Hats Off! Musings of being a Pirate
December, 2001
By Wyatt Newman
Then and Now: Appearances
Say what you will, the 1985 movie, "Breakfast Club"
seemed to have a good portrayal of the current era of high school
kids...at least according to informal polls of high school teachers,
who thought they might be watching a sampling of their students in
detention.
"Times have changed," or, "We weren't like that,"
might come to mind as we 1960 grads, reflecting the 1950's era, view
the youths of today. Of course, did we think we saw ourselves in the
movies of our own time, such as "Rebel Without a Cause," and
"Blackboard Jungle"?
There were some similarities of rebellious youths at Rogers back then.
And we probability had more antiseptic versions of the five
stereotypes as seen in "Breakfast Club." But if you refer to
the photos in the 1960 Treasure Chest, it looks like a bunch of Brian
Johnsons and female counterparts. Brian was the "Brain"
character in Breakfast Club. Today's kids would consider him
nerdy.
Note that we boys were usually dressed in colored shirts, some
buttoned even at the top. Some type of slacks were more common than
jeans. Most shoes were leather. Hair was neatly cropped and short.
Horned-rimmed glasses or "Mr. Peepers" clear plastic frames.
Wally Cleaver-style letterman sweaters. Checkered shirts were quite
common, looking somewhat Western.
And for le femmes, full skirts, or occasionally some tweedy straight
ones. Blouses, usually white. Soft, one-color sweaters. More checkered
patterns, but only in the skirts. Some of the girls even wore
headscarves in the outdoor photos, just like our moms!
Notice, too, that fragile necklaces were worn by both genders. The
earrings of our time, in a sense. Remember, the necklaces were either
a cross or a club pendant. There were a lot of school clubs, usually
small in membership, the kind that "Brian" would have
belonged. The "necklace" clubs were unofficial school social
clubs, organized usually for interclub Saturday dances.
In a picture, we all looked pretty-much alike, different than today's
high schoolers, who have much more variety. Diversity was not a word
used to fit our times. Yes, we had our own circles that we associated
with, but it was not easy to detect those circles by looking at the
photos.
Did we dress like our parents and some of the teachers? It would
appear so. Take a gander at the senior photos and the faculty pages.
Very interesting. Would any kid today dress like a teacher or parent?
However, reverse that; do parents and teachers dress like the kids?
Topsy-turvey?
-Wyatt
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