1 00:00:02,169 --> 00:00:04,379 [light whimsical music] [electrical buzzing] 2 00:00:04,379 --> 00:00:05,797 - Do you know that there was a time 3 00:00:05,797 --> 00:00:09,676 when your school bus driver was also your classmate? 4 00:00:09,676 --> 00:00:11,929 - They set these teenagers up for success 5 00:00:11,929 --> 00:00:16,140 the best way they knew how, with a three-day driving course. 6 00:00:16,140 --> 00:00:19,186 - So they go from driving this bus in the dark 7 00:00:19,186 --> 00:00:21,688 to getting out and taking a math test. 8 00:00:21,688 --> 00:00:24,858 - Or when the school board was made of wood? 9 00:00:24,858 --> 00:00:29,029 - The paddles were branded with our school's crest on there. 10 00:00:29,029 --> 00:00:32,115 If they hit you with it, it would, like, bruise the logo. 11 00:00:32,115 --> 00:00:34,159 That's messed up! 12 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:37,871 - Or when gym class was more like basic training? 13 00:00:37,871 --> 00:00:39,039 - Nobody's wearing a harness. 14 00:00:39,039 --> 00:00:40,374 If you lose your grip, 15 00:00:40,374 --> 00:00:41,917 it's like falling out of a second-story window. 16 00:00:41,917 --> 00:00:43,377 Even if you're in a burning building, 17 00:00:43,377 --> 00:00:44,962 firefighters will tell you not to jump 18 00:00:44,962 --> 00:00:46,421 from a second or third story 19 00:00:46,421 --> 00:00:48,590 unless you have absolutely no choice. 20 00:00:48,590 --> 00:00:51,551 And we're telling kids to do this in gym class. 21 00:00:51,551 --> 00:00:53,971 - These are the things we used to do. 22 00:00:53,971 --> 00:00:55,222 For fun, 23 00:00:55,222 --> 00:00:56,473 for money, 24 00:00:56,473 --> 00:00:58,433 or maybe out of boredom 25 00:00:58,433 --> 00:01:00,978 that we'll never see again. 26 00:01:00,978 --> 00:01:02,604 Were they dangerous? 27 00:01:02,604 --> 00:01:03,814 Certainly. 28 00:01:03,814 --> 00:01:04,772 Deadly? 29 00:01:04,772 --> 00:01:05,857 Occasionally. 30 00:01:05,857 --> 00:01:08,277 But boy, wasn't it exciting? 31 00:01:08,277 --> 00:01:11,905 [intense dramatic music] 32 00:01:15,617 --> 00:01:18,745 [light whimsical music] 33 00:01:18,745 --> 00:01:20,872 Remember high school science lab? 34 00:01:20,872 --> 00:01:25,836 Powerful gases, open flame, chemical reactions, sharp tools, 35 00:01:25,836 --> 00:01:28,672 all in the name of education, 36 00:01:28,672 --> 00:01:32,050 until we learned it was not so smart after all. 37 00:01:32,050 --> 00:01:33,176 [bright thoughtful music] 38 00:01:33,176 --> 00:01:36,597 - After World War II, science is king. 39 00:01:36,597 --> 00:01:38,974 After all, it won the war. 40 00:01:38,974 --> 00:01:42,644 The atomic bomb, radar, computers. 41 00:01:42,644 --> 00:01:45,439 - There is a great emphasis in the United States 42 00:01:45,439 --> 00:01:48,317 on developing scientific knowledge 43 00:01:48,317 --> 00:01:49,943 among younger and younger people. 44 00:01:49,943 --> 00:01:51,987 And so, the government authorizes 45 00:01:51,987 --> 00:01:53,488 the construction of science labs 46 00:01:53,488 --> 00:01:54,865 in schools across the country. 47 00:01:56,116 --> 00:01:58,410 - [Henry] These labs are built to turn teenagers 48 00:01:58,410 --> 00:02:00,954 into the next generation of scientists 49 00:02:00,954 --> 00:02:03,707 by throwing them right into the fire. 50 00:02:05,125 --> 00:02:06,710 - [Martin] Suddenly, you're sitting at a desk that's got 51 00:02:06,710 --> 00:02:09,211 burners, and there's masks, and there's equipment, and there's 52 00:02:09,211 --> 00:02:10,505 gear, and there's strange smells, 53 00:02:10,505 --> 00:02:12,758 and you have knife-like instruments, 54 00:02:12,758 --> 00:02:15,135 and you're going to dissect things. 55 00:02:15,135 --> 00:02:17,054 Oh, man, it was amazing. 56 00:02:17,054 --> 00:02:19,306 - The craziest thing about science lab 57 00:02:19,306 --> 00:02:21,391 is the chemicals they let you use. 58 00:02:21,391 --> 00:02:24,269 There's sulfuric acid, which will burn the crap out of you. 59 00:02:24,269 --> 00:02:26,480 There was formaldehyde, chloroform, 60 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,066 which bad guys use in movies all the time 61 00:02:29,066 --> 00:02:30,692 to knock people out and abduct them. 62 00:02:30,692 --> 00:02:33,111 There's just jars of it in science lab. 63 00:02:33,111 --> 00:02:34,613 - [Henry] But there's no bigger draw 64 00:02:34,613 --> 00:02:38,867 in the high school science labs of old than mercury. 65 00:02:38,867 --> 00:02:40,827 - [News Reporter] The great density of mercury, 66 00:02:40,827 --> 00:02:43,205 atomic weight 200.61, 67 00:02:43,205 --> 00:02:45,791 is known when heavy objects are dropped into it 68 00:02:45,791 --> 00:02:47,167 or, better, onto it. 69 00:02:47,167 --> 00:02:50,170 They float almost magically. 70 00:02:50,170 --> 00:02:52,422 - Mercury is a metallic element 71 00:02:52,422 --> 00:02:55,175 that remains liquid at room temperature. 72 00:02:55,175 --> 00:02:57,219 That's really rare for a metal. 73 00:02:57,219 --> 00:02:59,763 Do you remember the T-1000 from "Terminator 2?" 74 00:02:59,763 --> 00:03:01,473 It's exactly like that. 75 00:03:01,473 --> 00:03:03,225 But in your science lab. 76 00:03:03,225 --> 00:03:05,394 - [Hakeem] Mercury is cool for many reasons. 77 00:03:05,394 --> 00:03:08,522 Number one, it's the only liquid that's not wet. 78 00:03:08,522 --> 00:03:11,149 The second thing is, it looks really cool, 79 00:03:11,149 --> 00:03:13,902 and it beads up and makes these nice little balls, right? 80 00:03:13,902 --> 00:03:16,613 You combine them and separate them. 81 00:03:16,613 --> 00:03:18,156 - I don't remember any reason I had 82 00:03:18,156 --> 00:03:19,866 mercury in the palm of my hand, 83 00:03:19,866 --> 00:03:22,744 except to look at it, move around, like, it's fun. 84 00:03:22,744 --> 00:03:24,246 - [Hakeem] The teachers at this time 85 00:03:24,246 --> 00:03:26,331 encourage the kids to play with mercury. 86 00:03:26,331 --> 00:03:27,624 There's jars of it. 87 00:03:27,624 --> 00:03:29,960 They can roll it around, throw it at your friend. 88 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:32,587 It is mayhem in those classes. 89 00:03:32,587 --> 00:03:35,298 - [Henry] But all these budding young scientists 90 00:03:35,298 --> 00:03:37,384 are playing with poison. 91 00:03:37,384 --> 00:03:41,304 - If there was a toxic chemical hall of fame, 92 00:03:41,304 --> 00:03:44,391 mercury's gonna be in the inaugural class. 93 00:03:44,391 --> 00:03:46,560 - [Don] Experts think it's only intense, 94 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:49,813 prolonged exposure to mercury that causes health issues. 95 00:03:49,813 --> 00:03:51,690 Like the tremors and hallucinations suffered 96 00:03:51,690 --> 00:03:55,026 by hat makers using mercury in the 19th century. 97 00:03:55,026 --> 00:03:57,154 That was the inspiration for the Mad Hatter 98 00:03:57,154 --> 00:03:58,780 from "Alice in Wonderland". 99 00:03:58,780 --> 00:04:02,617 - [Martin] Exposure to mercury can cause headaches, paranoia, 100 00:04:02,617 --> 00:04:04,161 neurological decline. 101 00:04:04,161 --> 00:04:06,288 It's very, very bad for you. 102 00:04:06,288 --> 00:04:07,664 - [Austin] But people at the time 103 00:04:07,664 --> 00:04:09,708 think that low-level exposure is fine. 104 00:04:09,708 --> 00:04:13,712 Also, no reason to argue 'cause high school chemistry labs 105 00:04:13,712 --> 00:04:16,089 are doing a bang-up job. 106 00:04:16,089 --> 00:04:20,802 Between the 1950s and the 1970s, the number of scientists 107 00:04:20,802 --> 00:04:24,514 and engineers in the United States nearly triples. 108 00:04:24,514 --> 00:04:27,434 - [Hakeem] But in the 1980s, we became concerned about 109 00:04:27,434 --> 00:04:30,061 high mercury levels in fish like tuna, 110 00:04:30,061 --> 00:04:32,439 but kids have already been exposed to it for decades. 111 00:04:32,439 --> 00:04:34,649 It ain't the sushi, it's the school lab. 112 00:04:35,692 --> 00:04:36,902 - By the mid-'80s, 113 00:04:36,902 --> 00:04:39,488 evidence of the dangers of mercury exposure 114 00:04:39,488 --> 00:04:43,325 start to pile up, but it takes some significant accidents 115 00:04:43,325 --> 00:04:45,494 to get the attention of the government. 116 00:04:45,494 --> 00:04:48,038 - [Dan] In a Connecticut high school lab in 1986, 117 00:04:48,038 --> 00:04:50,624 mercury vapors are accidentally released 118 00:04:50,624 --> 00:04:52,334 during an experiment. 119 00:04:52,334 --> 00:04:56,254 22 kids and their teacher get briefly exposed. 120 00:04:56,254 --> 00:04:58,632 - The researchers were shocked to learn 121 00:04:58,632 --> 00:05:02,719 how long this toxic metal remained in people's systems. 122 00:05:02,719 --> 00:05:04,846 We're talking months or even years. 123 00:05:05,972 --> 00:05:08,183 - [Dan] The mercury residue stays on tables. 124 00:05:08,183 --> 00:05:11,436 It collects in the floor cracks where it might have spilled 125 00:05:11,436 --> 00:05:14,314 and then eventually just vaporizes into the air. 126 00:05:14,314 --> 00:05:17,192 Plus, students are tracking it on their shoes. 127 00:05:17,192 --> 00:05:19,319 Maybe they don't get all of it off their fingers 128 00:05:19,319 --> 00:05:20,862 when they're playing with it, 129 00:05:20,862 --> 00:05:23,198 and then at lunchtime, they end up swallowing some of it. 130 00:05:23,198 --> 00:05:25,242 - If you think about all of these experiments 131 00:05:25,242 --> 00:05:27,369 using mercury over decades, 132 00:05:27,369 --> 00:05:31,790 they're accumulating a lot of mercury in schools. 