Catholic School horror stories....

[JudicialTyranny]

Got hit on the head if I suggested the verb "to be" takes an object, but nothing I wouldn't want my children to go through.

They were sticklers for grammar and spelling.

I remember when I graduated from Catholic school in 8th grade and went to public school in 9th grade, I was shocked when our 9th grade English teacher was teaching us nouns and verbs, and there were kids in the class that still didn't know the difference!

We were diagramming sentences and learning participles, gerunds, and infinitives in 8th grade!

People in my office bring me things to proof read for them because I can spot a dangling participle from a mile away, thanks to the nuns....

9th and 10th grades in public school were the easiest school years I ever had - but they got me into some bad habits (no studying) that I paid for in 11th grade....

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

Catholic School Horror Story: AKA, How I Got the Name FLASH....

When I was a sophomore in high school, the priest who was my religion teacher was young, smart, and had a great sense of humor. My desk was in the front right corner of the classroom (last name: Anderson...always happened).

We wore uniforms, and I was playing with the snaps on my jacket, waiting on class to start. I had snapped them from top to bottom when the priest walked in front of me. I wasn't even watching, so I didn't notice when he had stopped in front of me...trying to figure out why I had my jacket snapped up the whole way.

"What is this?"...he said. "Nothing," I said matter-of-factly.

One girl shouted a comment from the back of the room... something about how I must be wearing a Polo shirt underneath my jacket. (Ralph Lauren or anything with a logo was specifically prohibited and brought detention slips to lawbreakers. )

"I AM NOT!" I replied...

He didn't believe me, and started to get the detention slips out.

About that time, I ripped my jacket open, flashing the priest my white blouse.

Unfortunately, because of where I was sitting, it looked like I was flashing the priest, and I never got over my nickname from high school...

 

[twinmomplus2new]

We had some whacky teachers nuns and Lay teachers.. My worst experience was with a lay teacher in the 7th grade. My dad was in politics in town and this particular teacher had some issue with him voting against her streets request for new sidewalks. Anyway I think that is why she was so horrible to me.
Ok... I was really sheltered and not wild/fresh at all. I came to school one day with knee socks that were too short from the knee. She told me I was a floosie and made me copy the dictionary after school for a week.
I had on pale pink nail polish and she told me makeup was against the school code go into the lavatory and wash it off. I started to cry and told it It wouldn't wash off I needed nail polish remover. after 2 hours in the lavatory I again got to copy the dictionary.

I will never forget I went home and told my Aunt everything, and she painted everyone of my nails black, and then with Neon polish painted stripes, dots, etc.. all over my nails.. i went back to school promptly got suspended. My Dad had to come get me and was soooo confused... he laughed like crazy when I told him his sister had painted my nails that way. Well the whole story came out then. ( This was only October so I had only been there about 4 weeks.) He said I did not have to go back, put me back in public school The following day.

Funny thing was 5 years later I met my dh's family for the first time. ANd turns out this teacher is/was thier next door neighbor. Noone believed me when i told them how horrid she was... for her part she pretended she was sooo lovely and went out of her way to be nice to me.
Infact I saw the witch just yesterday and she gave my kids her usual gift of ten pennies wrapped in tin foil. I guess she figures if she wraps pennies and gives them to my kids she won't go to hell.

 

[Jamesbyr]

This thread brings back many scary memories.

My elementary school teachers (nuns) had many strange tactics. BUT THEY HAD 63 CHILDREN IN THEIR (grade 7 & 8) CLASSROOM! (I am talking 1958.)

I became a Middle school teacher in NYC (37 years), and never had to deal with more than 41!. This all is really unjust.

There were two posts that really fascinated me. I’d like to quote them:

“The best was the priest who promised no homework for the entire year if we could find the word Jesus in the New Testament. I can still remember thumbing though the entire thing even looking in the footnotes. Do not try this at home.”

No comment on this yet. I will research it. Could be dynamite!


“They were sticklers for grammar and spelling. I remember when I graduated from Catholic school in 8th grade and went to public school in 9th grade, I was shocked when our 9th grade English teacher was teaching us nouns and verbs, and there were kids in the class that still didn't know the difference! We were diagramming sentences and learning participles, gerunds, and infinitives in 8th grade! People in my office bring me things to proof read for them because I can spot a dangling participle from a mile away, thanks to the nuns.... ”

This last is absolutely true. But I swear I will not correct grammar and spelling on the DIS boards.

 

[simpilotswife]

Interesting story.....

