Back in the 1950’s they had “childhood” mapped out reasonably well for the average modern school. For instance they could give 3 examples of how the child would react at school.
1, The child is an excellent student.
2, A good student. Average marks.
3, A student with low marks, rebellious, in trouble with the Police etc.
Today we have a far more complex situation. We have TV, music and movies that have low moral standards. Leaders (examples to the young) are known to have bad work ethics, are admired for wealth and success in materialism, etc.
Sex is known to the young at school at a young age. Sex is shown on TV, is expressed in music form, is shown graphically in movies in full stereo sound etc
Drugs and alcohol are often easily available to the young. Temptations today come in many shapes and sizes, and to young immature minds are sometimes seen as options, not temptations.
Gangs are often seen as heroes in movies and TV. Random sex with people seen as fun and a right, (James Bond etc), and those who act immorally are shown as heroes, people to look up to.
The young of today have all these distractions, confusing role models, fuzzy examples of right and wrong, bad leadership examples, and parents who struggle to cope with their own children.
The average young person in a modern country today has a lot of things to deal with that the students of old (1950’s) didn’t have to deal with.
In order to understand what young go people go through today we need to do comparisons. 200 years ago people lived much differently than they do today. In the 1950’s teenager’s had a much simpler life. No computers, no cell phones, no WiFi, no Internet, no DVD’s, etc.
Focus was simple. Younger people sought a trade, desired a stable future, wanted to be useful, admired strong public figures who expressed honour, righteousness and honesty.
In the past young people were completely happy to live their whole life in the family tradition, and was completely happy staying in the home town his or her entire lifetime.
During the 1950’s it seems that there was a genuine plan to see the young succeed in whatever they chose to do.
Many adults in the year 2016 have no real idea of what the past was like. They don’t realize that the lessons of the past are also options for today. Instead they only focus on what they know from their own limited lifetime.
A certain arrogance exists where people of today can look back to people 50 years ago and call them antiquated, and consider them primitive in experience and thinking.
If they do not see the past for is valuable lessons then they will be sure to repeat those lessons today.
All the best from James Martin Sandbrook.
Saturday, 20 February 2016, 3:39:54 AM.