133 00:05:31,790 --> 00:05:34,209 - Eventually, though, things change. 134 00:05:34,209 --> 00:05:35,585 Some states step in 135 00:05:35,585 --> 00:05:38,505 and outlaw the use of mercury in schools. 136 00:05:38,505 --> 00:05:40,382 - [Austin] Today, mercury in school labs 137 00:05:40,382 --> 00:05:44,094 has been almost completely phased out. 138 00:05:44,094 --> 00:05:47,222 - [Don] In the last few decades, any kind of mercury exposure 139 00:05:47,222 --> 00:05:50,141 that happens in school it's a total holy crap moment. 140 00:05:50,141 --> 00:05:52,269 Some kids bust open an old thermometer 141 00:05:52,269 --> 00:05:54,062 and hazmat suits come out. 142 00:05:54,062 --> 00:05:59,109 - In 2004, a kid in Nevada found his grandfather's mercury, 143 00:06:00,527 --> 00:06:02,070 brought it into school, and shared it with his friends. 144 00:06:02,070 --> 00:06:06,408 They played with it, not knowing the hazards. 145 00:06:06,408 --> 00:06:09,119 - [Don] More than 60 kids have to be decontaminated. 146 00:06:09,119 --> 00:06:11,997 Their clothes disposed of as hazardous waste, 147 00:06:11,997 --> 00:06:14,875 just because they were briefly exposed 148 00:06:14,875 --> 00:06:17,335 to something we used to play with as kids. 149 00:06:18,670 --> 00:06:20,422 - Remember the school paper cutter 150 00:06:20,422 --> 00:06:22,382 that was more like a guillotine? 151 00:06:22,382 --> 00:06:26,136 That was nothing compared to what they gave us in wood shop. 152 00:06:26,136 --> 00:06:27,554 [light whimsical music] 153 00:06:27,554 --> 00:06:29,389 - [Hakeem] Back in the day, a lot of high schools 154 00:06:29,389 --> 00:06:31,474 and even middle schools had wood shops. 155 00:06:31,474 --> 00:06:33,768 And they really got big in the '50s 156 00:06:33,768 --> 00:06:36,104 when America was having this construction boom. 157 00:06:36,104 --> 00:06:37,230 - I mean, they're the real deal. 158 00:06:37,230 --> 00:06:38,773 They've got real machinery. 159 00:06:38,773 --> 00:06:39,608 There's real wood. 160 00:06:39,608 --> 00:06:41,192 There's sawdust everywhere. 161 00:06:41,192 --> 00:06:42,736 - [Brian] We would make clocks. 162 00:06:42,736 --> 00:06:44,446 We would make key chain holders. 163 00:06:44,446 --> 00:06:45,906 Like, Christmas was covered. 164 00:06:45,906 --> 00:06:47,324 'Cause all you had to do was bring in, 165 00:06:47,324 --> 00:06:50,368 like, a little block of wood, and this crusty old guy 166 00:06:50,368 --> 00:06:52,621 would teach you how to cut it and leave you to it. 167 00:06:52,621 --> 00:06:54,497 He would be like, "Go ahead and have fun cutting wood, 168 00:06:54,497 --> 00:06:56,499 and then you go out and smoke a cigarette." 169 00:06:56,499 --> 00:06:58,585 - [Rutledge] I loved wood shop. 170 00:06:58,585 --> 00:07:00,920 We would build these sheds 171 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,049 that the high school would sell to the community. 172 00:07:04,049 --> 00:07:06,051 So sometimes when I drive around the town, 173 00:07:06,051 --> 00:07:08,637 I can see sheds in people's backyards, 174 00:07:08,637 --> 00:07:11,681 and I know I helped build all these years later. 175 00:07:11,681 --> 00:07:13,558 - [Hakeem] For some kids, it's just fun, right? 176 00:07:13,558 --> 00:07:15,977 They can go in there and build a birdhouse or whatever. 177 00:07:15,977 --> 00:07:18,980 But for others, they want to go directly from high school 178 00:07:18,980 --> 00:07:21,274 to a trade school and then have a career at it. 179 00:07:21,274 --> 00:07:24,110 So this is early job training. 180 00:07:24,110 --> 00:07:26,821 - [Henry] Of all the tools in the school wood shop, 181 00:07:26,821 --> 00:07:31,868 one looms larger than the rest: the radial arm saw. 182 00:07:33,036 --> 00:07:36,164 - So the radial arm saw is invented in the 1920s 183 00:07:36,164 --> 00:07:40,502 by a guy named Raymond DeWalt of DeWalt Tools. 184 00:07:40,502 --> 00:07:41,336 That same guy. 185 00:07:41,336 --> 00:07:42,962 [saw whirring] 186 00:07:42,962 --> 00:07:45,006 - [Hakeem] The radial arm saw can cut through two-inch lumber 187 00:07:45,006 --> 00:07:47,133 like a hot knife going through butter. 188 00:07:47,133 --> 00:07:49,344 And by the 1950s, they're everywhere, 189 00:07:49,344 --> 00:07:52,806 including thousands of high schools across the country. 190 00:07:52,806 --> 00:07:54,265 - [Henry] But it turns out 191 00:07:54,391 --> 00:07:57,477 it just might be too much saw for kids to handle. 192 00:07:58,353 --> 00:08:00,230 - The radial arm saw was no joke. 193 00:08:00,230 --> 00:08:01,773 It was on an arm, 194 00:08:01,773 --> 00:08:04,693 and you sort of pulled it towards you and worked the wood. 195 00:08:04,693 --> 00:08:06,861 - [Hakeem] Sometimes it kind of lurches forward. 196 00:08:06,861 --> 00:08:08,530 So because of the way it's operated, 197 00:08:08,530 --> 00:08:10,782 you're automatically in harm's way. 198 00:08:10,782 --> 00:08:12,826 - It'll slice your finger off just like that, 199 00:08:12,826 --> 00:08:15,537 and there's really no time to react to it, 200 00:08:15,537 --> 00:08:16,913 especially if you're a kid. 201 00:08:16,913 --> 00:08:18,623 So you're not just talking about, 202 00:08:18,623 --> 00:08:19,874 like, cuts and bruises here. 203 00:08:19,874 --> 00:08:22,460 You're talking about amputation. 204 00:08:22,460 --> 00:08:24,546 - [Brian] When you have 12-year-olds unsupervised in a 205 00:08:24,546 --> 00:08:28,675 wood shop with dangerous tools, it's not a question of if. 206 00:08:28,675 --> 00:08:31,344 It's a question of when some kid's gonna get hurt. 207 00:08:32,846 --> 00:08:35,265 - My number one goal in wood shop was don't lose a finger. 208 00:08:35,265 --> 00:08:39,144 If I come out of this with something higher than an F 209 00:08:39,144 --> 00:08:43,523 and 10 digits, I'm gonna consider it a success. 210 00:08:43,523 --> 00:08:45,316 - [Don] These amateur wood shop kids 211 00:08:45,316 --> 00:08:47,777 are lucky to keep their extremities intact, 212 00:08:47,777 --> 00:08:49,863 but some of them aren't so fortunate. 213 00:08:49,863 --> 00:08:51,781 - And there are some horrible stories. 214 00:08:52,866 --> 00:08:56,036 There's this one 13-year-old kid in 1985 215 00:08:56,036 --> 00:08:59,414 who actually cuts off his entire hand at the wrist. 216 00:08:59,414 --> 00:09:02,459 - [Rutledge] The kid survives, but these kinds of stories 217 00:09:02,459 --> 00:09:06,671 give the radial arm saw a really bad reputation. 218 00:09:07,839 --> 00:09:10,258 - [Ricky] It's pretty wild when you think about it 219 00:09:10,258 --> 00:09:12,552 that we would actually go to school 220 00:09:12,552 --> 00:09:17,265 and they would put us in situations where losing a finger 221 00:09:17,265 --> 00:09:21,311 or even an appendage is on the table. 222 00:09:22,604 --> 00:09:24,939 - [Henry] Between injuries, rising insurance, 223 00:09:24,939 --> 00:09:27,776 and more focus on different school subjects, 224 00:09:27,776 --> 00:09:31,613 eventually the funding for wood shops gets cut off. 225 00:09:31,613 --> 00:09:33,656 [saw whirring] 226 00:09:33,656 --> 00:09:35,033 - [Rutledge] By the late 2000s, 227 00:09:35,033 --> 00:09:38,536 only 30% of schools still have a wood shop. 228 00:09:38,536 --> 00:09:40,538 I mean, that's such a bummer. 229 00:09:40,538 --> 00:09:42,123 - [Brian] I'm 50. 230 00:09:42,123 --> 00:09:45,919 When I was 12, I made a key chain holder that, to this day, 231 00:09:45,919 --> 00:09:47,587 hangs on the family wall. 232 00:09:47,587 --> 00:09:49,964 And I still look at it today! 233 00:09:49,964 --> 00:09:51,466 [saw whirring] 234 00:09:51,466 --> 00:09:53,510 - [Rutledge] There's something to be said for shop class. 235 00:09:53,510 --> 00:09:55,970 I mean, the things that it teaches you, 236 00:09:55,970 --> 00:09:57,806 whether it's trying to understand 237 00:09:57,806 --> 00:09:59,516 how something goes into a wall 238 00:09:59,516 --> 00:10:03,019 or measure twice, cut once, all of those things you learn, 239 00:10:03,019 --> 00:10:04,521 they're actually great life lessons 240 00:10:04,521 --> 00:10:05,814 that really help you a lot. 241 00:10:05,814 --> 00:10:08,441 Also, keep your arm out of the saw. 242 00:10:08,441 --> 00:10:09,275 You know? 243 00:10:09,275 --> 00:10:10,652 Invaluable lesson. 244 00:10:13,071 --> 00:10:15,990 - In the 1990s and 2000s, 245 00:10:15,990 --> 00:10:18,493 many schools cut their shop programs, 246 00:10:18,493 --> 00:10:22,664 and those wood shops were converted to technology labs. 247 00:10:22,664 --> 00:10:26,501 Suddenly, the most dangerous thing in the room 248 00:10:26,501 --> 00:10:27,502 was the internet. 249 00:10:31,631 --> 00:10:32,841 - It's an old cliche. 250 00:10:32,841 --> 00:10:34,425 You know, in my day, 251 00:10:34,425 --> 00:10:36,636 I had to walk 10 miles to school in the snow. 252 00:10:36,636 --> 00:10:39,222 And kids just rolled their eyes. 253 00:10:39,222 --> 00:10:41,224 But was it actually true? 254 00:10:42,475 --> 00:10:45,436 - In the late 1800s, school in the United States 255 00:10:45,436 --> 00:10:48,398 is a very local affair, and it's kind of slapdash. 