When I was in the 11th grade we had a nun who taught Physics named Sr. Charlene. She hated with a passion several of the children in her Physics class, 2 of whom were my best friend and I. One day during lab my friend and I had done something wrong and she began to berate us in front of the class. She told us that we were mentally retarded and that she would be calling our fathers. Smart aleck that I am I told her that she was welcome to call my father and if she found him could she tell him I said Hi! My friend was in tears and a wreck.

She was the only nun that ever came close to any abuse during my years in Catholic schools.

About 10 years ago I was visiting Pittsburgh. My goddaughter was going to a catholic school in the same neighborhood where I grew up. My friend was talking about it and suddenly asked me the name of the psycho nun from Physics. I told him it was Sr. Charlene. It turns out that she also taught my goddaughter and was still pretty nuts. One day she caught someone talking in class and she made the kids kneel on the hardwood floors for an hour. The kids wear uniforms and the girls were in uniform jumpers aka skirts. From what I understand she was transferred right after that.

The funny thing is that what she did with the kids from my gd's class would have been a mild punishment in my day. Go figure.

 

[kimg826]

My DH went to cath, school. Now I can't even get him to go to church except for special occassions, He was an alter boy and had to go to church every day of the week so he says his time is banked up. Anyways, while he was being an alter boy years ago, he was serving at a funeral and was in charge of lighting the incense. Well, needless to say it did not light, after the funeral was over Father smacked him up side the head. Glad I did not go to cath school, or I might not like church now.

 

[marymrg]

Oh the grammar! Yes, we were always complimented in Public High School about how well prepared we were in grammar from our Cath. Elem. School. (no Cath. HS in our town)

I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they - ad nauseum.

When you slur she and it together, well you know what that sounds like. Good thing "Stir" (slang for sister) was a little hard of hearing.

 

[snappy]

Now I could tell some horror stories about my public "accelerated" school in New Orleans. But I guess that is OT and not as interesting as "Catholic School horror stories".

The nuns in my kids' grade school were wonderful, they served for almost 50 years in the parish before returning to their home towns in Europe. They continue to be in ouch with the parish members.

They are wonderful women, much beloved by multiple generations of students.

My husband went to an all boy Catholic high school in New Orleans. Got an outstanding education. His grades were not that good but he received a great education and has done well in life. He is a wonderful father, husband, etc. and I think his education as well as his early home life contributed to this.

My brother did have a nun as a middle school teacher in N. Carolina who had some serious problem controlling him. Now he was definitely a handful and a half but she was downright mean and made the situation worse. The principle of the school backed the nun 100 percent. My parents had to transfer him to public school. Not long after that the nun had to take an extended leave of absence. My brother did miserably in public middle and high school, did not learn a thing. He never went to college and is in his late thirties so I don't think it will happen.

 

[JudicialTyranny]

My elementary school teachers (nuns) had many strange tactics. BUT THEY HAD 63 CHILDREN IN THEIR (grade 7 & 8) CLASSROOM! (I am talking 1958.)

Ahh... Double-grades! We had those in 3 & 4th grade and 5 & 6th in the late 70's, but our school was much smaller. There were probably about 40 - 45 kids in the class.

Nowadays, parents would never allow double grades. Looking back, I got a lot out of them. I would finish my work early while the higher grade was being taught and I would listen in and pick up on what was being taught. It made things easier to learn the next year because I was somewhat familiar with everything.

My 3rd & 4th grade teacher is now my daughter's 4th grade teacher. No more double-grades though. I've tried to describe to her what a double-grade was and she can't believe it. (I've also tried to describe what a "nun" was to her also...)

This last is absolutely true. But I swear I will not correct grammar and spelling on the DIS boards.

It is very difficult to resist! Like the mixup of their/there/they're. I have to restrain my hands from the keyboard sometimes!

 

[Crankyshank]

1st Grade - must have been 1979. Sr Doris used to whack me and Neil Lambert for using our left hands to write with. She also stuffed Eric Baranna in the trash basket for being petulant.

Poor Eric Baranna. In 2nd grade he told people that Fr Le Duc touched him and no one believed him. He was sent to public school in 4th grade.

Sister Babette used to walk around wearing white gloves to check for dust. She was slightly obsessed with cleaning.

Soph yr in high school, Sister Thomas accidentally left the gas on in the chem lab while teaching classes and yelled at people for passing out in class.

 

[minniepumpernickel]

I'm afraid to reply to this because I don't want to offend anyone. I got kicked out of Catholic school. Yes, I really did. I had a learning disability and it seemed to manifest itself into a major behaviour problem. I mean, I guess that I was the major behaviour problem, lol! I'm still resentful that they actually called me "retarted".

Well, I seemed to do better at public school, anyway!

 

[beattyfamily]

I went to Catholic school from 1st grade through 6th grade. Not because I was Catholic (although my parents were, by the time they had me, they didn't have me baptized or had me do CCD or First Communion) but because it was the only English speaking school in Macau (near Hong Kong and China).

