someone between 50–70 years of age help me with this please.?

Question

1. Where did you go to school? Do you remember a certain teacher or special event such as prom or a football game? Describe your school. Was it public or non-public, was it segregated, and did you have a dress code?

2. Do you remember where you were on November 22, 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated? How did this affect you and your surroundings?

3. How did the civil rights movement affect your life? How do you think it has affected our country?

4. Did you serve in the military in Vietnam ? Did you lose someone in your close circle in this conflict? Were you a hawk or a dove? How did you feel about the draft?

5. How would you define nonviolence and civil disobedience? How do you feel about the mission of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Has this movement changed us?

6. The end of the decade started a call for environmental controls. In your opinion, how has this affected our current environment?

7. Tell me about a good time during the 1960s.

Answer 1

Like JMH I know more than a little about computers. That is, I began working on them in the early 1960s. The first computer I worked on could only add and we had to develop our own routines to subtract and multiply and divide (you can do all of this with only the ability to add.) I wrote operating systems as well as many other utilities and in the late 1070s had a computer business that developed computer controlled buying and selling of commodity contracts before the internet really got going and developed some of the early computer controlled manufacturing systems. Yeah, I too might know something about computers. As to your questions, I also believe that what you are asking for is closer to books that a short paragraph, so any answers you get here will likely not fit your needs.

I went to a public school in a place called Holt, Michigan. A small town in transition from rural to a community close to the capital city. I remember a number of teachers who were special for a number of reasons. Segregation wasn’t an issue because there were few minorities in the town. In my class there was one person who was Mexican, another who was American Indian and about three grades behind me was a black person. There was not a major dress code but you had to dress in a way which was not radical and was clean. Since our town did not have a theater we had periodic movies in the gym for the entire town, and that was special.

November 22 1963 I was working in the REO Truck manufacturing plant. As I’m sure it is for steve_geo1 I can remember the death of Franklin Roosevelt so while the death of Kennedy was a shock it wasn’t the first death of a president. It didn’t effect things much at all. .

The civil rights movement gave many of us the opportunity to participate in a movement and it has changed many things. You see, I still remember the white only drinking fountains and the restricted restaurants and similar things. I remember the similar restrictions applied to Jews. .

By the time Vietnam came along, I had already served my time in the service. Yes, a number of friends died in that conflict (as well as World War II and Korea). Yes, I was also a hawk and I supported the draft signing myself up as soon as I turned 17 although I wasn’t drafted myself but signed for active duty shortly thereafter. I still think the draft is a good idea.

In specific instances nonviolence is a good tool as is civil disobedience as Henry David Thoreau demonstrated. Dr. King was one such leader in a long line of leaders. And the movement has contributed to changing the country.

The environment has always been important to the people of the United States. As knowledge evolved as to the effects of what we do, new ways of doing things have also evolved. It hasn’t just been a ‘new’ environment movement.

A good time during the 1960s is when I got married.

I also believe that you should look at 'other' periods of time. In addition to living in the small town where I went to school I spent all my other time on the family farm. The way we lived there was far more interesting than the small town where I went to school.

Answer 2

Just an aside to some of your previous responders -- what makes them think people between the ages of 50 and 70 don't know how to use computers? Who do they think invented them, and how old do they think computers are?
Of course I remember where I went to school - and there were no dress codes during the Depression years unless you were going to private school.
Of course I remember where I was when JFK was assassinated. How did it affect me?. It was a senseless act and along with most of the civilized world, i was both saddened and sickened by it.
Civil rights? The movement has affected the country for the better.
No, I did not serve in Vietnam. But I lost close relatives in other wars.
Nonviolence and civil disobedience are potent and valuable tools to right wrongs.
The call for environmental controls should have come years ago.
There were many good times during the 1960s, both public and personal.

Answer 3

59 years old, I managed The network support group for a major computer maker and taught computers to children.

I remember many of my great teachers even from elementry school but especially H S.
Went to public schools in Springfield Missouri. We had 3 high schools. I remember going on a field trip to Kansas City.

My high school was the second or third largest in the state, with a student population of 3000 for the 4 grades. Many classes had 40 plus students. I rode a city bus to and from school, not a school bus- there was no such things for us.

