Joshua Heath’s article “In defense of Millennial snowflakes” (The Signal Aug. 29) could not be more correct when he blames my generation, the so-called “Greatest Generation,” for being the cause of the economic woes that his generation faces.
We were the permissive ones who allowed our children to question authority without establishing a proper limit. We gave only lip-service to the idea that there is a moral code establishing a right and a wrong.
Further, we discovered that we could have more “good” things in life by easy credit and living beyond our means, which in turn required that mothers go into the work force to “keep up with the Joneses.” Thus Mother wasn’t at home to do for our children what our mothers had done for us – that is, give us a proper upbringing.
At the end of World War II, mothers and daughters who gallantly supported the war effort saw an opportunity to assume these same roles in the newly emerging peace-time economy. Unfortunately, no thought was given to “what happens to our children?” when the teaching influence of a mother was subtracted from the equation of raising the children.
Sending Mother off to the office or factory was almost the same as pulling the cornerstone out from a building. It may stand for a while, but then it begins to slump and eventually crack and fall.
Josh and his friends and their parents have no idea what influence a mother can bring to the complex task of rearing children. In fact, I am so imbued with the roles that mothers play within the family that I doubt there is a satisfactory solution for their elimination.
They were there 18 or more hours a day with a watchful eye to observe our every failure in manners, thoughts and deeds and to make a loving correction to our courses. Depriving a large segment of our children the loving influence of a stay-at-home mother was the first of our big mistakes, but there were others.
We thought that schools could take up the slack imposed on society by the elimination of mothers, but they couldn’t. In fact, schools today are a far cry from those that taught my generation. Our teachers had not been trained in today’s mold; they were less schooled in psychology and possibly in subject matter, but they were dedicated and certainly had the idea that school room decorum and discipline were extremely important to a child’s learning.
You say, “It was built by the same old conservatives who so callously insult us today.” Nothing is further from the truth. What we have today was not built by conservatives, but by a lackluster collection of wannabe “conservatives,” liberals, Libertarians and a strong mix of progressives.
This group took a reasonably strong economy of the mid-century and, with the help of several disastrous wars, ran up an unbelievable national debt. For example, take the calamity you and you friends face with college debt: This problem is not the making of conservatives! This was strictly a progressive plan that gave easy money to young people who thought everyone should have a college education and that a Utopian government-sponsored loan program could be a reality.
Providing unlimited money to colleges on a spending binge paid for with rounds of more costly tuition is stupid. You are the victims of progressives! The reason you don’t know this is because your professors are progressives and they have purposely hidden these facts from you as they continue their indoctrination.
If you would learn to think and examine the facts, they wouldn’t fool you. You are the examples of how brainwashing works.
This student loan plan is built on the false premise that everyone needs a college education. Far from it! There are plenty of high-paying jobs today that go wanting because of few qualified takers. Those who might take them are looking for the high-paying jobs that they think they deserve because they have a college degree.
Many should have gone to trade schools, but instead they went to college and – whether they flunked out or passed – are seeking a job in an area with too many better-qualified applicants.
There are other progressive myths in your article, but this is long enough to make a point. I am certain that there are many who disagree with me. Fine, we still have a land where we can disagree, but I wonder – for how long?
Keith Smith is a Canyon Country resident.
