Monday, October 5, 2009

Children of the 90s Ultimate Classroom Distractions


While today teachers are battling the ever-mounting presence of technology in their classrooms, they're certainly not facing a new demon. Sure, kids these days are lacing their iPod earbuds surreptitiously through their hooded sweatshirts and sending text messages in lieu of passing paper notes, but it's generally in the same spirit of general classroom unruliness that came with all preceding generations. Don't think for one minute that all those iPhone-confiscating teachers aren't reading those forbidden texts every bit the same as ours were reading our discarded notes.

Growing up, we certainly were never wanting for in-class stimulation. Unfortunately for our teachers, however, very little of that stimulation came from reading, writing, and/or 'rithmetic. Instead, it more often than not came from the innumerable devices and distractions we utilized in lieu of sitting still and paying attention. Some were store bought, others homemade, but regardless of their origins these distracting devices held our attention during the times we probably should have been learning something. Heck, if it weren't for Silly Putty, I might even know how to do long division. Maybe.

Not all of these are exclusive to children of the 90s, but we certainly carried on a tradition of undercover classroom tomfoolery that would make even the most deviant of past generation students smile. We may not have grown up with all the technology available to today's young students, but we certainly made up for it in imagination and misused innovation. Here are just a few of the many, many classroom distractions that so often kept us from learning the math and science our nation's young people so sorely needed:


Fortune Tellers



I know, I know, these things go way back. Some may know them by their alias/alter-ego Cootie Catchers, these babies date back from the middle of the last century, with generations of schoolchildren everywhere entertaining themselves with their origami goodness and fortune-telling powers. The concept behind them was simple, though the construction was nothing short of a marketable skill. Typically, certain folds were decorated with numbers, letters, or colors, while the inside creases were scrawled with fortunes.

Granted, these fortunes came from the crayons of grade-school kids, so they were sometimes less than insightful. You'd be lucky to get a "Someone has a crush on you" or "You have cooties" result. Startling accurate though, these were. This self-diagnostic test was the first to pronounce me cootie-ridden, which I was luckily able to treat with another round at the paper fortune teller. Thanks, Cootie Catcher.





Rubber Poppers




These toys were deceptively simple, so it's a wonder that they were able to wreak quite as much havoc as they did on classrooms. Typically purchased for a nickel at a toy store or in a quarter machine at the supermarket, these things did little more than create an irritating disturbance wherever we brought them. You would turn the little convex thick rubber popper inside out, wait patiently with bated breath and dread-filled anticipation, and finally watch it pop itself back into shape. Usually this process involved a high vertical jump, the better of which could sufficiently damage an overhead lamp or skylight. It's pretty clear why teachers didn't want them around, but their appeal to impish children was undeniable.



Laser Pointers



Laser pointers were first manufactured in the 80s, but they became increasingly portable and conveniently keychain-based in the 90s, making them a coveted item for mischievous children. The pointers were intended to highlight text or images in a presentation, but they were quickly adopted for far more deviant purposes. You couldn't go to a PG movie back in those days without spying that familiar achingly annoying red dot on the screen, usually gracing the general region of the star's privates. In class, children found pleasure in shining a little red dot on their classmates, despite warnings that direct eye contact could have stare-at-an-eclipse-type repercussions. It's no wonder so many schools quickly issued bans on the pointers. I imagine many schoolteachers grew frustrated with constantly seeing a red dot centered sniper-like on their crotches.




MASH



Aside from note-passing, more organized written games were also pretty popular classroom distractions. Most notably MASH was a popular choice for its uncanny future-telling ability. It stands for Mansion, Apartment, Shack, and House, denoting the preset options for dwelling accommodations. Luckily we had the power to fill in the blanks in the other categories, but it seemed we were always forced into adding some pretty bad choices to the mix. These things were fairly right on if I do say so myself. After all, how else could I have predicted that I'd be living in a Shack in Samoa with a poodle named Jeeves married to the kid who sat in the back of the class picking his nose? That kind of stuff just doesn't foretell itself.



Origami-Style Note Folding



As we moved through the grade ranks, we became more and more interested in secretly passing notes during class instead of listening to our instructor drone on about Tuck Everlasting or multiplication tables. There was far more to enjoy in the process than just marking the "yes" box on a "Do you like me?" note. We cultivated incredibly intricate folding methods that rivaled traditional Origami's complexity and tradition. Soon everyone knew how to fold in tight packages, often featuring a pull-tab for the convenience of the readers. Of course, these things made a great deal of noise when opened, completely forgoing their intended role as a secret note. At the very least, though, they helped us develop the fast fine motor skills we now use to download apps on our iPhones.



