Were you glad or sad to be leaving school?

I found my old autograph book recently and it was full of signatures from girls in school the day we were leaving. It was weird reading all those messages and brought back that last day. We weren't told for definite that we were finishing up for good until after lunch and then had a Mass and a cup of tea with the teachers, and that was it. I remember it felt really weird to realise that school was out, forever!

We had our 20-year school reunion last year and i couldn't make it.
I would probably be more interested in meeting up with some of me ex-classmates from college rather than secondary school.

I was delighted to leave, hated the place. I didn't keep in touch with anyone after, I still saw some around but just said hello and moved on.

My son will be finishing school next month and he has already said that after his final exam he will not be going back, he isn't going to the graduation ball and said he will get his LC results online rather than going in for them! He has plenty of friends at school that he socialises with outside but I suspect once he goes to college he won't keep ties with any of them.

Was glad to leave school and, in hindsight, never really enjoyed my time there - its only when you move onto college and beyond that you realise what miserable places Irish secondary schools are.

Though, out of curiosity, would be interested in finding out what became of some ex-classmates. Very few remained in my area, so I've no idea what the majority are doing.

Was a boarder so was particularly glad to throw off the shackles of boredom, monotony, control.

In touch with only a handful of lads from that era - and a few more on facebook (though that hardly counts). Would/will go to next reunion. Would not recommend a) boarding - hardly exits anymore anyway or b) going to school outside immediate locality. Lost touch with most of primary school buddies and few secondary school additions from locality.

One thing was that there was great certainty of purpose in those days (I was a swot type), such single-mindedness has probably never since been achieved (though now a more rounded, healthy, sustainable existence ).

For some reason my college undergrad class more or less evapourated, but some good mates from a 1 year post grad.

They should rephrase it as "College days are the best days of your life"

csirl said:

Though, out of curiosity, would be interested in finding out what became of some ex-classmates. Very few remained in my area, so I've no idea what the majority are doing.

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Have you tried Friends Reunited, although it's a .co.uk site you can search Ireland too. There's not a whole lot of members on the places I searched but you might find one or two people you knew.

Kinda glad at the time: yipee freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom ! .... feck ye all ... and then I realised I had to work, 3 months holliers were history, as were mid-term breaks, long Xmas and Easter etc.

I went back and studied a number of times since and love learning. School, like youth, is wasted on the young.

I did Primary and Secondary in the same school. Hated it. Spent a lot of time in the old Switzers basement coffee shop, drinking hot lemon drinks. Became fairly streetwise. Paid for it in the end but got a good job then moved on to a better job. Streetwise stayed with me and ended up doing O.K. Didn't keep in touch with schoolmates as I went to a city centre school and none of them lived near me. Couldn't understand why my parents sent me to a city centre school when there were plenty where I lived. I sent my own children to a local school.

I couldn't get out of the place quickly enough. I enjoyed learning but was bullied throughout secondary school so it was nothing short of torture and I was glad to be out of it.

Facebook is handy for catching up with old school "friends". I hooked up with a lot when we were organising our reunion, I didn't go in the end but in the run up to it I was contacted by someone who used to bully me and got an apology (kind of).

My own daughter just went off to University last September, she keeps in touch with some friends from school but her life is full now and she's blossomed since she left as she found her school restrictive and prejudiced against non catholics.

Youngest is heading into a secondary school of her choice and I hope she has a better experience, she's very excited about it anyway.

So glad to finish school - Loved eduaction - but hated my local schools. I even finished up classes a month early before my LC to study. My LC was 20 years ago this year - and I have no desire to ever see any of my class-mates again . College now - well thats a totally different story

I was delighted to be moving on but a little sad too. Mostly I was excited about starting college and not having to wear the dreaded school uniform.

I got a bit of a shock in college when I realised Id come from somewhere where I was in the top 5 or 6 of 100 people, to a situation where in the same number of people my abilities did not stand out at all as everyone was capable, and many more capable than me!!

I also breathed the heady perfume of personal freedom a little deeply and actually failed first year of college due to enjoying myself too much. A shock like no other, passed the repeat exams and never faltered that way again!

We had a 10 year reunion that I helped organise and I enjoyed seeing people again but not much had changed for me in 10 years as Id been in college for 5 of them so I was still only early in my own career, no mortgage, no stable relationship, basically just having a good time in my 20s. Same for a lot of people, I think the 20 year reunion will show more how people turned out.

truthseeker said:

I was delighted to be moving on but a little sad too. Mostly I was excited about starting college and not having to wear the dreaded school uniform..

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I remember throwing mine in the bin the minute I'd finished my last leaving cert exam.

School uniforms ?

We had one as well - full length german army surplus coat complete with german flag on the sleeve , straight levys & desert boots topped off by a mullet inspired by David Bowie circa the pin ups album !

It was like a undersized Afrika Korps battalion marching to school with an underlying glam influence !

