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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 10, 1985
Then came the turmoil of the 1960s. By 1969, 4 out of 10 Ameri
cans polled refused to name anyone•••• Today•••sociologist
[ Amitail Etzioni perceives "a theme of populism running through
the choices.
Many are antiestablishment," he finds, adding:
"Field and Fonda have played protest roles on and off stage.
Eastwood is a rebel, too. He reminds you that your boss is sit
ting on you and the law is bugging you. People who feel beset by
many forces see him standing up against the world. And look at
Murphy. He flouts all the rules and gets .QY with it�"
Princeton sociologist Suzanne Keller worries that too many of to
day's heroes are media creations•••• "I'm not sure celebrities
are heroes. With many, you could ask: What moral position have
they taken in life? What risk have they taken?" Keller calls the
show-business figures "idols of consumption--those who entertain
or divert you." In the Roper poll, she notes, only Chrysler
Chairman Lee Iacocca, who appears on the men's list, is an "idol
of production."
The old song "School days, school days, dear old golden rule days" no longer
applies much to today's American school scene, most specifically the prob
lems today's educators face. Radio commentator Paul Harvey reported the
following on his daily broadcast of September 28, 1984:
The Gallup Poll on education indicates that the number one prob
lem in public schools is discipline. Has been for all but one of
the last fifteen years. But the nature of the discipline problem
has changed. Today's disciplinary problems, in this order, are:
rape, robbery, assault, burglary, arson, bombings, murder, sui
cide, absenteeism, vandalism, extortion, drug abuse, alcohol,
gang warfare, pregnancies, abortions and venereal disease. Those
are today's mainmast problems in public schools.
In 1940, the behavioral problems were: talking, chewing gum, mak
ing noise in the classroom, running in halls, getting out of turn
in line, wearing improper clothing and not putting waste paper in
the waste basket.
Seeing all the above, how can a flaccid, morally corrupt, undisciplined
United States possibly stand up to its determined enemies? Even the lesson
of history shows America cannot prevail.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau
(Editor's Note: Mr. Hogberg and Mr. Ron Kelly have been in Germany covering
the Bonn Economic Summit, as well as Mr. Reagan's state visit to Germany and
his speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. Hopefully a
report will follow next issue.)