people who smoked when you where a kid?

Question

My dad was telling me that when he grew up in the 50's that the teachers would smoke in class and that even doctors would smoke. I am not trying to call my dad a lier, but where teachers really able to smoke in the class room. I watched a clip today on youtube of the day JFK was killed. the reporter was talking to a witness and there he was smoking a cig. You would never see that nowadays. thanks!

Answer 1

Yes everyone that smoked, smoked everywhere.
On the buses, in the grocery stores, movie theaters, classrooms, washrooms, restaurants everywhere and anywhere, no such thing as smoking and non smoking sections.
The only place I can think of where people didn't smoke was in Church, not in it, but when the service was over everyone went outside and lit up.

Answer 2

I grew up in the 50's; and I mourn their passing. Life was certianly much simpler then, and BETTER!

There was true, real "freedom of speech"; not like nowadays; when you can only speak/write if you're "politcally correct"; otherwise, "the powers that be", quickly "lower the boom" on you. Big Brother grew up in a hurry.

I spent my adolescence on farms in northeast Arkansas - I graduated in 1953 - (had to commute about 20 miles - by school bus - everyday to school and back). And yes, teachers smoked, but never in the class rooms.

And practically all the boys smoked, but very few of the girls: I have no idea why. And you could even smoke in the bleachers in the gym; and everywhere else, including stores and restaurants. Most of the doctors I knew smoked.

In the schools, if there was an unruly strudent, they were disciplined: with a paddle by the male teachers, and a ft. long ruler - across the knuckles - by the female teachers.

There was abosolutely no random violence, either: only an occassional fight, when a couple of guys got into it. No drugs, not even pot. Some people were alcoholics; but they didn't bother anyone but themselves, and may be their family.

People speak of "the good ole days": those were, as I remember them; and as I stated above, I greatly mourn their passing: there are a lot worse dangers in society, than people smoking.

Wotan

Answer 3

Yes, ditto to all said so far and I will add a few lines. I grew up in the 50's-60's and it was open season for smoking, pretty much unrestricted except by propriety, like in church. My grandfather and dad and brothers and boyfriends all smoked. I did 'bum' one now and then, but I didn't get a habit. My grandfather died from lung cancer about the time it was becoming an issue and his last request was for the boys to quit smoking--one did quit the other still smokes. One thing not mentioned, tobacco then was just that. Now there are many other chemicals added that make it more dangerous than in the 50's. Kids started smoking earlier & in public because there were no legal issues.

Answer 4

My Dad smoked those terrible PallMalls when I was growing up and now I have the beginnings of COPD even though I have never smoked myself. The teachers always had the teachers lounge to smoke in and once a Doctor in the 1960s came into an appointment I had smoking a huge cigar....I was in elementary school then.

Answer 5

Well, I never saw a teacher light up in the classroom but would light up in the hallways. There were ashtrays along the hallway for that purpose.

Smoking was acceptable everywhere, at work, in offices, doctors, teachers, lawyers, truck drivers, housewives.....everybody seemed to be doing it.

I am a smoker...and I have no problem with the non-smoking laws nor the smoking and non-smoking areas in some places.

But, I WILL smoke if I wish. I enjoy it... However, I'll not smoke where it is prohibited....unless they start intruding upon my personal spaces. If that happens, they'll just have to lock this old granny up in jail somewhere. My space is mine...I decide what I'll do in it. Outside, in my car, in my home...leave me alone.

Answer 6

I only remember the teachers smoking in the teachers lounge & in the office areas. At school functions, all the adults smoked around the kids. People smoked everywhere & anywhere they wanted to. There wasn't even a non-smoking section that I can recall. It was awful to be a child of parents who smoked because there was nothing you could do except stay in your room with the window open for fresh air.
I think both the College Professors & Students were allowed to smoke in the classrooms & lecture areas, if I remember correctly.

Answer 7

Our teachers did not smoke in the classroom but their lounge was blue with the smoke when they took a break. And they all smelled when they came back to class. You still see nurses and doctors smoking sometimes right outside of the clinic or hospital where they work. So much for practice what you preach.

Answer 8

Everyone smoked in those days. I never saw a teacher smoke in class, but I have seen them smoke in the teacher's lounge. People smoked everywhere, hospitals, stores, restaurants, you name it. Both my parents, my brothers, and I smoked. I still do and sure wish I didn't.

Answer 9

I can remember teachers and doctors smoking. Never saw a teacher smoking in the class room or a doctor smoking in his office.

Answer 10

Hollywood made smoking a desirable social activity. All the stars did it in the movies and on TV. When I was a kid the doctor my parents took me to was always smoking. Even in the examining room. I hated it. When I felt sick already or had a cough it was almost unbearable. When I was in high school there was actually a ''smoking tree'' outside and one would be allowed to smoke if they had a note from their parents.