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Around 1982, there are about 1200 students at the school. It has been
described as a "preppy WASP enclave in the ethnic northeast".
(Definitely less WASPy nowadays, I would say, but no one thinks
of themselves as preppy anymore!!).
Most kids were
middle-class, with parents who wanted them to do well in school
and attend good colleges. (p.4)
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At the high school, you would find more "Muffies" and "Buffies"
than toughies (Ok, fair enough!). Most kids were
viewed as wealthy and somewhat pampered, but certainly not all were like that. (p.4)
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In 1982, the town of "Oldham" had a medium income of $46,000.
Nearby town "Webster" (which rhymes with Chester) had an income of
$34,000. (Nowadays, not too many make less than six figures,
I would guess!)
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"Oldham" is a not an exciting town. It has no movie theater,
no ice cream stores, 2 bars, 3 gas stations, 4 banks, and
5 real estate agencies. (p.19) (Nowadays, not much has changed!
We had 2 ice cream places, but both closed. One gas station now.
Probably more banks and real estate places.)
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High school students would amuse themselves on weekends
by watching one of the traffic lights on Main Street change
to a blinking light. (p. 20) (Was this the Cold Hill one or
the Black Horse one? Anyone remember? And nowadays, the
traffic lights don't blink anymore, sorry. Kids have to find
something else to do.)
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The school's floors had reddish-brown industrial grade carpet,
blue doors, orange lockers, and off-white clean walls.
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On the hill behind the school, there is an appealing willow
tree that bends on a 45 degree angle. (Anyone sit on it or
anything? Sadly it's long gone now.)
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Some kid named Tod got a Porsche!! (p.4)
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Kristen and Scott broke up! They were practically married! (p.4)
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No wait, Tod didn't get a Porsche, it may have been his dad's car. (p.4)
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For the 9-period day, A common schedule for the students was:
5 academic classes
(one math, one english, one science, one social studies, one
foreign language),
a lunch period, a gym class, an elective, and a free period.
All classes are 42 minutes long.
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Couples often shared one another's lockers, particularly
if the lockers were on opposite sides of the building. It
was a bit like owning 2 homes. (p.16) (I bet many of them
really do own 2 homes now!)
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Many of the girls wore tops with "ESPRIT" on it, and no one
seemed to mind if someone else wore the same outfit. Most
girls wore whites and pastels. Some wore long, starched cotton
dresses. Some wore denim jeans and denim jackets.
Many girls had curling irons in their purses. And of course,
they wore their collars turned up. (Yep, we really did that!) (p.23)
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The boys usually wore t-shirts and jeans. The T-shirts usually
were purchased at a rock concert, or at a vacation destination like
Aruba or Cancun. Many wore high-top white sneakers with their
laces undone, or workboots. (p.24)
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Remember lunch? The cafeteria had 2 food lines, one for sandwiches and one for
hot food. Sandwiches were hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fried fish,
tuna fish, and egg salad. Ice cream was 30 cents.
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Students were supposed to have food only in the cafeteria. Faculty could
also eat in their faculty rooms, but that's it.
(In recent years, I been told that kids all eat lunch at the same time?
And they eat all over the school -
in the halls,
the lobby, and even the Auxiliary Gym? Can't imagine!!)
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The cafeteria sold snacks in periods 2-4, before 5th period lunch.
They sold cookies, bagels, or soft pretzels, and mustard or
peanut butter to put on them. And of course, chocolate milk to
wash it all down!
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If you wanted to hang out in the lobby on your free periods and
there were no chairs available, you had to go elsewhere. (You
weren't suppose to stand around or anything, I guess, you had
to be seated.)
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If you are Miss Scanlon or Miss Johnson and you're in the lobby,
get away from the Gym window!
Stop watching the gym classes below! (p. 32)
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If you were Mr. Palonsky's Period 1 US History 2C class,
apparently you remembered nothing from the previous year. (p.24)
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If you were in
Mr. Palonsky's 3rd period freshman A-level class,
you were all squeaky clean and alert, with clear complexions
and nice shiny orthodontic braces. (Nowadays, it's OLD to have braces as
a freshman! Many 2nd graders get braces today in Mendham! Almost
every kid has braces by 5th grade at the latest, it seems. Most start
way earlier. I know
some freshmen who are embarrassed to be in high school in braces.)
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Anyone take Psych? Introduction to Psychology (A-level course)
was considered a "gut" class - an easy one to balance out
with your harder ones, and a nice midday break. Many of the
brightest kids in school took Psych. But you all still flunked
Palonsky's first test. (p. 40)
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If you were in Palonsky's 9th period freshman social studies
class, the class didn't sound like much fun. (p. 42)
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Sometimes by the end of 9th period, everyone was tired and just so
done with school. Often the class would stop 5 minutes early, and
the students would line up early, sniffing at the
freedom on the other side of the classroom door. Teachers would try to
get the students to remain at their desks, but most wouldn't
listen. (p. 45)
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If you were super cool, you would synchronize your watch
exactly with the school's clock. Then you could get up from your
desk and head for the door and walk through right as
the bell rang, and never
break your stride.
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Students decorated the walls of room 24 with Smurf-related
posters, since Mr. Palonsky didn't mind his nickname of
"Papa Smurf". (p. 48)
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If you are the one who stole the poster of the male bodybuilder
from Room 24, you better bring it back! (p. 49)
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If you are Jeff and you were in Palonsky's 1st period class,
watch your mouth! (p. 51)
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If you hung out in the library and pretended to study (yes, some students really went there),
you could not sit on the floor, and you can't put your feet on
the table.
