A friend from my college class shared this video, which is a montage of pop culture in the 1950s.
All the girls were beautiful, the guys were handsome, the dances were fast and frenetic. The highest achievement was getting that handsome guy to kiss your lips. Ah, those were the days.
A nagging feeling told me that these gorgeous women made me feel inadequate and ungainly. There must have been millions of girls like me, feeling somehow diminished by this feminine ideal of pulchritude.
I’m posting this because today is my birthday, and it’s a good day to wallow in the past. We were so hopeful then and believed that progress was inevitable. As more people were educated, we assumed, we would have a society that got better and better for everyone. We were naive.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Happy birthday. Heck, happy every day, beautiful human!
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I’m a cosponsor of this resolution.
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Haaa!
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And here we are now, in the sad remake, The Incredible Shrinking Democracy.
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Happy birthday, Diane!
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Happy birthday! Many more happy & healthy returns!
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And talk about ancient history! Thankfully I came into the world shortly have these Dark Ages. 😉
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That’s easy for you to say.
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after not have. Easy for WordPress to mess up!
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Sure, blame it on the bot. Just wait until they can defend themselves, petty anthropoid lifeform.
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Happy Birthday!
Watching that montage made me realize how exclusively white 50s pop culture was. There were more images of aliens from outer space than actors or entertainers who weren’t white. And from the comments, too many Americans see that video as when America was a great – it seems to me that the subtext of their beliefs is they want to return to a time when America was white. Of course it wasn’t back then, but everyone else was unseen.
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But a lot of was based on Black culture and entertainment. Without Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, there wouldn’t have been a Louis Jordan, who led to Little Richard, who led to Elvis and Pat Boone. Took a while for that music to whiten up, but once it did, it sure did!
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In case you missed it, thought I’d send you this interview with Donald Jessica Idiot as a cheap birthday greeting:
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One of Randy Rainbow’s best, in my inexpert opinion. At long last, the subtextual significance of T***p’s middle name is revealed!
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Thanks for this laugh! Especially loved the Beatles imagery! Never noticed Randy’s resemblance to young George before.
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Greg, please send a new link as the video you sent doesn’t open.
I read a headline yesterday that said Trump says he trusts Putin more than the FBI and the CIA. Newsweek. Sad. First he destroys faith in our electoral system, then in the rule of law.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zDXVw0aatQ&t=1s
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and as I said on Twitter in response to Carol’s tweet, a very happy birthday to you old friend! I turned 77 May 23, and just committed to coming back to public school for at least one more year, in a school founded by my first principal, where there are four people with whom I have worked in the past including my first school in 1995-96. and where according to one who was there with me I will be teaching some children of those I taught before. Some of us in our own way cannot help but continue to give back to society as long as we can.
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The folks who continue to give back are fine role models for students. Mazel tov on your next year teaching.
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Happy Birthday, Diane! Keep making “good trouble.” While the 1950s were simpler times, there was an undercurrent of inequality and violence that few dared to discuss. The tumultuous 1960s and early ’70s ushered in real changes to civil rights and justice. If we want change, we are going to have to fight for it. Nobody is going to hand it to us.
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by the way, a personal connection with that video – the music with which it opens is Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Why Do Fools Fall in Love.” Frankie Lymon had a totally messed up personal and financial situation, and my mother, Sylvia Livingston Bernstein, was the one brought in as a lawyer to help straighten it all out. I am 8 years younger than you – originally Haverford ’67 – but that video also resonates with me.
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What a nice memory!
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Dear Diane — My wife joins me in wishing you an immeasurably happy birthday, and an equally happy and healthy every-day of your storied life. You entered this world on my late father’s 21st birthday. Tonight I’ll toast both of you with a shot of slivovitz.
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Happy birthday. Naïveté isn’t quite it; perhaps the belief in the ability of humankind to learn and grow, and to be selfless instead of selfish. The women in your montage paved the way for progress. It’s not all for naught. Nothing happens overnight. Gen Z isn’t having any of this. They will bring us out of these dark ages.
They’ve have active shooter drills in schools and watched friends die by guns. They’ve watched as the adults fought when a global pandemic closed the world down. They’ve watched their reproductive rights get taken away, and the banning of anything that makes whites uncomfortable. They know who is doing this, and they’re pissed off. I’m optimistic about the future if we can hold on long enough to get these young, brilliant Gen Z kids running things.
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Thank you for a much-needed injection of optimism. Hope dies last, right?
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Seemingly, decency dies first.
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I also have hope for Gen Z. Unless we can get the world to get serious about climate change. I remain concerned about our collective future.
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My daughter, born just two days away from Diane’s birthday, (Happy Birthday to you, Diane, I hope to see you celebrate a century) is the quintessential member of this group. Idealistic to the chin, she alternately is elated and depressed about issues she deems important. She approaches these issues from a sort of naivety that holds historical figures to modern standards of behavior, forgives randomly, and loves unconditionally. She gives me great hope.
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“We were so hopeful then and believed that progress was inevitable. As more people were educated, we assumed, we would have a society that got better and better for everyone. We were naive.”
When Diane Ravitch was an historian, she would not have written such ahistorical sentences that deny the immense progress that American society has made over the last 60+ years. She is now a fully tribal partisan, hence these absurd words.
