High School 1957 vs 2009
[UPDATE]
When I posted this chain email I received in August.. I had no idea that it would generate this level of attention.
Posting non-original content is not something I teach or normally do. At the time I thought it was interesting, my list might appreciate it and it would make a good tweet.
I didn’t expect it to generate 100′s of comments and initiate debates on race, religion, sex and drugs… but it has…
I’ll keep this post up for now, but if it really digresses I’ll probably remove it..
The original author of this article created 8 extreme scenarios to highlight some differences between 1957 and 2009.
Obviously there are 1000′s of scenarios that could be created to highlight the good and bad of both generations, but this particular post was written to favor 1957.
I guess the real question is… Would you rather grow up in 1957 or 2009 and why?
Scenario 1:
Jack goes quail hunting before school and then pulls into the school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck’s gun rack.
1957 – Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack’s shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2009 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
Scenario 2:
Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins.. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2009 - Police called and SWAT team arrives — they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged them with assault and both expelled even though Johnny started it.
Scenario 3:
Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students.
1957 - Jeffrey sent to the Principal’s office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2009 – Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The school gets extra money from the state because Jeffrey has a disability.
Scenario 4:
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt..
1957 – Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.
2009 – Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy’s mom has an affair with the psychologist.
Scenario 5:
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957 – Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock.
2009 – The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations His car is then searched for drugs and weapons.
Scenario 6:
Pedro fails high school English.
1957 – Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college.
2009 - Pedro’s cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against the state school system and Pedro’s English teacher. English is then banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
Scenario 7:
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up a red ant bed.
1957 – Ants die.
2009 – ATF, Homeland Security and the FBI are all called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates his parents — and all siblings are removed from their home and all computers are confiscated. Johnny’s dad is placed on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.
Scenario 8:
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2009 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison… Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.
I wholeheartedly believe our main problem is the media. I grew up in a BFE town in Oklahoma, and most of the people that lived there where White or Native American. Most of what I’ve learned about other ethnic groups (Yes ethnic groups not races) is what I learned from the media, which was very bias. All you ever heard where how this person of RACE (any ‘race’) was doing something bad. I finally moved to OKC which has a lot more ethnic groups and I had a huge culture shock and this was just less than a 100 miles. I found that the stereotypes are not like they are on the media. Yes sometimes they are right but for the most part they are wrong. I learned after several months of living here that just because you are a certain ‘race’ that does not mean you are a drug dealer or some stupid such.
On the topic of the low-income families it’s hard to blame most of them because it is IMPOSSIBLE to live on minimal wage even without supporting a family. You can also only receive welfare cheeks for no more that 2 yrs continuously and a total of 6 yrs. Welfare also does not help when you only make $7.25 an hour without health benefits. Also it’s been proven that the public school standards are sub-par, teachers are underpaid and classrooms are over crowded. So even if the poorer families wanted to get ahead in life they have a very hard battle for them. Also random fact: Most poor families are single mothers who the father has abandoned them or has died.
To be honeset i think that these show the social decline in american society today, as is the american way. You all consider yourself lucky to be so “free” and democratic, when in fact ive yet to see another country since nazi germany and fascist italy (and im not saying america is nazi etc) where a nation uses so much indoctrination and propoganda to convince its people that how they spend their budgets (defensive or otherwise) and who they approach their foreigh policy is correct.
Another thing that irritates me about americans (and these are only the ones that i have experiance with) is their complet arrogance and ignorance, one even whent so far as to ask me if we had gay people in ireland.
I mean come on like.
America isnt the best at dealing with its social problems, and its lack of interest in how other countries run things because they are either communist of socialist doesnt help either….
I see this entire thread as a giant debate that presents many if not all the issues debated between party lines in modern politics. Each side has its reasons and views on every subject, but i think the part we cannot agree on is the moral standpoint. Many of the perspectives developing on these topics are based on what is right. One person may see a certain approach to an issue to be more benefiicial; another person may see a completely different approach to be the solution. In the end it comes down to understanding each others viewpoint. Yes, some of the scenarios may be exaggerated or even a little innaccurate, but I do not think the scenarios were meant to be “politically correct” or dead on accurate, I think these scenarios were made to get people thinking about what has changed in that past few decades and perhaps why things have changed. What past lessons have we learned or not learned as a Nation or people? What corruption has ensued so that perhaps kids bringing their gun to school is more dangerous today than it may have been in the past. Where in the scheme of bussiness and politics do prescription drugs get thrown at people to make money, and when do people get prescription drugs to actually help somebody. I am however very impressed with the wave of ideas coming from this seemingly simple read. when i first read this i did not bother to take in mind half of the topics that have taken disscussion
Wow
I wonder if it has anything to do with the intense violation of the human spirit by the media’s choice to portray a horrific world to already scared people.
and perhaps…
something to do with almost not natural foods. In 57 there were actually nutrients in every day food.
and perhaps…
The massive amounts of radiation that we live with these days. Between cell phones, wifi, radar, radio, microwave, the list goes on….
and perhaps…
ahh maybe that’s enough of a reason… to explain why p30ple are so farked up these days…
Fr4nk Banana reporting live from the interw3bs
Daniel kisses Mark
1957 – They are both lynched.
2009 – No one cares.
There is a good thing about human memory.
Over time, every saved information in it gets manipulated into something better, until you see your past with rose-colored glasses.
This is a way to make your life better: You are abled to see about everything in your past, even the worst events ( being spanked, being raped, being almost killed, yes, it gets as far as that.).
This generally good thing – it often helps people from committing suicide – oftenly gets turned around. The older people get, they will criticise the present by comparing it to the past, which gets more golden to them with the passing years.
This, of course, is not the real past but their changed perception of it.
The reason of the eternal struggle Old vs Young? This is it.
Now, what I want to say: It’s not hard to overlook the bad things in the past and overlook the good things in the present.
I feel qualified to say the life standards for most american citizens is highly elated today compared to the life standards in the Fifties.
There are still issues everywhere, and of course, for old issues that got abolished – race and gender are not as significant anymore, which is a good thing, cold war has ended, people generally tend to believe more in peace than in war, etc. – there are new ones. Drug use, financial crisis, screwed-up environment for example.
All in all, our lifes still got better. One evidence is you ranting around here – if there were computers back in the Fifties, you surely had not enough money to buy one.
Thus, I don’t think it is too wise to wish back the “golden days” again. They were probably as grey as nowadays, maybe even greyer.
Thank you.
P.S.: If there is bad English, I ask you to excuse my failures. It’s just my second language.
good lord. to anyone who buys into any of this garbage, you are a complete and utter moron. i could go into why you’re a moron, but i know it would only fall upon deaf and ignorant ears. referencing purely fictional scenarios as evidence for anything, fifties americana propaganda or otherwise, is so laughable it makes me want to puke. you people are so willing to swallow up anything that feels good, you fail to ever really contemplate any of it. enjoy your unexamined lives, you idiots.
p.s. @dan – 1957: dan’s mom makes a horrible error in judgment and fails to abort the pregnancy (fifties coat hanger style of course).
2009: dan’s mom makes yet another horrible error in judgment, sends him some ignorant garbage to share with the internets, and i die a little inside.
I wasn’t going to approve Matthew’s comment because of its hateful tone and vile content. But I think it helps prove the point about the change in generations.
From his email address he appears to be a college student so he has little life experience. Myself and many others on this thread have lived to see many of these scenarios play out.. As we’ve all said.. they are extreme.. but they are not purely fictional. I’ve even proved it with some recent news stories as well.
