A Peek at America before 1950 and the Assault by the Left

American Thinker.com ^ | January 25, 2020 | Anthony J. DeBlasi

[Kaslin]

Picture a neighborhood composed of low and middle income families, each with two parents, no homeless people, no street drugs, safe to walk the streets at night. Is this the figment of an overactive imagination? Well, it is in fact a peek at a neighborhood in New York City where the son of immigrant parents read The New York Times every morning in high school, before orchestra rehearsal. Me. The principal, strongly authoritarian and well loved, opened a weekly assembly of highly diverse youngsters by reading a psalm from the Bible. Tough-as-nails, yet tenderhearted teachers passed on a tradition of excellence in thought, expression, and civility while preparing us for a wide range of careers in a free and independent America.

This typical school of 1940s New York City had higher standards and grade profile than any counterpart today and operated on a budget far smaller in equivalent dollars than any current public school budget. In these “backward” times, the schools were free of substance abuse problems, sexual promiscuity, and identity problems. There was an abiding respect for the authority of teachers and parents and for the dignity of every person regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity. There were clubs in my school for religion, for foreign languages (including Latin). A Reporters’ Club recorded significant events for the school paper. There were toy drives for a local hospital . . . The list of extracurricular engagements was long.

I think it’s revealing that dictionaries in these “retrograde” times did not prefix definitions of words referring to high moral standards, such as virtue, with the phrase “regarded as.” It did not have to be stated that opinion or “point of view” is not a valid basis for morality.

[Tammy8]

I didn’t see that when I was growing up. My parents and every adult I knew was involved, all took voting very seriously. Mothers were at the least involved with PTA, served as room mothers. I knew everyone on the school board, mostly fathers then but my mother served on the school board for a time too. Adults kept themselves informed as much as possible; reached out to politicians about issues.

Their children, that is when noticible change took place. When I attended PTA meetings only a handful of people there. Fewer at school board meetings. My age group took to the streets and made no secret of being anti-establishment. They are the Democrat Party today. We didn’t pay attention and did nothing to stop them.