256 00:10:48,398 --> 00:10:51,276 Lots of kids are working on farms or factories, 257 00:10:51,276 --> 00:10:53,319 and the law permits them to do it. 258 00:10:53,319 --> 00:10:54,696 - By the turn of the century, though, 259 00:10:54,696 --> 00:10:56,239 progressive reformers in cities, 260 00:10:56,239 --> 00:10:58,032 but also out in the countryside, 261 00:10:58,032 --> 00:11:00,785 are saying, "We need to make school accessible to everyone. 262 00:11:00,785 --> 00:11:02,579 We also need to make it compulsory. 263 00:11:02,579 --> 00:11:05,206 We wanna remove these kids from these harsh jobs 264 00:11:05,206 --> 00:11:06,958 and get them into educational opportunities. 265 00:11:06,958 --> 00:11:09,836 That will maybe give them other options later in life." 266 00:11:09,836 --> 00:11:10,962 - [Natalia] In every single state, 267 00:11:10,962 --> 00:11:12,463 you have laws that are put on the books 268 00:11:12,463 --> 00:11:15,091 that say your kids have to go to school, 269 00:11:15,091 --> 00:11:17,468 usually until about age 14 or so. 270 00:11:17,468 --> 00:11:20,889 - [Henry] Now, millions more kids are marching to school, 271 00:11:20,889 --> 00:11:23,016 but there's a catch. 272 00:11:23,016 --> 00:11:24,934 - In urban areas, there's lots of schools. 273 00:11:24,934 --> 00:11:27,896 A lot of times close enough for kids to go home for lunch. 274 00:11:27,896 --> 00:11:29,480 - But at this point of the turn of the century, 275 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:33,943 more than half of the United States lives in rural areas. 276 00:11:33,943 --> 00:11:36,905 - [Lance] For rural kids, that means a walk to school. 277 00:11:36,905 --> 00:11:38,907 A long walk. 278 00:11:38,907 --> 00:11:40,408 - [Rutledge] Kids as young as five years old 279 00:11:40,408 --> 00:11:42,869 are walking three to five miles 280 00:11:42,869 --> 00:11:45,038 over all sorts of rough terrain 281 00:11:45,038 --> 00:11:48,041 and busted-up roads every single day. 282 00:11:48,041 --> 00:11:49,584 Five years old! 283 00:11:49,584 --> 00:11:51,294 By themselves. 284 00:11:51,294 --> 00:11:53,671 - [Adam] There are even stories of students who have no choice 285 00:11:53,671 --> 00:11:56,841 but to walk 10 miles each way. 286 00:11:56,841 --> 00:12:00,762 For perspective, that's just six miles shy of a marathon 287 00:12:00,762 --> 00:12:02,805 every school day. 288 00:12:02,805 --> 00:12:04,140 And you thought it was bad 289 00:12:04,140 --> 00:12:06,476 when you couldn't get a seat on the school bus. 290 00:12:06,476 --> 00:12:08,937 - [Lance] It's especially tough in cold, inclement weather, 291 00:12:08,937 --> 00:12:10,396 but these kids do what it takes. 292 00:12:10,396 --> 00:12:13,274 They carry their books in flour sacks to protect them. 293 00:12:13,274 --> 00:12:14,943 They carry their lunches in pails 294 00:12:14,943 --> 00:12:17,487 that are frozen shut by the time they arrive. 295 00:12:17,487 --> 00:12:19,405 They will actually use the fence posts 296 00:12:19,405 --> 00:12:22,033 as a guide in whiteout conditions. 297 00:12:22,033 --> 00:12:23,785 - And springtime's not always easier. 298 00:12:23,785 --> 00:12:26,704 I mean, some kids are having to walk holding their shoes 299 00:12:26,704 --> 00:12:28,831 so they don't lose their shoes in the mud 300 00:12:28,831 --> 00:12:31,459 'cause they're walking in mud for miles. 301 00:12:31,459 --> 00:12:34,420 - [Adam] There are people of a generation that will say, 302 00:12:34,420 --> 00:12:38,466 "I walked seven miles to school uphill both ways." 303 00:12:38,466 --> 00:12:41,719 The truth of the matter is they were walking like that, 304 00:12:41,719 --> 00:12:45,098 and they were made of much tougher stuff than most of us. 305 00:12:46,432 --> 00:12:48,393 - [Natalia] Teachers have left records where they comment 306 00:12:48,393 --> 00:12:49,602 on students. 307 00:12:49,602 --> 00:12:51,187 "He walks an hour and a half to get here." 308 00:12:51,187 --> 00:12:53,940 "He was soaking wet when he arrived." 309 00:12:53,940 --> 00:12:57,068 It's pretty incredible to think kids ever did this. 310 00:12:57,068 --> 00:12:58,695 - [Lance] In January of 1888, 311 00:12:58,695 --> 00:13:01,531 there's a huge blizzard in the Dakotas. 312 00:13:01,531 --> 00:13:03,783 It comes to be known as the Children's Blizzard 313 00:13:03,783 --> 00:13:07,120 or the Schoolhouse Blizzard because so many children die 314 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:09,831 trying to get home from school in this blizzard. 315 00:13:09,831 --> 00:13:11,791 At least 100 die. 316 00:13:11,791 --> 00:13:14,460 - [Henry] In the 1930s, the millions of kids 317 00:13:14,460 --> 00:13:16,629 marching long distances to school 318 00:13:16,629 --> 00:13:18,715 finally start to catch a break. 319 00:13:18,715 --> 00:13:20,216 [light thoughtful music] 320 00:13:20,216 --> 00:13:22,593 - [Rutledge] The Great Depression actually helped the 321 00:13:22,593 --> 00:13:24,345 kids with the president's New Deal. 322 00:13:24,345 --> 00:13:27,682 So suddenly there were new schools, new paved roads, 323 00:13:27,682 --> 00:13:30,310 and buses to help get the kids to school. 324 00:13:30,310 --> 00:13:32,520 - [Adam] When Henry Ford enters the picture, 325 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:34,731 state-of-the-art buses 326 00:13:34,731 --> 00:13:37,483 start rolling off of the assembly line, 327 00:13:37,483 --> 00:13:40,570 not only providing transportation to school 328 00:13:40,570 --> 00:13:44,282 for so many children, but also giving parents peace of mind 329 00:13:44,282 --> 00:13:47,118 that they're going in a safe vehicle. 330 00:13:47,118 --> 00:13:48,661 - [Edward] And from there, school buses take off 331 00:13:48,661 --> 00:13:50,580 because Ford is cranking them out, 332 00:13:50,580 --> 00:13:51,831 and pretty soon they become 333 00:13:51,831 --> 00:13:54,417 a ubiquitous part of the American landscape. 334 00:13:54,417 --> 00:13:55,710 - [Rutledge] It's funny when I think about 335 00:13:55,710 --> 00:13:57,253 school buses when I was a kid, 336 00:13:57,253 --> 00:14:00,631 and I thought they were kind of gross and the vinyl seat, 337 00:14:00,631 --> 00:14:02,717 and they'd have tears and graffiti on them. 338 00:14:02,717 --> 00:14:04,385 But for these kids, 339 00:14:04,385 --> 00:14:06,387 I mean, this could be a life-or-death situation. 340 00:14:06,387 --> 00:14:08,931 When they got a school bus, they were like, "Oh, my gosh! 341 00:14:08,931 --> 00:14:11,350 I've arrived alive at school 342 00:14:11,350 --> 00:14:13,770 with a non-frozen lunch, perhaps. 343 00:14:13,770 --> 00:14:15,063 What a novel idea." 344 00:14:16,898 --> 00:14:18,608 - Parents had to feel much better 345 00:14:18,608 --> 00:14:21,069 about putting their kids on a school bus 346 00:14:21,069 --> 00:14:24,781 until perhaps they took a look at who was driving it. 347 00:14:26,449 --> 00:14:28,284 - [Edward] When America plunges into World War II, 348 00:14:28,284 --> 00:14:30,912 suddenly millions of American men are put in uniform 349 00:14:30,912 --> 00:14:33,664 and sent abroad, meaning there's a big labor shortage. 350 00:14:33,664 --> 00:14:35,166 - [Brian] The men are overseas fighting. 351 00:14:35,166 --> 00:14:36,209 The women are in the factories. 352 00:14:36,209 --> 00:14:37,502 You got Rosie the Riveter. 353 00:14:37,502 --> 00:14:38,503 They're making the tanks, the bombs, 354 00:14:38,503 --> 00:14:39,712 they're doing everything, right? 355 00:14:39,712 --> 00:14:41,714 Who's driving the school buses? 356 00:14:41,714 --> 00:14:44,133 Well, we have an answer. 357 00:14:44,133 --> 00:14:45,468 Teenagers. 358 00:14:45,468 --> 00:14:48,596 Yeah, they got teenagers to drive the school buses. 359 00:14:48,596 --> 00:14:50,723 - [Austin] Most people don't blink an eye. 360 00:14:50,723 --> 00:14:53,017 They're doing their part for the war effort. 361 00:14:53,017 --> 00:14:54,894 - [Brian] And these kids aren't necessarily 362 00:14:54,894 --> 00:14:56,437 the worst choice for this job. 363 00:14:56,437 --> 00:14:57,855 They're picking up a lot of slack at home. 364 00:14:57,855 --> 00:14:59,482 They're driving tractors, they're working farms, 365 00:14:59,482 --> 00:15:00,733 they're working with heavy machinery, 366 00:15:00,733 --> 00:15:03,945 but they are still teenagers. 367 00:15:03,945 --> 00:15:06,030 - [Edward] And these school buses are not tractors. 368 00:15:06,030 --> 00:15:07,240 They're 27 feet long, 369 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:10,243 and they're also loaded with up to 36 kids. 370 00:15:10,243 --> 00:15:12,537 - [Brian] But they set these teenagers up for success 371 00:15:12,537 --> 00:15:17,416 the best way they knew how, with a three-day driving course. 372 00:15:17,416 --> 00:15:19,168 Today, you need, like, seven weeks 373 00:15:19,168 --> 00:15:21,587 and a massive test to get that license. 374 00:15:21,587 --> 00:15:24,132 Back then, it was like, [clicks tongue] "You're good enough. 375 00:15:24,132 --> 00:15:25,591 Get out there." 376 00:15:25,591 --> 00:15:27,760 - [Rutledge] A typical morning for a teen bus driver: 377 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:29,220 you get to park the bus at home, 378 00:15:29,220 --> 00:15:31,889 so you wake up crack of dawn, go fire up the bus. 379 00:15:31,889 --> 00:15:33,933 You drive all these rural routes 380 00:15:33,933 --> 00:15:35,476 picking up kids in the dark. 381 00:15:35,476 --> 00:15:36,894 Sounds great! 