I have mostly fond memories of going to this school even though they were strict.

I remember in 1st grade, I didn't do my homework once so I got hit with the ruler on my hand 10 times. Then she (not a nun) said "I'll bet you'll remember to do it tomorrow night". I certainly did.

In 3rd grade that nun would give us homework for every single day of our vacations (which was sometimes two weeks long). She would yell at us for having long nails and tell us to have our mothers cut them. She'd send misbehaving kids into the classroom next to us with a sign on our chest stating what we did wrong (I never had to do that though, thankfully). They'd have to stand there for the rest of the period.

In 5th grade, I had another mean teacher who was not a nun. She made me stand and say something in Chinese and I didn't know how so she made me stand for the whole class period and was laughing and picking on me; one of her favorite sayings was: "Are you deaf, or dumb, or what?" She also stole my copy of the Declaration of Independence. I brought it in to show the class and she 'borrowed' it and would never return it and claimed she lost it. I think she didn't like me because I was American. I was the only American child every year.

I remember in 3rd grade getting cornered in the bathroom by 7th or 8th graders picking on me for being American; they were pushing me and teasing me. My mother had to come in and yell at the teacher of the girls' class and they never bothered me again.

I remember totally loving the daily Mass and longing to participate. I couldn't though because I was not officially Catholic. I remember in 3rd grade, right in the middle of class, the kids got to leave to go to Confession. I was jealous, again, and tried to go with them. A nun stopped me and asked me where I was going. I said Confession. She asked me if I was baptized and I said I don't know. She told me to go home and ask my mother. I did and was told I wasn't baptized. I was bummed.

I actually thought I'd be a nun when I grew up. I was so drawn to the Church even with some bad experiences. I lived near a big beautiful Church and would stand outside and listen and wished I could go inside.

I'll bet people from public schools have their share of horror stories as well. Times were different when we were young. My mother and father have their share of public school horror stories from the 40's and 50's.

Well, that's all I can remember now. Just wanted to share a variety of memories, not just horror stories.

 

[Crankyshank]

I remember hating lent because Every Friday we would have to do the stations of the cross on our knees with our arms extended in elementary school. My arms still ache at the thought of it

 

[Freesia]

I remember hating lent because Every Friday we would have to do the stations of the cross on our knees with our arms extended in elementary school. My arms still ache at the thought of it

I hated Lent because we ate fish sticks for lunch and Dinner!

 

[OhMari]

In 1968/69 I was in a double class room in 1st & 2nd Grade. My teacher also doubled as the Principal. I remember our reading class was put into reading groups. The nun would call the Rockets, Jets, Airplanes and the Kites. Well, it wasn't to difficult to figure out who was who. I was in the Jets and tried so hard to make it into the Rockets. The nun told me to forget about moving to the Rockets-she needed me in the Jets-so my group could try to be a better reader than me-so they could move to t he Rocket Group. So that is where I stayed all year.

My classroom was also in the basement of the school and you could see the outside playground-parking lot. In the middle of winter a 8th grade boy would not come in for recess. He was "King of the Hill" and he would not move off the snow mound. My teacher-the nun-principal ran outside -she still wore her full habit-ran right up the snow bank, grabbed this kid by his ear and dragged him in every classroom to make an example of what happens to you when you don't come in for recess." I remember laughing so hard-not at the kid, but at the nun-she looked like a tornado with her skirt and habit flying all over the place when she climbed that mountain of snow.

 

[septbride2002]

I went to Catholic Grade School from K to 5th grade. In 4th grade they decided to split the kids into two groups for Math and Science classes.
Group A: Smart Kids
Group B: Not so smart kids.

