5 Back-to-School Rules ’70s and ’80s Kids in Pennsylvania Followed Without Question

Well into the 1980s, Pennsylvania teachers could paddle a smart-mouthed kid without so much as a warning.

State law didn’t ban the practice for decades, so Pennsylvania kids learned early to watch what they said in class.

These are the back-to-school rules Pennsylvania kids in the ’70s and ’80s followed without question, corporal punishment included.

1. Skirts and Dresses Only

Pennsylvania girls couldn’t wear pants to school at the start of the 1970s, no matter the weather.

Dress codes across the state spelled out the same rule in plain language: Skirts and dresses only, with no slacks, shorts, or jumpsuits allowed in the classroom.

A teacher checked hemlines some mornings, and a skirt that crept too far above the knee meant a trip to the office.

The teacher didn’t miss a hemline.

The rule finally loosened between 1970 and 1973, and Pennsylvania girls started showing up in wide-cut slacks and bold plaid prints, dress code or not.

Not anymore.

By the time punk and disco both had a foothold in Pennsylvania hallways, the skirts-only rule was gone for good.

2. Blue Jeans Stayed Home

Blue jeans never made it past the school doors in Pennsylvania, even after slacks finally became fair game for girls.

The same printed dress codes that allowed trousers still drew a hard line under one sentence: Blue jeans weren’t considered proper school attire.

Corduroys passed inspection.

Polyester slacks passed too.

Denim never did.

A kid who showed up in jeans on a Monday morning risked a trip to the office and a phone call home before first period even started.

Pennsylvania kids saved their jeans for Saturdays, weekend chores, and anything that happened outside a school building.

3. Hair off the Collar

Pennsylvania boys kept their hair off the collar, or they heard about it from the principal directly.

Donegal High School soccer player Brent Zeller learned that lesson the hard way in 1971, when Lancaster County school officials benched him from the team over his hair length.

His father sued the school district in federal court, and a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argued the case in Philadelphia.

That made front-page news.

Coaches and principals across Pennsylvania kept measuring collars and earlobes anyway, sending boys home for a trim before they could rejoin their class.

A crew cut never raised an eyebrow.

4. No Backtalk Allowed

Pennsylvania kids watched what they said in class because a smart remark could earn a paddling before the bell rang again.

Teachers and assistant principals across Pennsylvania could paddle a student who talked back or skipped detention, and every kid in the building knew it.

A swat waited on the other side of a mouthy comment, no matter how minor.

Kids policed themselves.

State code didn’t ban the practice outright until December 2005, decades after some other states had already outlawed it.

It wasn’t a warning.

It was a consequence.

A kid sent to the office for a paddling didn’t get a note home first.

The punishment came, then the phone call.

5. Enrolled Until Seventeen

A Pennsylvania student could leave school for good the day they turned 17, a full year earlier than the law allows today.

That was it.

A junior who turned 17 in October could walk out of homeroom that same week and never come back.

That compulsory attendance rule held steady for decades, and Pennsylvania didn’t raise the cutoff to 18 until 2020.

Philadelphia carried its own twist on the front end, too.

Philadelphia kids had to start kindergarten by age 6, a full two years ahead of the rest of Pennsylvania, where the cutoff sat at 8.

Still True in Pennsylvania Today

Pennsylvania kept several of these rules on the books long after bell-bottoms went out of style.

These still apply to Pennsylvania students heading back to school right now, some almost word for word.

Every Pennsylvania student still needs an immunization record on file before the first day of school.

State law made that a requirement in 1974, covering polio, measles, and other core childhood vaccines, and the same paperwork chase plays out in school offices every August today.

Sixth and seventh graders still line up every fall for a mandatory spine check.

State law made scoliosis screening mandatory for those two grades starting in 1982, and Pennsylvania never repealed it, even after several other states dropped their own screening programs.

Boys pulled their shirts up.

Girls wore a gym top or a swimsuit underneath.

Nobody skips the line.

A student who fails the screening still gets a note home and a referral to an orthopedist.

A dental exam card is still due at a Pennsylvania kid's original entry into school, whether that's kindergarten or first grade, and again in third and seventh grade.

The requirement traces back to the 1949 Public School Code and has barely changed since.

Families can still use their own dentist, or the school can arrange a screening on site.

The form still needs a signature and a date.

Either way, it has to come home before the second week of school, then or now.

Other Rules Still on the Books

Pennsylvania's back-to-school paperwork didn't stop at health forms.

Pennsylvania law still lets a school district make a kid walk up to 1.5 miles to a bus stop, measured along public roads, regardless of age.

Parents who consider a route hazardous can ask the state to review it, but a long walk on its own still doesn't qualify.

Nobody's driving them either.

Pennsylvania teenagers still can't start a job without a trip to the school office first.

Any 14-to-17-year-old who wants an after-school shift or a summer job still needs a signed employment certificate, commonly called working papers, from the district's issuing officer.

One thing changed in 2020, when the state added a virtual option to what used to be a strictly in-person visit.