what it was like to be a kid in the 50's 60's and 70's

[33girl]

Originally posted by justamom
It boggles my mind when I think what lies ahead. Where I remember air raid drills-getting under you desk (DUH-like THAT would help)- will the kids in the future be practicing putting on a respirator or running into showers?

The last few years I would walk down the street and look at the "fallout shelter" signs and think to myself, "Isn't it wonderful that kids growing up today will never need to know what that means?" And then of course, September 11 happened. So much for that.

Of course there are many problems in the world and were many problems in the world in the "good old days" but it just seems like kids today are so overprotected from the little day to day things of life. My mother was considered overprotective by the day's standards and I climbed trees, played in the creek, went exploring in the forest and had legs full of black and blue marks. I doubt if the kids growing up in my old neighborhood even know there is a creek there. This society is getting more and more insular - eventually we're going to have a class in school called "how to talk to humans."

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by Rudey
What about women who were not given the right to education? to choose their own destinies?

That simply isn't true. My wife's grandmother had a college degree. That would have been in the early 1900's. Her mother received her degree in the 1940's. My alma mater granted it's first degree to a woman in the early 1800's. (Founded in 1804, it gave its first degree to a black man in 1811)

I will gladly accept that women had far less opportunity for college early on -- but that was more of a financial and family matter -- not a matter of rights. By the time I went to college in the 1960's, the number of men and women were nearly equal.

Polio was very scary -- but not as scary as AIDS.

Regarding computers and children, a lot of stuff on the internet is very worrisome. And I agree with 33 girl, that some children are greatly overprotected. Sometimes a little bump and/or bruise helps kids learn what to and not to do.

The Cold War, complete with the Fallout Shelters weighed heavy on a child's mind -- but we didn't have terrorist threats and serial sniper murders. The only thing that kids worried about in tall buildings was the fear of heights. And, frankly, I was more worried about tornados than atomic bombs -- except for one day during the Cuban Missile Crisis when we also had tornado warnings. That just wasn't fair!

Of course there was Vietnam and the draft -- but that's something that would take pages to even make a dent.

So, is "today" better? Well, at this point and at my age, I'm pretty worried about the economy. It seemed pretty rosey until a couple of years ago. Now, once again, we're facing the possibility of war -- which may or may not disarm a despot of alleged wepons of mass destruction -- but will almost certainly raise the spectre of terrorism to new heights.

Is the future bright? Maybe. Probably. On the other hand, right now is the bright future we were looking for in the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's.

Is it better? Yes and No. We have more creature comforts for sure, but there are a lot of things that we miss from the past as well. And, if you listen to the doomsayers, it will all me moot because polution and global warming will kill us all anyway.

I suppose that brings me back to "a gross violation of rights." I might argue that, at least from a Constitutional standpoint, I'm more worried about losing what we've gained now than I've ever been before. (Read that again, I'm talking about losing things people have fought for -- like civil rights) Racial and ethnic profiling, cameras on streets and in airports and government buildings feeding computers which match faces with others are not a giant step forward for the rights of the average person on the street. Perhaps Mr. Orwell was just 16 or 17 years ahead of his time with "1984."

But now, it's time to plunge on and make the very best of what we have now -- good and bad.

The same as we did "way back then."

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Originally posted by DeltAlum

That simply isn't true. My wife's grandmother had a college degree. That would have been in the early 1900's. Her mother received her degree in the 1940's. My alma mater granted it's first degree to a woman in the early 1800's. (Founded in 1804, it gave its first degree to a black man in 1811)

I will gladly accept that women had far less opportunity for college early on -- but that was more of a financial and family matter -- not a matter of rights. By the time I went to college in the 1960's, the number of men and women were nearly equal.

Your wife's grandmother was the rare exception. Of course, the founders of NPC and NPHC sororities were some of these rare and exceptional women. Most women did not have the opportunity or the right to attend many colleges until the 1960's and 1970's. Until about thirty years ago, many colleges simply would not admit women.

[justamom]

Delt Alum, you have said so much and I agree with your entire post.

Another factor is women working. Today it seems like a two family income is "required". Why is that? Is it so we can all have a nice home and fill it with "stuff"? I'm reminded of a commedy routine George Carlin performed talking about how first, we needed a house to store our stuff in and as we kept on collecting "stuff", we needed a purse to put it in, a nightstand to put it on.... Or, has our economy gotten to the point where the "Mom" has to go out and work to meet basic needs. A real catch 22 to my thinking.

Growing up, my Mom had jobs from time to time and it was to make ends meet. We were not poverty level, but by today standards, we probably would have been considered "poor".
I never knew it though. I thought, because we lived in a "huge" farm house, had horses and good neighbors, we were rich.

[Shine]

This thread reminds me of the summers of the late 80's/early 90's I spent in a woodsy town in Wisconsin, or a farming town in southern Illinois.

Then we had to go back to the big bad city.

I miss those summers.

*sigh*

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by Cream


Your wife's grandmother was the rare exception. Of course, the founders of NPC and NPHC sororities were some of these rare and exceptional women. Most women did not have the opportunity or the right to attend many colleges until the 1960's and 1970's. Until about thirty years ago, many colleges simply would not admit women.

