[speaker001:] um I think life uh now I grew up on a farm I don't what kind did you grow up in the farm
[speaker002:] I grew up in um well at that time I was in a uh Trenton New Jersey so and it was a suburb of Trenton so I really had mixture of suburb and urban living
[speaker001:] uh-huh I see I see well little little bit different I think though it was much slower and uh
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] much much more self-contained
[speaker002:] I think you're right it's interesting I'm um I work in a high school
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] so uh I'm comparing my life when I was in high school thirty years ago to what I see these children doing
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] and the pressures on the children uh you know you hear this as an excuse but it's true they are so much greater
[speaker001:] unreal unreal by comparison
[speaker002:] oh I cannot believe uh what they're doing uh academically the demands on them and uh and I can see why children do drop out
[speaker001:] yeah I think that's right I I can remember as a child you know nobody ever worried about me wondering out at night and going where I wanted to go
[speaker002:] I can see I can see uh you know uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] it wasn't it didn't occur to nobody to worry that anything would happen to me they were
[speaker002:] and then you didn't you didn't have to lock your door
[speaker001:] no no
[speaker002:] and uh a live and some of these are urban worries but uh it's uh it's a lot different all though I guess twenty years a go now in this area things were um similar because twenty years ago let's see it was after
[speaker001:] it's not all that long ago is it
[speaker002:] yeah twenty twenty five years ago is when we had the Washington riots the first rights we've been having some problem now and it reminded me of that
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh yeah we were living in New Jersey
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh in uh twenty years ago
[speaker002:] whereabouts
[speaker001:] uh in uh Allendal
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and uh I use to have to go over to Patterson when those riots were going on at sometimes um
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] I don't know though it's it's kind of hard to really know because of though the news media had those riots uh kind of blown up out of proportion
[speaker002:] uh-huh well the Washington riots weren't because
[speaker001:] because I went there many times and I never I never saw a riot
[speaker002:] the Washington riots weren't because I lived right downtown Washington and uh and what you saw is was what you got I'm telling you
[speaker001:] did you that's what yeah well huh
[speaker002:] yeah but you know it's it is interesting uh they're so many more they're different kind of dangers that face young people now and social pressures uh the pressures of drug is so much the prevalence is so much greater the the kinds of diseases that you've got out the
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh I mean the consequences is so much what's going on is so much more serious
[speaker001:] yeah I think that's true I think that's true
[speaker002:] then when we were younger
[speaker001:] I think the other thing is that uh we have taken some rather drastic turns in our in our education and the way we approach things as of maybe starting back when when I'm number one you know and uh uh uh worrying about the self and not uh seeing the consequences of the disintegration of the family
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] and uh and there have been many things that have happened that have not encouraged uh closeness of families and uh support for young people that the kind of support that they need to help them take care of the things if you don't have some kind of
[speaker002:] yes and
[speaker001:] of basic belief or something down inside of you then it's very difficult to
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh to have anything to turn to when you got when you've got something facing you like that
[speaker002:] that's true I also being involved in the school system see so many of problem children coming from their parents um children who will lie and cheat and you approach their parents and their parents are constantly justify them rather than to
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh you know they're constantly uh uh excusing their child and you can see exactly why the child is that way you can as a teacher can't hold a child accountable
[speaker001:] like right now exactly yeah
[speaker002:] if you're not going to get reinforced by that at home
[speaker001:] that's right that's right
[speaker002:] and you can't make up in a classroom of one hour a day what's not been done for fifteen or sixteen years at home
[speaker001:] no that's right oh
[speaker002:] and you're get you get mixed signals so it's it's not always the school's systems I think a lot of it is the families and
[speaker001:] no there's so much more then that it starts very much deeper then that I think that too I see some flickers of
[speaker002:] the way you were mentioning yeah yeah
