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from Scholastic Update,
February 9, 1996
Kids These Days…
In the 1920s, young people staged their first
big rebellion
against the older generation
by Tod Olson
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image of flappers |
 If you think gangsta rap, pierced
navels, and pink hair are the first teenage fads ever to shock a generation
of parents, think again.
After World War I (1914–1918),
adults took a hard look at the generation coming of age—and were
frightened by what they saw. Girls called "flappers"  flaunted
short skirts (to the knee), short hair, and lots of makeup. Guys, known
as "sheiks," wore huge, baggy pants and displayed "fast"
attitudes. Jazz music was hot. Dance parties lasted late into the night.
And who knew what went on after hours. "Youthful morals are being
broken down," declared The Illinois Baptist magazine in 1922.
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It was traditional
feminine morals that seemed to be changing the most—and that made
a lot of people nervous. Relations between men and women changed rapidly
in the 1920s. During and after the war, more women began working outside
the home. And in 1920, women finally won the right to vote. "Women
have come down off the pedestal lately," explained one flapper. "They
are tired of this mysterious feminine-charm stuff. Maybe it goes with
independence, earning your living, voting, and all that."
In 1922, Literary Digest magazine
asked a group of prominent journalists, religious leaders, and educators
to comment on the state of American youth. Here’s what some of them
said.
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Unclad and Immoral
"Too many of our young women
are improperly clad,
and just so long as these conditions prevail, the average masculine mind
will have less and less respect for the feminine."
—C.B. Riddle, editor of the Christian Sun
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"A
spirit of libertinism [immorality] is abroad among our youth. There is
little or no respect for parents and superiors in many of our homes and
schools and churches. . . . Pleasure-madness
and love of luxury have become epidemic, and the vast multitude seem to
have banished all noble idealism
and usefulness, and refuse to take life seriously, save under compulsion
of some misfortune."
—George W. Sandt, editor of the Lutheran
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"Kids These Days..." by Tod Olson from Scholastic Update, February 9, 1996. Copyright © 1996 by Scholastic Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
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