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30 Of The Most Bizarre And Just Straight Up Dumb Rules That People Had In Their Schools, As Shared On This Thread
We need rules. Apart from our bodies following some very strict and complex biological laws, without which we would not even be, even the very words we use follow universally agreed principles. Like this one, called English.
The political economist Elinor Ostrom (who shared the Noble Prize for economics in 2009) observed the phenomenon of spontaneous rule construction when people had to collectively manage resources such as land, fisheries, or water for irrigation.
She found that people construct rules together about, say, how many cattle a person can graze, where, and when; who gets how much water, and what should be done when the resource is limited. These agreements often arise from the needs of mutually consensual social and economic interactions.
But on the other end of the spectrum, we have the powerful, imposing their way of doing things from the top down. This is exceptionally evident in institutions. To show that it's not necessarily effective, let's take a look at a Reddit thread created by user ObviousEntertainer with the question, "What's the dumbest rule you had in school?"
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#1
Needing to wait 10 minutes before and after classes have started to use the restroom.
My adolescent body with developing Crohn’s Disease did NOT take kindly to this rule, and got
Into fights with the bathroom monitor often (someone who would make sure nobody was in
the bathroom for too long doing drugs, having sex, other things of the sort).
Thankfully the Principal had a heart of gold and gave me a special pass to use his personal private bathroom which was so nice and clean. In a high school of 5000 teenagers, being able to poop in peace at the rate you go with Crohn’s Disease made my life somewhat less sh*tty (pun intended).
#2
No gloves, because only gang members wear gloves.
It's freezing cold and your gloves are bright pink? Take them off before someone thinks you're a member of the notorious pink gloves gang.
Lara Verne 2 years ago
It's freezing cold and your gloves are blue? Wait, no, those are my hands.
#3
In high school, they tried to implement a rule that guys weren't allowed to wear pink that was definitely targeted at a guy who was "one of the freaky people" who would wear a pink hello kitty shirt to school. It didn't work, though, because a large portion of the guys came in the next day wearing pink (including a lot of the football players, which shocked me a little) and the decision was overturned before the day was over.
#4
We could not touch each other. All physical contact was banned.
There was one teacher that claimed if it wasn't for this rule, we would all be running around raping each other. Ah, yes, truly the time of my life.
#5
In grade school. We weren't allowed to fight back. That was the actual rule. A kid pinned me down with the help of his friends and started going at it. It was winter and he was wearing his big puffy gloves so it wasn't too bad, but I kicked him off of me and I got in an equal amount of trouble as him. A different kid a few years younger got suspended for a similar instance that same year.
When I pressed them as to what I was supposed to do, apparently I was supposed to "use my words". Yes because the most effective tool to stop someone beating the s**t out of you is to ask them nicely to stop. I loved that school, amazing teachers and support staff, but f**k the administration was terrible.
#6
If you were absent too many days out of the year you got a 2 day suspension. Nothing like kicking kids out of school for not being in school.
#7
My kindergarten had no doors on the toilet cubicles, but huge mirrors on the opposite wall. We all had to go at the one time. *everyone could see what you were doing. I have lifelong anxiety from this*
saltypancakes 2 years ago
It’s disgusting that adults think kindergarten children don’t need any privacy.
#8
Couldn't wear flip flops because they were considered a weapon but you could wear stiletto heels...
Alexia 2 years ago
That reminds me... Our class had a small celebration in high school at the end of the year (it was something common). The janitor reported to the principal that we had brought condoms in school, which was outrageous, and that we were noisy and messy. The principal decided to ban such "parties". Bonus: those were not condoms. They were balloons. But nobody would to listen to us.
#9
In middle school, if we said sorry we got in school suspension. The teachers claimed that apologizing is a form of lying and lying is bad.
Edit: We also weren’t allowed to have water bottles or to to a water fountain. The only time we got a chance to drink was during our lunch. We could also only to go the bathroom once a semester, or we would be have in school suspension.
#10
At an all girls high school: No ankle socks because ankles can attract boys and make them have sex with you.
Ankles lead to legs. And legs lead to.... up there.... and we ALL know what's in that area.
(which also, according to the school was rape on the girl's part because you were making the boy want to have sex with you and boys, as you know, cannot resist so....)