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Teacher-to-teacher conflicts are the best possible entertainment
for the students! Mr. Palonsky and an English teacher named
Willa Green (wonder who that character was based on? Hmmm ...)
go head-to-head in the library over enforcement of
the "no feet on the table" rule. (p.56)
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Does anyone want to confess to this one? The students made
a Thanksgiving scene in the lobby, and one of the decorations
is a scarecrow. Well, someone put a banana in the fly of
the scarecrow's pants! Yes, shocking stuff! English teacher
Willa Green was not amused, and made a male teacher remove
the "offending" fruit. (Or was it a cucumber?) (p.57)
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There was a saying back then that C-Level courses (also known as
college prep or academic) were on the same par as advanced
courses at other schools in the country.
This was a myth, possibly the beginning of
the self-esteem movement, to make the students feel better about
themselves. (Sorry, guys.)(p.63)
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If you are John from one of Palonsky's US History 2C classes,
you just couldn't figure out how to use the card catalog
in the library. You
just helplessly gave up and stared out the window. (p.68).
(I believe the card catalog is all on-line now, fortunately!)
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The A-Level freshman did "grade grubbing" - any grade less
than a B was considered unacceptable, and they would pout,
moan, appeal, whine and protest until the teacher changed it.
(p.72) (Doubt this has changed much)
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The school did a survey, and 25 percent of the students had
a home computer! (p.76)
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On the first nice day of spring, every student (from the coolest
seniors to the lowliest of freshman) brought a water pistol to
school. Everyone had one. Teachers were supposed to confiscate them,
but some (like Mr. Palonsky) had fun with them, too. (Nowadays, in
our current zero-tolerance climate in this country,
Can you imagine???? Have
times changed on this one! Today, all
1200 students would be thrown in jail!
It will be all over CNN! The horror!) (p.78)
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The seniors in Palonsky's Psych class don't want to do any
work. Senioritis set in early, like in September. (p.79)
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Someone in Palonsky's Psych class tried to set him up
with a cute 26 year old redhead. (p.79) (Don't think he
was too interested in students helping him in that way, though)
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The students wanted the teachers to use "Scamtron" tests.
Scan-tron tests were those multiple-choice tests where you
used a #2 pencil to fill in ovals, and then the machine grades
it. Kids liked them since they could guess at an answer, or argue a question
is ambiguous, and plead for a curve! (p.80)
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Palonsky's Sociology class required a 9 page paper in order to pass
the class. One kid handed in a 9 page paper with one word written
on each page: "This-is-my-paper-I-hope-you-like-it"! (Anyone want
to confess to that great feat?) (p.81)
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The Humanities teacher and a Social Studies teacher shared
a classroom. Every morning, they would write trivia questions
on the board - anyone remember that? (p.90)
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The English teacher called Willa Green (wonder who that could that
have been based on?) took the Christmas tree from the lobby and threw
it out the front door, declaring that religion had no place in
a public institution! Anyone witness this event? (To Willa's
credit, she was a forerunner of what was to come, as
we know almost all religion has been removed from schools today).
(p.102)
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The students published their own newspaper called the
Underground Gazette!. It was supposedly published once
a month. It featured articles on "inside" information about
certain teachers and school issues. The paper ceased publication
when the senior students responsible graduated and went to some
of the best colleges. (Anyone still have a copy???)
(p.102)
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There are many pages describing how wealthy the kids are, versus
how poor the teachers are. (Yeah, old news!).
But fortunately the book also mentions
that there were some kids from working-class families who
weren't rolling in the dough, and many students
held part-time jobs. (I am glad he pointed that out, as there were
lots of kids like that, more than most would think.) (p.121)
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If you were in the Gifted and Talented program, you were
suppose to study music and economics. So you all were taken on
a field trip to NYC to see an opera. And some of you fell
asleep, and most of you didn't understand one word. You questioned why opera
was part of the program, and even the advisors didn't know. (p.130)
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The students rather hear about the personal lives of the
teachers than the subject being taught. (Well, of course!) (p.136)
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In the spring of 1983, apparently the halls and lobby have
become "scenes of excessive amorous behavior on the parts of
the students." (I guess this means the students are making
out too much? Too much PDAs? I doubt that has changed much!).
One teacher offered to carry
around buckets of water to cool things down. (I think he
was kidding, right?). (p.150)
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If you were a wrestler back then, there was no room to practice
in the gym. So instead, you had to use a social studies room, and
move all the chairs at the beginning of practice, and put them
back at the end. (p.163)
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Towards the end of the year when spring came and the weather
was nice, the students would beg to have
class outside on the lawn! We loved doing that! (p.171)
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If you were a senior and wanted to leave school for "Senior Cut Day"
and go to the Jersey shore, sadly you may have been out-of-luck that year.
A certain English teacher moved her final exam to that exact day, to
stop the seniors from cutting her class. And it worked, her seniors stayed
in school and everyone showed up for class. (Awwwww!) (p.172)
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| Well, that's enough student
memories for now!
There are plenty more
memories listed in the book. If my boss ever gives me some
time off, maybe I'll throw some more on here. Next, if you want to
see what the teachers' days were like, click the link below!
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Hello to Alumni (and others!)
Here on this page are little snippets and memories of student
life back in 1982-1983, as found
in the pages of the book 900 Shows A Year. The book was written by
our own Mr. Stu Palonsky, a Social Studies teacher at Mendham High
from 1982-1984. How much of these memories are based on Mendham, and how
much is fictional, it's hard to tell, but I bet some of this
will sound familiar.
In the book, he calls the suburban high school he works at
"Oldham High" - so here are some facts and anecdotes about
the students of "Oldham High"!
