1948: KUSER SCHOOL CLASS OF 1948, HHS 1952

Many thanks to Ms. Nancy Sneath Mandzuk for sending this photo to me for the Kuser School and Hamilton High school folders. This is the class that had one of my numerous schoolboy crushes, Madeline Bencivengo, a close friend of Nancy's mom, Shirley Sneath.
One of my most intense local history interests is in the subject of our schools. In an era when self-control, discipline, morals and social values were placed at the top of the priority list as an important part of our education. Many of us who look back on those innocent years we spent in our local schools look on with awe in this year of 2011 when we hear that schools are now teaching sex education to many young students who don't know the meaning of the word "sex." Our societal descent into the world of drugs, drive by shootings, in-your-face sexual situations in the movies and on the television screen, like Pavlov's famous dog experiment, has been gradually spoon fed to American society beginning in the "soaring sixties" when our social values took a left turn and we "let it all hang out." We learned to read via that old classic "Dick and Jane," "Robin Hood" and other character building books. Today our younger generation gets to read about Tim having two daddies and Heather having two mommies. What was once "prime time" on television has morphed into language and sexual situations on TV and the movies that would have made us army, navy and air force veterans blush, as the social engineers change our perception of "tolerance" and what America should be. Please note that this is my (Tom Glover's) opinion of what I consider to be today's deteriorating social mores, and mine alone. I'm so inconsiderate that I still say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays" I don't decorate a "holiday tree;" mine is a "Christmas tree." I still love to see "In God We Trust" on the coins in my pocket while others are trying to remove the slogan that America's forefathers believed in. There are legions of honest American citizens out there who would vehemently disagree with my positions on the negative societal changes we are seeing in this year of 2011. Consider this the opinion of an "old geezer;" a card-carrying member of "Wrinkle City," who continues to cling to those antiquated dark ages traditional values.

Kyle said...

Tom,

I think it's all just perception and what people of different generations are used to. I'd bet your dad, grandfather, great-grandfather and so on would each have thought that their kids' and grandkids' generation were suffering through decline in morals and values. I'm sure one day I will be complaining about my kids and grandkids and how their generation acts.

As far as sex education, maybe your classmates could have used it more than you realize! The teen pregnancy rate was actually much higher in the 40s and 50s than it is today. For the most part, it's been on a steady decline for the last 20 years. It you're interested, here's an interesting chart: http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/pdf/TBR_1940-2006.pdf

Always love your thoughts, even if I don't agree sometimes!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Many thanks for your interesting insight, Kyle. Sorry I can't buy into that old (and very true) story of each generation being looked upon by their elders as socially out of control. However, those elders would turn over in their graves if they were to witness our 2011 morals and social values. Never in history have American morals and values sunk to the levels we experience today. As to teen pregnancy in the 40's and 50's chart, I'm not surprised at the statistics. Just think of how much higher that rate would be if those teens of the 40's and 50's were exposed to the sexy situations we see nightly on the TV and movie screen in this "enlightened" age!

Anonymous said...

Exactly Tom! Why is it the more they "educate", the worse the problems become? I am starting to believe that some things are better left unsaid and unexplained. Later in life and after the age of reason perhaps but this is too much and too early. But alas, education is a business no more or no less than Ford or GM.

Ed Millerick

Thursday, November 17, 2011