New Seniors

Surveys indicate that today’s parents are afraid their children will not have a life as good as theirs. As grandparents and great grandparents, the pre-boomers have the time and the experience to help solve this problem by getting involved with their local school board and volunteering to help at the individual school level. After all, don’t these kids deserve the opportunities past generations gave us?

Pre-boomers grew up in a time when a “good education” was what every parent hoped their children would get before going out into the world. They preached, and rightfully so, that armed with knowledge and understanding we could realize our dreams and enjoy a better quality of life than they had. Today, academic curriculums and common sense training have changed to were students are less prepared for what lies ahead than when our generation graduated. What went wrong?

My education spanned two decades from the early ‘40s through the late ‘50s. I learned early on to respect my teachers and get along with the other kids. Otherwise, it was down to the principal’s office or my parents were called in to discuss behavior problems. Talking back to teachers and being disrespectful was not tolerated. And those kids identified as discipline problems were relegated to special classes or sent to a school that handled the difficult cases.

Those who did not receive a passing grade had to repeat the grade or the class in question. Summer school was also an option, but it was not easy and certainly could not be considered a sure thing for just showing up. We were in school to learn and parents were expected to help support the teachers and the administrators to assure each student had the opportunity to learn and not interfere with the progress of the others in the class.

Some place along the way, things began to change. Was it the baby boom explosion after WW II? Two parents working? Single mothers raising children? The flight to the suburbs? Permissiveness? Or was it that parents simply abdicated their responsibilities for their children’s education and left all aspects of the job in the hands of the schools?

More than likely it was a combination of these things that slowly, almost imperceptibly, caused change and worked its way into our schools over the past 50 years. When we finally became aware of the problem it was too late. Here, in Southern California, we went from having the best public school system in the country to being at the bottom. And the more money we poured into the schools, the worse they get? This was compounded by more and more families moving to better school districts or opting for a private education, leaving less affluent students stuck in failing schools.

This situation was, and still is, repeated throughout the country. It’s as if “the inmates are running the asylum” with the students rights trumping those of the teachers. Discipline is a bigger problem than learning. This will put many, probably most, of our kids at a disadvantage when they graduate and try to compete in the world-wide marketplace.

Don Potter: Editor-in-Chief

Don Potter, a veteran of the ad agency business, is a Philadelphia native currently living in Los Angeles. He is the author of an acclaimed marketing book, The 50+ Boomer: Your Key to 76 Million Consumers. In retirement, Potter has written two novels, hundreds of articles and is a frequent lecturer. A leading advocate for those 65+, he is a founder of NewSeniors.com.

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