I’m sorry if Matthew’s comment offends anyone, I have not approved other ignorant comments like his. … However, when someone states that I should have been aborted by my mother because I reposted a very popular email on my blog.. It ticked me off enough that I wanted to show the world how much of a lowlife Matthew is..
If Matthew feels so strong about this issue.. I challenge him to show his mother this post and his comment. I’m sure she’d be very proud.
Wow. I don’t think it’s even possible to be more alarmist and extreme about school today. the only scenario that isn’t completly uot of this world and ridiculously untrue is scenario 1, and I guess scenario 3 could be true. but the rest are basically something that someone, who obviously has no kids, made up because they, for whatever reason, didn’t like schools today. I’m a highschool student and will be graduating this year. I know kids who have gotten in a fist fight (scenario 2) and it happened just like this article says it would happen in 1957, the only difference is that at the end they were not friends and they both got suspended for a week. also, I know that probably at least half the kids in my school have at some point brought tylenol or aspirin to school for a headache (scenario 5) and nobody cared. I could go on about the rest of the scenarios but sufficient to say that unless this article was written purely for fun and humour, then the author is a halfwitted dumbass who should probably think twice before blindly belivieving whatever he/she sees on fox news.
It’s so annoying when people romanticize about the “good ol’ days”. While I agree that some of these scenarios are treated very wrongly today (you have a good point about firecrackers, for example), I really disagree with your glorification of child beating as a means of bringing up your children.
Capt Turk is so correct. I just read the posts by him vs Jack. HE is 100% correct and not a racist. Today, if you disagree with any minority getting lots of opportunities/grants/etc you are labeled a racist. My kids will never the freebies to get into college because we are stuck in the middle class. The more we work to make to make ends meet means we are ineligible to get scholarship money. The minority kids at our schools never get disciplined because the schools are afraid they will be sued, etc. My European immigrant relatives scraped and fought for their jobs and learned the English language when the came to America. No special free classes, no enabling, no hand outs like the WIC progam or public aid. They worked hard, pure and simple. They didn’t ask for payback for anything that happened in the past – they moved forward. Capt. Turk is intelligent and probably most educated people would agree with him. More people need to stop whining, take jobs and get off the “What ar eyou going to give me” boat.
Capt. Turk and Jacks thread will go down in infamy.
“I have not approved other ignorant comments like his. … However, when someone states that I should have been aborted by my mother because I reposted a very popular email on my blog.. It ticked me off enough that I wanted to show the world how much of a lowlife Matthew is..”
jeez dan. while i’m not quite sure that a comment on your blog is equivalent to “showing the world” anything, i’m really rather flattered that you allowed my post, even if its just because you hated it more than any other, or felt it truly captured the lack of good old fashioned morals amongst today’s youth. when i made my comment, you were little more to me than a thumbnail of some grinning, backwards thinking goober. but you’re not a thumbnail. you’re a man. a man with feelings. and i’m sorry if i hurt them. also, i accepted your challenge, and shared all of this with my own mother. she was disgusted.
Matthew… almost 120,000 people have read this post, and 2,000+ new people view it per day..so it’s a start..
Not sure what I stated in the comments that makes me appear backward’s thinking.. I think I’ve been pretty fair to all the commenters..
However, I am proud of you for showing your mother.
Trust me.. When it comes to disgusting people, as one the creators of the iFart Mobile iphone app, I’ve disgusted millions… But most people your age think I’m pretty cool because of that..
And I’ve never been called a “goober” before, but as an ex model with a 150+ IQ, whose made millions of people around the world laugh… why would I have been?
I do get called a “geek” on occasion.
I just wish that if someone feels compelled to leave a comment on this post, they leave a logical, cordial and rational response. It’s the only way you will sway any opinions.
right on, dan. noted.
So I see the comment section has further fallen into argument about something that clearly is all strawman. I was, for a moment, finding myself “on the side of” the OP but when I caught the crack about college students and life experience I was reminded how ‘wise’ adults tend to think of the number of years you’ve been alive as badges of wisdom. It isn’t the quanitity of the experience, Dan, it’s the quality. Few of the vibrant, wise, and mature people I’ve met in my life were over 35 at the time I found them to have such wonderful qualities. A majority of the people I found to be closed off, bitter, angry and closed minded were people over that age.
I did get a chuckle, however, out of your self-ego-stroke about how smart and successful you are. As if your IQ, another number, actually matters. Bet they didn’t teach you that in the 50′s and 60′s. My parents, born in 50 and 51 and my grandma, born in 32 all seemed to think the values you should have to be truly successful include a good work ethic, good morals, and common sense.
I do hope this was cordial enough for you.
Lillith, I think we can agree that the average college student doesn’t have the life experience of the average middle aged and above adult.. Of course there are exceptions.
But when someone calls you a backwards thinking goober and suggests you should have been aborted by your mother, I think perhaps that individual is not one of those exceptions.
And I think it gives me latitude to tongue and cheekly suggest that I am not a backwards thinking goober. Ego stroking, perhaps a little.. If I added those things to my site headline.. yes that would definitely be ego stroking.
Everyone’s life experience is different, that is why these scenarios ring true to many people, and seem insane to others. This is the reason this thread is what it is.
I surround myself with many vibrant people over 35 thus my perspective is different than yours.
Now not to ego stroke, but I never said I was successful, however I have worked an average of 80 hours per week my entire adult life.. In my 20′s worked 4-5 jobs at a time and clocked years of 100 hour weeks. My father at 75 still works 70 hours per week (by choice).. Trust me I was raised with the ethics and morals you speak about…
Yes your comment was cordial enough, thank you.
However, I will most likely pull this post this down in the near future.. The comments I disapprove of daily simply get more and more disturbing..
I think that there is truth to these scenarios, but I also believe that a few of them are over exaggerated. The gun scenario in the beginning is a definite one that is going on because guns are very dangerous, so I don’t think there is much exaggeration there. I have a problem with the one about ADD and the Sexual Abuse one. First of all, people assume that ADD is just something that is made up to make money, and I believe that there ARE some people who are given Ritalin who don’t need it, but it’s a very real disorder. The reason why fidgeting might have been taken care of by discipline is because ADD didn’t exist back then like it does today. ADD and ADHD are disorders that are more environmental than they are genetic, and it’s because of what is called the “MTV effect”. Have you ever really payed attention when you were watching TV or a movie how it switches scenes so often? A scene is never on the screen for longer than a few seconds, and this causes people to more easily pay attention. Because of this, our attention spans are decreasing causing fidgeting and making it hard for us to listen during class. This is why ADD didn’t exist years ago, because there was no TV. Even when we did have televisions, the MTV effect was only used very little, if not at all.
About the teacher and sexual abuse; I agree that this is a very dumb move for the government to make. I know parents who are afraid to bring their kids to the grocery store just because they have bruises because they have accidentally fell and hurt themselves. There are also many parents out there who are afraid to spank their kids in public. People wonder why kids are so spoiled rotten now-a-days, but when a kid knows that when they are in public they won’t get punished, it’s only leading them on. I heard a story once about a kid saying back to their parent something like, ‘go ahead and spank me, I can just call the cops’. This is a horrible world today with all of our “safety”. I think that people need to be able to tell the difference between someone who is actually sexually assaulting a child, or if they are just giving them a hug because they hurt themselves.
Dan;
Concerning a small part of your comments concerning life experiences and age. I kind of have to disagree with you on this one. there are always exceptions.
I enlisted in the U.S. Navy when I was 17. By the time I was 20, I had been to over 50 countries, seen, and met more cultures of people than most Emigration workers, saw more inhumanities, and worked more than my share of 20 or more hour days. I think that I probably have had more life experiences at 20 than most people have had their whole lives. Remember, age does not always mean wisdom, or intelligence.
