My sons are ages 53 and 49. When they were young, despite repeated ear infections, doctors back then didn’t want to remove the tonsils because they claimed the tonsils helped fight other illnesses. How many kids get their tonsils take out today? I was born in 1947, and taking the tonsils out back then was a regular thing. I had mine out at age 5 because I always had severe earaches. We didn’t have a car, and the doctor still came to the house to give me a shot of penicillin in the butt.