10. Bullies Carried Knives
The 1980s were before Columbine before people realized just how violent schools could become. So bullies carried knives and would threaten kids in the hallways, and there was no one to complain to because the teachers grew up in the Great Depression, the principal served in World War II, and the PE coach was a Vietnam vet.
Everyone assumed that a healthy dose of trauma was good for child development, and the best advice you could get was that boys would be boys. So the bullying was on a whole different level than what it is today, and you really could get beat up for wearing a shirt that was the wrong color.