The person who is making the rude and vile comments is just a poor soul searching for justification in his/her warped way of thinking. Every generation from the dawn of man has rebelled against authority figures, or someone they obviously see as intellectually superior to them. This was, and always will be the way it is.
Do not give up this blog, for it is a variable cornucopia of mixed and scattered minds that people find fascinating these days.
Certain things that today’s youth think are cool are no different than that of the 50′s. Take the “Sagging Pants” thing vs. the 50′s Pompadour hair” thing that parents hated. I can not understand why the male youth of today wear their pants down even though in San Francisco that is a “Gay” code for “Young and available”. I’m wondering if the 50′s hair style meant the same thing.
History repeats itself, always. We do not learn from our mistakes if they do not happen to us personally. technology is basically the only difference in history. With advancement of technology, the awful things that happen in life only happen sooner, and now more people know about it.
Obviously written by people who lived in the “good ole days.” Pretty much all of the 2009 situations are completely exaggerated..
@crazysquid, I clearly stated there were exceptions… especially with the military like yourself.
@Steve P, also stated they were exaggerated, but all you have to do is watch the news everyday to see where the inspiration comes from.. I’ve posted a few recent stories that fit the mold.
Hi Dan,
Great little thread you got going here. I was born in 1958. Which makes me special because I’m included in the Boomer” generation now. Back in the early 70′s, I wasn’t a Boomer. I was born 3 years too late to be a Boomer. Can’t remember what we were called. I grew up in the 60′s and 70′s, and have as of the last 20 years, been interested in the impact the 60′s and 70′s had. And I found out that one had to look back to the 40′s and 50′s. and once you got a handle on that, you had to go back to the 20′s and 30′s. It is odd to look backward beyond your time to your parents time, to your grand parents time. I used to marvel at the changes my parents saw during their lives. I was born fairly late for may parents. They had childhoods not much different then their parents, no cars, no phones, no radio. On the other hand, the future that was promised in my childhood never arrived. What today’s 20 year old will see by the time they are 50 is beyond me. But surely, they will look back to today and think of these days as the good old days.
I just wanted to add a few things. In my self exploration of recent history, there are two things that really stand out. One is the lives of women and how it has changed over the last 70 years. It is true that the divorce rate was much lower in the 50′s. But, doesn’t reflect the desire there was for divorce in the 50′s or the political, economic, and cultural changes that allowed women to get a divorce. Also, the “Pill” changed everything. And women, who had worked during wartime, had pushed the ability for women to work outside the home. This lead to more women taking part in the workforce. Also, women culture has changed, although not has much has their freedom has. The other is the development of the post war economy “Suburb” and how it changed the way of American life. As a subset to this, you can add desegregation, forced busing, and white flight. If you were part of the “New” culture, your views and way of life were completely different then those who were still living in a culture that existed 10 or 20 years prior. The fashions may have been the same, but the rules and ideas you lived by were different.
DANG LIBERALS!! Look what they have done to our country!
Be prepared for a long post…this blog has really given me a lot to think about and a lot to write about too.
Wow…where to start. First off I’d like whoever reads this to realize that without respecting others’ opinions, you refuse to adapt, which is the reason humans are where they are now. Regardless of how idiotic an opinion seems or how much you wish you could strangle the person above you because of the post he/she made, it’s the internet and that frustration will only lead you to anger and therefore clouded judgment.
Oh. Also, I am a 19 year old male student currently enrolled in university. I don’t know everything, but neither do you so I hope that you will all respect my opinion as much as anyone else’s.
With that said, I think I can begin.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t completely read everything everyone wrote. I stumbled upon this page today and found it very intriguing. Of course most of the scenarios are exaggerated, but I wouldn’t say there is no basis for them. You may not have experienced these things yourselves, but there is definitely someone out there that has.
Scenario 1 – I won’t get into the political aspect of guns and whatnot, but for obvious reasons bringing guns to school isn’t a good idea regardless of how stable-minded you might think you or anyone you know might be. The reason rules such as those were implemented is clearly for the safety of children in school. You can make any argument you like, but guns will still be deadly. (not to mention the advancement in the accuracy and capacity to kill that guns have seen since the 50′s) It’s school, not a warzone, so leave your weapons at home and keep them there. Whereas the school systems might not be perfect, they do what they can to protect students and as far as I’m concerned, the advancements that have been made in that field are exponential and should be kept. If you want to have show-and-tell with guns you can do that outside of school.
Scenario 2 – First off I don’t think that Johnny and Mark would walk away friends after a good beating, but who knows…I didn’t live in the 50′s. And maybe the SWAT team won’t come for your every-day run-of-the-mill fight. That said, I have seen plenty of fights in my time in school (mostly in high school) but none of them ended with more than a bloody nose and possibly a broken bone. These injuries are mostly sustained by those partaking in the fight, so it was their choice in the first place. Let me clarify by saying that a fight is different from a mob chasing after and beating a helpless student. I’m not saying that fighting in schools is okay. It most certainly is not, and it should stay that way. Imagine if everyone turned a blind eye to fighting in schools. Not only would there be more fights, but by ignoring these things and refusing to punish the culprits it sends a message to all of the other students that fighting is okay. That’s not the message we want our kids to hear.
Scenario 3 – This is a controversial scenario, because in some cases ADD and ADHD, along with all manner of other diseases/conditions, can be very dangerous to those suffering as well as their peers. As some of you said, ADD and other conditions were not as prominent because they weren’t diagnosed. Others said that it is merely an easy way out for the parents and/or the teachers. There is truth in both of those statements. I know of a lot of people that are diagnosed with all sorts of ailments and disorders. More than half of those people (out of the people that I know have these “problems”) abuse the drugs they are prescribed themselves or sell them to their peers just to get some extra cash. I know that there are people out there that need these drugs to live a normal life, so I wouldn’t say that they should not be allowed, but then there’s an equal party that doesn’t need those drugs and those are the ones abusing the drugs. I can’t think of a good solution to that problem and I don’t think there is a perfect solution to the problem. There is a fine line between those that need it and those that want it for the wrong reasons, but as there is no foolproof way of distinguishing between the two I would say it is better to help those that need it regardless of those that abuse it.
Scenario 4 – For a little clarity, I’ll say that Billy’s dad gives Billy a good spanking instead of saying he “gives him a whipping.” There is a clear line between beating and punishing. A child may not see that line, but it is every parent’s responsibility to know where the line is and not to cross it. I’d say anything with an open hand is fair game as long as it’s on the bottom. Closed fist is taking it too far. An open hand may make your tush red for a day, but a closed fist can bruise and cause permanent damage. Without some kind of punishment for negative reinforcement, a child will never learn the difference between what is acceptable and what is grounds for punishment. Sure you may have some kind of super-child that just has the innate ability to just not do anything wrong, but let’s be honest. Every kid wants to have fun and well…what’s more fun than breaking the rules right? Since the kid can’t be held socially responsible, it is the parents’ responsibility to make sure the kid doesn’t get in trouble. If a parent cannot discipline their child, then they will grow up undisciplined and bring that into public. I know from personal experience. My dad had a closed fist ready to knock my head against a wall every time I did something bad. I grew up failing elementary school and cursing at my teachers. I had no discipline at all. That isn’t to say that I never learned though. I certainly have grown up a good deal since those days, and I have since forgiven my dad and also learned the difference between being a bratty little kid and being an adult. Now I’m in college and I’m getting good grades and I’m on full scholarship doing what I love to do. Being successful is mostly psychological. Of course childhood effects all of that, but I feel that anyone that wants it enough can do whatever they want. (to a certain extent. no need to be devil’s advocate and say that a midget can’t be a basketball player. I know there are exceptions to everything)
Scenario 5 – So I know all medications and whatnot were not allowed in school, but I never once saw anyone expelled or punished for having over the counter pain medication. There are way more important things for people to worry about.
