Part of the zeitgeist of the 60's was "don't trust anybody over 30". Well, people under 30 hadn't had much experience with priestly pederasty, thanks to the vigilance of people over 30. But inherited wisdom was out of fashion, and the cautions of older and wiser men were laughed at. Maybe the old ways weren't perfect - but was the new one? Under which system were more innocent people injured? I blame that older & wiser generation. I don't remember anyone from that generation actually explaining to me why their well-refined rules of behavior were the way they were. They just handed down the rules as gospel, made us obey them, and that was that.
It's taken me a long time to recognize that a lot of the restrictions & standards they had made some sense after all. If I had understood them earlier, I'd have respected them more, and would've been much more able to sort out the actual good advice from the mere unthinking hidebound traditions. (Instead of rejecting it all out of hand and having to re-learn everything myself.)
When were you in school? After Vatican II there seemed to be a terminal rejection of what was tried and true. I remember that before Vatican II it was possible to go to any parish and ask the same question and get the same answer. If fact, when the Baltimore Catechism was thrown out it took at least 10 years before it was replaced with anything in hardback. So, it depends on which 'older and wiser' generation you are referring to. The late sixties and through the seventies? Or the one they mean in this article, the pre-Vatican II 'older and wiser'?