Echoes Of A 'Sex Mad' Society (21 November 1975)
Are you in your late forties? And, if so, are you apt to be critical of the world around you and especially of today’s youth? If you are, then what follows should interest you. It concerns the years 1946 to 1948, when you yourself were a teenager and Oh…so Righteous.
There is too much promiscuity today, you may say. I agree. There always was. It cannot be condoned. But mark this:
At the St Albans Diocesan conference (the Woburn Sands area is in that diocese) in October, 1946, a resolution was passed calling upon the Diocesan Council for Moral Welfare to impress upon the clergy and laity the importance of Christian moral welfare education.
Said the Dean: “A sex-mad generation trying to avoid parenthood is running its head against the strongest force in nature – the mystery of birth. If there is one root cause for the appalling number of broken marriages today, it is that attempt to defy God and nature.”
At the conference of the general secretary of the Church of England Moral Welfare Council reported that nine of every hundred children were born illegitimate; 15 of every 100 new marriages were legally broken; and VD had increased by 150 per cent in the past seven years.
Today’s figures may be worse. They probably are. But please note that you were part of a generation that the Dean was driven to describe as “sex-mad.”
And what about vandalism and hooliganism? There is certainly far too much of that. In fact, I recently had two windows deliberately broken by stone-throwing at night.
However, you will remember that the forecourt of the old sub-post office, employment exchange and county court office in Queensway (now the site of Elmo’s store) had a brick wall and gateposts, each of which was surmounted by a large stone ball.
What you may have forgotten is that during one night late in 1946 four of those balls, each weighing well over half a hundred-weight, were toppled from the plinths and sent crashing onto the outside pavement.
You will also recall that trees lining the roads of Bletchley Council estates have been vandalised ever since post-war development began.
But you may not remember that in April, 1948, Bletchley Council, owing to what was described as wilful damage to public property, decided to investigate the possibility of acquiring “hooligan-proof” seats for recreation grounds, and to appoint an attendant who would divide his time between the Leon and the Old Bletchley recreation grounds.
That was the origin of the concrete-framed public seats still seen around the town today. Before that the town’s public seats were of wooden slats held together by cast iron frames.
Again, some members of your generation were involved in the vandalism.
You may also grouse about a lack of discipline in school, about the negative attitude of many children towards school and about kids watching the telly when they should be doing homework. Then hear this:
At the Wolverton Grammar School’s speech day in November, 1946, the headmaster reported:
“A high standard of work has been maintained, but my own impression is that there has been a falling-off in keenness to learn among boys and girls and that too many of them would be satisfied to do less than their best most of the time.
“Parents can help by wise guidance over worthwhile leisure time occupations by insisting on the sensible use of wireless, the misuse of which makes our attempts to develop habits of study through homework quite useless – and by insisting on sensible bedtimes for growing children.”
For “wireless,” read “television,” and there you have it. But discipline, like charity, begins at home. Not that I believe parents are always to blame for delinquency. Mostly they are.
But we all know families where all the children have had the same bringing-up, yet one of them turns out a black sheep. What do you do then? Blame the parents for the black sheep, or compliment them on all the white ones?
Finally, you may ask: “But what about illiteracy? Kids are leaving school without even being able to read, let alone write. There were very few like that in our day.”
Figures of illiteracy are hard to find. I do know, however, that in May, 1948, Mr W.J. Rodda, President of the National Union of Teachers, told a Bletchley audience that nearly three million people in Britain at that time could scarcely read or write. Today’s estimate is two million.
I do not give these examples in any spirit of condonation. Much less do I intend them as ammunition for today’s youngsters to throw at their elders. Going back further, I admit that not all was sweetness and light in my own young day – far from it. I also admit that persons and properties which would have been fairly safe in your young days are less so today.
All I ask is that we should be less hypocritical and give credit to the mass of young people to whom it is due.
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