Scenario 6 – Seeing as I hated English (still do) I have a biased opinion here, but let’s be honest. I don’t care what anyone says about whatever freedoms blah blah blah. English should be required for the purpose of ensuring that everyone with a high school education is proficient enough in english to follow the career path they choose. All that analyzing novels and short stories bull is ridiculous. Regardless of what anyone says, English is the national language of the United States of America and it always has been. Sure we’re a melting pot of nearly every culture on the face of this planet, but hell if you want to be here so much you can learn a little bit of English. Criticize me all you want, but a country cannot function with half of the population speaking a different language from the other half. I know a lot of Americans are arrogant and ignorant for not wanting to learn other languages, but if you’re in your own country living your own life you should be able to go through every day life without having to look for the English version of a sign because it is surrounded by 5 other languages. And personally I absolutely DESPISE trying to talk to someone in customer service that doesn’t speak English. Management needs to start using their brains and at least not put people with limited English abilities in a position where they are forced to interact with hundreds of people (that speak English) on a daily basis. That’s not racist at all. That’s common sense.
Scenario 7 – I don’t have any personal experience with this one unless you count a magnifying glass.
Scenario 8 – One of my sister’s very good friends had sex with one of their former English (haha coincidence) teachers. It came out a few years down the road and the teacher was fired and he was embarrassed in front of his family, his friends and the entire community. I hug teachers all the time. (male and female alike) I doubt anyone has said a thing about it. I wouldn’t say that the scenario is impossible, but it is very unlikely that the justice system would allow such an obvious mistake go unnoticed.
Now…to comment on the comments
John J – “I think it’s interesting that the kids from 1957 are the ones who have essentially made/changed the rules to what we have today. I wonder why?”
It’s an intriguing question, but I think that it is mostly the upper-class that makes the laws and regulations. Of course, we live in a democratic republic so the people do have a say, but when it all comes down to it the ones in office are the ones making the laws and, although I wouldn’t say it is true for all politicians, they are mostly corrupt lying SOB’s interested merely in self preservation.
Heidi L – “Parents find it more important to have both parents working so that they can ‘keep up with the jones’ instead of actually taking care of their own children.”
This is huge. I totally agree with you there. Most people are way too worried with their personal possessions that they forget what is important in life. I won’t lie, I bought into it too. I have a pair of $200 Oakley sunglasses, a $1100 Macbook and a $700 42″ LCD TV. I bought them all myself, but what do I need those for? I’m a college student. I could have gotten a $300 laptop, a $5 pair of Walmart sunglasses and a $50 TV. Of course it is necessary that people continue to buy things like these to keep the economy circulating, but the point is that when people put those things in front of things they REALLY need it causes problems. It is appalling to see how much society has grown away from the personal way life used to be. These things make life easier for us of course, but is it worth the separation we put between our loved ones? Regardless of whether it is your mom or your dad I think that it is important to spend as much time with your children as possible. With most families having two working parents, it is really hard for the personal aspect to be there with their kids. I can’t even tell you how many times I heard the words “I hate my parents” come out of my friends’ and my own mouth. It is disrespectful to say these things yet we know no better because that is how we grew up. The problem is that as kids of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, we have every right to be mad at our parents for not being there to raise us. I won’t say that every child with a stay-at-home parent has a better life, but I’m sure they appreciate the love and care their parents gave them as a child.
Tracy Repchuk – Respect.
Mark’s Jeep – Scenario 9: Frank playing ball breaks a neighbor’s window
I don’t completely disagree with you there. I don’t think it’s right that a lot of people try (and sometimes succeed) to take advantage of the justice system, which coincidentally is there to protect you, by setting themselves up for disaster, but I think it is in human nature to be greedy. Unfortunately there is no perfect solution for every problem (or at least we haven’t found it yet) so all you can do is hope that some scumbag doesn’t try and screw your life.
Dr P – “This page is ridiculous. Sure, a lot of the examples from 1957 maybe true, but nearly all the examples from 2009 are so far from reality its laughable. No doubt, the examples from 2009 HAVE happened; but the only reason we hear about these things is because they are so far from the ordinary that they become newsworthy. These examples don’t describe what life is like in 2009; in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this page was written by a Fox News reporter. That is, this is nothing but conservative, gun-toting, American naivety at its best.”
I understand that this article is slightly exaggerated in cases, but I think it is merely a message to make you think. Of course 1957 wasn’t better than now, but there are some aspects of life in 1957 that, in theory, seem to be a better option than what we ended up with today. (like UNC winning the NCAA tournament
) The point is that some of the specifics in this page are noteworthy and should be questioned. The author clearly hoped that people would question these things and possibly instigate change. That’s all any writer wants to do really; make people think. Not that you guys don’t think, but I think that’s the problem with the United States. Too many people go through every day life wondering why their life sucks, but they don’t even think to voice their opinions and instigate change.
Ryan – “Today’s parents are so afraid of going to prison for “beating” their child that the kids run free in the streets, knowing that there is little to no consequences, because all mom is going to do is yell a little bit and then go back to her soap operas. Today’s mom can’t swat their child’s behind at the grocery store for screaming and throwing a tantrum because people like you will call the cops. The mother has done nothing wrong besides get the child to be quit. But because the parents can’t discipline their children in public, they don’t take their children to public places. This leaves kids with no knowledge of social interaction and no clue how to behave in public places, so when they do go out they are horrible, or when they finally start going to school they don’t know how to make friends or sit still in their chairs, so someone decides to give them drugs to make them calm down.”
I think that as a species, humans have just discovered so much in technology and medicine that it’s starting to backfire. It’s hard to find people that aren’t on some kind of “medication” regardless of what it is for; the common cold, a headache or a real problem like cancer. These days there is a quick fix for basically everything. It’s a way for people to just keep on going. In this day and age, it is so out of the ordinary to take a break that we have limited sick days in the workplace. The only real way to help yourself be a healthier person is to take care of your body by exercising and eating healthy. (fast food every day won’t cut it) I think it is quite ridiculous that companies are allowed to punish you for being sick. Sure there are people that aren’t really sick when they take sick days, but to regulate how many days a person can be sick is like trying to play God. I understand that you can’t just let your employees run free and take as many sick days as they want, but to a certain degree there has to be some other way of working it out without forcing someone who is seriously sick (and possibly contagious) to come to work.
Hunter – “Really people?2009 sucks. Me and my friends say all the time that we wish we grew up in a different era. People back then had so much more fun and life was simpler. Now adays “fun” is trouble, and not to mention cops are always looking for any little thing to put against you. … But by listening to my grandpas stories, and all of my friends grandpas stories, i can honestly say, that our stories, will not be as great as theirs.”
Hunter, you may wish you grew up in a different era, but unless you’re hoping for a better future and to live there, I think it’s best to stay put.
You don’t think your grandparents would have wanted to bore you with stories of how crappy it was back in the day would they? You’ll have plenty of good stuff to tell your grandchildren. And if you think about it, you could have a lot more fun out with your friends than you could posting on some random website about how much 2009 sucks. The thing is that your grandparents’ stories are going to be different than your stories. I’m sure the stuff they did was fun, but you can’t honestly say you never had fun can you? Their fun sounds better because you never experienced it. I can’t say I know you had an equally fun life, but I’m sure there were bright moments. It’s what you make of your life that is important, not what you wish you could do.
