In Stephanie Coontz story she expresses how she felt that the 1950s was the best time to raise a family. In her story she talks about how her mother marched down to the public library and tells the librarian to never tell her daughter what she can and cannot read. I found this interesting because she said that she could never do that now with her son and I agree. I got the impression from her that the 1950s were so much more relaxed than things are now. Parents constantly have to worry about their children accessing information on the net, or what they see on TV. How did everything get so corrupt that these have to be a constant worry to parents?
Everything seemed so much better in the 1950s. From the family values, and trust in the government, economy, ect. families seemed to have a much easier time. Media was a large part of it all too. Most shows on TV showed "perfect" families and taught such good morals that families would try to pattern themselves after them.
I personally would not like living in the 1950's based off of her story. It seems to uniform, controlling and so much is expected out of you. I like going to school and working and living my own life without people thinking I should be something else.
Strike In Geology
10 months ago
I liked your response to the reading and your question about how everything got so bad that parents have to worry about what their kids see on the internet and TV. That is something that I have wondered about myself. It seems to me the majority of Americans are worried about how the media and internet are affecting their children but the problem continues to get worse anyway. I think I would have liked to live in the 1950s myself. I am not big on all the new technology and the faster paced lifestyle we have now. I think the world probably moved a lot slower before cell phones and I would have liked that. :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your response and your opinions on this piece. Sometimes I think it would be nice to go back to the slower paced 50s, but, I probably wouldn't do well with all that structure either. It would be nice if we could take the good from each era and make the world continually better, instead of every generation changing everything from their parents generation, just for the sake of change. I think there is a lot to be learned from previous generations, both good and bad.
ReplyDeleteI forgotten about the story in the library. As a mother in today's world, I regret I would have to admit that I would probably automatically side with the adult who was questioning my son. Although I need to remind myself that just because someone is an adult it doesn't mean they are always the one in the right, or doing the right thing. I would hope that I would be more like Coontz's mother. Her reaction tells me that she had complete faith in her daughter, now that is a sign of an awesome mother.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your thoughts. I agree with you, those times were not for me. I value the opportunity to receive an education. I also liked that you discussed the library story. It is kinda scary to think about how things have changed in that sense.
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