School leavers exams, care to explain what they were in 1970……
Seeing that you ask.
As you well know you could leave school at 15, or you could say on and take O levels or CSEs. But at 15 in Bootle, all kids took Bootle School Leavers Exams even the Grammar schools, both Protestant and Catholic, both boys and girls schools.
After what is now year 8 you chose subjects and then we're put in either Science or Arts stream. I was in Science and came across the most condescending divvy I've had the misfortune to meet. He was the Physics teacher and his favourite go to was, 'i've study for years and can't put information into your brain, boy'.
Come his Physics exam a number of us decided to go in, put our name on the paper and just sit there. An exam strike. During the duration of the exam, teachers and the head took us out and thretened us with the cane. But we stook to our guns. The upshot was, parents were called in and we had to go into the heads office. Who wasn't so tough when confronted with a parent.
That wasn't the only strike we had. The RE teacher was the most vicious teacher going, who took great delight in inflicting pain. He caned a lad on the backside 6 times for mistaken about identity over a noise. When we went into PE to get changed he showed someone the weeping marks. We refused to get changed, and again the head came down and we just sat there. Same procedure, parents called in and again, not so tough.
Strikes were quite common around our area in Netherton, with the English Electric routinely going on strike. My dad was a shop steward and a strong trade unionist. It rubbed off on me. So when there were trade unionists killed in Odessa in 2014, by a fascist mob. I knew which side I was on. That fascist mob then launched a Russaphobic Banderite assault on those in the Donbass, who took up arms to protect themselves, with the ensuing civil war now in motion.