J Q – Ehh…I don’t think your facts are entirely in line. But on the other hand that idea about computers and technology is interesting although quite ridiculous. Half the old people already live in Florida so we could ship the rest down there with em right?
just kidding of course.
Capt. Turk – “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin (one of the founding fathers if you didn’t know)
Wow…what to say. I cannot express how glad I am that you brought that point up about freedom. You are right about the freedoms to a certain extent. We (citizens of the United States of America) have ceased to take responsibility of our own actions and have therefore surrendered our liberties to the government so that they may ensure that we are protected. The only problem with Franklin’s quote is that it may work in principal, but in reality (or at least in today’s society) it is inherent that we give up SOME of our freedoms for our safety. I definitely do not think that we have every freedom that we should have, but this is also another one of those fine line things. You can argue and argue every which way, but there is no right answer and there will always be danger. The catch is that everyone has to live in harmony without infringing on their neighbors’ rights. The government must regulate this to a certain extent to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to be “free,” but I think they’ve gone way too far in some aspects and not far enough in others. It’s way too much to explain now, but it is definitely something to think about.
As for your comments about the education system, I definitely disagree about the race issue. First of all, as a people we need to move away from race. There is way too much profiling and such going around. Of course, it is inevitable when people of different origin look different and act different, but that is no reason to believe that they cannot achieve the same goals in life. Facts don’t lie, and I’m not saying that every race is the same. It is ignorant to think that pointing out a stereotype is being racist. Most stereotypes are there because they are at least in some cases true. Some stereotypes are degrading, but others are just observations made over and over again by thousands of different people. That said, I think the problem is that there are just too many students and not enough schools and teachers. Not only that, but the teaching system is skewed. Everyone has their own way of learning and there is no generic style of teaching that works for everyone. In that case, there should be different schools and programs for different kinds of learners. It’s a tough style to implement, but if it works better than what we have now then it doesn’t hurt at all to try. I personally experienced what you are speaking of though, but it wasn’t how you described it as bringing “the level of all races down to the lowest common level.” In my high school, regardless of race or skin color, they started mixing the standard level English classes with the Advanced Placement level classes and making everyone do the AP work. The standard level students got an extra grade level added to their final grade to compensate for the extra amount of work they had to do for the class. The problem with this system is that the standard level students are in that level because they can’t learn as quickly or they can’t handle the work load. Mixing the AP level with the standard level hurts both levels and is a completely backwards way of teaching. Once again, I don’t have the solution to this problem, but by bringing it up and putting it on the table someone else might be able to find a better solution.
Mike – Regarding your post on technology, I don’t think you can say that without seeing what the world would have been like without humans. It’s impossible to know that no other species would have stepped up and dominated the world.
Andrew – “The past is just that….the past. Let’s move on folks.”
It’s easy to just say that and try to forget about it, but it doesn’t work unless everyone forgets about it. Give it a couple more generations and people will hardly even think about trivial issues like this. There will most likely be more bigger problems to worry about. The reason we all learn about history in school is so that we can look back and see all the mistakes that our ancestors made and make sure that we, as the current generation, don’t make those same mistakes.
Capt. Turk – You just bring out all the discussion in me haha. I must agree with you. Most minorities are more racist than the people they accuse of being bigoted towards them. The thing is, white people are the real minority. In this day and age, interracial marriages are nothing uncommon and race is going to start becoming a moot point. I can only hope to see the day when people just say you are just an ignorant SOB and not say you’re an ignorant n*gger. (or jap/chink/honkey you name it) I’m not immune to all the stereotypes and things going around, but I try to at least let every person I meet give me a first impression before I go and put a tag on their head because of what color their skin is. The sad thing is that most people just happen to fit the stereotype.
K Jenkins – Another intelligent post. Although I believe that Bush (and Obama and I guess the past 3 or 4 presidents) is to blame for most of our current problems, I completely agree that it is our responsibility as the people to stand up and do something about it. It is surprising to me that all of these polls and censuses say things like Bush’s approval rating at 20% or whatever. If so many darn people thought he was full of crap, then why the heck didn’t they all stand up and do something about it? I think the truth is that they wanted to, but either figured someone else would do it for them (as so many people these days, including myself, do) or were too scared to stand up to the government. It is sad that this country is basically being run by fear. The problem is that every big thing that happens (which is usually something scary/bad) is nationally publicized and it just breeds an atmosphere of fear and submission. People think that the government will save them from the demons from outside, but what they fail to realize is that it is the government that we should fear. Not only that, but I feel that the USA is the country doing the most terrorizing. Sure it’s nice knowing you’re the only country with nuclear weapons, but why is it that the USA is that ONLY country to have EVER used a nuclear weapon in a war? Of course people will scream that I’m a leftist because I preach questioning the government, but why shouldn’t you? If you refuse to question the government, then you allow them to run rampant and do what they please when they please. You give up your freedoms in exchange for the feeling of safety, but are you really safe?
catzilla – I feel like you’re an exact replica of me living in NYC. We should talk some time.
Lynne Gordon – You should read what I said about angry posting etc…
Todd – YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Screw all this politically correct bullcrap. If I’m speaking the truth I don’t give a crap what I say or who I offend. The truth hurts people. Get used to it. If you don’t like it, then why don’t you f*cking change the truth. Until someone proves to me that society has changed, I’ll keep preaching what I’ve been preaching the whole damn time.
Okay I gave up reading. Too much. Oh yeah…and I wrote a damn book up there…
Feel free to email me if you want to talk about stuff.
The point isn’t that 1957 was a better time to live than 2009, but that in these particular situations we’ve actually managed to really screw things up. Essentially they all fall into the same common pattern, which is that parents today have become dedicated to “protecting” their children from largely imaginary dangers. It’s pretty clear that the average modern parent has a clear image of a dangerous stranger setting out to abduct and/or molest their children. In reality, there are only a few thousand such cases nationwide each year, out of around 75 million children in the U.S., and the numbers are no higher than they’ve ever been. You could very well go your entire life and never meet someone who had been directly affected by such a crime.
Once we’ve built up a culture of fear, though, it’s exceedingly hard to get ourselves out of it, because you’ll encounter an awful lot of people saying things along the lines of “No mother ever regretted keeping her child too safe.”
Well, maybe not. If literature has taught us anything it’s that mothers can be quite deluded about their roles. But there are sure a lot of people in my generation who regret daily the fact that they were kept on short leashes and wound up under-socialized, pathologically risk-averse, and generally unequipped to deal with anything resembling the real world. And here we’re not even counting all the people whose lives have been destroyed by short-sighted “zero-tolerance” policies that have less to do with protecting students from danger than with protecting administrators from liability.
My personal story is instructive — from childhood I was exceptionally skilled at my chosen line of work, to the point where I was successful at a national level and got into one of the most selective and prestigious universities in the world. The very first time I hung out with friends on the weekend was when I was 18 years old. In fact I spent so much of my time making up for over a decade of social deficits that I ended up nearly failing out, graduating with a terrible GPA, and effectively flushing an enormous amount of potential down the toilet. I am currently in my mid-twenties, unemployed, living with my parents, and pursuing graduate studies at a distinctly less prestigious school — one of my department’s top students graduated last year with a Ph.D. but has yet to find any kind of employment.
If our society doesn’t regain a healthy respect for childhood autonomy, there are going to be a lot more of me out there — highly competent, maladjusted, taught from an early age to stay in line and take orders from the first authority figure in sight. I’m not sure who’s going to come along and take charge of the situation, but I think it’s time to start worrying.
