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You were not there, that is obvious. You aren't paying attention or making an informed opinion based upon the information provided by people who were there in the 50s.
Well technically I was around in the 50s but went to school in the 60s and things where I lived (Southern California) didnt change significantly until the late 60s. I was the youngest, all my siblings were in school in the 50s, and I knew about their experiences as well as those of my parents who were raising kids in that decade. My school and most of my teachers were there in the 50s. I think I have a pretty good idea of what went on in your world then.
Sometimes I wonder if people think the 1990 in my member name was when I was born. I get a lot of head pats for a guy in his mid-50s.
Well technically I was around in the 50s but went to school in the 60s and things where I lived (Southern California) didnt change significantly until the late 60s. I was the youngest, all my siblings were in school in the 50s, and I knew about their experiences as well as those of my parents who were raising kids in that decade. My school and most of my teachers were there in the 50s. I think I have a pretty good idea of what went on in your world then.
Sometimes I wonder if people think the 1990 in my member name was when I was born. I get a lot of head pats for a guy in his mid-50s.
No, I didn't notice the 1990 in your id, I just noticed the CAVA. I never thought of you as a kid.
You probably do have some idea, just as I probably have some idea of the '40s from older cousins. I LIVED the 50s though so they affected me and I internalized the experiences myself. The 50s were far from perfect but there was almost no violence in schools. People were repressed. People didn't dare do things. I think fear ruled in the 50s. You would get caught and punished if you did something wrong so you behaved. Rules. Discipline. Not that great but the result was very little violence.
When the rules were relaxed starting in the late 60s, as you said, things began to change. It went too far and now it's gone over the top. If you ever want to see a REALLY good 50s movie about a teacher in what was then considered a bad school, watch Blackboard Jungle. I saw it in the 50s and was appalled. I watched it again in the 90s while I was teaching and thought, how typical, not out of the ordinary. It's an excellent movie anyway.
No, I didn't notice the 1990 in your id, I just noticed the CAVA. I never thought of you as a kid.
You probably do have some idea, just as I probably have some idea of the '40s from older cousins. I LIVED the 50s though so they affected me and I internalized the experiences myself. The 50s were far from perfect but there was almost no violence in schools. People were repressed. People didn't dare do things. I think fear ruled in the 50s. You would get caught and punished if you did something wrong so you behaved. Rules. Discipline. Not that great but the result was very little violence.
When the rules were relaxed starting in the late 60s, as you said, things began to change. It went too far and now it's gone over the top. If you ever want to see a REALLY good 50s movie about a teacher in what was then considered a bad school, watch Blackboard Jungle. I saw it in the 50s and was appalled. I watched it again in the 90s while I was teaching and thought, how typical, not out of the ordinary. It's an excellent movie anyway.
I have a different perception of how things are today. I was in high school in the 70s and I agree things were very loose compared to what you experienced but also were quite loose compared to what my children experienced in the 2000s (they're past high school now). Perhaps it's where I iive but the kids here in Fairfax County VA are very well behaved and respectful (much more than we were) and the schools are zero tolerance on a lot of things that we got away with when i was in school. Nothing "over the top" about them. They are also very culturally diverse. Maybe things are different elsewhere and perhaps that's one reason our schools are rated so highly.
We live in a violent society. The murder rate averaged 4.4 deaths per 100,000 in the 1950s, gradually increased to a high of 10.2 in 1980, and has steadily decreased to 4.7 in 2011, and is still trending lower. (Your population figures are inconsequential, as the rates are apples to apples and the LE ratio of officers per capita has shrunk or expanded over the years in response to crime rates.) The violent crime rate is also trending downward, to a point similar to the rates in the 1960s.
One thing that has changed dramatically is violence in schools. There are more instances of children killing children than in the fifties. Thus, I questioned the statement that "kids are less messed up now."
As for security measures in the 50s, on a personal note I was captain of the safety patrol, with a badge and white belt to prove it. No one started a fight or jaywalked on my watch, or they were issued a free pass to the principal's office. I don't think that type of "security" would be adequate today.
I too had one of those white belts. Do you still wear yours?
I too had one of those white belts. Do you still wear yours?
Only when I'm chasing kids off the grass. I feel that it lends an air of superiority. At my current rate of expansion it will soon have to serve as an armband.
I was not raised in the South, Ohio was my home, and the Black Americans were not treated badly in my hometown, but it was common knowledge of the treatment (segregation) still happening in the South. I was first introduced to the treatment of the black people in 1060 when I was in basic training in Anniston Alabama, when a friend and I went into town for a day of r&r and had to return to post because she was black and from New York. We were both shocked, insulted and saddened that we could not enter the same doors or be waited on in the same places, so we returned to base.
