School Traditions From the 1960s That No Longer Exist Today

While the structure of American schools has remained largely the same over the decades, the day-to-day experience for students has changed significantly. In the 1960s, classrooms relied on tools and traditions that have since been replaced by new technology and evolving educational standards.

From handwriting practices and classroom equipment to routines that once defined the school day, many familiar parts of 1960s education have gradually disappeared. In this piece, 24/7 Tempo looks back at the school traditions that were once common across the country but are rarely seen in classrooms today.

Once a staple of the American classroom, the overhead projector has gone by the wayside. With fancy computers and porting technology now easily accessible, teachers don't have to drag in these bulky machines to project notes onto the board.

Note passing between students used to be something of a rite of passage. This tradition spread the latest gossip and kept the kids apprised of who was crushing on who. Nowadays, however, kids use their phones and apps like Snapchat to keep the rumor mill running.

Make no mistake; jungle gyms are still a staple of schools, including high schools. That said, the prioritization of student safety has seen dangerous, sharp-edged play structures be replaced by more ergonomic and less dangerous jungle gyms.

Go back to the 1960s, and you would probably find tetherball courts and poles on almost every school property. It is a simple, cheap tradition that keeps students busy during their break and lunch periods. While they still exist in some parts, many schools have eschewed tether ball as they consider it a dangerous, injury-provoking game. Indeed, who knows how many intense tetherball games have resulted in broken arms or other injuries?

Dodgeball is a game with relatively simple rules. Two teams line up on either side of a line and throw balls at each other. If a ball strikes a person, that person is out. The game dwindles down until only one player on one side of the line remains. It's a schoolyard game full of excitement and danger, with high stakes and an even higher chance of injury. For that reason, many schools have effectively outlawed dodgeball. The risk of students filling up the nurse's office with broken limbs or black eyes is far too great for dodgeball to survive the modern school atmosphere.

Seriously, when was the last time you saw a chalkboard? Once upon a time, a classroom was not complete without a dusty blackboard spanning the width of the learning environment. These days, however, chalkboards have been replaced by whiteboards. These squeaky counterparts are less messy and easier to work with. Plus, erasing writing on said whiteboards doesn't leave a residue of chalk fog. While many are nostalgic for the blackboards of days past, others don't miss the shiver sent up your spine when a piece of chalk hits the surface. It's a tradition that has been effectively buried by innovation.

Before the advent of computers or even word processors, copying documents was a tedious, drawn-out affair. Enter carbon copy paper, a simple but effective technology that allowed writing to be copied onto other pieces of paper several times. These were undoubtedly handy back in the day, but they don't serve much use now. With modern printers, thousands of copies can be printed with the click of a button. (For other innovations of the era, discover the most important products invented by Baby Boomers.)

Much like carbon copy paper, microfiche and the microfilms it uses seem like something from ancient history. Back in the 1960s, microfiche machines allowed large quantities of information to be stored on tiny pieces of film. Once you put the piece of film in the microfiche machine, the device magnified the image to a viewable size. While incredibly useful, the advent of portable storage devices like USB drives, alongside digital databases and cloud storage, has made microfiche a relic of old. That said, microfiche machines can still be found deep in the darkest corner of your local library.

When carbon copy paper couldn't handle the quantity of copies needed, schools often relied on the mimeograph machine. This device was cheap and allowed document duplication by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. They used to be in every school, but the modern printer has put the mimeograph machine into retirement.

Long before the 1960s, cursive handwriting became widespread. Because quills broke easily when frequently lifted up and down from a piece of paper, cursive solved this problem by allowing a more flowing handwriting style. Once the ballpoint pen was invented, cursive began its slow but steady decline. American schools still taught cursive handwriting well into the 1990s, but it's practically gone these days. However, some states (e.g., California, Texas, Florida) require cursive again as of 2024–2025.