I agree that my wife's grandmother was an exception, but her mother wasn't. And somebody needs to help me out here. With the exception of a few "elite" all male schools and the military academies, I'm not aware of any major colleges that denied women entry. Where do you suppose all of those teachers I had in school came from?

Opportunity is another thing entirely. I suspect that many families did not allow daughters to attend college because they didn't think it worthwhile. That's a whole lot different than not having the "right."

And, about thirty years ago was 1972. I graduated in 1969, and I've gotta tell you that there were nearly as many women as men -- maybe more in my class.

Edited to add, I'd be interested to hear comments from JAM and Carnation on this topic.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

DeltAlum-

I'm not sure which college you attended (Is it Oberlin?), but now that I know when I have a better idea of a time frame for context. My mother graduated from college in 1973 so you're almost the same age.

I'm doing a search to see what colleges were all male. I did find some interesting info. Schools in the West post Civil War were more inclined to admit women than their Eastern counterparts. In fact of the 97 co-educational colleges at that time, 67 were in the West. As the West grew, land grants were offered to start state universities which began accepting women as early as 1855 at U of Iowa. BTW the 'West' meant west of the Mississippi River.

So I guess that I am approaching this topic from a Northeastern perspective. In the 1860's and 1870's, the women colleges which became known as the Seven Sisters were created as an opportunity for women to receive an education that was equal to the classical education offered to men only at the "elite" schools in the Northeast some of which comprise the Ivy League. Of course, this was a century before you went to college. Some of the Ivy Leagues remained all male until the early 1970's.

I agree that 'opportunity' might be a better word than 'right'. I grew up a child of the 1970's and 1980's. I was told that I could be anything that I wanted to be when I grew up. I also attended a school that had 99% college admission rate so college was an expectation and a necessary step.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by Cream
So I guess that I am approaching this topic from a Northeastern perspective. In the 1860's and 1870's, the women colleges which became known as the Seven Sisters were created as an opportunity for women to receive an education that was equal to the classical education offered to men only at the "elite" schools in the Northeast some of which comprise the Ivy League. Of course, this was a century before you went to college. Some of the Ivy Leagues remained all male until the early 1970's.

I agree that 'opportunity' might be a better word than 'right'. I grew up a child of the 1970's and 1980's. I was told that I could be anything that I wanted to be when I grew up. I also attended a school that had 99% college admission rate so college was an expectation and a necessary step.

OK, that I understand. Another thing that occurred to me is that prior to the Civil War a number of colleges were founded a military schools and excluded women for that reason. The military hasn't had a sterling record in dealing with gender issues.

I went to Ohio University, which was chartered by the "Ordinance of 1787" which formed the Northwest Territory, and the school was founded in 1804 as the first institution of higher learning in the territory. The school is at Athens. Miami of Ohio was opened shortly after that time at Oxford. Note the names of the towns. At that time, Ohio was considered "the West."

Sorry, a bit of historical digression.

In any event, by the 1940's there were quite a few "coeds" including my mother-in-law who was an ADPi at Wittenberg University in Ohio.

[justamom]

Delt Alum!!! When we start talking about the CIVIL WAR in order to put things in perspective, it makes me think I'd better get my will in order and line up the pall bearers!!!

Opportunity is another thing entirely. I suspect that many families did not allow daughters to attend college because they didn't think it worthwhile. My Mom was "allowed" to attend
a Catholic girls college for 2 years. Then she was pulled home because her brother was old enough to attend and as you suggested, they assumed she would get married and have kids. This was rather rare for a small, agricultural community.
In fact I was the second, after my uncle, to get my degree. Women were watching all those movies and TV programs that showed Marriage to your HS sweetheart the day after graduation. It was the standard media spin as I recall.

At U of Houston, I couldn't say what the numbers were.(Heck, I didn't even bother going to my graduation ceremony) There wasn't a shortage of women though. However, there were GROSS disparities between the individual colleges, like college of architecture vs college of education.
We do have the organization, AAUCW (American Assoc. of University Women) that I joined when I first moved here and there were over 30 members in their 40's and up. It was a boring group, so I'm sure many who could have joined took a pass.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by justamom
Delt Alum!!! When we start talking about the CIVIL WAR in order to put things in perspective, it makes me think I'd better get my will in order and line up the pall bearers!!!

JAM,

Interesting that I just wrote about the Civil War in another thread. I haven't given it much thought in many years.

Anyway, I know that you're MUCH younger than me, so I wouldn't worry about the pall bearers just yet. Besides, with the economy the way it is, I can't afford to die.

Besides, I have to wait until my college graduate daughter makes enough money to support Mrs. DeltAlum and me in our old age.

She considered it her right not only to go to college, but to trasnfer out of state midway through her studies. (Fortunately, she still graduated "Magna" in four years)

As someone said about their family, obviously college for both genders was a "given" in Mrs. DeltAlum's family, and thus, in ours. So, she was given those opportunities.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

DeltAlum,
OHIO University. Sorry about my confusion. So you have at least four generations of college graduates in your family. That's impressive.

[DeltAlum]

Cream,

Thanks. I hadn't really thought that much about it, except understanding that Mrs. DA's grandmother having a degree was fairly exceptional.

On her side of the family, there soon will be four generations of both male and female graduates.

Neither of my parents finished high school.

My wife's father and grandfather were school board members -- the grandfather at the state level -- so college was a given for everyone in her family.