Metallic Gum Wrapper Decoupage



Who says not paying attention in class is for dummies? Some of us slackers had a certain ingenuity that you just can't get from book-learnin'. That is, we were able to develop new and exciting uses for mundane, everyday materials while simultaneously feeding our gum-chewing addiction. There was no more satisfyingly monotonous and tedious task than methodically peeling the metallic outer layer from our gum wrappers and carefully sticking it to our notebook-fronts. It was something of an art, really, only with more under-the-fingernail pain. It did, to its credit, produce a fair deal of shiny, shiny notebooks.



Slap Bracelets



Are they jewelry or a toy? Or better yet, a weapon? It's tough to say, but one thing was for sure: slap bracelets were an unquenchable and distracting fashion statement. Many schools banned the metal-rodded coated bracelets, crying out against safety. Yes, a few kids sliced their wrists open, but it's more likely our schools were a tad more concerned with the more mundane everyday irritation of that "thwack!" sound in round-esque repetition throughout the schoolday.



It may not have been quite on par with what our teachers wanted us to learn, but you can't say there was nothing to gain in our classroom tomfoolery. In fact, the retention rate on many of these classroom irritants is far greater than many of our school-sanctioned class subjects. After all, I couldn't reduce a fraction to save my life, but I can still fold notes with the best of 'em. That's just results.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Waz up? NMH. I heard that Katie likes Carl. This class is boring.

Luv,
Me

W/B/S

Anonymous said...

This is great!! I love your blog! lol

L.Y.L.A.S

Scientific Housewife said...

I love this blog! It brings back so many good memories! I LOVED fortune teller and was pretty good at it. MASH was my favorite game, it was so much fun!

Laila P said...

OMG! I loved this post! I had/did every single one of them! What a great trip down Memory Lane that was!:)

LWLH said...

On the front of origami note:
FOR C0T90's EYES ONLY!!!!

Haha, I remember all those except for the wrapper notebook..I must have missed that! :)

T.T.Y.L W/B/S

I
You Love the 90's
Big Man

courtney said...

In middle school we had a NOTEbook. Which was in fact a regular notebook that my friends would pass around and write it. It was basically the coolest thing ever.

Moonjava said...

Flashback times, I did the whole slap bracelets and fortune tellers thing. :P It's kinda funny but I didn't know about MASH until undergrad when my roommate decided to show me...

Optimistic Pessimist said...

i totally forgot about all of these things. i suspect they are now going to be distracting me from work.

thegamerswife said...

Ohh! I used to play MASH all the time. Good times! Slap bracelets were banned by my parents and I remember getting in SO MUCH trouble one time for coming home school with one on! :-P

. said...

haha, love this post. I think I remember doing every one of these. They need to bring back the slap bracelets! haha.

Alyssa said...

OMG MASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had completely forgotten about that!!

And folding the letters!!

AHH!!!

as i was reading through i thought she needs snap bands then BAM there they were!!

Anonymous said...

My friends and I were obsessed with MASH, fortune tellers and snap bracelets, haha! Oh the memories...

Mike K said...

Don't forget- in the compilation posts, if CotN's written about one of the items in the post, the title will be a link (like MASH and snap bracelets in this one).

Carol {Everyday Delights} said...

oh I loved playing MASH!

Aline said...

so funny, I remember all this stuff...don't forget about pogs!

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

Totally found one of my slap bracelets in my Mom's garage the other day. I then spent the rest of the day playing with it. Did I mention that I'm 30? Ah ha

Melanie's Randomness said...

Your blog is such a joy in my day. I still make Fortune tellers!!! Waiting to see the Dark Knight in line for like 4 hours I made one out of an unused popcorn bag. lol. Those poppers were like the best lil goodie you got in those party goodie bags when they used to be cool way back when. And I remember the ban on slap bracelets at my elementary school! hehe. It was funny, i went to Catholic School so we used to hide the braclets in our jumper pockets. hehehe. Great pick today!! Have a good one!

Chelsea Talks Smack said...

I NEVER learned how to make a cootie catcher. fuck.

Martinis or Diaper Genies? said...

Rubber poppers! Talk about the bees knees!

Juliana said...

We used to put the notes inside pen caps so it looked like we were just passing someone a pen. And there were these little indents in the inside of our desks in elementary school, so we would put Elmers glue in the holes, wait for it to dry, peel it off and bend it into rings. We would color it and make glue circles to look like stones and put them on the rings.

The K Family said...

Love your blog! It brought back some really great memories!

Artistic Logic said...

you are so right, i am glad im a child of the 90's...plus we had better cartoons!!!

p.s. i could never fold those origami notes properly =(

Unknown said...

Wow, so much for a productive day at work tomorrow. MASH is making an epic comeback.

Snake Charmer said...

One would say that the 90's was the jumping off point for the technology and innovations keeping us school children unruly -I would be one of those people!

Anonymous said...

I still have my original slap bracelet from when I was 5 :)

Jon said...

Whoa whoa whoa. Pump the brakes for a second... where are the Tamagotchi/Digi pets?

Mr. Condescending said...

Yup, you were right 90's, you've got it all covered.

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