Don't misinterpret me. I am not defending our current educational system, I think it's terrible. Then again, I think it's better than the 1970s era (when I was growing up). My high school resembled "Welcome Back Kotter."
I will say that I would rather be a kid today then a kid in the 1950s. I think kids today have far better opportunities available to them.
Without a doubt, the '50s was the best time to be a kid in the entire history of mankind.
Having been a kid in the '50s, and living in the same town, with a lot of the same people, (and now their grandchildren) I wouldn't trade places.
We walked to town after school to the drug store and played the jukebox for a nickel. We drank cokes; didn't snif it. Today the drug stores with fountains are gone; if they were there the kids wouldn't walk to them. We enjoyed being kids with no pressure to be little adults. We stole watermelons out of the field at night!
I remember seeing a TV for the first time; having an air-conditioned house and car for the first time.I have a brother 14 years my junior. Things changed drastically during the years I graduated from high school and when he did in '71. I wouldn't have traded places with him.
The 50s were just a good time for everybody--kids and adults alike. (All other things considered) The time between Korea and Viet Nam. It was the best of times.
And we had a president who spent most of his time playing golf and having heart-attacks.
"Better opportunities" is relative. Like kids today, we had the opportunity to be anything we wanted to be and had the smarts to be.
I understand your point about "rose-colored glasses" but with the 50s, I think it was more than that. It was the "calm before the storm." Better known as the 60s. LOL!