382 00:15:36,894 --> 00:15:39,230 - Once they reach school, they just park the bus, 383 00:15:39,230 --> 00:15:42,984 get off with the rest of their classmates, and go to class. 384 00:15:42,984 --> 00:15:46,112 - So they go from driving this bus in the dark 385 00:15:46,112 --> 00:15:47,864 and wrestling no power steering 386 00:15:47,864 --> 00:15:50,366 to getting out and taking a math test. 387 00:15:50,366 --> 00:15:53,703 - [Henry] And it turns out teens driving school buses 388 00:15:53,703 --> 00:15:56,998 isn't just a temporary solution. 389 00:15:56,998 --> 00:15:59,208 - [Hakeem] During the war, it goes so well 390 00:15:59,208 --> 00:16:02,461 that for several decades after the war, they continue. 391 00:16:02,461 --> 00:16:05,089 In fact, when I was a young man in high school, 392 00:16:05,089 --> 00:16:07,383 we had kid bus drivers. 393 00:16:07,383 --> 00:16:09,468 - [Rutledge] Schools were excited 'cause they could pay 394 00:16:09,468 --> 00:16:12,221 kids less than they were paying adults, but they do, I think, 395 00:16:12,221 --> 00:16:14,348 quickly realize you get what you pay for. 396 00:16:15,516 --> 00:16:17,852 - [Brian] There was a breakdown in quality control 397 00:16:17,852 --> 00:16:20,605 in teenage bus drivers around the '80s. 398 00:16:20,605 --> 00:16:22,940 It's the MTV generation. 399 00:16:22,940 --> 00:16:24,609 It's the kids who watched "Animal House." 400 00:16:24,609 --> 00:16:27,361 There's no sense of patriotic duty. 401 00:16:27,361 --> 00:16:29,572 It's more about getting a paycheck 402 00:16:29,572 --> 00:16:31,657 and getting it over as fast as you can, 403 00:16:31,657 --> 00:16:33,201 and that's what they did. 404 00:16:33,201 --> 00:16:35,161 - [Edward] Eventually, it's impossible to ignore the data 405 00:16:35,161 --> 00:16:36,996 regarding these teenage drivers. 406 00:16:36,996 --> 00:16:39,707 They account for far less than half the drivers, 407 00:16:39,707 --> 00:16:42,793 but more than 60% of the accidents. 408 00:16:42,793 --> 00:16:46,297 - [Brian] So by the 1980s, one by one, the states start making 409 00:16:46,297 --> 00:16:48,299 it so teenagers can't drive the school buses. 410 00:16:48,299 --> 00:16:50,176 I don't know what it tells you about North Carolina, 411 00:16:50,176 --> 00:16:53,262 but they were the last state to withdraw this. 412 00:16:53,262 --> 00:16:54,430 - [Hakeem] But if you're a parent today, 413 00:16:54,430 --> 00:16:56,265 you can have the peace of mind of knowing 414 00:16:56,265 --> 00:16:59,101 that almost all school districts in the country 415 00:16:59,101 --> 00:17:03,147 require their drivers to be at least 21 years of age. 416 00:17:03,147 --> 00:17:07,484 - [Rutledge] It's really hard to imagine a 14-year-old kid 417 00:17:07,484 --> 00:17:09,904 getting behind the wheel of an 18,000-pound bus 418 00:17:09,904 --> 00:17:12,781 with only a couple days of driving experience. 419 00:17:12,781 --> 00:17:14,200 Oh, and, by the way, it's loaded with children. 420 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:16,285 Like, that is bonkers on paper. 421 00:17:18,246 --> 00:17:23,291 - There was a certain poetic justice to kids driving kids. 422 00:17:23,291 --> 00:17:25,127 Let them deal with those little monsters. 423 00:17:29,298 --> 00:17:30,758 - If you're of a certain age 424 00:17:30,758 --> 00:17:32,093 and you were ever sent to the principal's office, 425 00:17:32,093 --> 00:17:35,137 you remember feeling the pure terror. 426 00:17:35,137 --> 00:17:37,181 You weren't just gonna get yelled at. 427 00:17:37,181 --> 00:17:42,061 You were in for some, let's face it, physical discomfort. 428 00:17:42,061 --> 00:17:43,854 - [Lance] Corporal punishment goes way back. 429 00:17:43,854 --> 00:17:46,399 Honestly, it probably predates civilization, 430 00:17:46,399 --> 00:17:49,318 but there are stories of kids in school 431 00:17:49,318 --> 00:17:52,154 getting some version of corporal punishment, being beaten 432 00:17:52,154 --> 00:17:54,824 in Greek texts from 500 BC. 433 00:17:54,824 --> 00:17:57,159 - [Natalia] Fast-forward to the 20th-century United States, 434 00:17:57,159 --> 00:17:59,620 and this is still happening in schools. 435 00:17:59,620 --> 00:18:00,830 There's the kind of, like, 436 00:18:00,830 --> 00:18:02,832 burst of frustration of a teacher, like, 437 00:18:02,832 --> 00:18:05,876 hitting you upside the head with a math book. 438 00:18:05,876 --> 00:18:07,670 - [Lance] I came from a time when corporal punishment 439 00:18:07,670 --> 00:18:10,840 was perfectly allowed in most schools. 440 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:13,467 You might be led down the hall, pulled by the ear. 441 00:18:13,467 --> 00:18:15,720 I don't know how I still have ears, you know? 442 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,014 It's not that hard to pull somebody's ear off. 443 00:18:18,014 --> 00:18:19,932 - [Adam] I remember two friends of mine telling me 444 00:18:19,932 --> 00:18:23,185 that they used to have to hold their hands like this 445 00:18:23,185 --> 00:18:24,687 and were whacked with a ruler. 446 00:18:24,687 --> 00:18:26,772 - There were even things they would have people do, 447 00:18:26,772 --> 00:18:28,691 like kneel in gravelly material. 448 00:18:28,691 --> 00:18:30,818 Like frozen peas or rice, you know? 449 00:18:30,818 --> 00:18:33,613 Which doesn't sound that bad, but try it for 10 minutes. 450 00:18:33,613 --> 00:18:35,156 [light whimsical music] 451 00:18:35,156 --> 00:18:38,409 - [Rutledge] My elementary school principal was so mean. 452 00:18:38,409 --> 00:18:41,412 And the amount of times that she walked me into her office 453 00:18:41,412 --> 00:18:43,748 and told me to take a good look at the paddles. 454 00:18:43,748 --> 00:18:47,001 "Paddles" being plural; there was more than one. 455 00:18:47,001 --> 00:18:50,546 They were branded with our school's crest on there. 456 00:18:50,546 --> 00:18:52,840 So that maybe if they hit you with it, 457 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:54,967 it would, like, bruise the logo? 458 00:18:54,967 --> 00:18:56,927 Like, that's messed up! 459 00:18:56,927 --> 00:18:59,388 That wasn't that long ago. 460 00:18:59,388 --> 00:19:01,182 - [Henry] For most of the 20th century, 461 00:19:01,182 --> 00:19:03,059 corporal punishment at school 462 00:19:03,059 --> 00:19:06,479 isn't some hush-hush off-the-books practice. 463 00:19:06,479 --> 00:19:09,482 In fact, it's quite the opposite. 464 00:19:09,482 --> 00:19:12,401 - [Adam] Some school districts have actually codified 465 00:19:12,401 --> 00:19:16,322 corporal punishment, literally writing regulations 466 00:19:16,322 --> 00:19:19,075 up to and including how many times 467 00:19:19,075 --> 00:19:22,370 you can strike a student's bottom for punishment. 468 00:19:22,370 --> 00:19:25,915 - Schools have specific rooms where this is carried out. 469 00:19:25,915 --> 00:19:27,708 Prisons didn't even have that. 470 00:19:27,708 --> 00:19:29,794 - [Natalia] In fact, when prison corporal punishment 471 00:19:29,794 --> 00:19:31,462 is banned in the 1960s, 472 00:19:31,462 --> 00:19:35,716 school corporal punishment is still legal in all 50 states. 473 00:19:35,716 --> 00:19:39,053 - [Adam] Some companies even manufacture 474 00:19:39,053 --> 00:19:43,265 purpose-built paddles for spanking students. 475 00:19:43,265 --> 00:19:46,018 - [Rutledge] They even started boring holes out 476 00:19:46,018 --> 00:19:49,146 so they could get a better velocity when they hit it 477 00:19:49,146 --> 00:19:52,692 because there was more air going through, so it went faster. 478 00:19:52,692 --> 00:19:55,569 - [Natalia] In the 1970s in Florida, there's one 14-year-old 479 00:19:55,569 --> 00:19:58,656 who is beaten so badly that he's hospitalized, 480 00:19:58,656 --> 00:20:02,034 and his legal case goes all the way to the Supreme Court. 481 00:20:02,034 --> 00:20:04,078 His attorneys argue that this is cruel 482 00:20:04,078 --> 00:20:06,038 and unusual punishment. 483 00:20:06,038 --> 00:20:08,666 - What the court says might surprise you? 484 00:20:08,666 --> 00:20:11,168 They say not only is this not cruel, 485 00:20:11,168 --> 00:20:13,337 it is anything but unusual. 486 00:20:13,337 --> 00:20:16,090 And they claim that a student has no expectation 487 00:20:16,090 --> 00:20:18,509 of due process in school. 488 00:20:18,509 --> 00:20:20,803 There's no more official approval 489 00:20:20,803 --> 00:20:22,805 for beating children in school 490 00:20:22,805 --> 00:20:25,433 than the approval of the United States Supreme Court. 491 00:20:26,684 --> 00:20:29,019 - [Jason] But this decision, it really spurs a movement 492 00:20:29,019 --> 00:20:30,813 against corporal punishment. 493 00:20:30,813 --> 00:20:33,315 - [Lance] Child psychologists and educational experts 494 00:20:33,315 --> 00:20:36,152 start to argue that corporal punishment impairs development 495 00:20:36,152 --> 00:20:37,903 and it normalizes violence. 496 00:20:37,903 --> 00:20:39,572 - And by the mid-1980s, 497 00:20:39,572 --> 00:20:42,074 a number of states have actually now outlawed it. 498 00:20:43,534 --> 00:20:47,830 - [Adam] These days, you get remotely physical with any kid, 499 00:20:47,830 --> 00:20:50,541 you find yourself in a whole lot of trouble. 500 00:20:50,541 --> 00:20:52,543 - [Rutledge] It is weird to think that this is an era 501 00:20:52,543 --> 00:20:53,794 that I lived through. 