There were no elevators ( 3 stories plus basement) no a/c. It was built in 1897 and is a registered historic building today. Solid oak floors everywhere, brick and stone on the outside. Still in use today.

Our school was very much integrated and was about 30% African Americans. Very few Blacks went to the other High Schools.

I only remember I was at school when we heard JFK was shot. thats all.

I supported the civil right movements but never marched in any protests. I played on the football team and sports was a great racial leveler. the civil rights movement has made our country and the world a better place for all. Minorities did OK in my high school but were really treated poorly at the other schools.

I once was in a fight with a bunch of white guys from another high school who had ganged up on me for some reason. Several black guys from the football team came to my assistance, and I never ever forgot it.

No to Vietnam, lost one failry distant friend, Dove, hated the draft until I flunked the physical from an injury.

I was too busy working on all the computer problems to get involved in the civil disobedience marching thing. I paid attention and donated money to the cause.

Environmental controls were long overdue then. If we had not started then we would really be in bad shape environmentally now.


A good time in the 1960's as a teenager was going down to the public park in the summer and playing a game of ball with the local
neighbood and orphanage teenagers, then going to the Steak-N-Shake for burgers and a pop.

(forgive any spelling errors, Answer spell checker is not working )

Answer 4

1. I went to St. Mary's in Lorain, Ohio - from '60-'69. The girls wore uniforms.
2. I was in 3 rd grade when the assasination announcement came over the intercom. We prayed. Our teacher wept and trembled. Then they sent us home. My mother was insane with grief during all the tv coverage. It felt like the end of the world. We huddled together as a family in front of the tv. It was like waiting for a bomb to drop at any time. Very sad.
Life was never the same after that.....
3. the cvil rights movement educated me. I didn't know any black folks, except our cleaning lady. I didn't realize that so many people 'hated' her, when we all liked her.
4. I was drafted, but my number was low, so I was never called up. I was a dove, and tho my Dad would've disowned me, I might've run off to Canada if called up. I also lived very near Kent State and the shootings, and that affected me profoundly. I think if we had a draft 4 yrs ago, this Iraq war would be over, because people would be outraged and not go.
5. civil disobedience is very cool, and I've been arrested for it.
(non-violent, of course.) This mission of Dr. King was a brilliant start but it is unfinished. Whites and blacks have both failed thus far.
6. It's had very little effect that I can discern thus far.
7. Mom, piling all five of us kids in the station wagon to go get ice cream cones at the Creamery on a hot summer night.
(She'd take the neighbor kids, too - we could get about 10 into that old station wagon!) Then we'd drive by the fountain at Lakeview Park (on Lake Erie) and watch the colored lights change at the fountain there. And always, Mom yelling at us cuz we dripped ice cream all over the seats fo the car.....

Answer 5

Hey alcard, sweetheart, I went to three Universities and one tech school and, have a degree in medicine, can you say that?

I went to a tech school in the city, to poor to go to a better one. One Teacher, Fran Tarkington was the aunt of football great F. Tarkington of the Minnesota "Vikings"
It was a public school of course, no dress code and non-segregated.

I was at work when Kennedy was shot, we were let out early and had the next day off.

The civil rights were in the South, it didn't bother us one way or the other in the North.

And, yes, I ran away from home at 17 and signed up for the Army, was in the 82nd Airborne Rangers, spent two tours in 'Nam.
And again yes, although I was wounded twice, many of my friends didn't come home, we had a high casualty rate.

I've seen both bad and good come out of the "marches" King led, some used them for personal gain.

We've ignored the enviromental controls or and shoved them aside, now look at what's happening in the North Arctic, the Polar Bears are foundering, by 2020 they're won't be any, the Whales, the seals, I could go on and on.

The 60's were good, they were simple, uncluttered, the laws were the laws without plea bargaining, drugs were at a minimum, kids listened and wondered "who" they were. You could still afford to go to college. Coca-cola was still 6 cents a bottle.

