The 1950's were the very best. Things got better every year. Then in 1965 SAT scores peaked and it has been downhill every since.

...

The teachers I know today, including my daughter-in-law, face nightmare students and their uncivilized parents. The laws are such they have little ability to discipline the incredible number of children who are not being well parented today.

Teen beats up his teacher in front of the class | New York Post

Reading some of these post makes me more aware of how fortunate I was to have been reared in reared in my town.

Back then there was a lot of love, religion played a prominent role and the priest in our church helped many a youngster get a college education.

Our priest often spoke of the blight of blacks being taken to America without the benefit of family units as did European immigrants.

Harriet Tubman of the Underground Railroad home sits in this town.

Parents looked out for all the neighborhood kids and gave them a boot if they got out of line.

Threats from foreign evaders was met with planned discipline determination but absence much of the hyperbolic response of today's politic climate

Many of our mothers worked. My mother worked for as long as I can remember. Where I grew up men and women complimented one another

A society cannot thrive if it does not elevate its women. all one has to do is look to some of the Muslim communities.

Romance was truly romance back then. Sex today is equivalent to shaking hands. Our drug of choice back then was cigarettes. We never heard of marijuana, etc

People were grateful and joyous since many had lived through the Depression and WWII.

Have you noticed that people don't whistle anymore. My father constantly whistle a happy tune

Like I said the 1950's were not perfect but have you noticed that our young, those we should always treat as a "protected species" do in today's world lose their innocence and their childhood early on. And yet the irony is that many of our children don't make the leap from child to adult.

Personal Best Regards:

Red, leave it to you to hit the nail squarely on the head. Very well said!

:agree:

Rubicon, I agree with some of what you said in Post 19, but not quite all. No question our kids and grandkids lose their innocence much too early. I do blame the media for that -- books, television, movies have all gotten much more graphic, both for violence and sex. I have met more than one girl under 16 who has told me she is a virgin, but the only thing she hasn't experienced is intercourse. That's just sad.

My daughter was raised to say please and thank you, yes ma'am/sir not so much (I hate being called ma'am -- it makes me feel ancient and I work for a living tyvm). My grandson is yes sir/ma'am on a regular basis. He is not a bully nor subjected to bullying as much as I or my daughter was. The kids today are more willing to include the children that are different. Skin color really doesn't matter to them. Ability counts more than socio/economic background to these kids.

As to women working in your town -- what were their positions? Teachers? Nurses? Babysitters? Shop clerks? Secretaries? Any that owned a business not female related? A surgeon? Police officer (not meter maid)? Mayor? Working for pin money doesn't count.

How did you miss out having to see Reefer Madness in school? Funniest dang movie I was ever forced to watch. Marijuana was around in the fifties. So was heroin, cocaine, anti-depressants, speed. Most of us kids were too young and innocent to see it, but it was there. The punks existed in our schools. They were just as violent towards teachers as today's punks. Only difference is they didn't carry guns. And, back then, they were kicked out of school -- while education was free, it was more of a privilege than a right back then.

Personally, I'm grateful whistling has gone to the wayside. To me, it is noise pollution.

The main difference back then is that everyone was truly more innocent. Kids were still molested, killed, kidnapped. Women were raped and beaten. Beat cops were known for swinging their batons both on the street and in the station. It all happened, we just didn't know about it. There was no way to know. Newspapers carried little international, national news -- just the most important events. The paper was much like the Daily Sun -- feel good rags. Television was just beginning to make a dent. So, radio was the big news carrier and it rarely cared about social issues -- that took Vietnam, civil rights and women's lib to bring those items into the forefront. Today, thanks to Amber Alerts, we know a child is missing minutes after it occurs. Thanks to the internet, we know when a victim is beaten or murdered by a cop. We know who has slept with whom, when, how many and sometimes even what positions they used. Everything is out there. But the events happened in the fifties just as they do today. Father Knows Best, I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver were lovely fantasies but had little to do with reality unless you were a child.

1965 certainly was a turning point. One can only wonder why......


Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 - Wikipedia

The Evolution of the Motion Production Code in the 1950s...
 

... is quite interesting in what it says about society and the art reflecting it during that time.


Motion Picture Production Code - Wikipedia

The Supreme Court cases on the First Amendment rights of movie directors and screenwriters really changed things.

freedomforum.org: Landmark decision brought freedom to films

Exactly! :thumbup:


If you are a white male and a particular demographic over a certain age, I'm sure that you look back to the 50's...and wish things were still the same.


If you're a female or minority...not so much. :(

I remember the 50's but was lost in the 60's.

Lost in The Sixties--The Winds of Change - YouTube

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Congratulations Redwitch, you have an excellent way with words and I agree with everything you wrote:agree:. I even agree with your comment on whistling :agree:.... I have a fairly close neighbor who whistles continuously, not a tune, but a monotonous one note whistle .... I believe it is a nervous habit:cus:.

Very well said. Also, minorities as well as women have a better lifestyle today than in the good ole days.

Ahhhhhh, the old'n days, yesterday was so much better than today.

NOPE.

Today is great, tomorrow will be better.

Live Today.

I am a white cis gendered male over a certain age and there are lots of things I miss about the 50's. Strong labor unions, an America that was moving toward income equality, two sane major political parties, inexpensive higher education, but is was a culture of white male superiority. And we have moved the needle a little bit and have very far to go. I am very aware of how white privilege and male privilege benefitted me. It still does. So not all white males are blind to the truth or are wishing it were still the same.