502 00:20:53,794 --> 00:20:55,421 For kids that went through this, 503 00:20:55,421 --> 00:20:58,215 like, people know, they don't ever forget that stuff. 504 00:20:59,925 --> 00:21:04,305 - Back in the schools of old, rewards were hard to come by, 505 00:21:04,305 --> 00:21:07,933 but there was one that most of us probably remember. 506 00:21:07,933 --> 00:21:10,352 Turns out it was less of a perk 507 00:21:10,352 --> 00:21:12,855 and more occupational hazard. 508 00:21:12,855 --> 00:21:14,148 [light thoughtful music] [chalk tapping] 509 00:21:14,148 --> 00:21:16,650 - The classic chalkboard is a dying feature 510 00:21:16,650 --> 00:21:18,903 of the American school system. 511 00:21:18,903 --> 00:21:22,531 It was the look and the sound of learning. 512 00:21:22,531 --> 00:21:24,992 It's like what we associated with school. 513 00:21:24,992 --> 00:21:26,452 - [Martin] Every surface in the classroom 514 00:21:26,452 --> 00:21:28,662 has chalk dust on it to some extent. 515 00:21:28,662 --> 00:21:30,664 You also have erasers, 516 00:21:30,664 --> 00:21:33,959 and the erasers are bathed in chalk dust. 517 00:21:35,211 --> 00:21:37,254 - [Hakeem] Erasers are cleaned by just going outdoors 518 00:21:37,254 --> 00:21:38,506 and slapping them together 519 00:21:38,506 --> 00:21:41,383 and making big clouds of chalk dust. 520 00:21:41,383 --> 00:21:43,552 It's kind of like beating the dirt out of a rug. 521 00:21:43,552 --> 00:21:45,554 - [Don] And teachers hand out this job 522 00:21:45,554 --> 00:21:47,348 only to the most trustworthy, 523 00:21:47,348 --> 00:21:50,643 well-behaving students like me. 524 00:21:50,643 --> 00:21:54,021 - [Martin] I frequently was awarded with this myself. 525 00:21:54,021 --> 00:21:56,732 And so I had the experience of being able to go out there 526 00:21:56,732 --> 00:21:59,777 and sort of strut past everyone like, "Look at me. 527 00:21:59,777 --> 00:22:01,529 I get to go clap the erasers." 528 00:22:01,529 --> 00:22:03,614 - [Ricky] I love clapping erasers together. 529 00:22:03,614 --> 00:22:07,952 It's like a primal urge that we don't entirely understand. 530 00:22:07,952 --> 00:22:09,703 If there were two erasers handy, 531 00:22:09,703 --> 00:22:12,289 I'd clap them together right now. 532 00:22:12,289 --> 00:22:15,084 - [Don] For kids trapped in school for most of the day, 533 00:22:15,084 --> 00:22:16,544 any chance to go outside, 534 00:22:16,544 --> 00:22:19,463 especially with the rest of the school inside. 535 00:22:19,463 --> 00:22:21,131 This is huge. 536 00:22:21,131 --> 00:22:24,134 So you feel special, you feel privileged, you feel trusted, 537 00:22:24,134 --> 00:22:26,679 and you can make fun of all those poor bastards 538 00:22:26,679 --> 00:22:28,681 still stuck in class. 539 00:22:28,681 --> 00:22:29,974 - [Henry] The kids get a perk. 540 00:22:29,974 --> 00:22:32,977 Teachers get free labor for clean erasers. 541 00:22:32,977 --> 00:22:38,023 Everyone is happy, until we start taking a closer look. 542 00:22:38,858 --> 00:22:40,109 - It seems crazy to say this, 543 00:22:40,109 --> 00:22:43,821 but for a tool that was used for centuries 544 00:22:43,821 --> 00:22:46,949 around children worldwide, 545 00:22:46,949 --> 00:22:50,202 we now know that chalk ain't good for you. 546 00:22:51,579 --> 00:22:54,790 - [Martin] Old chalk is actually dustier than modern chalk is. 547 00:22:54,790 --> 00:22:57,960 And the clouds of dust that are produced by it 548 00:22:57,960 --> 00:22:59,169 contain one of the greatest 549 00:22:59,169 --> 00:23:01,005 carcinogens of them all: asbestos. 550 00:23:02,298 --> 00:23:04,717 And it's the best and brightest student in the class 551 00:23:04,717 --> 00:23:07,344 who is probably getting the greatest exposure. 552 00:23:08,679 --> 00:23:11,515 - [Don] By the 1990s, research indicates that chalk inhalation 553 00:23:11,515 --> 00:23:14,685 can cause long-term lung damage. 554 00:23:14,685 --> 00:23:17,396 We also find that chalk dust is a common trigger 555 00:23:17,396 --> 00:23:19,982 for asthma and allergies. 556 00:23:19,982 --> 00:23:22,484 - [Negin] I mean, and who knows how many eraser clappers 557 00:23:22,484 --> 00:23:26,447 are asthmatic children breathing in this chalk dust? 558 00:23:26,447 --> 00:23:30,910 Because they're being rewarded for being so good. 559 00:23:30,910 --> 00:23:32,786 - [Don] We all know what a big deal 560 00:23:32,786 --> 00:23:34,705 childhood asthma is at the time. 561 00:23:34,705 --> 00:23:36,290 It's being called an epidemic. 562 00:23:36,290 --> 00:23:41,045 It's rising by 75% between 1980 and 1994. 563 00:23:41,045 --> 00:23:44,340 Asthma is one of the biggest reasons kids miss school. 564 00:23:44,340 --> 00:23:45,424 - [Henry] But while the children 565 00:23:45,424 --> 00:23:47,176 start getting all the attention, 566 00:23:47,176 --> 00:23:50,262 who's thinking about the teachers? 567 00:23:50,262 --> 00:23:52,389 - [Hakeem] The teachers are spending day after day, 568 00:23:52,389 --> 00:23:54,934 week after week, year after year 569 00:23:54,934 --> 00:23:58,145 writing on these chalkboards and breathing chalk dust. 570 00:23:58,145 --> 00:24:02,191 And nobody thought to ask, "Is this good for you?" 571 00:24:02,191 --> 00:24:03,442 - [Martin] It's the teachers unions 572 00:24:03,442 --> 00:24:06,028 that eventually push back on this. 573 00:24:06,028 --> 00:24:09,657 They begin to advocate for chalk that produces less dust, 574 00:24:09,657 --> 00:24:12,117 chalk that doesn't contain carcinogens. 575 00:24:12,117 --> 00:24:13,744 And then eventually 576 00:24:13,744 --> 00:24:15,704 they advocate for the elimination of the chalkboard 577 00:24:15,704 --> 00:24:18,374 as a part of the educational experience entirely. 578 00:24:18,374 --> 00:24:21,335 - Which is why the days of clapping those erasers 579 00:24:21,335 --> 00:24:22,795 is essentially over. 580 00:24:23,921 --> 00:24:25,464 - [Ricky] I think kids are missing out 581 00:24:25,464 --> 00:24:28,008 on a lot of the experiences that we had. 582 00:24:28,008 --> 00:24:31,095 I mean, eraser clapping was something that kids 583 00:24:31,095 --> 00:24:34,056 would practically fight each other for the right to do. 584 00:24:34,056 --> 00:24:36,475 I mean, anything to go outside. 585 00:24:36,475 --> 00:24:39,687 So I do feel a little sorry for kids today. 586 00:24:41,105 --> 00:24:42,523 - If I knew then 587 00:24:42,523 --> 00:24:45,359 what I know now about the dangers of chalk dust, 588 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:47,236 I would still jump at the chance 589 00:24:47,236 --> 00:24:48,737 to skip 10 minutes of class. 590 00:24:52,950 --> 00:24:54,493 - Ah, gym class. 591 00:24:54,493 --> 00:24:57,204 The one period a day where sweating counted as schoolwork. 592 00:24:57,204 --> 00:24:59,957 Some of us look back on it fondly. 593 00:24:59,957 --> 00:25:04,670 Others remember it as "Lord of the Flies" in gym shorts. 594 00:25:04,670 --> 00:25:06,296 [light whimsical music] 595 00:25:06,296 --> 00:25:09,174 - [Lance] For most of the 1900s, what we're doing in gym class, 596 00:25:09,174 --> 00:25:11,343 the fact that we're even having gym class, 597 00:25:11,343 --> 00:25:13,345 is really driven by the military. 598 00:25:13,345 --> 00:25:15,973 - [Martin] During the era of the World Wars and Korea, 599 00:25:15,973 --> 00:25:18,600 the US recognizes that it's requisite. 600 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,937 We have to do something to promote physical fitness, 601 00:25:21,937 --> 00:25:25,232 and we make generations of young Americans experience 602 00:25:25,232 --> 00:25:27,860 either the bliss or the shame 603 00:25:27,860 --> 00:25:30,654 of the experience of physical education in high school. 604 00:25:30,654 --> 00:25:32,740 - [News Reporter] A set of physical achievement standards 605 00:25:32,740 --> 00:25:35,075 has been prepared by the Armed Forces Committee 606 00:25:35,075 --> 00:25:38,495 of the American Association for Health, Physical Education, 607 00:25:38,495 --> 00:25:39,747 and Recreation. 608 00:25:39,747 --> 00:25:41,749 - [Lance] The particular freak out in the 1950s 609 00:25:41,749 --> 00:25:43,625 leads to the infamous 610 00:25:43,625 --> 00:25:46,879 Presidential Physical Fitness Test. 611 00:25:46,879 --> 00:25:50,841 Many of us remember that mile run, pull-ups, sit-ups. 612 00:25:50,841 --> 00:25:53,218 It wasn't really so much a physical test 613 00:25:53,218 --> 00:25:55,888 as an exercise in humiliation. 614 00:25:55,888 --> 00:25:59,266 - [Henry] Among these military-inspired gym exercises, 615 00:25:59,266 --> 00:26:04,104 there's one challenge dreaded by generations of kids. 616 00:26:04,104 --> 00:26:06,356 The infamous rope climb. 617 00:26:07,691 --> 00:26:10,277 - [Jason] The rope climb, this is something that, you know, 618 00:26:10,277 --> 00:26:12,071 soldiers do in basic training. 619 00:26:12,071 --> 00:26:13,572 So it's the natural fit 620 00:26:13,572 --> 00:26:16,867 for the quasi-militaristic gym culture. 621 00:26:16,867 --> 00:26:19,536 - [Martin] For the small investment of a section of 30 622 00:26:19,536 --> 00:26:20,913 feet of rope. 623 00:26:20,913 --> 00:26:23,123 and a shackling system on the ceiling of the gym, 624 00:26:23,123 --> 00:26:25,417 you have an excellent means of evaluating 625 00:26:25,417 --> 00:26:28,212 the physical fitness of the students in the class. 