Answer 6

I went to six different schools my first six years of school all were public schools in Ohio they were not segregated but there were no blacks were I lived . I was in junior high the day J.F.K. was killed all the teachers were crying. The civil rights movement did not effect me personally but it was the right thing for our country and long past due. I was drafted for the Vietnam War but failed the physical I had blown an acl in my knee playing football. Nonviolence is self explaining I feel M.L.K. was a good decient man who was trying to gain equal rights for all human beings. As for dress codes yes and boys hair had to be above the shirt collar and a good time was going to sock hops or on hay rides or just driving around the Big Boy in your hot rod.

Answer 7

1. I began kindergarten in Elmhurst, Ill., Sept. 1941. I graduated from York High School there in June 1954. It was public. There was no dress code, but every one dressed well, so there was no need. There were no black persons in the town.

2. I was at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, getting ready to defend Ph.D. thesis in organic chemistry.

3. It didn't affect me. How it affected the country would be a long answer.

4. I was too young for the Korean war and too old for Vietnam. I lost a neighborhood friend, older than I, who went missing in the Korean war in 1949. I was a hawk on Vietnam, in that I thought we were fighting to win. When Lyndon Johnson said, "We are fighting to bring them to the negotiating table," I knew that there was no point to the war, and I turned against it.

5. That's too long to discuss.

6. Overall, for the better.

7. You asked for some one in his 70's, so you should ask me about good times in the 1940's and 1950's. In the1960's, I was in grad school, married, and later teaching college.

Answer 8

i'm 58 and know how to work a computer! lol! you'll get some of the requested answers. but, you'll have to do your own homework assignment!
1. i went to highschool in burkburnett, texas...public....dress code...
2.i was in choir when the death of JFK was announced.
3.the same as it has for most people. that's too broad a question.
4.my dad was military. i lost a couple of classmates. i hated the draft.
5.of, course MLK changed the country. do your own homework.
6. not much. not everyone gets involved.
7. going on a road trip and staying at a classic 1950s "tourist courts". motel. swimming in a pool for the first time. i got a pair of aqua blue sunglasses with silver sparkles in the plastic. i was about 5 yrs. old.

Answer 9

Dee and Alucard...I'll have you both know I am 57 years old and more computer literate than most of the people I work with who are half my age, and I'll match those skills to yours sight unseen. You won't stand a chance.

I do agree, however, that the question is much too long to answer. Whole novels have been written based on just one of the questions that was asked.

Answer 10

Ok i'm not that old yet but i will try and answer

1 i went to a building they called school and it was public
and it was mixed , but was always in a conflict of color
and no real dress code but they would send you home if they didnt like it , and i will tell you paddling was the rule of discipline and it was OK , see nothing wrong with it and in fact quit enjoyed the trail to see which teacher could paddle me the most and who hurt the most.....wasnt much of a test but it was fun......
2 and at that time of kennedy i was with my Mom dont remeber much about it was to young to care at that time
3 hasnt affected me in no way then or now and only thing i can see is the way its been handled is just as seperating NOW as it was then !!
4 NO...and draft was and is OK if needed...but we have a Volenteer army now shoudnt need anything else and YES i signed up for the draft when i was 18
5 non-violence is just as it is spelt NON............civil disobedieance is going agaisnt the law of the land...dont always agree with it , but try to obey it best of my ability...and MLK was a womanizer and his files has been sealed so no one can see his flaws...and to me he didnt help his people as much as he could have and in fact hurt them more then helped them....with all his nonsense of saying one thing and doing another...much like all politicians and thats really all he truley was.... and NO it hasnt changed nothing really at all....

6 we are losing out worring about stupid things and instead of being SELF reliant...........we depend to much on foreign things rather then our own industry........and this environment would be alot better off if we stuck to the FACTS and not someones idea of what is happening . Like this globel warming stuff....the same Scientists who are now claiming warming a few short years ago was saying Canada and the upper great lakes would be Frozen over by the year 2010....
Seems to me it is as is most things just a Political tool to claim things need to change...but instead of using our own undustries...we as always will trade it OFF to other nations to do it for us , and then wonder why its costing us here so much.......WAKE UP AMERICA.....china already owns us..and its allies have thier say about us.....and now Mexico , is saying who has and who doesnt in our own nation......giving the illegals help when our own people are starving and doing without..........And call this enviromental control ??

7 last of it was child hood.........was Great Childhood..........