What we've lost since the Golden Era

[Tango Yankee]

My 3rd graders (when I teach 3rd grade) use fountain pens while learning cursive.

Things sure have changed since I attended Bryson Avenue Elementary School in the '60s! I don't recall using pens at all, just pencils. (Bryson is in South Gate, and part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.)

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Lokar]

When I was at primary school (90s), we were forbidden to use anything to write with other than fountain pens. Biros were especially forbidden. It was just a normal state school. When I was at secondary school, the uniform was a proper shirt, tie, trousers, leather shoes (that had to be reasonably polished) and then a jumper. A few years after I left they changed it to a polo shirt, and so no tie. Such a pity.

 

[Tango Yankee]

How will they look back on the last accepted predjudice, Christian bashing?

Wait a second... I thought the last accepted predjudice was white males, and if it's a television situation comedy, white husbands/fathers?

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Feraud]

You've got that right!

Everything else is debatable but those two are not!

 

[Widebrim]

Wait a second... I thought the last accepted predjudice was white males, and if it's a television situation comedy, white husbands/fathers?

Cheers,
Tom

You're both right: it's White, male, Christian husbands/fathers...but not if you're wearing a hat.lol

 

[Widebrim]

Things sure have changed since I attended Bryson Avenue Elementary School in the '60s! I don't recall using pens at all, just pencils. (Bryson is in South Gate, and part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.)

Cheers,
Tom

You should see South Gate nowadays...you would not fit in. When I was in nearby (to L.A.) Glendale Unified School District, we were issued long ball point pens in 3rd grade for handwriting (although we still had the inkwell holes in our desks).

 

[Tiller]

I think it's safe to say that we have lost the variety we used to have in our choices of Big Bands.

Jazz and the Blues aren't the kings they once were, and there are only a few new crooners around anymore.

The Great American Songbook is hanging on by a string. Their is a fight to save it though .

 

[Tango Yankee]

You should see South Gate nowadays...you would not fit in. When I was in nearby (to L.A.) Glendale Unified School District, we were issued long ball point pens in 3rd grade for handwriting (although we still had the inkwell holes in our desks).

fftopic: I know, no one that I grew up with lives there anymore. A lot of people I grew up with (including myself) no longer live in California, for that matter. My father lived in S.G. until he died a year and a half ago, and my mother still lives in Lynwood. The population has doubled since I lived there, I think, and the whole city is showing the strain of too many people living in single-family homes that are showing their age.

I was surprised to learn here that Greenspan's (a clothing store that's been there forever!) is still there and thriving.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Mr Vim]

I think it's safe to say that we have lost the variety we used to have in our choices of Big Bands.

Jazz and the Blues aren't the kings they once were, and there are only a few new crooners around anymore.

The Great American Songbook is hanging on by a string. Their is a fight to save it though .

A very good point. I do like the works of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy trying to keep Swing alive, that sort of style takes guts. But even their music has a sort of newness to it... it's not missing something but it is different.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Wait a second... I thought the last accepted predjudice was white males, and if it's a television situation comedy, white husbands/fathers?

Cheers,
Tom

As Widebrim said, you throw Christian in there too and you've got the win on that one.

Also, if this were Facebook, I would "like" your statement.

 

[Charlie74]

It has already been said that no one dresses anymore for anything. Last time I took a trip on a plane there were folks in shorts, t-shirts, and flip-flops. This was men and women.

But I think we have lost courtesy. What happened to please and thank you? What happened to yes maam and no sir? What happened to RSVP for a function to which you were invited? When I was a child we were taught to address adults as "Mr. Henry or Miss Gertrude" ( the "miss" did not indicate marital status). I still sometimes address coworkers as Mr. John or Miss Carolyn. I guess my parents had this implanted into my brain and it won't come out of it.

 

[Widebrim]

It has already been said that no one dresses anymore for anything. Last time I took a trip on a plane there were folks in shorts, t-shirts, and flip-flops. This was men and women.

But I think we have lost courtesy. What happened to please and thank you? What happened to yes maam and no sir? What happened to RSVP for a function to which you were invited? When I was a child we were taught to address adults as "Mr. Henry or Miss Gertrude" ( the "miss" did not indicate marital status). I still sometimes address coworkers as Mr. John or Miss Carolyn. I guess my parents had this implanted into my brain and it won't come out of it.

