[silentmage]

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school
parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his
car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - 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: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark.
Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the
Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class
again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested
for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a
disability.

Scenario: 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.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to
foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister
that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison.
Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.


Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school .
1957 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations.
Car searched for drugs and weapons.


Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - 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 state
school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core
curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a
living because he cannot speak English.


Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July,
puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 - Ants die.
2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with
domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from
home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list
and is never allowed to fly again.


Scenario: 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.
2007 - 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.

[ekim68]

I wonder what the population difference was...Probably about half as many people in 1957 as 2007, so half as many problems...IMO...

[Knotbored]

I graduated from hi school in 1957
Most of the above statements are so true you would have to eliminate those to make this a joke. Those were much more innocent times before the drug problem, traffic congestion and weapons of mass destruction in third-world nations. We all learned how to hide under a desk if the Russia dropped an atom bomb on us-and to look away to avoid flashing our eyes. Several friends folks dug fallout shelters and stocked them with a months supply of dried food ) wonder where they thought they would get water to rehydrate)
Ahhh the good ole days.

[valis]

my dad graduated in '57.....just got back from his 50th reunion....quote:

"everyone was old."

master of the understatement, my pop.....but he would dead on agree with everyone of those. Heck, I didn't graduate until 86, and most of those are still accurate. One of my best friends to this day met when he was given the assignment of taking me out for dating some other dude's 'girl'. Good fight, he lost, turned out he had a '69 Chevelle with a 6 pack, and we were off.

[iltos]

hmmm.....seems like fifty years ago america was still in the hands of it citizenry

[grandma77]

All those statements are true....It doesn't matter what the population was..If we still took care of things like they did back then and had the morals, courtesy and integrity we had back then ....life would be better...IMHO

It was not a perfect world but we were better off back then.

[Knotbored]

Originally Posted by grandma77

All those statements are true....It doesn't matter what the population was..If we still took care of things like they did back then and had the morals, courtesy and integrity we had back then ....life would be better...IMHO

It was not a perfect world but we were better off back then.

So true grandma77.
Something that comes to mind is the fear we had that our folks would be informed if we misbehaved in school-or heaven forbid if a cop brought us home for acting up on the street corner or "hot-footing" it behind a bus bumper in the snow.
Also I cannot remember any class being held back from learning by the slowest child, but can remember being assigned (along with several others) as "teachers assistants" to help the slow learners with homework. This wasn't a burdon-and as I recall everyone knew all of each subject by the end of the year. Now half the kids are bored to tears and the parents feel throwing more money into the system will somehow cure stupidity-the dumber kids don't learn and the smarter kids just cruise thru but learn far less. I had good teachers-but feel nowadays most of those wouldn't have entered the profession because of all the political hassel with parents and administration.

[grandma77]

I agree with you knotbored. And there are some good teachers now but all the politics they must play makes it hard on them. I would have been mortified if I got in trouble at school...I know what I would have gotten at home. We were taught to respect our teachers and that meant behaving in class.

I feel sorry for students and teachers...the environment is not condusive to really teach and learn...it seems to be more a babysitting service for some. I am dyslexic...but I was mainstreamed through school...no special help...didn't even know what my problem was till I was a full grown adult...just took me longer to learn than some of the other kids...meant I studied more at home...got help from my siblings and mother and just kept trying trying trying till I got things. Never failed...just persevered...until I got it. I now have one grandson who is dyslexic...they didn't feel the need to teach him his multiplication tables....so we taught him at home. I said it is important....get back to the basics. He feels better about himself at least knowing he is trying and not giving into defeat.

Well, I better stop blabbering....

[LuckyStrike]

Wow, all of it is so true. As I read through each example and think about them, I'm thinking each one could have been me. If everything I did, if every experience I had in the fifties, I instead did or had them in the past decade, I'm sure I would be on medication, with a police record, expelled from school, with a documented history of psychiatric treatment, and maybe a ward of the state. In other words I was a typical boy in the fifties.

In many ways I wish we could turn the clock back fifty years.

[Wino]

Originally Posted by LuckyStrike

.............................................................In many ways I wish we could turn the clock back fifty years.

I wouldn't want to turn back time to the 50's, I'm quite comfortable with today's technologies. We just need to turn back the attitudes and to take back control of our lives without all the outside interference from government, religion, bureaucratic idiots and parents afraid to offend their little darlings.

[LuckyStrike]

Originally Posted by Wino

I wouldn't want to turn back time to the 50's, I'm quite comfortable with today's technologies. We just need to turn back the attitudes and to take back control of our lives without all the outside interference from government, religion, bureaucratic idiots and parents afraid to offend their little darlings.

Amen, you said what I was thinking.

[eggplant43]

Turn back the clock, something I think we all yearn for from time to time. But those days are over. We live in a different world today, one in which "rules" are selectively enforced. Where the divide between those who have in abundance, and those who do not widens each day.

We live in a world in which we frequently do not know our neighbors, we decline to make eye contact, we don't greet each other, and heaven forbid that we should say anything to a parent about their child's behavior. I think much of this is the result of the anonymity that many feel in large numbers.

I see one solution, we all model the behavior we wish to see in others. This is the only thing you can actually control, and the only thing you should actually attempt. My two cents worth

[ekim68]

Originally Posted by grandma77

It doesn't matter what the population was..

Really? I think it matters a bit...More people, more rules, more differences...And, more PC...

[silentmage]

population does have an affect on things, but you can keep the same rules and values no matter what. the problem is people have tried to become to "politically correct" to the point that its illegal to look at someone mean because it could me seen as "terroristic threatening". when did hitting your friend on the arm and calling him a douche become illegal?

[ekim68]

Originally Posted by silentmage

population does have an affect on things, but you can keep the same rules and values no matter what.

Well at least until the resources last...But things are changing quickly...