Dodge ball was played by all grades as part of the PE curriculum. People threw HARD and if you got hurt and cried, you were pretty much ignored. (You got over it, of course.)
Outrageous things could be said by teachers and no one would freak out about it. My 3rd grade teacher used to talk to us about disgusting "what ifs" such as sliding down a bannister and it turns into a razor blade. He was a super cool teacher who also taught us to think about more constructive "outside the box" things, though.
I was taken to several auditions by a male choir director, alone, in his personal car, during school hours. No eyebrows were raised (and no, he was not a pervert...he had daughters my age and was actually a really nice guy).
Supervision was very, very spotty on playgrounds. If a kid hit you, a teacher might encourage you to hit back in order to show him or her how it felt. No parents complained about this.
We picked teams, too. If you got picked last, well, that was your incentive to try harder and get better so you would not be picked last next time.
In HS, showering after gym was done completely in the open, no privacy. You were required to shower but a lot of girls skipped it for obvious reasons.
Competition was heavily promoted and if you didn't perform up to your potential in an activity, you would get a talking to. There was a district-wide points system and there was a definite emphasis on winning.
No security. You could walk right off the premises and it's doubtful anyone would notice. This was from 1st grade on...the K classrooms were enclosed by a fence as they had their own playground. You could also bring weapons or drugs to school. One kid blew his head off during lunchtime. There was no talk about gun safety or bullying or suicide prevention afterwards, either. It was pretty much brushed under the rug.
?
Well, there was a teacher arrested for stealing bikes from the bike racks and selling the parts!
