school continue to this day, I wonder how many things go under the radar in ALL schools because it's the status quo? And more specifically, I wonder how to change it?

And BTW Eppie, my school was a standard California school, nothing to write home about. They just had a bad habit of beating kids up on their birthdays.

[kandrathe]

What the hell man? What kind of school was that? I was born and raised in a developed country instead, where there are certain rules about what is and what isn't allowed in school.

Ah, sheltered. I went to a more rural school, where being tough was just an expectation.

Yeah, there were rules. It's not so much that the country isn't developed, more that there is so much due process before a child is denied access to education. My sister was almost knifed by a psychopathic love sick classmate, who had invaded our house the previous year carrying a 18" medieval dagger. My mom and I confronted him and convinced him to leave (only to find the police waiting for him at the end of the 1/2 mile road to our house. Once he turned 18, he was released from the psyche ward and returned to the same school, to the same class, to the seat just behind her. That's due process. Within 2 weeks he had brought a knife to school, and attempted to kill her again before school. This time, being 18 now, he was charged as an adult for attempted murder.

Most city schools now have metal detectors to attempt to find the knives and guns. There are two ways to acheive anarchy. Either by having no rules, or by having so many that your justice system becomes ineffective. We suffer from the latter.

[eppie]

What the hell man? What kind of school was that? I was born and raised in a developed country instead, where there are certain rules about what is and what isn't allowed in school.

Ah, sheltered. I went to a more rural school, where being tough was just an expectation.

Come on Kandrathe.
Bullying is another thing and common in many schools. Meats example is just organized beating that are going on for years already. Gross negligence from the schools manager. Clearly a person that should not be in charge of a school, and frankly someone I wouldn't want to have alone in a room with my kids, never.

---

That's whats beginning to concern me. It seems "trends" in school will remain indefinitely unless stricter enforcement is issued. The principle at my sons school was a teacher when I was there, and before that was a student at that school. They may be aware there is a problem, but have no idea how to change it.

Or maybe they don't want to change it?

The only way I see change happening in a stagnant environment like this is to bring in fresh blood from out of the area! The effects of stagnation happen all over the place, in any job... for example, my boss sometimes sends me to our stores to observe what is happening, and I'd say a good 50-75% of the time, I'm able to spot obvious oversights that the other manager did not see because they [the manager] are engulfed in their environment and have become used to, no oblivious as to whats going on.

Yes, you have a point here. But again, besides a stagnant situation....I think there are some people working at that school that should find another job.

I've also seen this trend occur as young as the grade-school I attended; whenever a train went by, all the children would run and jump on a object so that their feet were not touching the ground - I have no idea how long this trend started before I came to the school as a child, however I was surprised to find they are still doing it to this day without the guard duty's or any teachers encouraging the effort... it's a learned trait passed down from generations. And having said that, it "could" be unlearned also. Which brings me back to my original thought and concern, if trends like the birthday bash at my old high school continue to this day, I wonder how many things go under the radar in ALL schools because it's the status quo? And more specifically, I wonder how to change it?

The more I read, the more I get the feeling that Jesters Dr. Evil quote wasn't so over the top at all.

And BTW Eppie, my school was a standard California school, nothing to write home about.

Oo Meat, I knew that...I was being ironic. But as with most irony it has a some truth in it. And as you know, I am not too impressed with how the handle things at your side of the lake in general. (but that is my opinion)

[kandrathe]

Come on Kandrathe. Bullying is another thing and common in many schools. Meats example is just organized beating that are going on for years already. Gross negligence from the schools manager. Clearly a person that should not be in charge of a school, and frankly someone I wouldn't want to have alone in a room with my kids, never

On the other hand, and I can only speak for myself, my experiences with school have helped me to appreciate Dickens.

"Traders in the avarice, indifference, or imbecility of parents, and the helplessness of children; ignorant, sordid, brutal men(educators), to whom few considerate persons would have entrusted the board and lodging of a horse or a dog; they formed the worthy cornerstone of a structure, which, for absurdity and a magnificent high-minded laissez-aller neglect, has rarely been exceeded in the world. "

[LavCat]

On the other hand, and I can only speak for myself, my experiences with school have helped me to appreciate Dickens.

You should try living in an orphanage.

[eppie]

On the other hand, and I can only speak for myself, my experiences with school have helped me to appreciate Dickens.

You should try living in an orphanage.