I do not see the reason why you would get any negative feed-back for this post. Perhaps the realism of it all offends those who have accepted the radical changes which have brought our society to its knees. I applaud your courage for posting and urge you to continue. We need to look at the unnecessary evolution of “social changes”. That evolution has, and will continue to, collapse(d) our social integrity..
very, very true! great post!
The differences between 1957 and 2009 are not as glaring as they are made out in this post. Our perceptions are what has changed.
I think some of the scenarios may have to do with simply how dangerous the world has become and not exactly the realism or politilcal connotations but the moral issues facing the average person in today’s world as opposed to yesterday’s world. It really gives me alot to think about how the world changes everyday and reactions to certain scenarios as the ones presented are going to change with time. People who have live through that period into the present one have seen these changes and should feel differently about the subject than a person who has not. Some of the issues presented within the scenarios seem important because they are more recently detected issues that some people take special consideration of because of perhaps a political view. So another question that might be considered is why has our overall political and moral standards changed ? What events or perhaps world views have changed between the 1950′s and now?
Evolution? (in a jim carey kind of way with powerful emphasis on the THINK)… I think so.
The description of both eras say a lot about the United States. Used to be that beating the shit out of your kids was OK and letting them pulp each other’s faces was fine too. Nowadays you want them to be certain they live in a police state.
For those of you who glorify the 50′s status quo, consider this: the 2009 society you loathe and now have to live with is a direct consequence of your history, and the 50′s were a key moment in that history in which your society collectively blew it and set the stage for everything that has led to this moment. Seems to me it didn’t work out too well the first time, so why, exactly, would you glorify it?
I doubt the 2009 version of Scenario 6 has ever happened
Dan,
There are numerous exceptions to experience I know, and my catagorey fits just one of them.
To remove a post that has erupted in a barrage of mindful comments (And some not so mindful) would be folly. This is the type of article that should not only be expanded upon, but passed on to other sites.
There is so broad an expance in the difference between the era of the fifties, and today that is what today’s youth should see. There were times when everyone thought that no one had worries of needed for nothing. This is just not so. Every generation has had it’s trials and tribulations since the beginning.No one generation had the monopoly on happiness. We as a society have to show kids today that there is a future for them just like in the “Olden Days”. Kids today see record numbers of unemployment, banks going broke, companies no longer offering a secure future for them, the threat of their homes being taken from them if they venture to buy one, and being killed by someone from a far off land that they do not even know. Maybe we should tell them that nothing new is happening. It all happened before and We as Americans have pulled through with flying colors. Those kids who still have great-great grand parents should listen to the stories of the “Great Depression”. Have them listen to their grand parents about WWII. We were attacked by a cowardly far off people that we did not know, nor had any beef with then, and we pulled through. Listen to their parents about the so called gas shortages of the seventies. Comfort them, and tell them that there always will be more “Good Old Days” in their life times, and it is up to them to make them. Good old days are not just history, they are our future also.
Dan, do not remove this post, blog or whatever. It has Rung a giant bell.
this is ridiculous and unrealistic. Probably written by someone who went to high school in 57 and watches FOX news to learn about modern high school.
When she was five (she’s now eleven) my daughter slipped on the ice in the playground and hurt her wrist. The next day, I took her to school with a cast on her wrist – she’d cracked a bone in her wrist.
The principal was ready to meet me in her office to apologize profusely and tell me of all the playground safety measures and how the staff acted responsibly when I cut her off: “It’s ok. Kids slip. They fall. Of course there’s some ice on the playgound – this is Canada in the winter. It happens.”
After that, the principal really liked me. I was normal.
these are the worst scenarios ever. the 2009 ones are taken way to far and are unrealistic
I just graduated from a high school in in Minnesota ’09 and i had a shotgun and bow in my back seat at least half of the time….just thought i’d throw that out there.
This is purely b/c of parents being overbearing and controlling. They need to take a step back and relax. The more moms worry about sexual predators, drugs, and alcohol, the more likely that they will come true. Not to mention the massive lawsuit era we are in right now.
20 year-old graduate student here, having grown up much closer to the 2009 side of things than the 1957 side.
I agree that zero-tolerance policies often go too far, and that a lot of in vogue psychological theories are rubbish (no matter when you live).
However:
As a person with both a tiny attention span and a high degree of intelligence, I question whether most school systems in the 50′s would have allowed me to do advanced study and skip grades, even though in elementary school I was hyperactive, trouble-making, and didn’t improve with punishment (no, not even spankings with a belt, as this chain letter seems to hold up as a shining example of effective parental discipline, and which were, in fact, administered to my delinquent backside with no protest from the law).
As someone who was always small for my age, I did have problems with bullying, but I did generally defend myself well, and in fact I got in trouble for defending myself. I think this is ridiculous, but my parents stood by me, the school made a note on my record that no one else ever read, and my life was fine afterwards. Common sense is not completely dead yet.
As someone with an mixed and complex racial heritage, I am glad to live in a time and place where no one wondered whether my 1/8 Cherokee mother was legally “white”, or how a blond woman like her could ever take the risk of marrying and having children with an extremely dark-skinned Mexican.
As someone who discovered that he was bisexual by falling for his (straight) best friend when he was 18, I’m glad that the confusion and heartache and panic that came over me at that time was entirely between me and said friend, and not further exacerbated by a society that viewed homosexuals as sex criminals.
In short, there was no place for someone like me in 1957, and so this sort of good-old-days talk is difficult for me to understand. It’s all well and good to say “well, we weren’t talking about those parts, with the racism or the inflexible curricula, we were talking about childhood independence”, but frankly the sort of people who’ve performed the “good” societal reforms were the same as the sort who made the “bad” changes, because they were human and did stupid things. You can’t separate out those changes. Nor does bringing a gun to school mean the same thing in an era where we hear about school shootings every year. Wanting to live in that old world is such a narrow view like wanting to live in the Sahara because it’s sunny there year-round.
That said, I do feel for Daniel above (I did have similar problems at one point). I don’t think that most people have a clear idea of what the school system is actually supposed to accomplish, and so it’s devolving into this meaningless way of separating people from the real world until their late teens. School is often used as a shield now. Kids that are in school are not on the streets, not doing drugs, not hanging out together plotting dangerous/illegal things, not acquiring and misusing weapons or machinery, and not out having sex, or so the logic goes. School is the parent while the parents are busy at work (which in the 50s was the housewife’s role, and in all previous generations was no one’s role because only rich people could have unemployed kids that were supervised most of the day). This is particularly true in such underfunded, minority-heavy high schools as I go to. All I can say is this: 1) Schools clearly can’t solve all these problems all by themselves, and 2) Insulating people from the world is completely incompatible with creating knowledgeable citizens and skilled workers.
I feel like I wasn’t as clear as I wanted to be in the second-to-last paragraph there. In the first, what I was trying to say was that sometimes a world view that works great in one area may be horribly wrong about something else, but it may be the same set of values that lead to both conclusions, so it’s hard to say “well, we’ll just mix and match the good parts”, especially when the different sets of values are adapted to different environments as well.
Here’s an example:
1) The world has a certain order or natural law to it.
2) This order comes from the top down, God to country to province to town to household to individual.
3) People or groups on one level are protected from outside threats by the next higher level. The less power/knowledge a person or group can achieve, the more protection they need.
4) Disputes between people or groups on one level are usually decided by the next higher level.
5) Society gets to punish people who violate the natural or traditional order, usually the level immediately above punishing the one immediately below.