#11
Clear or mesh backpacks only. This was from 1st grade through high school in the late 90s to early 2000s.
We also had to wear a safety vest as our bathroom pass in high school. It was such a joke that the first year the rule was introduced, our year books were a giant safety vest on the outside. Honestly the thought of a shared unisex safety vest for bathroom visits still grosses me out as I know those things were never washed properly.
Edit: This was before Columbine happened.
Fluffy mommy panda 2 years ago
I think all through middle school we had to to do this. In highschool we didn't crazy.
#12
I wore the skull misfits shirt and they called me to the deans office and told me to turn it inside out. They said it was because it represented death.
I said “so it represents something that inevitably happens to every person, so I’m not allowed to wear it?” Then walked out. Never caught any flak for it, was pretty proud of my punk 16 year old rebellious self.
#13
In high school we had what they called "lock-out". If you were 1 second late for class the teachers would lock the doors and you were supposed to go to the cafeteria to get a detention for being late. Instead of getting a detention I would just leave school and skip the whole day and not get in any trouble. All because I was a few seconds late for class. Pretty dumb.
#14
No Simpsons anything. This was when it premiered, and there was this national scare that Bart was a bad influence. There were to popular Bart shirts that were banned, one that said "I'm Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?" and another that said "Bart Simpson, underachiever and proud of it"
This eventually evolved into banning all Simpsons shirts, school supplies, stickers, etc. after some of the teachers started watching the show.
#15
No water bottles because a few girls 4 years ago snuck vodka into the bathroom.
Kayjunmoon 2 years ago
Banning bottles for that reason is ridiculous, there is always a way round the regulations, especially ridiculous ones.
#16
In primary school, we weren’t allowed to use erasers. We were never told why.
Irish woman abroad 2 years ago (edited)
Where I work, some teachers will take the erasers away from certain kids, because they get so bogged down with trying to write the date and heading perfectly, and so caught up with perfectionism in total, that they get nothing done. Plus, they want to see where this child is getting stuck. A child who always writes a couple of letters and immediately starts rubbing stuff out is a bit of a red flag. (they do give them back, they're not monsters!)
#17
The boys weren’t allowed to wear shorts at my middle school, but the girls could wear ‘culottes’ (basically shorts with a fancy name). One day about a hundred boys came to school wearing culottes. The Man had it stuck to him hard that day
#18
We couldn’t wear winter clothing in class (coats, gloves, hats). Even with the heat on, it got cold in the winter inside the school so we just had to freeze. They said it was because winter clothing were gang symbols. This was a farm town in Wisconsin.
#19
My middle school banned hugs. At least, they banned front hugs--the rule was against "chest to chest" contact, regardless of context or gender. No chest bumps after a game. Several girls got in trouble for hugging their female friends goodbye after school. It was a strange place.
Edit: To clarify, this was a public school in a suburban area in a liberal part of the country (US). I don't remember whether there was a ban against hugs from behind--I'll try to ask some old classmates when I get home and update if any of them remember.
#20
Well 3 of them.
No mechanical pencils or any pens that click. Teachers found that s**t annoying.
No peeing outside the toilet or urinal. Common decency but if your caught, you would get a call to your parents. The rule isn't stupid, its actually really good, but the people who its targetted at are.
Zero tolerance policy. It's in nearly every school. I haven't had any encounters but it does strike people hard. Imagine getting beat up.... and getting punished for being beat up because you happened to be involved even though you did nothing. It's a d**k of a rule.
OwenHasADHD 2 years ago
Who in their right mind would take a p**s just...not in the toilet or urinal??? Where else would you go, on the floor??
#21
We weren't allowed to wear shirts with pictures on them. That includes embroidered logos like you might see from Nike, Champion, or Polo shirts. Kids were wearing those shirts that had Bugs Bunny and Taz dressed up as Kris Kross and some parent or teacher thought they looked like gangsters. So the shirts were dubbed gang paraphernalia and the school wanted them banned but didn't know how to just ban those without some kid feeling targeted so they banned all shirts with pictures. We'd have free dress day about every two weeks (which devolved into whenever they felt like it) where you could wear a picture shirt, except for those dubbed "gang paraphernalia" (? why they didn't do that to begin with, over Kris Kross Bugs Bunny of all things I don't know). If you wore something with a logo on it you had to either cover it with masking tape or buy special labels from the school to cover it.
