Generational Decline

My grandparents are of the Great Depression/WW II generation. They attended public school just like my parents but with some significant differences.

First, they didn't attend the whole twelve years, they had to go to work. My grandfather on my father's side went to only the sixth grade I believe.

Second, the public schools of that era were a bit less about the indoctrination and more about the education.

Basically they weren't indoctrinated away from their parent's values.

My parents generation on the other hand did attend all 12 years of public school and had a much more pervasive media culture to deal with. It was the first generation to be exposed to television marketing on a wide scale from a fairly young age. It was also the first generation to be exposed to morally questionable movies and music and have the leisure to indulge on a regular basis.

And that's the important part, they had the leisure to partake on a regular basis those things that would over time erode their morals and alienate them from their parent's generation.

Our grandparents tried quite hard to instill their values in their children. In some cases such as my parents they succeeded. But for the most part the competition had the upper hand. A child spends many more hours away from their parents than with them, with school and television taking up the lion's share of the time. Parents get what, two maybe four hours a day? They can't compete. And this state of affairs only really came to full bloom as our parents were growing up.