I graduated from high school in 1964, and, yes, I saw the same. Why did this happen?
Answer: It is because the youth were essentially rudderless, and too few had a firm Judeo-Christian polar star to guide their lives. Why?
Answer: By 1964 our government schools were essentially godless in their worldview. Yes, we did have a minute of two of a scripture verse and Lord's Prayer in the morning during homeroom, but for the remainder of the day **every** subject was approached, analyzed, and delivered by the teacher in a secular and godless manner.
We were taught to **think** godlessly! By the time I attended government school, this had already been the practice for several decades. Yes, our society functioned fairly well during those decades up until the late 60s, but I believe we, as a nation, were running on our spiritual reserve tank. By the time the 60s hit the tank was empty.
I had the good fortune to attend tuition-free Catholic parochial schools for 10 years. My last 2 years were in government high school. The following describes some of the practices in the Catholic schools I attended. The contrast between a Christ-centered education and the godlessly directed government education was very stark.
*** We dressed modestly because the nuns were helping us to understand that our bodies were a gift from God, housed our eternal spirits, and were literally temples.
** We asked for God's blessings on every hour and on the new topic to be studied.
** Of course there was a half hour of religious studies in the morning.
** The writings and philosophy of our church leaders were woven into all of courses.
** We studied the lives of the righteous people who opposed evil ( commonly called “saints”) and they were held up to us as heroes whose lives we should model.
** Even with subjects seem secular ( science and math) we were reminded at appropriate times that the natural world reflected God's glory and power, and it was a our duty to learn as much as possible about it.
** If we heard an ambulance, police, or fire siren, we stopped the class and said a prayer for those who might be in need.
** If a child in the school, a parent, or relative was ill we prayed for them by name.
** Every year in the spring we had a spiritual “retreat” where religious leaders from the diocese would come to the school to speak to us.
** We were encouraged to go to mass before school.
Please read post #24.
If we are to have any hope for saving this nation we MUST MUST MUST shut down the godless government schools and offer all the children in this nation a truly God-centered private education that upholds and thoroughly integrates their family's Judeo Christian values into every topic studied.
We MUST MUST MUST shut down the government schools. They are godless. Even at their best, when they opened in the mid-1800s, the religiously pablum offered up was already generic and lukewarm. It had to be if it was to be accepted by the majority of the community. ( We know what Christ does to the lukewarm.) And...As with all socialist government programs the push was always toward increasing amounts of godless secularism and greater centralization.
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I hear you.
You are correct.