Yay for insane Christian private schools.
#22
My middle school had a rule; if you were sent to the office for misbehavior, you remained in the office for the rest of the day.
Knowing this, my first period teacher found every escuse to send me to the office. I missed all of my lessons and nearly failed 7th grade.
#23
Non American here, We need to pay fine when we don't speak English in school. In every class, class leader used to note down student names who ever speak their native language other than English. This rule went on for 2 years and then they finally removed it.
#24
In middle school, had a stupid as all hell "one way hallway system", where students could only walk in the halls one direction. Made me late twice actually since my class was the first one behind the exit door, but forced to go in the entrance door. Was enforced even when halls were empty. One stick in the mud teacher threatened to write me up if I questioned the rule.
FakeOptimist 2 years ago
Sure : write a kid up for questioning the rules. Should report that teacher to whoever taught them ethics and have his/her diploma revoked.
#25
In elementary school, we couldn't kick a ball at recess because the school was afraid we would kick the balls to the top of the building.
Dan Padgett 2 years ago
I don't think a single school in the UK is allowed to operate without a ball on the roof.
#26
At any point you may not talk during lunch, and may not laugh at large stools in the bathroom.
I s**t you not. (Excuse the pun)
Edit: I am from the UK
#27
We weren't allowed to be indoors for more than five minutes at recess. This was in Canada and indoor recess started when it was below -25C. Instances of school-wide diarrhea really shot up during the winter.
Remi (He/Him) 2 years ago
Our temp limit was -15°C. Above that you needed to go out during recess. Our teacher also liked to play this weird power trip where we couldn't check the temp ourselves and, if we asked it always seemed to be -14,5°C even when the news were saying it was gonna be a -20 something day
#28
We could play Magic TG but we had to remove any offensive cards. Yes they looked through our decks to make sure. Good ol' Oklahoma.
Remi (He/Him) 2 years ago
What makes a card offensive? And I bet someone tried to report a card to be offensive if they lost because of it too many times. "Teacher teacher! I think Wally's black lotus is really offensive!" 😄
#29
When I was a freshman in high school (late '80s) there was a designated smoking area on campus. It was a square, maybe 10' x 10' painted on the ground in the courtyard. Students could only smoke in that box on campus. The next year they decided that you could only smoke in that box if you had a note from your parents. The year after that, no students were allowed to smoke on campus. My senior year, staff wasn't allowed to smoke on campus. This resulted in the box metaphorically moving to someone's driveway across the street, where students and teachers were all smoking together.
BluEyedSeoulite 2 years ago
Smokers' Corner was also directly across the street on public sidewalk. I didn't see any teachers smoke there but my sister was a smoker and has different nemories
#30
When i was in middle school that god awful " Shrek is love Shrek is Life" video came out and the student council wanted to have a shrek spirit day because of it. So the school banned shrek and anyone who talked about it got a detention.
What do you think ?
Sasy 2 years ago
As an Australian that went to an all girls high school and we wore uniforms, all of this is just horrific. This was the 80s and even with the uniforms we were dying our hair, we had Boy George and Marilyn hairdo looks, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna looks etc. We could talk, run, play, skip, play elastics etc at Lunch and Recess. The only thing I can ever remember as being somewhat hilarious then and now, was a message over the intercom asking us to not use suntan oil on our legs at lunch time because the seats after lunch were getting all oily :) sure we had rules, and yes if you asked to go to the loo during class, you got a sigh from the teacher but you still got to go.
censorshipsucks 2 years ago
this is so pathetic, and it's why kids hate school and why education results in usa and other nazi countries are so poor. Go look at finland's system you psychopathic fascists.
CrazyCatLady 2 years ago
Yes please! I want Finland’s school system. They are the happiest AND also one of the most educated countries in the world.
Load More Replies...
My True Form, Apparently 2 years ago
The school district I’m in will not allow special education for gifted students, because apparently it’s impossible for gifted students to have disabilities. Me and my brother have been diagnosed with ADHD, autism, depression, and anxiety.
