As an Indian, my oldest memory of school was attending a school-wide assembly every day at 9:00 AM in the morning. Missing it meant, getting beaten up by my teachers. I used to watch cartoons till 9:10 AM and run to my school, climb the wall and go directly to my class without anyone noticing a lot of the days lol.
In assembly, we had to do some non-intensive exercises. Basically stretching our arms and legs. Then we used to sing the national anthem and Vande Mataram which is like a poem of historical significance. Then anyone who has a birthday was made to stand in front of the assembly and we used to sign them the happy birthday song. After all of this, we used to march back into our classes.
Since India is highly inspired by Soviet Russia and Communism, I was wondering if this is only a ritual in countries like India and not a western thing.
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I briefly went to private school and we had a morning assembly where we said the pledge and did a daily prayer ( it was a Christian school) with a little mini sermon that the principal gave. Very boring, would rather have been doing actual schoolwork.
We have assemblies but they aren’t daily. They’re more for special events through the school year. Not like what you’re describing. There might be a “homeroom” period before classes start where you just kinda mill about.
Yes, but not utilized the same way. Assemblies were rare events that centered around specific things only; their might between 2-4 assemblies a given school year.
Not every day, there is usually a brief set of daily announcements via PA for any school wide news, but full assemblies are less common things for longer events.
You would get beaten for missing a class? Not just a slap over the hands but beaten up?
My school has weekly assemblies, but it’s mostly just letting students know about important stuff happening around campus, congratulating students and teams for achievements, and occasionally having students present on something topical (for example, we had some BHM presentations each week February).
There used to be a more centralized approach to making announcements and whatnot, but these days most schools do “Homeroom.” That is, before actual classes, everyone hangs out in their “homeroom” classroom, listens to announcements over the public-address system, and does the Pledge of Allegiance.
Actual schoolwide assemblies tend to be for pep rallies, the annual Don’t Kill Yourself, You’re Very Important standdown (or whatever they call it), etc.
And we get shit for saying the Pledge of Allegiance in elementary school.
I’m a teacher. My school (precovid) did a morning assembly every day so the principal and teachers could make announcements. Often, someone would give a little inspiring speech. During COVID, we log into one big zoom and do the meeting that way.
Most schools do announcements over the loud speaker, but in our school it’s not possible so we do them in person instead.
We had assemblies that were mostly pep rallies. Usually just fun games and music.
Assembly but not to exercise. Exercise was in a separate P. E. (physical education, also called “gym”) class. It was a full class hour every day. Exercise or sports.
Assembly was for awards, announcements, pep rallies, student elections, or entertainment, and usually took place in the school auditorium. Some schools didn’t have one so they used the cafeteria.
> Since India is highly inspired by Soviet Russia and Communism
It is?
> Missing it meant, getting beaten up by my teachers
Dang.
I’ve seen the type of outdoor physical exercise assembly in movies. We don’t have that. Not school-wide, anyway.
P. E. class is by grade level (age.)
In my elementary and middle school, we had assemblies at the end of every school term to give out awards for academic achievements, citizenship (i.e. good behavior), and perfect attendance. We also had special assemblies every now and then for specific occasions. For example, we had one soon after 9/11 talking about the importance of patriotism and celebrating/recognizing firefighters and those in the military. In middle school, I remember one gathering that also honored firefighters who were currently battling a major wildfire in Southern California (some of our local ones were sent there to help out too). In middle and high school, we had spirit or “pep” rallies on school spirit days, during which there were cheerleading and dance performances, as well as small competitions.
We had assembly once a week in lower and middle school, and twice a week in high school. It was pretty different from what you described, with the exception of the singing in lower and middle school. We would sing the national anthem and the school anthem every week. The rest of the assembly, which was between 30 and 60 minutes total, consisted mostly of announcements. There were also speeches in 8th and 12th grade (highest grades in middle and high school, ages 13/14 and 17/18 respectively). Every student in those grades has to make a persuasive speech to the whole school once during the school year.
> Missing it meant, getting beaten up by my teachers.
I’m sorry, come again?
At first I interpreted Indian as Native American and couldn’t believe kids were getting beat up in some schools. Here any teacher who slapped a kid would likely be quickly suspended and fired/forced to resign.
We have PE (Physical Education) for exercise but it’s its own period and can be anytime during the day. Typically days start off with announcements and the pledge of allegiance
We sometimes have assemblies but it’s more for special events
Yes but very few times
My grandparents tell me this used to be a thing in the US and I’ve read about it in period literature set in Canada, but no, we don’t have daily assemblies.
We do have announcements, generally in the morning, over an intercom system, where we say the pledge of allegiance, in elementary we’d call birthdays out, any school activities that needed to make announcements could, that sort of thing. It serves the same purpose.
Yes, our elementary school had an assembly every Monday morning where parents were welcome to attend. It would start with the Pledge of allegiance then news about upcoming events. It was very convivial. Sadly this has stopped since March 2020.
Yes we have assemblies. But they are not daily events. There are typically only 2-4 assemblies a year unless there is some major local or world event requiring a special assembly.
Assemblies are not an exercise time. They are a gathering to receive specific announcements, be lectured at (in the academic sense), and at times see a performance.
Corporal punishment like swats (spanking) is no longer legal in the US. Any child being beaten by a teacher would result in that teacher going to prison.
We had assembly twice a week at my school, twenty minutes of prayers and announcements, sometimes songs, sometimes a short speech.
It was a private religious school.
I can only answer for myself.
It’s not something we’d have on a regular basis. If there was a public speaker, then yes. But that was rare. In elementary school, when the 6th grade band played, they would make us go so they’d get to play for an audience.
The one I most remember though was shortly after 9/11. I was in middle school. They had grief counselors there to discuss what happened/was happening and we could ask questions.
The closest equivalent to what you’re describing would be “homeroom.” Every student is assigned a room where they go for the start of the day. While seated in homeroom, the students listen to announcements over the intercom and possibly recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Homeroom is scheduled for about 15 minutes, and when the bell rings, all the students get up and go to their first class of the day.
Note: Things may be different now. That was like 20 years ago. We also watched a short current events show called Channel One News during homeroom. Lisa Ling got her start on it.
Yeah but, assemblies were mostly for special events. Probably something that happened 4-5 times a year. Usually talking about some sort of topic. I distinctly remember one in middle school where we watched something called “Nightmare on Puberty St.” which was an Edu-tainment theater thing about the struggles of adolescence and the things we have to deal with growing up. It was interesting.
High School was usually for stuff like spirit week or other stuff. I remember watching a preview of the theater club doing their performance of Macbeth I believe. Most people just liked them as a way of getting out of class
The closest thing to that which I experienced was in elementary school. All of the students would congregate in the gym until about 8:15am, when our teachers would do a headcount and shuffle us off into the homeroom.
There’d be a slight briefing about general school activities, procedure updates, etc. during homeroom, then we’d march off to our respective scheduled classes (they were different for everyone, which from what I remember during my time in school was an oddity for elementary school) for the day around 8:30-ish.
I had weekly assemblies in elementary school, + ones if there was some event going on. Other days, and then on into middle and high school it was just announcements over the PA. That’s when we had the pledge too.
In grade school we had school wide assemblies. We said the pledge, recited the preamble, and sang patriotic songs of the day like god bless the usa. The principle had a paddle in her office, but it was never used. Worst punishment was handwriting copying pages from encyclopedia for an hour no beatings.
Not every day, maybe six times a year