Showing posts with label catholic grade school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label catholic grade school. Show all posts

12/23/2007

Catholic School Uniforms

Sexy Catholic School Girl Uniform
School uniforms in the 1960’s never looked like this. And what a shame for more kids would have signed up for Catholic grade school. At least more boys would have.
In the 1960’s and early 70’s, school uniforms were a dress code requirement that had to be worn by both the girls and the boys. Come to think of it, the nuns and priests also had a dress code. Perhaps these unhappy souls forced us to wear a uniform since they had too.

Anyway, for the boys, the uniform consisted of the following.

Dress shoes. No tennis shoes allowed unless it was recess time. The shoes could be tied or the very popular ‘Penny Loafer” type. (You bought the loafers and wedged a penny into the slot at the top of the shoes) (You know, they also came from Penny's department store as well.) (Some rich kids would put dimes in the slots, but they were really rich)

Dress pants. No blue jeans or shorts allowed. The pants had to be either dark blue or black. No color variations permitted. (Made it easier to blend in when you did something wrong however)

White button down shirt. The only option permitted was short sleeve or long sleeve.

Sweaters were optional and had to coordinate with the uniform. Hence, a blue or a black sweater only. And you had to bring a note from home that you were wearing a sweater that day. (There were times a child received detention for wearing a sweater without a written signed note from home.)

Tie. A tie completed the ensemble. Most of the ties worn were the fake variety. (Clip on ties) Only the rich kids wore real ties. The big fad was the scarf tie, (A scarf with a gold ring inserted at both ends to secure it. Sort of made the boys look like catholic cowboys. Whatever the hell that looks like) (Come to think of it, these scarf ties with the gold rings could have been the prototype for the very first “Prince Albert.” Get it, dick head!)

There was also a ritual that went on during recess concerning the ties. For some reason, as soon as we got outside, we went for the throats of our fellow students ripping their ties off and throwing them hoping that the wind would somehow catch them and sail away. The kid would immediately scramble for his tie to secure it back in place. (God forbid a nun would see you out of uniform) No one was safe. Not even the rich kids with real ties. In fact, they paid a heavier price than the rest of us. When their ties were yanked from their neck, their heads came with them.

For the girls, the uniform consisted of the following.
Black shoes. Most were black patent leather. And every Catholic school boy from the 60’s knew that black patent leather shoes reflected up. (I won’t explain, either you know, or you don’t know)

White socks or stockings. Only the rich girls were stockings.
A dark blue or black plead skirt and suspenders. (Yes, these uniforms were uber sexy, left everything to the imagination) The skirt had to be touching below the knee for it to be within legal parameters. The Nuns would check the “Slutty” (Usually the rich girls) girls each day to make sure they were in compliance. If not, they had to wear the nun cape, (The nuns wrap, which was huge and wrapped around any kid like a blanket) until a parent or older sister or brother could bring the proper uniform for them to change in to.

A white button blouse. Again, the only option was long sleeve or short sleeve.

Sweater. See above. Same rules applied for the girls on sweaters.

There we were, all dressed exactly like each other, with folded hands on our desks ready to learn about the wonders of the Catholic faith. Rich and poor kids alike. As if somehow this was important to Jesus, or to our faith. A man who wore a robe and sandals with a beard and long hair.



LURKING ON THE GRASSY KNOLL

11/13/2007

A Gaggle Of Nuns

Nuns With Guns
Some loyal readers have emailed me asking if the Grassy Knoll Institute had any pictures of the nuns from my grade school. To appease you all, I went rummaging through the Grassy Knoll basement vault and stumbled upon this great photo of my Class of 1965 second grade teachers.
As the photo clearly shows, these nuns were loaded for bear and ready to teach each days lesson with an iron fist. No one dared speak out of turn lest they wanted to feel the sting of cold steel. Not from the guns, (The guns were mere intimidation props) but from the edges of the three foot yard sticks they carried. These nuns were deadly accurate when wielding their weapon of choice.

The nuns were Sisters Hannibal, Jesse, Wylene, Shiloh, and Cheyanne. Their motto was "We're always on target when it comes to learning".
I knew these nuns had to be stopped. And I was just the lad to do it. As you read future stories of the battles with the Catholic nuns, you will now have an inner perception of what I was up against in the early 1960's.

The battle was just beginning, and it was time to learn how to play the Flute-O-Fone, that quirky white plastic horn instrument that all us Catholic kids had to endure. I had decided to make a stand on this issue. No way were these nuns going to force me to play an instrument that I didn't want to.

But that is another story, another legend.



LURKING ON THE GRASSY KNOLL