Went to a baording school in which we were only left out every 3rd weekend so glad to get out of it, albeit academically and sports wise, it was a very good school. There was also a sense of relief of having done the Leaving Cert and not (hopefully) having to do it again. Sold all my books bar 2, Peig Sayers and the English translation which I threw in the fire and watch them burn gleefully. Only kept in touch with a handful of people from school but went back for the 20 year reunion a couple of years ago and it was a very enjoyable night, weird to see how some people turned out exactly as you might have expected and others didn't. Same guys up the jacks having a smoke as well.

College was a massive shock, going from an all boys boarding regimented school ran by priests to a place where I was my own boss and which had all these strange creatures called girls was a heck of a culture change. Fun though!!

I hated primary school. My most vivid memory was lying on the ground getting kicked in the kidneys by my teacher when I was 8 (I'm 38 now). He's now a school principal. Third and fourth class were the most unhappy time of my life.
A few years ago my son almost died. I remember following the ambulance up to Tallaght hospital and being struck that the grief and panic I felt then, thinking he was probably going to die, was not as bad as how I felt as a child of 8 and 9.

Yep, those weren’t good years.

I hated my first few years in secondary school as well but it wasn’t anything like as bad as 3rd or fourth in primary. I was a bit of a "late bloomer" and generally enjoyed the last two years (or hated them less).
All in all I was delighted to leave. I only started to enjoy learning after I left school and most of the knowledge and skills I have were picked up outside any formal education system. I don’t have any hobbies or interests that originate in anything I did at school.

Purple said:

I hated primary school. My most vivid memory was lying on the ground getting kicked in the kidneys by my teacher when I was 8 (I'm 38 now). He's now a school principal. Third and fourth class were the most unhappy time of my life.
A few years ago my son almost died. I remember following the ambulance up to Tallaght hospital and being struck that the grief and panic I felt then, thinking he was probably going to die, was not as bad as how I felt as a child of 8 and 9.

Yep, those weren’t good years.

I hated my first few years in secondary school as well but it wasn’t anything like as bad as 3rd or fourth in primary. I was a bit of a "late bloomer" and generally enjoyed the last two years (or hated them less).
All in all I was delighted to leave. I only started to enjoy learning after I left school and most of the knowledge and skills I have were picked up outside any formal education system. I don’t have any hobbies or interests that originate in anything I did at school.

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Sounds really tough. Well done on getting through it...how's the Jag?

Primary school was hit and miss for me. I could never understand why a class gets 1 teacher for the whole year. We tended to alternate between a good teacher who was strict but made sure we learnt what we needed to and aother who was dire...all he wanted to do was play the organ and bring us out for PE...great at first but boring after awhile. Secondary school was a bit better. Went to a new school in a rather dodgy area...(nearest one to me living in the country). It was a "good" school when I started but pretty aweful by the time I left. Plenty from my year on the wrong side of the law shall we say. Still, I met my bestest of buds there so can't complain. I always remember feeling in June that the summer hols would never end. The Dunnes ran the "Back to School" posters every July to remind ue...did my nut.

Jeez Purple, that's the worst horror story I've heard about school. I had a teacher who used to put 50p's in the leather strap in Primary so it would hurt more. Some people just aren't cut out to teach, and have serious anger issues anyway. I luckily didn't have anything like your terrible experience. Well done on all your success since then. Ya know, only when I look at kids do I realize how small they are, and how vulnerable, and how precious. What you went thro should never happen to any child.

First 2-3 years of primary school (from 2nd class to 4th class) were a bit scary - went to a CBS and there were some sadistic ''christian' brothers in it. The headmaster liked to lift boys off the ground by the locks and I got the black leather a few times (and with good cause . The lay teachers could be vicious too at times. There were a few 'dodgy' brothers in there too, they ignored me thankfully probably because they knew my parents would stand up to them but some boys were less fortunate. Very sad really. Not sure when corporal punishment was removed but things improved after that considerably.

As I got older school got better and better and I loved all of secondary school. Lucky to have some great teachers too (and less and less brothers as time went by).

I didn't mind school, was a bit of a loner in primary but had a fairly large circle in secondary.

I do remember getting a few slaps of a ruler (maybe 3 times) on my hand in primary but never saw anyone being kicked by a teacher. We were mostly made stand in the hall if we were bold - was in a the hall a good few times alright.

I thought that was well gone by my day and I'm 2 years older than purple.

My younger brother hated the same primary though. The head teacher had an awful set on him. One of the worst things that was said to another bold child was you're almost worse (never as bad) than (insert brothers name). Really knocked his confidence cos he was only 9 and this teacher made his life hell for 3 years.

He wasn't anyway as bold as some other lads, but they were good at GAA. He had no interest in GA which disgusted the teacher. My dad was a good hurler and therefore he was expected to be. The teacher wanted to win the county final or whatever it was in primary school.

This teacher even wrote a warning type letter to the secondary school teachers. A teacher told my mother at a parent teacher meeting expressing her surprise as he wasn't anything like he was described. This can still get my 67 year old mother in a temper.

I hope those days are a thing of the past.

becky said:

I thought that was well gone by my day and I'm 2 years older than purple.

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Yep, it was stopped when I was in first class. I don't think they told the teachers though.