[speaker001:] of uh of good directions turning but whether they're soon enough and fast enough I don't know it's just
[speaker002:] course life is a lot more complicated too in ways um the kinds of jobs that people need to be trained for now
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] uh you know with farming being so mechanized uh people working on the family farm which was a traditional American way
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] if that uh becomes less and less likely factory jobs are so much more um uh sophisticated
[speaker001:] yeah that's right
[speaker002:] and the kinds of knowledge that uh you know it it's requiring an increasingly sophisticated labor force and some people just don't have it it's uh
[speaker001:] right and there's so much so so many people on the lower end of those who who are going to be the the drop outs and the
[speaker002:] and you worry with you know the effects of
[speaker001:] and the poor and the homeless and whatnot
[speaker002:] the effect of drugs on the young children and the unborn children uh in terms of what it's going to mean to a society in the future it's a some ways it's rather frightening rather
[speaker001:] yeah that's just another yeah it really is it's just it it just is almost overwhelming sometimes when you think of
[speaker002:] it certainly is
[speaker001:] of the jobs that is out there to be done
[speaker002:] well it sure is
[speaker001:] in order to flip things back around the way they needed to be
[speaker002:] it sure is
[speaker001:] uh not that I really think that they were perfect ten twenty or thirty years ago but
[speaker002:] it was a little easier though wasn't it
[speaker001:] uh yeah just the volume makes a big difference I
[speaker002:] that's yes
[speaker001:] as uh as uh mother you know I use to think sometimes it's not so much uh it's not so much the kids it's just the volume of it to try to keep all wash done and all the things done and you know and everything
[speaker002:] yeah and they all the things demanded of the mother too I mean uh I look at my mother's life uh
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] I mean she she didn't work um um for a long time uh when I was very young she didn't drive uh she learned to drive I think when I was um a teenager and her life was a lot simpler and I
[speaker001:] right and and and children's lives were simpler because mother was there somebody was there
[speaker002:] that's right that's right that's right
[speaker001:] and and when there's nobody there I always thought too that you know people worrying about going to work when their child when their children are little and I and I think that's sad if they have to because they miss so much but I I believed after having a few teenagers that the worst time you could go to go work was when they were teenagers
[speaker002:] they need you more as a teenager isn't that true that's why I'm working in a school system so that I'm home when they're home um
[speaker001:] right it's not so much that they come to you every minute but it's that you are there when they need you
[speaker002:] that's exactly isn't that that's so true uh uh I find working in a high school
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] it's very helpful because it let's me be a little more tolerant and understanding of what people do
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and it keeps me from being the old foggy but at the same time it also it prevents kids from try to go pull the wool over your eyes
[speaker001:] yeah yes I think that's true
[speaker002:] as to what's come but that's the same I'm home at the summers I'm home with the holidays
[speaker001:] yeah that's
[speaker002:] I'm home at three o'clock when the children are at home or where home one is now a senior in high school and the other's in college
[speaker001:] yeah well
[speaker002:] and uh it's uh it does it
[speaker001:] but that helps a lot I have a daughter who just uh had a second job she needed need to work and she opted to go into a day care center where she could take her children with her
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] and uh and looked a long time before she found one that was laid back enough so they she would be able to interact with them and uh
[speaker002:] that's right
[speaker001:] and felt like they were getting you know uh a good kind of experience as well
[speaker002:] well I'm
[speaker001:] but uh I think that's really important I don't think people realize how important it is
[speaker002:] that's that is that is so true and it's not that always that the children always say something but every once in awhile they'll come up and make a comment
[speaker001:] yeah you yeah
[speaker002:] and you realize uh it's important that and and yet you know we have to make that choice I think um twenty thirty years ago a lot of women didn't have to make that choice
[speaker001:] yeah yeah I think that's right what was what is your name again
[speaker002:] well Linda Lee uh-huh
[speaker001:] Linda okay
[speaker002:] and your name was
[speaker001:] well I think probably that we've just about I don't haven't change the world but
[speaker002:] well I enjoyed talking with you well I enjoyed talking with you
[speaker001:] yes it's nice talking to you too bye now
[speaker002:] okay bye-bye
[speaker001:] uh-hum