The 1950s feel like a bygone era, don’t they? With rock-and-roll just emerging on the scene, teenagers were on the cusp of a new dawn.
It was the decade when black-and-white TVs and rotary dial landline phones slowly started making it into the homes of people. Can you believe that the moon landing hadn’t even happened yet?
Let’s look back at what high school was like in the ‘50s, and yearn for those simpler times with real 1950s high school yearbook photos to match.
Key Takeaways
| – Social Hangouts & Fun: In an era before smartphones, teenagers gathered at soda fountains, bowling alleys, and drive-in theaters. – Strict Dress Codes: Fashion was conservative and highly gendered. Girls wore poodle skirts, petticoats, and saddle shoes, while boys typically wore slacks, letterman jackets, and cardigans, with the “greaser” leather-jacket look emerging later. – Gendered Curriculum: Beyond core subjects, schools offered specialized vocational training. Boys took Shop class(woodworking and auto mechanics), while girls were funneled into Home Economics, Typing, and Shorthand to prepare for domestic life or secretarial work. – Limited Technology: Classrooms relied on overhead projectors and filmstrips, while homes featured rotary dial phones on “party lines” (shared lines with neighbors) and the first wave of black-and-white televisions. – Pop Culture Revolution: The mid-50s marked the birth of rock-and-roll, shifting teen interest from crooners like Frank Sinatra to icons like Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry. TV favorites included I Love Lucy and Leave It to Beaver. – Post-Graduation Paths: Higher education was less common than it is today, with only 30% of students attending college. Most graduates entered the workforce immediately as tradesmen, factory workers, clerks, or telephone operators. |
What Did High Schoolers Do for Fun in the 1950s?
The 1950s didn’t have smartphones or streaming services. And yet, teenagers found plenty of ways to have fun.
Playing sports was quite a popular activity back then. Teens either played organized sports in high school, such as baseball, basketball, and football, or played with other high schoolers in local parks. Those that didn’t play often still attended high school games.
Columbus Metropolitan Library, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Skating rinks, bowling alleys, diners with jukeboxes, beaches, drugstores with soda fountains, and drive-in theatres were major hangout spots for high schoolers. Teens also explored their neighborhoods in biking, often going hiking, fishing, and camping.
Surprisingly, schools hosted informal dances called sock hops (since they had to remove their shoes and dance in socks to protect the gymnasium floor) every Friday. The gym would fill up with popular songs that teens could groove away to.
High schoolers also hung out at each other’s homes, listening to music on the radio or reading fashion magazines or comic books. A lot of kids also held part-time jobs to make some pocket money!
What Fashion Trends Were Popular with ‘50s Teens?
High schoolers largely wore conservative or “preppy” clothing in the 1950s. However, when rock-and-roll entered the scene, many teenagers began adopting the “edgy” look.
But, fashion in the ‘50s was largely homogenous, with most of the population dressing similarly.
What Outfits Did ‘50s High Schoolers Wear?
High School Girl Outfits in the 1950s
Girls mostly wore long skirts with blouses tucked in, accessorized with an elastic cinch belt, scarves, and pearls. The skirts were often made of felt, wool, or a quilted cotton, and were heavy. Petticoats and crinolines were often worn under the skirt to give them volume, especially during school dances.
Designed by Freepik
The most common types of skirts included poodle and pencil skirts that fell well below the knee. Simple dresses were also common. High schools had very strict dress codes and girls were not allowed to wear pants.
Sweaters with bows, and button-down blouses with peter-pan collars were highly common. Capri pants and jeans (which were called dungarees back then) were also gaining prominence as casual wear.
As for footwear, girls often wore bobby socks with saddle shoes, penny loafers, white bucks, moccasins, or ballet flats.
High School Boys Outfits in the ‘50s
Teen boys wore sharply pressed suits to formal events that required them to dress up. Casual clothing meant button-down shirts with slacks and a belt. High schoolers also often wore cardigans or letterman jackets.
Designed by Freepik
High-waisted pleated trousers were the most common type of pants worn by teens, followed by blue denims.
Towards the middle of the decade, all-black clothing with leather jackets, influenced by Marlon Brando and rockstars, started becoming popular.
High school boys’ footwear included saddle shoes, shu-lok designs, and slip-ons, with converse being used for sports.
What Hairstyles Did ‘50s High Schoolers Have?
Girls often sported ponytails or shoulder-length hair that curled towards the end. Wearing headbands and flowers in your hair was the height of fashion. Short hairstyles, such as the poodle/ curly bob, bouffants, Hollywood pin-ups, and pixie cuts were very “in” during the 1950s.
