It was a much simpler life back in 1959, children could be children then which is very important, unlike today when they are forced to become adults a lot sooner. Not worth the trade off of for todays so called benifits (2009 life).
Poll:- life better now or in 1959?
- Thread starter JLM
- Start date
Quite so, ironsides. And why was life much simpler? Because everybody knew their place in society and did not rebel against their lot. Blacks knew their place as janitors or as servants to white folk (and of course at the back of the bus). Gays knew their place, in the closet. Women knew their place, in the kitchen and in the bedroom, serving their lord and master (the husband).
No wonder life was simple in those days. Especially if one were a white male, one had it made. I will take today’s complicated life any day.
I don’t know where you went to school JLM, but there were very few East Indians around in those days, Most of Canada was lily white.
And speaking of schools, the school prayers and readings from the Bible were mandatory, if one was a Jew, too bad. He would feel isolated and miserable, being the only one to leave classroom during the Christian religious activates. An atheist kid of course wouldn’t dare reveal his atheism.
And I won’t even touch on the prejudice against gay teenagers (if one was unfortunate enough to be exposed as one) or against a pregnant teenager (if one was unfortunate enough that her parents were not able to hush up her pregnancy, either send her away to have her baby or take her to a back street abortionist).
Schools were OK in those days if one conformed strictly to the norm. If a boy or a girl deviates even slightly from the norm, school was a living Hell in those days.
You can have today's complicated life style where the only thing keeping people functioning are pills. Yes Cliffy I have said it the pharmaceutical companies are ruining us as a functioning society.
What kind of schools did you go to, teachers hit you, teachers were not allowed to lay a hand on a student in the U.S. back then, were you picked on? I had a great time in school, it was a major time of enjoyment in my life. Still hang around with friends I have from back then. Yes the school was racially integrated and we all were friends and hung out together.
WRONG, DEAD WRONG, Obviously you know very little about the history of Western Canada, specifically Vancouver Island where there has been a substantial East Indian population for generations.
S.J. If you are interested in enhancing your sketchy knowledge of the East Indian population in Canada, I suggest you peruse the following site.........................From Camp to Community : The Communities : Why Cowichan Valley? : Paldi
We had the strap in the school here until the mid 1970s, but we were lucky the private schools had the cane, we just used to get a few taps on the hand, whereas they had their pants pulled down for a severe thrashing. I remember as a kid delivering newspapers, a fairly elite private boarding school was on my route and one afternoon the Headmaster was on a rampage, some of the boys had been up to a little mischief and they were all bent over the table with their pants pulled down, when I arrived on the scene, they were still standing up to eat their supper. Anyway the strap certainly didn't do us any harm, just made us think twice before getting into mischief. We didn't tell the teacher to F off in those days.
Thank you.
I see things like terrorism all over the planet, Aids/HIV, planetwide disastrous pollution, ozone layer holes, and I think life isn't as rosy as Sir Pompa ..... ooops, I mean Joke and others say it is nowadays.
Just because we've progressed in some ways doesn't mean life is any better, but rather that it's just different.
JLM, for Vancouver Island you may be right, I do remember reading that there is a substantial Sikh population there which has been around for a long time.
But for the rest of Canada, my post stands, most of Canada was lily white 50 years ago. You would find hardly any black kids in most schools in Ontario, for instance.
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Yes S.J. things like gratitude did make life a little better. What would make you feel better if you carried someone's groceries up a couple of flights of stairs for them, if they said "Thank you ever so much" and smiled or if they just stood there like a zombie and said nothing? Feelings are part of the enjoyment of life.
In the early days of the past century, Lake Cowichan B.C. had the highest number of Sikhs per capita of any place in Canada, Duncan also had quite a few, along with neighbouring communities such as Sahtlam, Paldi and Mesachie Lake. I went to school in Duncan for several years.
I wonder what kind of school YOU went, to, ironsides. Use of the strap or the cane was quite common 50 years ago. I don’t’ know what was your government’s policy in those days (although I would be very surprised indeed if the strap was banned in public schools, USA just isn’t that progressive). But in private schools strap was used liberally. In Catholic Schools, those operated by nuns and priests, the strap was in common use.
As to myself no, I wasn’t picked on. And I did my secondary schooling in 60s anyway, I was born in 1950. But we used to hear rumors, stories told in hushed tones, some girl disappeared from school, she had gone to have a baby. Anybody who was even slightly different (like being a Jew) was mercilessly picked on in those days. That may be the case even today, but these days there is awareness about bullying and effort to get rid of it.
In those days, bullying was a passage of rite, and anybody who was slightly different (different religion, obese, no dad etc.) paid the price, became the victim.
You may be right JLM, but that is only a small part of life. If I carried somebody’s groceries and they did not say thank you, I may not like it, but that is not the end of the world for me, I will quickly put that out of my mind and get on with my life.
Much more serious are aspects like racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, gay bashing, spousal abuse, child abuse etc. All these things were not only quite common in those days, but were either universally accepted (like discrimination and gay bashing) or were swept under the rug, not talked about (like spousal abuse or child abuse).
And that is what makes our society better today, more civilized compared to 50 years ago (among other reasons). While gay bashing, discrimination, abuse etc. may still exist, there is a general recognition that these things are wrong, and must be eradicated. There was no such general recognition 50 years ago.
"Much more serious are aspects like racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, gay bashing, spousal abuse, child abuse etc."- Yes they are but you would very rarely encounter those things on a daily or even weekly or monthly basis, but you can easily be affected by lack of gratitude half a dozen times a day. Compare it if you like to the "death by a thousand cuts".
Maybe so, but the fact that they existed in those days made it an unjust, unpleasant society. After all, I wouldn’t want to live in a society where women or blacks are routinely discriminated against, even though I am not a woman (or a black), nor do I have a daughter (we have one son and that is it) and wouldn’t affect me personally.
They did away with stuff somewhere around 1955 down here, the telling the teacher to F off started happening around 1970 or so, and has progressively gotten worse. I remember that if I received detention at school for anything, when I got home my Father punished me again. Today the parents get lawyers to defend their kids inappropriate actions and most always against the school. Responsibility seems to be a lost art today.
Ironsides- You've capsulatated about 90% of society's problems today into a nutshell.
I can remember in the 1970s, being punched in the chest by a teacher, simply because I 'marched' (army style) across the classroom when we were leaving to go to gym.
The nostalgia is overwhelming. Oh, to go back to the days when teachers could be abusive for no reason, and everyone had to go along with petty dictators.
The nostalgia is overwhelming. Oh, to go back to the days when teachers could be abusive for no reason, and everyone had to go along with petty dictators.
A few nutcases acting like idiots is not a good reason to be making radical changes to a system that has worked for years.