6) Otherwise people can do whatever they want, including many forms of violence and self-endangerment. People are responsible for their own welfare (except when facing an outside threat or ongoing conflict, as per 3 and 4).
7) Children are just inexperienced people at the bottom of the hierarchy.
This set of ideas is simple and actually quite effective, and it provides for a stable society, with individuals experiencing a lot of independence and growth within whatever set of roles they can fill. It also justifies myriad forms of tyranny and slavery, and if we had to ditch this sort of thinking to get to where we are today, I am all for that. If we lose some good features of society in the process, that’s a new problem to solve, but it’s probably better than the old mess.
I agree that there are some aspects of the 50′s that were better, It was a more innocent, safer time for a lot of people. But the original posting does seem a bit one-sided. Here are my additions:
Scenario 9:
Jack is horny and just wants to get some action from the local “slutty girl,” Sally. Sally doesn’t want to and tries to tell the principal.
1957 – Vice Principal sends Sally to a mental hospital for re-training. Jack goes off to college and continues his efforts. Many other girls there are traumatized. Sally is eventually released but all credibility has been destroyed. After all, she should know that “boys will be boys.”
2009 – School sends Sally to the hospital to get a rape kit. Jack is given a trial and gets 3 years. Sally’s social life is destroyed for a while because everyone knows she was raped and that is humiliating. She also becomes afraid to go out by herself. People at school don’t really talk to her in the same way (even though they were very supportive on the surface) and all of this only to have her rapist go to jail for 3 years. But it is still better than nothing: she stood up for herself and she has her psychologist and the support of her family and close friends. Jack gets some unwanted attention in prison from fellow cell mates and Sally recovers and goes on to become a successful executive.
Scenario 10:
Billy breaks a window of Chris’s house. Chris is African-American.
1957 – Billy traveled all the way across town to the ghetto area just to do this because that is the only area blacks are allowed to live in Billy’s town. Nothing happens to Billy because Chris’s family knows that if they go to the police, they will get in trouble, rather than Billy. Billy goes on to make racist jokes and create uncomfortable situations for African-Americans (then called Negros), and when he gets a job after college, he is one of the people who ignores the civil rights movement in favor of the old days. He never hires any blacks and he votes for McCain in 2009 as a very old, unsuccessful man whose kids see him as an old, sad relic of the past.
2009 – Chris is Billy’s neighbor. He comes out of his house and asks Billy what happened. Billy apologizes for his mistake and offers to repair the window.
Scenario 11:
Mark, an artist and drama club member who loves to act, sing, dance, and paint, does better on a test than Jack the Jock. Mark is gay.
1957 – Mark is labeled a “faggot” by Jack and his friends and is beaten up daily in the boys’ locker room with the support of the coach, the principal and even Mark’s parents.
2009 – The school institutes a gay-awareness program after they witness one scene of intimidation by Jack and his friends. Jack and friends are suspended, and Jack’s parents are embarrassed that their son is known as a bigot. People at school start to turn away from Jack the Jock, and he begins to pay attention to the new program. Eventually, he apologizes to Mark and they become friends.
I have to say I would choose 2009. By the way, sorry about the somewhat stereotypical gay guy.
I was just trying to add a little character.
Olivia, let me correct something. You know, just to see both sides evenly.
Scenario 10:
Billy breaks a window of Chris’s house. Chris is African-American.
1957 – Billy traveled all the way across town to the ghetto area just to do this because that is the only area blacks are allowed to live in Billy’s town. Nothing happens to Billy because Chris’s family knows that if they go to the police, they will get in trouble, rather than Billy. Billy goes on to make racist jokes and create uncomfortable situations for African-Americans (then called Negros), and when he gets a job after college, he is one of the people who ignores the civil rights movement in favor of the old days. He never hires any blacks and he votes for McCain in 2009 as a very old, unsuccessful man whose kids see him as an old, sad relic of the past.
2009 – Chris is Billy’s neighbor. He comes out of his house and asks Billy what happened. Billy apologizes for his mistake and offers to repair the window. However, Chris pushes racism and harassment charges against Billy, wins by default. Billy’s dad is now entitled to pay $150000 in moral compensation to Chris’ family.
There are a countless amount of scenarios that can be conjured up .(In 1493, 13 year old sally is abused by her father. She tells the local Elder who has her burned at the stake for being a Witch.
1950- She tells her principal that she is being abused by her father. Sally is told to take two aspirin, and forget it ever happened.
2009- Sally informs her Principal that she has been abused by her Father. Principal immediately calls school nurse, who notifies the local authorities. School nurse then lets it leak out, and Sally’s father is on the 6 o’clock news. Sally is devastated by the public humility and tries to commit suicide.
You think this is a silly scenario? Scenarios are just that. Possibilities. They are all based closely on things that have happened in the past, and a hypothesis of what may happen in the future, or what could be happening now.
Nothing new that is happening now has not happened before in one fashion or another. You just hear about it sooner.
And lets not forget the other things in 1957, like black people living as second class citizens and being called coloreds or negros. Easier in some aspects, but a trade-up of one injustice to another.
This is a great article. Love the 50s.
Great Read!!!
Um, Jacob..race card has already been played in previous posts. Blacks were not the only “Persecuted” Minority. Japanese were still being shunned, Anyone with even the remotest German accent was being accused of War Crimes. native Americans’ were losing land faster than in the 1800′s. Suspected “Commie’s” were being accused, and Black Listed with out a trial.
Same ol’, Same Ol’ that’s happening today.
Speak, or even look Middle Eastern and your a terrorist (WWII Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans, Hawaiians, ETC.) People have always persecuted some other people in one fashion or another. Africans are committing genocide of blacks TODAY far more than white people did. I am part Native American, and my Grandmother ,who Is Native American could of told you horror stories of oppression in the 50′s. So I get a little confused at the way people only see the bleak underbelly of a certain era. There are care free day’s in ALL era’s, and there are atrocities in ALL era’s. The only constant has been “NOTHING NEW THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED HAS NOT HAPPENED BEFORE, EXCEPT YOU FIND OUT ABOUT IT QUICKER”.
It’s sad how true these differences are. I used to listen to my grandfather tell stories about the trouble him and his friends used to get in when they were kids. But back then they did things I would never dream of and got a slap on the wrist, if he did some of those things today he would have spent quite some time in jail. And the problem is that everything he ever told us a story about was in the end just some kids having some harmless fun in a society that didn’t take things too seriously, and most of the time the things he did are things I dreamed of doing as a child but our society deemed them dangerous. What happened to out sense of adventure? The excitement of taking risks? What happened to not taking things so god damn serious? Ii just makes me sad to know that my children will be even more restricted than I was.
So here it is. THE MIDDLE GROUND ARGUEMENT. Ready? good.
Back in the day, it may have been a simpler time, and for some that’s a good idea. But for minorities of any kind (women, other races, other ethnicities) it wasn’t a walk in the park.
-spanking your kids is only okay if you dont do it often and not hard enough to leave emotional scars. However, many times parents get carried away.
-since when is bringing a gun to school okay? I don’t think it’s good that you were allowed to bring a shotgun to school, i mean wtf? not everyone lives in a hicktown and goes hunting. Leave it at home.
-Nobody calls the SWAT team when theres a fight in school, seriously? I agree the methods back in the day for stopping fights were better, but they can’t do this anymore because of parents.