Kind of related to your second point is the tendancy (at least in L.A.) to address people as "guys." It is one thing for male friends to use the term, but when your waiter calls you that, it is another story. What is especially maddening is when the term is used to address girls/women; I forbid my students to address females or mixed groups as "guys." (Incredibly, most teachers/aides use the term when talking to students. What happened to "boys and girls," "kids," or "children" as terms?) I have noticed, though, that when I am wearing a suit/sport coat (or even just a necktie), people I don't know will often call me "sir," and I find this especially so with African Americans. As a former serviceman, I often use the terms "sir" and "ma'am," even with people my age or younger.

 

[Widebrim]

A very good point. I do like the works of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy trying to keep Swing alive, that sort of style takes guts. But even their music has a sort of newness to it... it's not missing something but it is different.

Well, it's going to be different, Mr Vim, no way it can't. And to tell the truth, that's usually a good thing, but...after listening to "new" groups a while, I have to return to the likes of Miller, Shaw, Basie, and James...

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Manners have really disappeared, I agree. I get compliments on my manners all the time and I don't feel that my manners are that polished. I've just got enough to get by.

 

[Paisley]

Kind of related to your second point is the tendancy (at least in L.A.) to address people as "guys." It is one thing for male friends to use the term, but when your waiter calls you that, it is another story. What is especially maddening is when the term is used to address girls/women; I forbid my students to address females or mixed groups as "guys." (Incredibly, most teachers/aides use the term when talking to students. What happened to "boys and girls," "kids," or "children" as terms?) I have noticed, though, that when I am wearing a suit/sport coat (or even just a necktie), people I don't know will often call me "sir," and I find this especially so with African Americans. As a former serviceman, I often use the terms "sir" and "ma'am," even with people my age or younger.

One of my high school teachers said a student objected to his calling the students "people." As in, 'People, open your books to page 211." The teacher said he wondered what the student would have done if he'd called them "maggots."

 

[LizzieMaine]

One of my high school teachers said a student objected to his calling the students "people." As in, 'People, open your books to page 211." The teacher said he wondered what the student would have done if he'd called them "maggots."

My junior-high hygiene teacher habitually called us "donkeys" and "jackasses."

And a goodly percentage of us were exactly that.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Talking about changes in schools...

I graduated from South Gate Junior High School in 1974. While I was there I took several drafting classes in addition to the basic shop classes we boys were required to take: wood shop, metal shop, electric shop, and drafting. All of the shops were tightly controlled by the teachers. In drafting, once the bell rang there was no talking between students; any talking was done in a whisper and only with the instructor, Mr. Baker. It was quiet to allow for concentration on your work. You got up only to sharpen pencils or to confer with Mr. Baker. Those were the rules, we abided by them.

In 1980 I was driving by just prior to leaving for basic training. I saw the door open to the drafting shop and Mr. Baker's VW bug parked outside, so I stopped in to see him. I was shocked speechless by what I found.

There was a radio playing. Kids (there were girls in the class now) were up and moving every which way, visiting each other at their drafting tables, babbling across the room. And there was Mr. Baker, hunched over his drafting table checking someone's work, trying hard to ignore it all.

He told me that they were essentially no longer allowed to discipline the students; that they were told that the students came from a different culture (now primarily hispanic) and that the old rules didn't apply. He was just hanging in there until he could retire; the wood shop teacher, Mr. Burns, had apparently had a nervous breakdown and was no longer teaching.

All this, in six short years. I couldn't believe it. I've not been back to the old school since.

Regards,
Tom

 

[bradford]

I'd argue that we've lost sincerity which has too often been replaced with irony.

 

[Big Man]

One of my high school teachers said a student objected to his calling the students "people." As in, 'People, open your books to page 211." The teacher said he wondered what the student would have done if he'd called them "maggots."

lol lol lol lol lol lol :eusa_clap

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'd argue that we've lost sincerity which has too often been replaced with irony.

All of my gripes and complaints about the modern culture can be boiled down to this. I really want someone to slap that smug smirk off the modern world's face.