626 00:26:28,212 --> 00:26:29,922 - [Jason] You're supposed to climb all the way up to the top, 627 00:26:29,922 --> 00:26:31,465 touch the ceiling, and make it down, 628 00:26:31,465 --> 00:26:33,008 and you are being timed. 629 00:26:33,008 --> 00:26:33,842 Sure, right. 630 00:26:33,842 --> 00:26:35,594 Like we're all Olympic gymnasts. 631 00:26:35,594 --> 00:26:37,346 - [Brian] And it's a weird thing when you're climbing a rope 632 00:26:37,346 --> 00:26:41,266 as a child in gym class because you have an audience. 633 00:26:41,266 --> 00:26:44,770 To fail at climbing the rope in front of the entire class, 634 00:26:44,770 --> 00:26:46,438 it's a humiliation ritual. 635 00:26:46,438 --> 00:26:48,732 You feel like your entire worth 636 00:26:48,732 --> 00:26:51,693 is invested in how high you can get up that rope. 637 00:26:51,693 --> 00:26:53,403 These are high, high stakes, 638 00:26:53,403 --> 00:26:56,490 and we all went through it, and not all of us did well. 639 00:26:56,490 --> 00:26:57,783 - [Henry] For lots of kids, 640 00:26:57,783 --> 00:27:00,369 the rope climb is like a bad dream. 641 00:27:00,369 --> 00:27:05,457 But the dangers of this test go far beyond embarrassment. 642 00:27:06,416 --> 00:27:07,960 - The rope climb is really insane. 643 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:10,629 I mean, we're asking kids to do things that soldiers do. 644 00:27:10,629 --> 00:27:12,131 And if you get to the top of the rope, 645 00:27:12,131 --> 00:27:14,925 you're talking climbing 20, 30 feet up. 646 00:27:14,925 --> 00:27:15,968 - Nobody's wearing a helmet. 647 00:27:15,968 --> 00:27:17,094 Nobody's wearing a harness. 648 00:27:17,094 --> 00:27:18,762 There's no safety equipment or anything. 649 00:27:18,762 --> 00:27:21,181 The gym teachers probably haven't been taught anything. 650 00:27:21,181 --> 00:27:22,975 - [Lance] They would put a little mat down, 651 00:27:22,975 --> 00:27:24,601 but it was a really thin mat. 652 00:27:24,601 --> 00:27:27,062 It's clear that that was not there to protect you. 653 00:27:27,062 --> 00:27:29,022 It was there to protect the floor. 654 00:27:30,148 --> 00:27:31,733 - [Edward] And they're just saying, "Who can do it?" 655 00:27:31,733 --> 00:27:33,485 You know, scale 20, 30 feet, 656 00:27:33,485 --> 00:27:35,487 and then hopefully you can let yourself down slowly, 657 00:27:35,487 --> 00:27:36,697 but if you lose your grip, 658 00:27:36,697 --> 00:27:38,740 it's like falling out of a second-story window. 659 00:27:38,740 --> 00:27:40,450 - [Lance] Even if you're in a burning building, 660 00:27:40,450 --> 00:27:42,035 firefighters will tell you not to jump 661 00:27:42,035 --> 00:27:43,620 from a second or third story 662 00:27:43,620 --> 00:27:46,164 unless you have absolutely no choice. 663 00:27:46,164 --> 00:27:49,167 And we're telling kids to do this in gym class. 664 00:27:49,167 --> 00:27:51,920 - [Martin] The week that we struggled through the rope 665 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:53,839 course, we were all just burned up by the rope, 666 00:27:53,839 --> 00:27:56,633 and that's just the way life was back then. 667 00:27:56,633 --> 00:27:57,885 - [Jason] By the early 2000s, 668 00:27:57,885 --> 00:27:59,386 you start to hear more and more complaints 669 00:27:59,386 --> 00:28:01,013 about rope climbing injuries. 670 00:28:01,013 --> 00:28:02,014 Kids are falling, they're hurting themselves, 671 00:28:02,014 --> 00:28:03,640 they're getting rope burned. 672 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:06,602 - [Martin] In one case, this girl hits the floor so hard 673 00:28:06,602 --> 00:28:09,479 that it requires pins to get her back together again. 674 00:28:09,479 --> 00:28:10,856 That is too much. 675 00:28:10,856 --> 00:28:13,692 You have asked too much of children at that stage. 676 00:28:13,692 --> 00:28:15,027 - [Jason] This is a generation of parents 677 00:28:15,027 --> 00:28:16,904 who also had to go through this humiliation. 678 00:28:16,904 --> 00:28:18,280 So they're like, "You know what? 679 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:20,490 I had to go through this, and this was terrible. 680 00:28:20,490 --> 00:28:22,409 This stops now." 681 00:28:22,409 --> 00:28:24,828 - [Martin] In 2013, a journal for physical education 682 00:28:24,828 --> 00:28:26,413 admits the rope climb 683 00:28:26,413 --> 00:28:28,749 into the Physical Fitness Hall of Shame, 684 00:28:28,749 --> 00:28:30,459 and I can see why. 685 00:28:30,459 --> 00:28:32,544 - [Brian] Oh, by the time I even got to the fire academy, 686 00:28:32,544 --> 00:28:33,629 they were like, "Yeah, we don't do a rope climb anymore 687 00:28:33,629 --> 00:28:35,255 'cause too many people get hurt. 688 00:28:35,255 --> 00:28:36,840 It's dangerous." 689 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:39,051 - [Jason] Today, the rope climb, it's pretty much disappeared. 690 00:28:39,051 --> 00:28:40,344 Or where it still exists, 691 00:28:40,344 --> 00:28:42,888 it's much shorter and with plenty of padding. 692 00:28:42,888 --> 00:28:43,889 We went through it. 693 00:28:43,889 --> 00:28:44,890 Kids today thankfully don't. 694 00:28:44,890 --> 00:28:46,433 But you know what? 695 00:28:46,433 --> 00:28:48,435 Yeah, you kids, you don't know how lucky you've got it. 696 00:28:50,228 --> 00:28:53,941 - Dangling 20 feet up in gym class was bad enough. 697 00:28:53,941 --> 00:28:55,692 But do you remember the free-for-all 698 00:28:55,692 --> 00:28:58,111 that was called recess? 699 00:28:58,111 --> 00:29:01,990 With hundreds of kids and only a handful of adults watching, 700 00:29:01,990 --> 00:29:04,826 the playground was more like a battleground. 701 00:29:04,826 --> 00:29:06,411 [bright upbeat music] 702 00:29:06,411 --> 00:29:08,664 - [Austin] Recess is designed for children to get out there, 703 00:29:08,664 --> 00:29:11,667 get some fresh air, run off some energy 704 00:29:11,667 --> 00:29:14,169 and, you know, just generally enjoy themselves 705 00:29:14,169 --> 00:29:15,337 and socialize. 706 00:29:15,337 --> 00:29:17,506 - [Rutledge] In places like my school, 707 00:29:17,506 --> 00:29:20,175 it was essentially a time for young boys 708 00:29:20,175 --> 00:29:23,261 to just figure out how to assault one another 709 00:29:23,261 --> 00:29:25,847 under the guise of playing a game. 710 00:29:25,847 --> 00:29:28,892 - [Brian] I went to PS 53, which behind the school 711 00:29:28,892 --> 00:29:33,105 had a giant dirt lot next to a giant asphalt lot. 712 00:29:33,105 --> 00:29:34,523 And that was recess. 713 00:29:34,523 --> 00:29:38,110 It was violent, sometimes bloody, but always fun. 714 00:29:38,110 --> 00:29:43,115 - [Austin] Games in the 1980s had names like Suicide, 715 00:29:43,657 --> 00:29:44,783 Butts Up, 716 00:29:44,783 --> 00:29:46,368 Kill the Carrier. 717 00:29:46,368 --> 00:29:48,954 - [J Mack] One of our favorite games was Kill the Quarterback. 718 00:29:48,954 --> 00:29:52,749 One guy had the ball and basically just tried to survive 719 00:29:52,749 --> 00:29:54,918 while all the other kids just tackled him. 720 00:29:54,918 --> 00:29:58,088 - [Rutledge] We would play a pretty aggressive form of tag 721 00:29:58,088 --> 00:30:00,799 where it looked like you were tackling a person, 722 00:30:00,799 --> 00:30:02,634 and then you would say, "I got you." 723 00:30:02,634 --> 00:30:04,428 - [Brian] Oh, I loved dodgeball. 724 00:30:04,428 --> 00:30:06,430 The method that we did on Staten Island 725 00:30:06,430 --> 00:30:08,807 was it was a ring of people around you. 726 00:30:08,807 --> 00:30:10,600 There was just like seven of you in the middle. 727 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:12,728 It was like a circular firing squad. 728 00:30:12,728 --> 00:30:14,312 It was like a public stoning. 729 00:30:14,312 --> 00:30:15,939 Brutal! 730 00:30:15,939 --> 00:30:18,108 - [Henry] But one recess classic 731 00:30:18,108 --> 00:30:22,446 manages to combine a nursery rhyme, peer pressure, 732 00:30:22,446 --> 00:30:24,656 and a full-speed collision. 733 00:30:25,615 --> 00:30:28,744 - Red Rover is two lines of people 734 00:30:28,744 --> 00:30:30,662 that are holding hands together, 735 00:30:30,662 --> 00:30:33,123 essentially making like a human chain. 736 00:30:33,123 --> 00:30:36,501 And then you pick one person out of the other group, 737 00:30:36,501 --> 00:30:41,465 and you say, "Red Rover, Red Rover, send John on over." 738 00:30:41,965 --> 00:30:43,300 - It's a rhyme. 739 00:30:43,300 --> 00:30:45,343 It sounds like something fun that kids say. 740 00:30:45,343 --> 00:30:48,346 - [Rutledge] And then John has to drop hands with his team 741 00:30:48,346 --> 00:30:51,975 and try to smash through the human chain. 742 00:30:51,975 --> 00:30:55,937 - Red Rover goes back centuries. 743 00:30:55,937 --> 00:31:00,067 One theory says it's based on a taunt by English kids 744 00:31:00,067 --> 00:31:04,654 against Viking invaders who were called Rovers. 745 00:31:04,654 --> 00:31:07,699 So it's literal medieval warfare. 746 00:31:07,699 --> 00:31:09,618 - [Brian] I mean, if you gotta get through the Red Rover line, 747 00:31:09,618 --> 00:31:11,536 you're gonna do what you have to do 748 00:31:11,536 --> 00:31:12,788 to get through the Red Rover line. 749 00:31:12,788 --> 00:31:14,998 Great shame upon you and your family 750 00:31:14,998 --> 00:31:16,833 if you let the Red Rover through. 751 00:31:16,833 --> 00:31:19,002 - [Rutledge] You're either clotheslining someone 752 00:31:19,002 --> 00:31:21,463 or someone is trying to break your wrist. 