As I recall there were many insulting jabs taken at the Jewish folks. I really can't remember any mistreatment of any Asians or Hispanic people. You have to remember this was the time before live breaking news as it happened around the world and live action of war, assassinations, etc. Our breaking news came mostly by way of extra editions or the radio until the mid to late fifties.
Insulting jabs at Jews and some other minorities are still in existance, which is sad, but I think I am talking mroe actual discrimination. And yes, you are right, we depended on radio, the daily paper, extra additions, weekly news magazines and some TV for our news. None was 24/7. yes, it is common knowledge the south discrimiated against Blacks, this happened throughout the country not just in the south.
Restrictive covenants were regularly used even into the 60s to keep many communities across the country limited to white christians. Jews and other minority groups weren't allowed to buy into one of the nicer neighborhoods next to mine in South Orange County, CA for example. We knew people who changed their names and hid their religion so they could make it past what was known there as the "color committee". I don't think they could join a lot of country clubs and other private associations either, similar to how women couldn't join Augusta until recently. Housing discrimination and segregation was pretty rampant until the passage of the fair housing laws in the 60s, even outside the South.
I can assure you, those restricted covenants were few and far between even in South Orange county, if the did exist..which I am assuming you know this for factr. Most housing discrimination until 1964 was directed at blacks only. My husband had a good friend he worked with at Pacific T&T who was Jewish and raised in Orange Co. He graduated from Long Beach State..This was in the late50s. His wife's family were very successful buisiness She went to USC and their wedding was held at a large country club in the Wilshire district. Our sorotity at SDSU had 2 Jewish girls. As for joining country clubs etc, that would be the case in the 50s and even the 60s particularly in sections of say, Orange Co, probably not so much in San F valley. I don't know abou the 50s, but this would not have held true in the Pasadena area in the 60s.
Only when I'm chasing kids off the grass. I feel that it lends an air of superiority. At my current rate of expansion it will soon have to serve as an armband.
No way would mine fit anyway. BTW we were called "duty boys" and we got to leave school early.
On my watch only a few kids were hit by autos - I was one of the best.
I can assure you, those restricted covenants were few and far between even in South Orange county, if the did exist..which I am assuming you know this for factr. Most housing discrimination until 1964 was directed at blacks only. ... Our sorotity at SDSU had 2 Jewish girls. As for joining country clubs etc, that would be the case in the 50s and even the 60s particularly in sections of say, Orange Co, probably not so much in San F valley. I don't know abou the 50s, but this would not have held true in the Pasadena area in the 60s.
Interesting to read. I came from a small town in western NY State. In the late Forties we moved to the opposite side of town, and it was sometime after then that I heard that the street behind ours, until it was broken in the late 40's, had had a restrictive covenant. I didn't even know what that meant, and was told by my mother that the homeowners had an agreement not to sell to Italians. Our town had a sizable Sicilian immigrant population, and they were very looked down upon by the town's Protestant population. The man who broke the covenant was the owner of the pharmacy I worked at during high school in the 50's. It was while working in his store that I heard him tell the story to someone. He had someone else buy the house, who turned around and "sold" it to him for a token amount as he, of course, had actually supplied the money for the purchase.
I went to Syracuse University from 1956-60, and the fraternity system there was split between gentile and Jewish fraternities, with as I recall two with mixed membership. I do not know if the Jewish fraternities had exclusivity clauses in their charters, but many of the gentile ones did. I joined one of the gentile ones but dropped out as I found the entire atmosphere claustrobic and invasive. I was dating a Jewish girl for awhile and it was suggested that maybe for one of their pledges I might be better off shopping for dates in their sister sorority.
However, a year later one of the brothers - who was from my hometown and been in H.S. a year ahead of me - came to me, and told me that they were thinking of pledging a friend of mine by they had qualms. Some of the brothers thought he might "really" be Jewish even though he was an R.C. He wanted to know had this friend ever confided in me that his family were converts.
I can't say that I recall much questioning about the idea of exclusivity. The main objection to fraternities on the part of some students was more about their overall snobbishness, as I recall.
As I have mentioned people in different areas had different experiences. In my part of the UK Sunday was the Sabbath. Swings in the parks were locked up and cinemas,bars,swimming pools etc were closed. Some people prepared their meals on a Saturday and just put a light to the potatoes,sprouts,carrots etc on the Sunday. The washing up was left to the following day..Monday. This was how a good few people behaved but not all.
There was very little crime and in the space of 15 to 20 years there were only around 6 murders. Nowdays there is hardly a week passes without someone being murdered. The changes started with the coming of the 1960s. But even on mainland Britain things were different in the 1950s
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