1. Penmanship
Once upon a time, kids actually had to take a whole class just to practice their handwriting. Not cursive as a side note in English class, but actual lessons where teachers graded the loops in your L’s and the slant of your S’s. You’d be handed sheets with dotted letters and told to trace them over and over, all while gripping a fat pencil and trying not to smear ink if you graduated to a fountain pen. The goal wasn’t just legibility, it was beauty, and some kids even got awards for “best penmanship.”
Fast forward to today and most kids barely hold a pencil for more than a few minutes a day. With tablets and laptops replacing notebooks, good handwriting has become something of a lost art. And let’s be honest, half of us can’t even read our own grocery lists anymore. The idea of devoting a whole subject to handwriting sounds almost laughable now, but once, it was considered essential for success.
2. Home Economics for Boys
While many of us remember Home Ec as a class where girls baked muffins and learned how to sew, some schools actually tried to shake up the gender divide by offering Home Ec specifically for boys. But the version they got was wildly different. Instead of darning socks or planning a week’s menu, the boys were taught things like how to change a tire, fix a leaky sink, and maybe grill a burger if there was time.
The thinking was that these were the “household skills” boys would need one day, just not the same ones girls were expected to master. It wasn’t uncommon for schools to rename it something like “Bachelor Living” to make it sound more masculine. Today, any kind of life skills class is hard to find, and the idea of tailoring them based on gender feels completely outdated. Still, it’s wild to think how deliberately different those lessons were based on whether you were handed a wrench or a wooden spoon.
3. Diction and Elocution
Imagine being graded on how clearly you pronounce your vowels or how confidently you deliver a monologue. That was the reality in diction and elocution classes, which were once a staple in schools trying to polish kids into little public speakers. Students were expected to stand up straight, speak from the diaphragm, and pronounce each syllable crisply, even if they were just reading a grocery list.
These classes weren’t about drama or acting, they were meant to give you “presence” and make sure you didn’t sound like you mumbled through life. Some even included drills like reciting tongue twisters to develop clarity. Today, it’s rare to find anyone under 40 who’s even heard the word “elocution.” And in a world of texts, memes, and voice notes, careful pronunciation is hardly a top priority.
4. Typing on a Typewriter
Believe it or not, typing class was once loud. Not because kids were chatting, but because the clack-clack of typewriter keys filled the room like a symphony of metal fingers. These classes were designed to make you fast and accurate on a machine that didn’t forgive typos—you had to get it right the first time or reach for the white-out.
Students sat at desks with big, heavy typewriters, doing repetitive drills like “asdf jkl;” until their fingers could type full paragraphs without looking. Woe to the student who hit two keys at once and jammed the machine. Today, keyboarding still exists in some schools, but nobody’s hauling out a Royal manual typewriter. It almost feels fictional now that we once learned to write essays on machines with no delete key.
5. Current Events
Back in the day, teachers would wheel in a TV or pass out newspapers for a dedicated class called Current Events. Kids were expected to read the headlines, summarize articles, and sometimes even debate the week’s top stories. The idea was to create well-informed citizens who could speak knowledgeably about politics, science, and social issues—before they could even drive.
Now, with social media feeding everyone bite-sized news, schools rarely offer a full class on staying informed. Some might blend it into Social Studies, but the days of having to cut out an article and present it to the class are long gone. It sounds almost made up now, especially when half of us can’t remember what happened in the news two days ago.
6. Grooming and Posture
Yes, there was a time when kids were formally taught how to sit, stand, walk, and even wash their faces. Grooming and posture classes were common in the ‘40s and ‘50s, especially for girls, and they weren’t subtle about their goals. Lessons included how to sit “ladylike,” how to maintain good hygiene, and even how to apply lotion properly. Boys might get a version that focused more on shaving and basic cleanliness.
This wasn’t health class either, it was literally about how you looked and carried yourself. Teachers would measure your spine alignment or give you posture correction drills. In today’s world, that sounds more like a modeling school than a public education class. It’s one of those forgotten subjects that seems totally unbelievable now, but for a while, it was just part of the curriculum.