A Reflection on Generational Decline

I was a freshman in an American History class at A&M in the sixties when I heard the phrase the first time “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations”. Over the almost next 60 years I have observed this prophecy play out in so many ways. The greatest generation rolled up their sleeves and built an empire unrivaled in human history and bequeathed it to the baby boomers who semi maintained it for several decades and now we are back to shirtsleeves wondering where it all went.Just like a sports team that sacrifices in order to get to the top and doesn’t deem it necessary to keep to the same rigorous standards yet expects to stay on top. One of the standards that got tossed aside during the journey is the education system’s ability to produce world class standards in students K-12 grades. We all say schools should do a better job, yet it appears that PARENTS do not demand performance by their kids like they did years ago. I remember visiting with a superintendent who had been raised in Duval County, Texas in the fifties by parents who did not speak English. He said at school, teachers walked around with a ruler and they hit your hands with it when you were caught speaking Spanish. He went home crying to his parents and they told him he needed to learn English. This was an era when parents who weren’t able to get an education due to the depression demanded their children not let their opportunity slip away.An excellent quote that applies to all of us today is by the British libertarian in the 17th century, Edmund Burke, “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little”.