A lot of the people I work with are too young to wrap their brains around the idea that the vast majority of people were really scared of nuclear war. They've grown up with a mindset that, in spite of 9/11, war happens somewhere else to someone else.
This is largely because of the success of the military's "fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here" strategy. But at the same time, it's reduced the notion of war to a video game, and empathy has gone by the wayside.
By 2019, we will be back on the moon in force
Oops.
My great grandmother was a school teacher... when I was younger, I remember looking at a 5th grade textbook from when she taught, compared to what I had nearer that time... It was harder than what I saw through H.S. even. It was an english language textbook. There was similar for Math as well.
I think a large part is lost from current american schools where homework is rarely assigned, and the coursework has been watered down rather than asking students to rise up, or heaven forbid more general separation of classes based on ability.