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
That makes no sense! More funding is needed, not less, and many people on the autism spectrum (which ADHD, OCD and Tourette's are) are 'twice exceptional'. That's the wording one of my professional development courses for teach used, because they can be exceptional (aka 'gifted') in one area and yet need more support in another. Really, is anyone gifted in ALL areas, including social?
Load More Replies... Billy Harrelson 2 years ago
So when i was in kindergarten through 2nd grade, the school I was at was pretty chill and you could wear shorts on hot days (school had no AC... in the South). This was early to mid-80s. Get to 3rd grade. First rule in the student handbook "No shorts of any kind shall be worn" same with the earlier school, no AC. 100 degrees outside? Too bad, you're wearing pants. We asked the obvious "why?" Supposedly, and I don't know if this is true or not, but some girls had decided to wear their swimsuits to school once and the principal didn't like that their butt cheeks were showing and since banning that could have seemed vague he banned all shorts. Or it could have been the fact that Daisy Dukes were all the rage at that time. I don't know, I was 8 and I thought it was all stupid. Boys were eventually allowed to wear "shorts that were below the knee" when I got to 4th grade. In 5th grade we got a new principal.
Billy Harrelson 2 years ago
The first thing we asked was whether shorts were allowed. She said "I don't care, so long as they're tasteful." The girls were happy after that and no one ever wore anything too short anyway.
Load More Replies...
Aiden Brough 2 years ago
How about rules students DIDN'T follow? I used to teach part time and would say to my students "You must have your book (SINGULAR!), paper, a pen and most importantly, a calculator". Each lesson, without fail, I'd get at least one or two turn up without ANY of the above. And these were ALL over the age of 16. And doing some form of accountancy lesson (tax etc)...
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
I never understood why kids would come to class without a pen or paper, except they were probably would be hoping to get out of the work. Of course they never did, as the teacher would have paper and or a pen. Was annoying though because if the teacher didn't have a spare pen they would always ask the 'good/quiet' kids to lend one, which was often me, and we rarely got them back!
Load More Replies...
SheamusFanFrom1987 2 years ago
Once in my old school, a kid in my class had to wear a glove on his right hand because an accident had left a scar (pretty big one) on the back of said hand which was mostly healed but still not too good to look at. It was a black cotton fingerless glove with nothing else on it. His parents spoke to the principal about it (showed him the scar, even) and got consent but somehow, our old prude of a teacher wasn't having it when she was informed (she was there longer than the principal and thought that gave her more authority over him). During assembly, she marched the guy up to the front and demanded he take his glove off there and then. Mind you, the principal was there and was already snickering quietly. The guy nonchalantly peeled off the glove to show us a reddish, recovering scar with partially dried blood pretty much across the back of his hand. I kid you not when said prude teacher almost hurled there and then and stumbled away from the assembly field.
SheamusFanFrom1987 2 years ago
Continued: Safe to say she never gave him flak about the glove again until his hand fully healed but pretty much got tormented/teased mercilessly (even by the principal who had to but rarely could stand her) whenever she decided to make a fuss out of any minor situation ever again. XP
Load More Replies...
DrBronxx 2 years ago
My wife's school softball coach had a rule - no ice cream the day before a game. First, that's random. Second, how in the hell do you enforce that? My reasoning for the existence of the rule was that, sometime years before, a student pigged out on ice cream one night, was sick and couldn't play in a game the next day. So, the coach took the extreme NEVER AGAIN approach. This was in Japan, by the way.
Error 404 (He/They) 2 years ago
This is why school sucks and yet people still blame ViDeO gAmEs for everything
Sasy 2 years ago
As an Australian that went to an all girls high school and we wore uniforms, all of this is just horrific. This was the 80s and even with the uniforms we were dying our hair, we had Boy George and Marilyn hairdo looks, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna looks etc. We could talk, run, play, skip, play elastics etc at Lunch and Recess. The only thing I can ever remember as being somewhat hilarious then and now, was a message over the intercom asking us to not use suntan oil on our legs at lunch time because the seats after lunch were getting all oily :) sure we had rules, and yes if you asked to go to the loo during class, you got a sigh from the teacher but you still got to go.
censorshipsucks 2 years ago
this is so pathetic, and it's why kids hate school and why education results in usa and other nazi countries are so poor. Go look at finland's system you psychopathic fascists.