All of my friends were in Group A except for Tonya and me. I never knew how much that effected me until later in high school. I always assumed I wasn't good in math and science because I was pretty much told that. Now I work in an industry where I use math everyday. And I really flurished in my Science classes in high school and college.

~~~~~
We had this particular nun in 3rd grade who would punish the whole class when someone acted out. One day she decided to keep us late because of Melissa talking in class. My Mom was a Working mom and she stayed home during the day, picked us up, made dinner, and then worked nights while we stayed home with my Dad. One day this teacher kept us for over 20 minutes after the final bell - when she let us out my mother was steaming in the hallway. She marched in that classroom and demanded to know why she kept the class late. The nun explained her reasons to which my mother told her that was the most ridiculous thing she ever heard. That if Melissa had a behaviour problem to deal with Melissa and unless her daughter did something to deserve to be kept late that my butt better be out on that parking lot after the final bell rings. I had never seen my Mom so mad in my life. After that the teacher always let me go 10 minutes early if she knew my Mom was picking me up (we were part of a carpool).
~~~~~~~~
Same teacher had me in class from Sept to Dec with no problems calling me Amanda. Suddenly after Christmas break she started calling me Melissa (we had a Melissa in the class). And I would get in trouble if I didn't answer her - how was I suppose to know that she was calling on me? In what is probably my first ever smack down I walked up to her one day after lunch and told her - "my name is Amanda, please stop calling me Melissa." As punishment I had to write lines, and she stuck a huge sign on my desk that said, "AMANDA" in red marker. I was so embarassed, and I went home in tears. My mother went up to school the next day and asked her why I had this sign on my desk. Evidently the nun had issues remembering my name and told my Mom that I look like "a Melissa." Yes my Mom said but her name is not Melissa it is Amanda - I know this because I was there when she was born. You had no problems calling her Amanda until after Christmas break - it is your problem you can't remember her name, not my daughters and you shouldn't punish her because you are to dumb to remember her name. The nun suggested that I wear a headband with my name on it - my mother absolutely refused and told her that maybe she should consult her seating chart if she was having such problems - but she would not do anything to make me stand out from the rest of the students in the class and that if the sign wasn't gone from my desk by the end of the day (and I will ask my daughter when she gets home) then we are going to have real issues.

The sign was gone by recess.

~Amanda

 

[Freesia]

-she still wore her full habit-.

I used to love some of those habits, especially the fancy headdress. Our nuns had a stiff white heart circling their face with a bow underneath-it was cute. I can remember another order that had these huge white hats that looked like a big boat on their heads.

 

[snoopy]

The biggest horror story I can relay is one of my mother's. When she was in school, they still used the ruler on the knuckles. Sister hit her on the knuckles for something she had done, and the ruler flipped up in the air and knocked Sister's habit off. Of course all the kids screamed in astonishment of Sister w/out her habit. My mother got it but good after Sister composed herself, even though it really wasn't her fault.......

I went to Catholic school K-12 (late 60's to early 80's). The biggest difference between Catholic and public school, to my eye, was the lack of discipline in the public schools. My friends from the local public schools would tell me about stuff they got away with in school....didn't happen at Catholic school. Those nuns meant business. I never had one that didn't scare the crap out of me....and I had many teachers who were nuns. They had the "look", if you know what I mean. Some of the nuns were very kind, but every single one was stern. My most favorite nun in school (Sister Mary Elizabeth) reminds me much of Professor McGonagal in the Harry Potter books/movies......very tough, but also very kind.

Priests I didn't deal with as much until we got to high school. I always found Priests to be very open to whatever we wanted to discuss....quite the opposite of the "horror" stories one hears. My brothers had more interaction with the Priests in that they were alter boys. Alter girls did not come along until after I was out of school.

 

[orangeblossom]

I didn't have any nuns for teachers but I did have them for principals. Sister Kathleen (elementary school) was wonderful. I would love to see her again.
Sister Caroline wasn't as good. She had an air conditioned office but wouldn't air condition the rest of our school and that really made some of the girls mad. Also, she punished the whole class for something that most of the class (except for one of my friends and I) were involved in. I felt that I shouldn't have to serve detention but she made me do so anyway. Honestly, she wasn't that bad but I didn't like her much at the time.
The teachers were major sticklers about language (no cussing), grammar, spelling, and uniforms (shirts had to be tucked in, no untied shoes, there could not be more than an inch difference between the top of our knee and the bottom of our skirt and we'd better have our blazers on if there was an assembly or Mass or we got an automatic detention.)

 

[twinmomplus2new]

I had to laugh at the Mellissa?Amanda story... The lay teachers always called me by my correct name... But a few of the Nuns refused to point blank. My name is Lauren and it although popular now was not at all popular growing up. I was always the only one in school growing up.

They refused to call me Lauren said it wasn't a Saints name. So they called me Laurence. Nice for a little girl, Huh?


I guess I should say.. I went to this school 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade. Then we had an unfortunate incident with an older brother that was slapped by the Nun, well when she slapped him she had a ring on and left an impression of the ring on his face. Our parents pulled all of us out and sent us to Public. They again tried to put me back there in the 7th grade and thats when I only lasted a few weeks.

Other things... We had another lay teacher I had that was CRAZY... Mrs. Driver. We had a ADD boy in our class who wouldn't sit still he was a little hyper. He would go under his desk when she yelled. So she told him he was a dog and made a Dog house by putting a tablecloth over a project table. and would put him under there when he was bugging her. This same child she also resorted to Taping him to his chair with masking tape. I still remember her going around and around with the tape over his legs and being terrified. (This was by the way 3rd grade)