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I didn't have any big fears back in the 50s. We did the duck and cover but I didn't worry about nuclear attack. I trusted the adults to take care of of that
I had a fear of a very strict 5th grade teacher but thank goodness I didn't have her as a teacher. She kept her classroom so quiet that it was creepy.
Polio was the one fear that really bothered me. We had a girl who had to wear a big ugly steel brace on her leg. She always had to sit on one side of the room because her leg had to be out straight. She couldn't bend it. She wasn't able to participate in playground games. I used to dread that it would happen to me.
Everywhere you looked there were pictures of people in iron lungs, kept in there, lying on their backs because they couldn't breathe due to polio. Horrifying.
There used to be a polio season and during it we stayed close to home instead of going to the public swimming pool or an amusement park. I have a clear memory of my dad reading from the newspaper that a polio vaccine had been invented.
Once we were safe from polio I don't remember any fears except maybe being scared to get up in front of the class to give a book report.
Thinking through that era (1950s-1960s) I was pretty stoic about things. I knew that we would not likely live through an atomic bomb by hiding under our desks. It made no sense, but we all did it anyway. The various plans that the school administrators came up with for turning us out of school to run home and meet our families so we could all escape to safety wasn't going to work. I had pretty much the same opinion with the tornado drills, but they made a little more sense and tornados were a more likely threat. We actually were sent to a windowless hallway on the first floor to wait for the tornado or the all-clear signal. We probably wouldn't have survived a direct hit.
The polio epidemic came too early for me to be aware of it until we had some kids in class with braces and had to take the vaccine. I always flunked the TB tests and had to go get x-rays but I never actually had TB. That undermined the validity of that experience.
There were a few cases back then of "mad dog" killers roaming around killing people mostly at random. There were a couple midwestern killing sprees (Starkweather) and one memorable case in Chicago where a guy (Richard Speck) killed a bunch of student nurses. Starkweather got a lot of coverage and that got me worrying about family or friends (or me) being victims. That was rare back then, but we have had a lot more serial-killers since then. Part of my adult career was working in prisons, and I knew some guys who had been multiple killers and one contract killer whose body count is still unknown.
I mentioned in an earlier post the tragic school fire in Chicago (Our Lady of the Angels - 1958) that killed dozens of kids and teachers. The idea of being trapped in a burning school (or any large building) was a fear that I still have to some degree.
I was in elementary school in the early 80's and the only thing I can remember being afraid of were "The Clowns". I remember walking home from school and someone would yell "The Clowns" and we'd jump in bushes to hide. I was just thinking about this the other day and wondered if it was a real thing or not. Guess not.
I graduated in '91.. We had to do the 'Duck and Cover' thing early on when I started school.. But.. Outside of that. No real worries.
Well.. There was the showers after gym that you knew you'd have to do starting in 7th grade.. which.. That fear was far worse than the reality.
Outside of that.. I was electrical/lighting in Drama.. I was always the person who got sent up into the catwalks of the auditorium.. Some 40 feet up to hang over the edge and adjust and maintain the lights for the plays. yeah.. Send the guy who is bad with heights up to do that frickin' job.. lol.. There's just no way in hell they let students do that anymore, at least not without safety harnesses or something.
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