753 00:31:21,463 --> 00:31:23,882 Like those are kind of the only options 754 00:31:23,882 --> 00:31:25,675 that exist in this game. 755 00:31:25,675 --> 00:31:28,887 - [J Mack] So many potential injuries are at risk there. 756 00:31:28,887 --> 00:31:32,140 You could fracture your shoulder, elbow, wrist, 757 00:31:32,140 --> 00:31:33,934 fingers, deep bruises. 758 00:31:33,934 --> 00:31:36,186 You're just asking for injury here. 759 00:31:36,186 --> 00:31:37,854 That's recess. 760 00:31:37,854 --> 00:31:39,022 Yay! [chuckles] 761 00:31:39,022 --> 00:31:40,899 What a fun time. 762 00:31:40,899 --> 00:31:43,860 - [Henry] Schools largely ignore the Red Rover matches 763 00:31:43,860 --> 00:31:45,904 that break out at recess. 764 00:31:45,904 --> 00:31:48,782 Until the lawyers start showing up. 765 00:31:48,782 --> 00:31:50,784 - No one wants to face lawsuits 766 00:31:50,784 --> 00:31:53,995 like one filed by two San Diego parents in 2011. 767 00:31:53,995 --> 00:31:57,040 That ended with a $15,000 settlement 768 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:01,294 for their seventh grader injured during Red Rover. 769 00:32:01,294 --> 00:32:03,922 - [Brian] I think the roughhousing at recess, 770 00:32:03,922 --> 00:32:07,342 it taught me that there are worse things in life 771 00:32:07,342 --> 00:32:08,802 than taking hits, you know? 772 00:32:08,802 --> 00:32:11,513 I think there are valuable lessons 773 00:32:11,513 --> 00:32:13,723 in getting hit and standing back up. 774 00:32:14,724 --> 00:32:16,434 - There's been some internet chatter 775 00:32:16,434 --> 00:32:20,230 that Red Rover is banned from some US schools. 776 00:32:20,230 --> 00:32:24,526 Not officially, but sadly, the chain has been broken. 777 00:32:28,530 --> 00:32:29,906 - In the old days, 778 00:32:29,906 --> 00:32:31,533 schools believed students didn't learn anything 779 00:32:31,533 --> 00:32:33,618 unless they really got their hands dirty. 780 00:32:33,618 --> 00:32:36,163 Or in some cases, bloody. 781 00:32:36,163 --> 00:32:37,539 [bright lively music] 782 00:32:37,539 --> 00:32:39,666 - [Natalia] Before World War II, the science of blood 783 00:32:39,666 --> 00:32:43,295 was really a kind of unknown terrain. 784 00:32:43,295 --> 00:32:45,672 When blood transfusion becomes necessary, 785 00:32:45,672 --> 00:32:47,257 a lot of people die 786 00:32:47,257 --> 00:32:50,385 because of cross-pollination of different blood types. 787 00:32:50,385 --> 00:32:52,929 - [Lance] By the 1950s, we've generally figured out 788 00:32:52,929 --> 00:32:55,473 that if you want to give someone a blood transfusion, 789 00:32:55,473 --> 00:32:57,893 it's going to fail unless you match blood types. 790 00:32:57,893 --> 00:32:59,769 So high school biology teachers figure out 791 00:32:59,769 --> 00:33:01,146 the science is really pretty simple. 792 00:33:01,146 --> 00:33:03,523 Hey, here is a learning opportunity, 793 00:33:03,523 --> 00:33:06,651 and thus begins the painful ritual 794 00:33:06,651 --> 00:33:09,654 of figuring out your own blood type. 795 00:33:09,654 --> 00:33:11,448 - [Henry] Schools embrace the idea. 796 00:33:11,448 --> 00:33:12,532 It's useful. 797 00:33:12,532 --> 00:33:13,992 It's educational. 798 00:33:14,117 --> 00:33:17,204 And after all, what harm could come from a little poke? 799 00:33:18,288 --> 00:33:19,414 - [Dan] High school students from the '50s 800 00:33:19,414 --> 00:33:20,665 all the way through the '90s 801 00:33:20,665 --> 00:33:22,209 probably remember this really well. 802 00:33:22,209 --> 00:33:24,336 One day you get to take a break from all the boring stuff 803 00:33:24,336 --> 00:33:27,631 you're doing in science class and go test your own blood. 804 00:33:27,631 --> 00:33:28,924 - [Don] Teachers hand out 805 00:33:28,924 --> 00:33:31,343 these little sharp lancets, they're called, 806 00:33:31,343 --> 00:33:32,802 these little prickers. 807 00:33:32,802 --> 00:33:35,931 So students can then poke each other's fingers 808 00:33:35,931 --> 00:33:37,307 to draw blood. 809 00:33:37,307 --> 00:33:39,309 - [Dan] The students take their bleeding finger 810 00:33:39,309 --> 00:33:41,937 with that drop of blood on it, and they touch a slide, 811 00:33:41,937 --> 00:33:43,939 and their blood mixes with a serum 812 00:33:43,939 --> 00:33:45,941 to figure out which blood type they have. 813 00:33:45,941 --> 00:33:47,567 - I was staring at this little object 814 00:33:47,567 --> 00:33:49,069 that has a point on it. 815 00:33:49,069 --> 00:33:53,323 And I'm like, "I'm supposed to puncture my own skin?" 816 00:33:53,323 --> 00:33:54,699 And it's like a serious point. 817 00:33:54,699 --> 00:33:56,117 That's the thing. 818 00:33:56,117 --> 00:33:57,827 I can remember how it was like a little tiny knife. 819 00:33:57,827 --> 00:33:59,246 I think I might have a scar 820 00:33:59,246 --> 00:34:01,706 on one of these fingers from that. 821 00:34:01,706 --> 00:34:03,959 - [Dan] There's no informed consent here. 822 00:34:03,959 --> 00:34:06,002 Parents are not asked beforehand. 823 00:34:06,002 --> 00:34:07,754 To be fair, it is just a drop, 824 00:34:07,754 --> 00:34:12,676 but by today's standards, this would not fly. 825 00:34:12,676 --> 00:34:16,054 - [Henry] It can be a bit of a bloodbath in the biology lab, 826 00:34:16,054 --> 00:34:18,764 but that's hardly the only issue. 827 00:34:18,764 --> 00:34:20,684 - [Dan] People just aren't very cautious 828 00:34:20,684 --> 00:34:24,728 about blood-borne pathogens, things like hepatitis. 829 00:34:24,728 --> 00:34:27,232 So these lancets are getting passed around 830 00:34:27,232 --> 00:34:30,193 pretty much willy-nilly, shared by students, 831 00:34:30,193 --> 00:34:33,237 not sterilized, just reused. 832 00:34:33,237 --> 00:34:34,781 - [Don] And to make matters worse, 833 00:34:34,781 --> 00:34:37,199 a lot of these test results are just plain useless. 834 00:34:37,199 --> 00:34:38,702 They're wrong. 835 00:34:38,702 --> 00:34:40,870 - [Dan] Today, most schools forbid teachers 836 00:34:40,870 --> 00:34:44,666 from using real student blood in any kind of experiment. 837 00:34:44,666 --> 00:34:46,835 - [Natalia] In 2013, there's an example of a teacher 838 00:34:46,835 --> 00:34:49,004 doing one of these blood typing activities. 839 00:34:49,004 --> 00:34:50,672 Word gets to the principal's office, 840 00:34:50,672 --> 00:34:52,299 and the principal reportedly runs in, 841 00:34:52,299 --> 00:34:54,384 and it's like, "Stop the lab! Stop the lab!" 842 00:34:54,384 --> 00:34:56,553 and basically fires the teacher on the spot. 843 00:34:57,679 --> 00:34:59,806 - High school kids have been sneaking in 844 00:34:59,806 --> 00:35:01,850 beer and pot forever, 845 00:35:01,850 --> 00:35:03,351 but there was a time 846 00:35:03,351 --> 00:35:06,563 when you didn't have to smuggle in contraband to get a buzz 847 00:35:06,563 --> 00:35:09,232 because there were plenty of school supplies 848 00:35:09,232 --> 00:35:11,067 that would do the job for you. 849 00:35:12,193 --> 00:35:13,862 - [Brian] It is an interesting fact 850 00:35:13,862 --> 00:35:16,114 that for most of the 20th century, 851 00:35:16,114 --> 00:35:19,200 kids at school had access to all sorts of things 852 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:20,910 that can get them high. 853 00:35:20,910 --> 00:35:23,163 - [Jason] There's that old standby glue, 854 00:35:23,163 --> 00:35:25,624 and I'm not talking about white Elmer's glue. 855 00:35:25,624 --> 00:35:28,460 I'm talking about its stronger cousin from art class, 856 00:35:28,460 --> 00:35:30,003 rubber cement. 857 00:35:30,003 --> 00:35:32,213 - [Kavitha] Magic markers come along in the 1950s, 858 00:35:32,213 --> 00:35:34,883 and they're a game changer, and kids love them 859 00:35:34,883 --> 00:35:35,884 because they have these 860 00:35:35,884 --> 00:35:37,969 brilliant colors that don't fade. 861 00:35:37,969 --> 00:35:39,971 - [Dan] You take out your marker, you pull off the cap, 862 00:35:39,971 --> 00:35:41,598 you take a whiff, then you start drawing. 863 00:35:41,598 --> 00:35:43,308 And it's just how you did it. 864 00:35:43,308 --> 00:35:44,392 Even though after a while, 865 00:35:44,392 --> 00:35:47,103 you started to feel a little loopy. 866 00:35:47,103 --> 00:35:48,813 - [Henry] With the all-time classic item 867 00:35:48,813 --> 00:35:51,024 that could send you on a trip, 868 00:35:51,024 --> 00:35:55,779 a freshly printed document from the ditto machine. 869 00:35:55,779 --> 00:35:57,656 - For those in Gen X and older, 870 00:35:57,656 --> 00:35:59,866 you could probably remember a secretary in the office 871 00:35:59,866 --> 00:36:02,494 cranking this machine, and they call it a ditto. 872 00:36:03,411 --> 00:36:05,372 - [Brian] I remember them well. 873 00:36:05,372 --> 00:36:09,292 That transfer ink could get you high. 874 00:36:09,292 --> 00:36:11,419 The first thing you did was you smelled it. 875 00:36:11,419 --> 00:36:14,172 The first thing, 'cause it smelled delightful. 876 00:36:14,172 --> 00:36:16,007 - [Hakeem] When you got those new papers, 877 00:36:16,007 --> 00:36:20,095 the first thing we did as kids is we [sniffing] 878 00:36:20,095 --> 00:36:24,683 [sighs] gave it a smell and got a little buzz. 879 00:36:24,683 --> 00:36:27,185 - [Brian] I remember Mrs. Shea handing out those papers 880 00:36:27,185 --> 00:36:28,895 and just sniffing it. 881 00:36:28,895 --> 00:36:31,564 [sniffs] Smell is like childhood. 