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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 6235903" data-attributes="member: 177">Two questions, then:1) Where do you get your sense?  Do you actually have contact with a statistically relevant number of high-school graduates, or somehting?2) Where did you get the sense that kids of yesteryear were actually any different than kids of today?  It would be really awesome if you named a time period you're comparing today to, by the way.  We could then start pulling out statistics that shine some light on the question. There's some Golden Age where people in general took responsibility?  When was that?You know how Truman made a big deal out of "the buck stops here"?  His word choice means that "passing the buck" was a well-known turn of phrase before Truman.  So, the Golden Age must be solidly before his time in office...For example, say the 1950s.  You know how many men were, by today's standards, alcoholic wife-abusers in those days?  These paragons of being part of society slapping their wives and kids around.  Great stuff!The 1960s... with experimental drug use, commmunes, Woodstock, and the summer of love?The 1970s?  Yes, the world was filled with folks who were up to taking responsibility for their actions.  That's why Karen Silkwood died!The 1980s?  Oh, yeah. Cocaine and "greed is good".  Mature folks taking responsible actions by the hordes there...Go ahead, pick your time period, and we'll talk about how ready folks were to really be functional parts of society.I don't know about you, in particular, but humans commonly wear rose colored glasses when looking at the past - somehow things were always better back then, glossing over the problems of the age.  You don't get to compare the bad things of today with the good things of yesterday, and call them equivalent.What accomplishments are you apt to make if you can't get a job to support yourself?  The esteem you want them to have has prerequisites that often aren't available now at an early age.</blockquote>

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