Did Your School Have a Smoking Area?

DID YOUR HIGH SCHOOL HAVE A “SMOKING AREA?”

I may not like it, but I’m a product of the 1970s. More like–a victim of the 70s. Horrendous fashions. Musical nihilism. Bad hair. Flawed politicians. Astroturf.

Indeed, I grew up in the dead center sweet spot of the “me” decade.

One thing I remember which seems odd now, even outrageous, were “smoking areas” in schools. The high school I attended had a large courtyard where students (and I presume teachers, too–I can’t remember exactly) gathered on breaks in between classes. The bell rang, and students had perhaps 10-15 minutes to step outside, light up, smoke a cig, and get to the next class.

Since most high school students were in the 14-18 age gap, having smoking areas seems so bizarre. Kids can’t even buy cigarettes today. But back then, (many) schools provided common areas for students to smoke. I’m uncertain if any sociology studies were done, but I expect this actually encouraged more young people to smoke, or at least try it.

I can’t recall much about smoking areas since I didn’t smoke. But I do remember walking past the public area and seeing dozens of students outside puffing away. Surely, this triggered other students to experiment with tobacco. After all, if the cool kids were lighting up, we wanted to be cool, too. Oh, and right next to the smoking areas there were coke machines. Not exactly healthy choices. to us, Fast Times at Ridgemont High wasn’t fiction. It was our generation’s autobiographical statement, ala what Rebel Without a Cause was to the 50s and The Graduate was to the 60s.

Looking back on the way things were, strange as they now may seem, I’m curious as to why smoking areas were ever a thing in the first place? Did schools and educators really think it was a good idea for 14-year-olds to smoke? Was this simply a way for schools to avoid fires in the bathroom — ala “Smoking in the Boys Room?” I’m also curious as to what happened to this policy in schools later on? Did the stigma of smoking in society gradually kill off all smoking areas, not only in schools, but also in the workplace? Or, did new federal laws restricting tobacco sales including age limitations kill (officially sanctioned) smoking in schools?

I suspect that anyone under age 30 reading this won’t believe this is real and that there really were smoking areas in schools back then. But It’s true, though I’m not sure how common it was.

Did your school have smoking areas? Am I the only one who never thought much about it back then, but now it seems so bizarre?