882 00:36:31,564 --> 00:36:33,316 It was beautiful. 883 00:36:33,316 --> 00:36:36,403 Also was poisoning our tiny little brains. 884 00:36:36,403 --> 00:36:38,905 - [Henry] What's causing kids to feel euphoric 885 00:36:38,905 --> 00:36:41,157 over freshly printed paper? 886 00:36:41,157 --> 00:36:42,784 It's the ink! 887 00:36:42,784 --> 00:36:44,786 Which is loaded with methanol. 888 00:36:44,786 --> 00:36:46,371 [light inquisitive music] 889 00:36:46,371 --> 00:36:49,249 - Methanol is like ethanol, which is the alcohol we drink. 890 00:36:49,249 --> 00:36:51,835 Only this is way worse. 891 00:36:51,835 --> 00:36:53,628 - [Dan] Once it's in your system, it turns into 892 00:36:53,628 --> 00:36:55,213 formaldehyde. 893 00:36:55,213 --> 00:36:58,049 Small doses can give you a headache or nausea or dizziness, 894 00:36:58,049 --> 00:37:02,387 but repeated exposures to methanol can cause blindness, 895 00:37:02,387 --> 00:37:05,098 seizures, and even death. 896 00:37:05,098 --> 00:37:06,850 - [Kavitha] Schools seem blissfully unaware 897 00:37:06,850 --> 00:37:08,810 that every time they hand out a test, 898 00:37:08,810 --> 00:37:11,187 they're handing out a paper full of toxins. 899 00:37:11,187 --> 00:37:12,856 - [Dan] And eventually, this machine 900 00:37:12,856 --> 00:37:15,191 just kind of disappears in the 20th century. 901 00:37:16,234 --> 00:37:18,153 - [Brian] The reign of the machine didn't end 902 00:37:18,153 --> 00:37:19,988 because suddenly teachers were like, 903 00:37:19,988 --> 00:37:21,823 "I think we're poisoning these kids." 904 00:37:21,823 --> 00:37:24,159 Like it ended because an easier method 905 00:37:24,159 --> 00:37:26,745 for the teachers to make copies was invented. 906 00:37:26,745 --> 00:37:28,037 That's it. 907 00:37:28,037 --> 00:37:29,664 If it wasn't for that, they'd still be like, 908 00:37:29,664 --> 00:37:31,791 "Go ahead, kid, sniff, sniff away." 909 00:37:31,791 --> 00:37:35,962 - Who knew that the gateway drug for an entire generation 910 00:37:35,962 --> 00:37:38,840 would turn out to be a purple worksheet. 911 00:37:43,094 --> 00:37:45,305 - As the legendary Motley Crue sang in the 1980s, 912 00:37:45,305 --> 00:37:48,850 everybody knows that smoking ain't allowed in school. 913 00:37:48,850 --> 00:37:50,143 But looking back, 914 00:37:50,143 --> 00:37:52,061 those guys really didn't do their homework. 915 00:37:52,896 --> 00:37:54,189 - [Natalia] Smoking is so forbidden 916 00:37:54,189 --> 00:37:56,024 and kind of legally regulated today 917 00:37:56,024 --> 00:37:57,692 that it is hard to imagine 918 00:37:57,692 --> 00:38:00,445 how much of a national phenomenon it was. 919 00:38:00,445 --> 00:38:02,655 - [Austin] At smoking's peak in the 1960s, 920 00:38:02,655 --> 00:38:06,534 around 40% of American adults were lighting up. 921 00:38:06,534 --> 00:38:09,954 And a Philip Morris study finds that in 1968, 922 00:38:09,954 --> 00:38:12,624 almost 20% of 15- to 18-year-olds 923 00:38:12,624 --> 00:38:14,876 are current regular smokers. 924 00:38:16,377 --> 00:38:18,630 - [Henry] But in the old days, there's one part of society 925 00:38:18,630 --> 00:38:21,966 really holding the line on youth smoking. 926 00:38:21,966 --> 00:38:25,220 - [Negin] Up to the 1960s, school had a lot of rules about 927 00:38:25,220 --> 00:38:26,846 smoking because it was a fire hazard. 928 00:38:26,846 --> 00:38:28,515 Interestingly, it had like nothing to do 929 00:38:28,515 --> 00:38:30,099 with it being a health hazard. 930 00:38:30,099 --> 00:38:33,812 It was mostly like, "Don't cause a fire at school." 931 00:38:33,812 --> 00:38:36,314 - [Edward] Over time, especially as we get into the 1960s, 932 00:38:36,314 --> 00:38:38,691 teenagers continue to look for ways to smoke. 933 00:38:38,691 --> 00:38:40,360 They smoke in the bathroom, they smoke in the gym, 934 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:42,570 they smoke behind the school, behind the dumpster. 935 00:38:42,570 --> 00:38:45,240 - [Negin] It's just rampant throughout schools, 936 00:38:45,240 --> 00:38:46,741 and school administrators are like, 937 00:38:46,741 --> 00:38:48,743 "We have to do something about this." 938 00:38:48,743 --> 00:38:50,537 - [Henry] With teenagers smoking anywhere 939 00:38:50,537 --> 00:38:52,497 and everywhere at school, 940 00:38:52,497 --> 00:38:56,626 administrators finally decide to draw that line in the sand. 941 00:38:58,044 --> 00:39:00,630 - Schools do the only thing that they can do to combat this, 942 00:39:00,630 --> 00:39:03,299 and they say, "Go smoke outside." 943 00:39:03,299 --> 00:39:04,634 - [Edward] Administrators come to the conclusion 944 00:39:04,634 --> 00:39:06,469 that they can't stop kids from smoking. 945 00:39:06,469 --> 00:39:08,054 It's just a fruitless task. 946 00:39:08,054 --> 00:39:09,681 So what they decide to do is to say, 947 00:39:09,681 --> 00:39:11,307 "Well, let's manage it." 948 00:39:11,307 --> 00:39:13,935 Let's say to your students, "You all can smoke over there 949 00:39:13,935 --> 00:39:15,854 in a designated spot." 950 00:39:15,854 --> 00:39:18,398 - [Austin] My high school had a smoking section, 951 00:39:18,398 --> 00:39:22,861 which was in a parking lot behind one of our cafeterias, 952 00:39:22,861 --> 00:39:25,864 and kids were allowed to go outside 953 00:39:25,864 --> 00:39:29,868 and have a cigarette during lunch periods. 954 00:39:29,868 --> 00:39:31,536 - [Brian] You can smoke all you want. 955 00:39:31,536 --> 00:39:33,788 Just do it outside. 956 00:39:33,788 --> 00:39:36,082 Just saying that is so wild. 957 00:39:36,082 --> 00:39:38,710 - [Austin] This is the craziest if you can't beat them, 958 00:39:38,710 --> 00:39:40,753 join them move in education history. 959 00:39:42,297 --> 00:39:44,549 - [Henry] And students aren't the only ones lighting up. 960 00:39:44,549 --> 00:39:45,884 - [Negin] Sometimes the teachers 961 00:39:45,884 --> 00:39:48,595 are bumming a smoke off the students. 962 00:39:48,595 --> 00:39:50,680 You know, it's just like one 963 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:55,435 big cross-generational cigarette fest. 964 00:39:55,435 --> 00:40:00,023 - I wonder how many teachers gave good grades 965 00:40:00,023 --> 00:40:02,233 to students who hooked them up with cigarettes. 966 00:40:02,233 --> 00:40:04,444 I bet you more than a few students got bumped up 967 00:40:04,444 --> 00:40:06,654 to like a B+ or something like that from a B 968 00:40:06,654 --> 00:40:09,532 just for having some extra cigarettes on them. 969 00:40:09,532 --> 00:40:11,910 - [Negin] The teens have these really fun names 970 00:40:11,910 --> 00:40:14,537 for their little smoking places. 971 00:40:14,537 --> 00:40:16,581 They have like The Wall or The Pit, 972 00:40:16,581 --> 00:40:20,501 or literally Cancer Corner was a nickname. 973 00:40:21,461 --> 00:40:22,629 So they knew. 974 00:40:22,629 --> 00:40:25,548 Everybody knew what was going on. 975 00:40:25,548 --> 00:40:27,675 - [Edward] This lasted well into the 1980s, 976 00:40:27,675 --> 00:40:30,386 by which time everybody knows the dangers of smoking. 977 00:40:31,638 --> 00:40:33,264 - [Henry] The high school smoking section 978 00:40:33,264 --> 00:40:37,852 drags on for decades until it too is eventually stubbed out. 979 00:40:38,770 --> 00:40:39,771 - Federal and state governments 980 00:40:39,771 --> 00:40:41,856 ban smoking in public places. 981 00:40:41,856 --> 00:40:43,733 And they also threaten to pull funding 982 00:40:43,733 --> 00:40:46,444 from places that expose kids to cigarette smoke. 983 00:40:46,444 --> 00:40:49,113 - [Austin] And then there's the dangers of secondhand smoke. 984 00:40:49,113 --> 00:40:50,698 It's one thing to allow the kids 985 00:40:50,698 --> 00:40:53,493 who want to smoke their privileges, 986 00:40:53,493 --> 00:40:56,371 but the second they start affecting others, 987 00:40:56,371 --> 00:40:58,539 that's gonna cause some lawsuits. 988 00:40:58,539 --> 00:41:00,375 - [Edward] So these days, the vast majority of schools 989 00:41:00,375 --> 00:41:02,627 are no-smoking schools, not just in the school itself, 990 00:41:02,627 --> 00:41:06,130 but on all the property, including no vaping. 991 00:41:06,130 --> 00:41:07,840 - [Brian] Look at back in the day, it was always the cool, 992 00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:10,468 sexy guys with a cigarette in the side of the thing. 993 00:41:10,468 --> 00:41:13,012 Hanging out, probably on a classic car, 994 00:41:13,012 --> 00:41:15,306 while some like, you know, wimpy little dude 995 00:41:15,306 --> 00:41:17,767 with healthy lungs is getting picked up by his mom. 996 00:41:17,767 --> 00:41:19,811 I was never that person. [laughs] 997 00:41:19,811 --> 00:41:22,438 I was the one getting picked up by my mom. 998 00:41:22,438 --> 00:41:25,066 - Remembering the school days we survived, 999 00:41:25,066 --> 00:41:27,902 whether we were getting paddled, sniffing markers, 1000 00:41:27,902 --> 00:41:30,989 or stabbing our classmates in the name of science. 1001 00:41:30,989 --> 00:41:33,533 Schools once taught us reading, writing, 1002 00:41:33,533 --> 00:41:35,326 and a whole lot of risk. 1003 00:41:35,326 --> 00:41:38,746 But somehow we had more passes than fails. 1004 00:41:38,746 --> 00:41:42,542 And that's why our hazardous history really made the grade. 1005 00:41:42,542 --> 00:41:42,750 [intense dramatic music]