Indeed, but let's not forget older generations as well. I recently
lectured a class on the Sixties at the University of Delaware's Academy
of Lifelong Learning. The students were all in their 60s and older,
many retired scientists, biz execs and academics, about evenly split
between women and men. The classroom was packed (as it has been for
every class this semester, according to the instructor) and the
questions were, for the most part, a good deal sharper and more
pertinent than similar classes of yon teens and twentysomethings to whom
I have spoken in the years since I directed and edited a 48-page special
section on the 25th anniversary of the year 1968 published by the
newspaper for whom I work. I also lectured an Academy of Lifelong
Learning class on the News Media this semester on the differences
between how the media covered the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars, and how
lessons learned from Vietnam were applied (or not applied) in the Gulf.
There were even more students in that class, and many excellent
questions.
It was my sense going into both classes that these senior-citizen
students had probably been loyally establishmentarian during the
Sixties, but it became obvious from many of their questions and comments
that that was not necessarily the case. Many had children who in turn
drew them into the issues of the day -- the draft and war, civil rights,
drugs, women's and sexual liberation, and so on. In some ways, the
perspective of these seniors was just as gripping and deeply felt as
those of us who were in their children's age group during that decade.
They too were deeply affected by Sixties, and that shouldn't be
forgotten as we contemplate ways to mark the 30th anniversary.
Shaun Mullen
West Grove, PA