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Pompadours, crew cuts, flat-tops, and jelly rolls were the most common hairstyles among boys.
Pop Culture in the 1950s
The birth of rock-and-roll and the widespread adaptation of TVs made the ‘50s an exciting decade for pop culture.
What Music Were ‘50s High Schoolers Listening to?
Crooners such as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, and Bing Crosby dominated the music scene till the mid-50s when rock-and-roll appeared on the scene. Since then, music from artists like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard became the popular ones to listen to.
Additionally, teens also listened to jazz, country, doo-wop, and Motown artists.
What Movies Were 1950s Teenagers Watching?
The ‘50s were big for cinemas, with teenagers often going to drive-in theatres to catch the latest releases and double features (i.e. two movies back-to-back). Westerns were very popular, and so were iconic stars like Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, and Marlon Brando.
The top 1950s movies were:
- All About Eve (1950)
- A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
- Moulin Rouge (1952)
- On the Waterfront (1954)
- Salome (1953)
- A Star is Born (1954)
- Lady and the Tramp (1955)
- Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
- North by Northwest (1959)
What TV Shows Did Teens Love in the ‘50s?
TVs back then had big antennas, fuzzy pictures, and manual tuning dials. Watching TV was an activity shared by the whole family. It was the decade when the term sitcoms entered the mainstream!
Here are the ‘50’s most popular TV shows:
- I Love Lucy
- Perry Mason
- Leave It to Beaver
- Adventures of Superman
- Our Miss Brooks
- The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
- Gunsmoke
What Was Technology Like in 1950s High School & Homes?
Technology was very sparse in the ‘50s, as most of the things we use today hadn’t been invented yet. Homes often only had TV sets, transistor radios, and rotary dial landlines.
The phones of that era were often large, black, and made of Bakelite. Everyone in the family had to share the same phone. You also couldn’t call other people directly; instead, you had to dial the operator, and ask them to connect you to the person you wanted to speak with.
“Party lines” were also very common, meaning you shared the same extension with multiple other people (goodbye, privacy!). A crucial point to highlight is that people didn’t “own” phones, they rented them from the telephone company.
Some other pieces of technology that were available in the ‘50s include microwaves (though they were very expensive), washing machines, blenders, vacuum cleaners, and refrigerators.
At School
Schools had to make do with minimal technology. Teachers often used tech like overhead projectors, headphones, educational TVs, radios, filmstrip projectors, photocopiers, and teaching machines in the classroom.
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Popular High School Classes in the ‘50s
Apart from the core subjects like mathematics, history, science, and english that every highschooler learns even today, the ‘50s had a few other classes that are obsolete now.
- Latin: Yep! This “dead” language was mandatory back then.
- Home economics: High school girls had to learn how to cook and sew so that they could take care of their homes better.
- Shop class: High school boys learnt woodworking, carpentry, electronics, and auto mechanics. Not only did these prove to be useful for making repairs around the house, they also acted as a gateway for boys to go into the trades.
- Typing: Since most girls went to take jobs as secretaries and typists, this class prepared them well.
- Shorthand: This helped people take faster notes.
What Jobs Did High Schoolers Take Up After High School?
Retail sales jobs were pretty common back then. After graduating high school, a lot of boys got jobs as retail workers in furniture, automotive, and clothing stores. Some other common career paths for teenage boys were going into the trades, working in factories, and joining the military.
Some other jobs that were common for boys in the 1950s were elevator operators, motion picture projectionists, and gas attendants.
After World War II, women also began getting jobs. In the ‘50s, a lot of girls went on to find jobs as factory workers, clerks, telephone operators, secretaries, and waitresses.
Only about 30% of high schoolers went on to attend college back then.
What Was High School Like in the ‘50s vs. Today?
High School in the ‘50s
Strict dress codes, no academic pressure, and no technology. The curriculum was based on rote memorization and certain classes were gendered. Students had to take notes by hand. However, teenagers had a lot of free time after school.
High School Today
A ton of academic pressure, heavy use of technology, and no dress code. Students use laptops and tabs for note-taking. AI plays a central role in education, with classes often taking place online. Crucially, the teaching curriculum promotes critical thinking. High school is also more inclusive today.
Reminisce Your High School Days with Classmates®
Whether you lived through the ‘50s, or heard your parents or grandparents talk about them with nostalgia, you know that kids back then had the kind of simple fun we can’t even imagine today.
If you want to reminisce on the good old days, Classmates has got you. With over 480,000 yearbook archives, you can browse for your own yearbooks or search for your old pals. You could also see if you can find teen pictures of your older relatives!
Register for free to get started.
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