Hey…This is the son. I just got this all set up for my mom to use. I needed a post to get everything done before I could get her started using it, so I decided to repost this bit she had written and asked me to post on my blog. So here goes.
My, how the world has changed!
I graduated from public high school without…
Ever wearing pants to school
Ever riding a school bus
Ever going a day without PE (from track and volley ball to dance)
Ever going a year without either band or chorus
Ever getting a free lunch
Ever going a day without the pledge and a prayer over the “PA” system
A computer
A cell phone
A pager
I graduated from public high school with…
The equivalent of a college education now
4 years of Latin – I actually translated Beowulf from Latin to English
2 languages (French and Spanish)
Algebra, geometry, trig
Biology
General Science
Civics
American and English literature
World history
Tennessee history
American History
Home Economics
Typing
Band and Chorus
4 years of PE
Public speaking
Maybe that’s why I made 28 on the ACT when I finally took it 33 years after graduation.
I started my first job ….
Still couldn’t wear pants – skirts and dresses only
No copiers – Mimeo??? I still remember the smell. Reports were done on an IBM selectric typewriter using mimeo stencils. You actually had to use a razor blade to scrape the ink off if you made a mistake.
No faxes – we used snail mail
No desk top computers – only terminals from the monster that was kept in the air conditioned ninth floor…the whole ninth floor.
Can you say key punch???
No word processing software – IBM selectrics??
No spreadsheet software – Graph paper…
No ten-key adding machines – comptometers. I must admit that the 10 key came out shortly after I started working.
At my first job I made $2.53 per hour and thought I had died and gone to heaven.
New words to my vocabulary over the years.
Computer
Personal computer
Cell phone – I actually had one of the first. The battery was bigger than a bread box.
Byte and all the mega, giga, etc., that goes with it.
Microwave oven
Cable TV
Remote control – Yes we actually had to walk over to the TV to change the channel or adjust the volume.
Garage door openers. If you had a garage, you had to stop, get out of your car, pull open the door, drive your car in, then pull the door back down. Why do you think so many houses were built with carports?
Terrorism – It was a word, but it didn’t have quite the same meaning as today.
Blow Dryer
Curling Iron
Microdermabrasion
Illegal alien – People who came into this country from all over the world were immigrants…and the vast majority were legal.
Politically correct – I’m really tired of this word and all the angst it causes.
Cruise control – Hard to get in a 57 Chevy
8 track player – Couldn’t get that on a 57 Chevy either
DVD – Again, 57 Chevy may not be the perfect venue
Compact disc
VCR – If you wanted to see a movie, you actually had to go to a movie theater
Digital anything
Interstate highway…the “long and winding road”…usually two lane
The Beatles – speaking of “long and winding road”
The Rolling Stones
The British Invasion – of the 1960’s
Flower Power
Hippie
Yippie
Groovy
Cool
Anything that plays music other than a vinyl disc called a record album.
Significant other – Either you were or you weren’t
Paradigm change– duh??? Please.
Peter Principle – Seen a lot of that
Employees as associates – Again with the PC-ness
Quality management – assumes you have quality to manage in the first place
Watergate
Iran-Contra
Sex – as Bill Clinton defines it.
