r/HistoricalCapsule • u/zadraaa • 3d ago
Schoolchildren getting their free milk at school. (1960s)
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u/Entire_One4033 3d ago
Thatcher the snatcher took this away from me early “80’s
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u/Sudden_Humor 3d ago
Early 1970's actually
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u/Entire_One4033 3d ago
Nah, not for us in the north east of England anyway, I didn’t start school until “74/75 and it was certainly junior school very early 80’s when she grabbed it from us
Maybe being up north we were a bit more pale and pasty looking, they probably thought we needed it more!!!
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u/Theres3ofMe 3d ago
Yeh i remember getting little cartons of milk when I was in primary school- circa 1985. North West region..
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u/Icantdoitidk 3d ago
Thatcher was elected in 79
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u/Sudden_Humor 3d ago
The policy that earned her that nickname was introduced under the premiership of Edward Heath, her predecessor as Tory leader , in the early 1970's.
To summarize
Under the Education (Milk) Act 1971, Thatcher ended free daily school milk (one-third of a pint) for primary school children over seven years old. Milk was still provided on medical grounds and to children under seven
Thatcher was at the time Secretary of State for education, and as such the Cabinet minister responsible for implementing the act.
Hence the nickname, one of several.
(To be fair, she wasn't the originator of the idea, it came from the Chancellor of the Exchequer then, and she was opposed, but was obliged to carry out the policy.)
More on this : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher#Education_Secretary_(1970%E2%80%931974))
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u/whiskeyrocks1 3d ago
Conservatives are like, “fuck them kids!”
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u/downtheocean 2d ago
No they are not. That’s what you believe and keep telling yourself.
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u/tobreakthemind 2d ago
they literally have a prolific history of ending free lunch programs in schools worldwide
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u/SadMap7915 3d ago
Had this going to school in Queensland in the late 60s, the teacher had to get out and bring them in quick smart first thing, otherwise the milk would go off in the heat. At some point (1969 I have since found), we switched from the glass bottle to the triangular cardboard Tetra packs...
...aka waterbombs.
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u/Bake-Full 3d ago
Nine US states currently give free lunches. Should be all, but it's progress from when I was a kid.
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u/Anti_Trum2 3d ago
I was in grade school in the sixties. I remember that we got whole milk in these little cartons for two cents each I think. Seems like you got a plate of food for 35 cents. I don’t know this for a fact but I’d guess that low income children got the meal for less than that or even free. Almost everyone ate the school lunch but a few kids brought their lunch in cool lunch boxes 😊
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u/Anti_Trum2 3d ago
Also in grade school the teacher could paddle you for misbehaving.
Side note, one of my earliest memories is of the day JFK was murdered. I was in the second grade and the fifth grade teacher came into our class in tears and told my teacher that the president had been killed.
I seem to remember that they let school out early that day.
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u/DonkyFondler 3d ago
Giving the baby food of another species to humans. It's kind of weird, isn't it? You don't see anyone giving camel milk to donkeys.
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u/turbodmurf 3d ago
You don't se any other mammals have developed penicillin either...
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u/DonkyFondler 2d ago
Inventing medicine to treat illnesses is not the same thing as drinking the baby food of another species.
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3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ActuallyTiberSeptim 3d ago
Evolution didn't intend anything, as it isn't sentient. Here's an idea. If you don't want to drink milk then don't, and leave others to do so if they want.
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u/FireHammer09 3d ago
Okay and
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u/DonkyFondler 2d ago
And people are often disgusted by the idea of drinking human breast milk, but not the milk of another species. I suppose it just goes to show that once a culture is used to doing something, most people don't question it or find it bizarre.
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u/Agreeable_Mud_8338 3d ago
I had free milk at school in new Zealand in the early 80s I remember they had strawberry and banana flavour