Parents are the problem. Parents have gotten super overproctective of their kids (“leash-kids” anyone?). They make them have phones at age 10 in case they get ‘lost’ or they ‘forget something’ and need their parents to bring it. They check their conversations on phones and email. They check the grades of their children as they get them online so they can scold either them or the teacher for screwing up the grade. They won’t let anyone touch their kid. (like the scandal with the character at disney world and a parent claiming it was sexual abuse because they probably just needed money). THIS needs to stop.
However, we are three times smarter than we were in the 50s. We know so much more. About other cultures, religions, science, etc. Maybe knowing too much is bad, but it’s better than being ignorant. It’s 2010. But you can live simply if you feel like it, nobody’s stopping you from getting out of the techno age, you don’t have to do it. In the 50s, nobody had a choice. Everyone had a role, and that was it.
About halfway through the posts I had to make my comment. I was amazed at how far off topic they go and how they turned into personal arguments. I’m 45 and don’t like where we are headed.. We have to start with the kids. I wish my son had a mom at home during the summer to tell him he had an ass whipping when Daddy got home like I had. I remember being scared of the Teachers and Principles, knowing they might have that paddle with the holes in it waiting for me if I screwed up.
Has noone realized that this is completely biased? It seems apparent to me that the one constant with older generations is the lack of respect for the younger one. There is one, and only one thing that each of us have in common: we all grow old. Politicians will probably remain corrupt, taxes will almost certainly rise, but we will all get older. And when we do, we will talk about how the politicians in our younger years were noble and taxes were nonexistant. Maybe, with the wisdom the older generations seem to have, you can impart the wisdom and use it for the greater good, instead of sitting idly by and complaining about how good it once was.
Chris, yes I made it clear in the intro that it was biased to 1957.
I am a 15-year old white male in high school, taking four AP classes, band (includes marching), and German I. I get A’s in my classes because I work, and I see plenty of minority kids do well becasue they work. I think if you want a good grade, you had better well earn it. Handwriting is not taught at my school, but I wish it was because when we correct other people’s paper, I cannot read it. The number of people passing has gone up because the required quality of work has gone down. I respect my band teacher and my German teacher becasue they make us work to earn our grade – no getting it handed to you. Because of test corrections and the allowance for 100% on homework if you correct it, I know at least a half-dozen of my classmates in math (they are all a year above me) that are getting As even as they rot their brains with drugs.
To refute and/or defend the individual examples:
1. I would actually feel more safe if we could bring guns to school. Look at Switzerland and Israel. In the former, every adult in a certain age group is a member of the military reserve, and are required to have their weapons and equipment accesible at all times. In the latter, most people carry concealed handguns. On school trips, at least one teacher must be armed – usually all the teachers and many of the students are. They also require military service. Together, these have the two lowest rates of armed crime in the world – even though Israel is faced with hostile countries on three sides and water on the fourth. A school shooting is less likely to occur if the shooter is faced by a half-dozen guns, because many shooters knew that the good students would never bring a gun to school, and would be defensless. My parents are opposed to guns, but on a basis of no guns anywhere, not just no guns at school (i.e. complete removal of firearms from society.)
2. Not much to refute, but the SWAT team is overkill. It only took a couple of squad cars.
3./4. The paddling would be very effective. I was spanked as a child, and will use it as a method to set limits when I have kids of my own because I know where the boundries are. Once you get spanked, you never do that again, no matter how fun whatever you did was. Many of my classmates were not spanked. They are extremely obnoxious and often go too far with practical jokes and the like. Many have “ADD” and “ADHD”, which I say are just bullshit ways of excusing their behavior.
5. That one is true. If someone has a headache, you have to go to the office, call your parents, have them bring the asprin out, take the asprin as per instructions (not what works best for you) in the office, and then you can go back to class. As a result, many kids don’t take anything and become irratible and find it difficult to concentrate.
6. I got nothing. We don’t really have that problem at our school. Either you learn English or don’t go to high school – they would send you to a designated English class before rejoining school at the appropriate level.
7. Yup. Not only would you be investigated for terrorism, but also for animal cruelty. And anything that is remotely militaristic would be used against you, even USMC posters or WWII firearms.
8. Would definately happen. If a kindergartener gan be suspended for tagging another kid where her breasts would grow in another few years during a game of tag on charges of sexual assault (true story, unfortunately), then a teacher could get in trouble for a simple hug.
Almost done. To comment on a few of the first posts –
@Ryan – I agree completely. And I’m sorry your dad was put in prison, damn propaganda, telling people you can’t even let dads tickle their own kids.
@Hunter – It’s exactly right that people do things becasue they are illegal. It thrills them. They also don’t have the guidance to show them that in moderation some things are fine to do. If they see their dad drink a beer every now and then, and maybe share some at home, they are about as likely to become an alcoholic as they are if they watch their dad abstain from drinking completely.
@Paul – I know they look for keywords, and I don’t give a damn, frankly.
@Andrew – We have more than enough money for schools and defending our freedom, we are just spending it on half-assed attempts to make life better for immigrants. What happened to the American Dream? Work hard and start over in America? Now it’s go to America so you can hitch a ride on the goverment. We have troops dying in the Middle East becasue we spend money on drugs instead of war bonds. In WWII we spent much more of our nations budget, 54% if I remember correctly, on the war and yet American kids recieved one of the best educations ever.
@ K. Jenkins – I wish the government would. But even taking a school field trip, we have to fill out a ton of paperwork. Just to go to the Homecoming Dance it took 4 or 5 pages! For a dance! It’s my country, and I am proud of it, but the government sucks. When someone finds out how to raise the dead, tell me. I need to go find Abe.
@ jack (1st comment on 10/1/09) – “We tried to keep the US separate for a while, but it did not work because it was not fair.” News flash – I didn’t work because of Pearl Harbor. And life’s not fair. Deal with it. “This is not a sensitivity thing, this is not a politically correct thing, it’s the real world. You HAVE TO BE PC. You just do. There is no reason not to. People get offended, and even if you don’t understand why they are offended you have to trust that they are sincere.”
I don’t have to be PC. In fact, I regularly offend people becasue I’m not. They learn to deal with it or they stop talking to me. A good reason not to be PC is becasue then you can do what you have to. It’s not PC to be patriotic and join the military anymore, is it? I’m joing the United States Marine Corps as soon as I can get my parents to sign and I am leaving high school. I’m not going to wait until I’m 18 unless my parents will not sign. I feel bad about the war in the Middle East – because I am not over there doing my part. Oh, I’m sorry, it’s not PC to support the war. Too bad. We need to escalate troop strength. We are making the same mistakes we made in Vietnam and the Soviets made in Afganistan in 1979. Peace through superior firepower. “Whites started modern society” Look up early China and India.
@ Concerned Teacher – “Regardless of how well one can handle a gun, there can be a misfire or an unplanned discharge that can injure, maim, or kill.” There is that danger, yes. But there are dangers in operating most things. An oven could catch fire. A bus could roll off a cliff because it’s icy out. (Almost happened at my school.) But training and common sense reduce the risk. If Johnny maintains his gun and keeps it empty, then he can show it off all he wants without more danger than showing someone a baseball bat.
/rant
Ok. I think I’m done.
Johnny struggles with depression
1957- his parents and teachers label him a crybaby. His father beats him for being “selfish”. One night Johnny steals his father’s pistol. He puts it in his mouth and pulls the trigger. Weeks after the funeral Johnny’s mother stricken with despair at the death of her only son, she slits her wrists and dies in the bathtub. Johnny’s father covers up the despair he feels with the loss of his wife and child, he becomes the town drunk and lives out the rest of his days in misery.
2009- Johnny is treated for his depression, he goes to college, gets his PHD, becomes a world renown chemist, his mother weeps tears of joy as he accepts the nobel prize.