CrazyCatLady 2 years ago
Yes please! I want Finland’s school system. They are the happiest AND also one of the most educated countries in the world.
Load More Replies... My True Form, Apparently 2 years ago
The school district I’m in will not allow special education for gifted students, because apparently it’s impossible for gifted students to have disabilities. Me and my brother have been diagnosed with ADHD, autism, depression, and anxiety.
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
That makes no sense! More funding is needed, not less, and many people on the autism spectrum (which ADHD, OCD and Tourette's are) are 'twice exceptional'. That's the wording one of my professional development courses for teach used, because they can be exceptional (aka 'gifted') in one area and yet need more support in another. Really, is anyone gifted in ALL areas, including social?
Load More Replies... Billy Harrelson 2 years ago
So when i was in kindergarten through 2nd grade, the school I was at was pretty chill and you could wear shorts on hot days (school had no AC... in the South). This was early to mid-80s. Get to 3rd grade. First rule in the student handbook "No shorts of any kind shall be worn" same with the earlier school, no AC. 100 degrees outside? Too bad, you're wearing pants. We asked the obvious "why?" Supposedly, and I don't know if this is true or not, but some girls had decided to wear their swimsuits to school once and the principal didn't like that their butt cheeks were showing and since banning that could have seemed vague he banned all shorts. Or it could have been the fact that Daisy Dukes were all the rage at that time. I don't know, I was 8 and I thought it was all stupid. Boys were eventually allowed to wear "shorts that were below the knee" when I got to 4th grade. In 5th grade we got a new principal.
Billy Harrelson 2 years ago
The first thing we asked was whether shorts were allowed. She said "I don't care, so long as they're tasteful." The girls were happy after that and no one ever wore anything too short anyway.
Load More Replies... Aiden Brough 2 years ago
How about rules students DIDN'T follow? I used to teach part time and would say to my students "You must have your book (SINGULAR!), paper, a pen and most importantly, a calculator". Each lesson, without fail, I'd get at least one or two turn up without ANY of the above. And these were ALL over the age of 16. And doing some form of accountancy lesson (tax etc)...
Huddo's sister 2 years ago
I never understood why kids would come to class without a pen or paper, except they were probably would be hoping to get out of the work. Of course they never did, as the teacher would have paper and or a pen. Was annoying though because if the teacher didn't have a spare pen they would always ask the 'good/quiet' kids to lend one, which was often me, and we rarely got them back!
Load More Replies... SheamusFanFrom1987 2 years ago
Once in my old school, a kid in my class had to wear a glove on his right hand because an accident had left a scar (pretty big one) on the back of said hand which was mostly healed but still not too good to look at. It was a black cotton fingerless glove with nothing else on it. His parents spoke to the principal about it (showed him the scar, even) and got consent but somehow, our old prude of a teacher wasn't having it when she was informed (she was there longer than the principal and thought that gave her more authority over him). During assembly, she marched the guy up to the front and demanded he take his glove off there and then. Mind you, the principal was there and was already snickering quietly. The guy nonchalantly peeled off the glove to show us a reddish, recovering scar with partially dried blood pretty much across the back of his hand. I kid you not when said prude teacher almost hurled there and then and stumbled away from the assembly field.
SheamusFanFrom1987 2 years ago
Continued: Safe to say she never gave him flak about the glove again until his hand fully healed but pretty much got tormented/teased mercilessly (even by the principal who had to but rarely could stand her) whenever she decided to make a fuss out of any minor situation ever again. XP
Load More Replies... DrBronxx 2 years ago
My wife's school softball coach had a rule - no ice cream the day before a game. First, that's random. Second, how in the hell do you enforce that? My reasoning for the existence of the rule was that, sometime years before, a student pigged out on ice cream one night, was sick and couldn't play in a game the next day. So, the coach took the extreme NEVER AGAIN approach. This was in Japan, by the way.
Error 404 (He/They) 2 years ago
This is why school sucks and yet people still blame ViDeO gAmEs for everything
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