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No matter how little respect you have for Dr. Ravitch’s scholarship, it is unspeakably graceless to post this message on her 85th birthday. Thank you for one more bit of evidence that progressives are simply better human beings than regressives.
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Meant to post that message above here.
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When should it be posted? I wish her a happy birthday, but she posted those words today so it’s appropriate to respond to them today. The idea that all progressives are superior human beings is your tribal fantasy. Likewise for any conservatives who assert their moral superiority over anyone with differing opinions.
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????
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Jane: as you point out, Ravitch is a noted historian. I am one too, but without notoriety. If you were one, you would know that being a person like that does not depart from you, but continues to be a way of thinking for a lifetime.
Ms Ravitch has often made reference to progress she perceives in our society during her life, as well as created polemic against things with which you apparently disagree. There have been ample opportunities for you to disagree with her about myriad ideas that are posted here down through the years. The fact that you try to discredit her worries about the direction of the modern American Zeitgeist speaks volumes about your intent, especially in the absence of any attack beyond the personal.
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To not acknowledge all viewpoints when making a singular point is no sin. That’s like saying, “Why are bad things getting so much attention when good things exist?” as if the bad things would be canceled out.
When people are complacent in their own lives, they can easily allow others to suffer around them. Diane is correctly making the point that for all the progress this country has made from that time to the present, we still have marginalized factions of our populace who suffer inequalities in systems that should serve us all. We haven’t gone nearly as far as we would have hoped, and over the past seven years, we have actually gone backwards.
(…not to mention that it’s very bad form to attempt a backhanded insult based on inane logic on this woman’s birthday. It is interesting how one protests the very same elitism one practices. Is the cruelty the point?)
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LG I think that’s why when we realize that something or someone truly IS better in the long-term or in the moment, the truly elite of a culture, e.g., a good person, musician, scientist, teacher, or whatever, is better than a lifelong criminal, and deserving of such descriptions, love is still the more comprehensive, concrete, and definitive context. (Notice that being a monied moron is not on that list.) CBK
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Catherine, delighted you mentioned “monied moron” as an undesirable elitist. Total agreement, and thanks for the chuckle. 🙂
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Jane……..Paleeeeeeeeese!?
We’re attending Diane’s Birthday party today.🎂🥂🍾
Please don’t ☔️rain on our PARADE.
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Jane Morrow We were, indeed, naive. But of course, the description doesn’t cover everything . . I’d bet money that Diane is quite aware of that. Besides being untimely, your comment reeks of an untenable idealism applied to a trooper like no other. You might want to give it a rethink. CBK
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Happy 85th Birthday, Diane! I am so happy you were born today! I remember when you started this blog. Your online interviews & presentations reached some in the media universe, but this blog influenced millions! That is a true testament your wisdom & foresight. And especially, for your clear, to-the-point-elegant writing style.
As a special educator, I was horrified when NCLB & RttT came down like sledge hammers on our teachers & schools. You helped me deeply understand these were not education reforms. They were deforms, destructive, harmful. You coined the phrase Billionaire Boys Club that should go down as one of the best descriptors of the millennium for the edu-reform dilettantes. Those BBBoys weren’t conservative. They were (are) extremists. They are doing great damage to many people. It’s a game to them.
Finally thank-you for showing so many teachers how to be brave, to maintain self-respect & demand respect for our teaching profession. You created a movement. Happy Birthday & many, many more. We have many miles to travel before we sleep.
JCG from TN.
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Dear Joan Grim,
What a lovely comment! Thank you!
Diabe
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Happy birthday Diane!
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Diane. You have enlightened many people in the U.S. on many topics. NOW you deserve a day to know that you are beautiful and well loved.
[I was NEVER part of the in-crowd at school and thought I was ugly. I definitely was shy. I often ate lunch by myself in the gym when I was in middle school. NOW, I look at photos of myself taken in the 1960’s and see that I was actually very good looking. Now I look at myself and go, “Oh, SH*T!”]
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Happy Birthday, Diane! I have basically stopped celebrating having survived another year. Instead, every morning I wake up I am grateful to have another day! In your case I am wishing you to have many more days on this planet as it is a better place with you in it.
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Thank you, Steve!
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Red Buttons noted, at Milton Berle’s 93rd birthday party, the one thing people who turned 93 thought about. 94.
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Happiest of birthdays to you, Diane!! We love and appreciate you and your commitment to PUBLIC education, teachers and democracy! Carry on! At 53 years into this endeavor, I am still going…trying to help teachers and administrators everywhere continue to serve kids!
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Buon compleanno. Spero che tutti i tuoi desideri si avverino.
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Jersey,
Muchas gracias!
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I was troubled by the grammar in the title and, since I wasn’t sure, did a little Googling. This was a good explanation and now I can get on with my day.
https://www.ajcattapan.com/writing-wednesday-can-you-end-a-sentence-with-in/
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Greg, for a minute, I thought I might have to revise the headline to “This is the pop culture in which I grew up.” But now I know that “in” here functions as an adverb. Quelle surprise!
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I have had the good fortune to edit some of Diane Ravich’s writing, as well as that of a lot of other public intellectuals. Her writing is the cleanest, with regard to grammar and usage, of any that I have seen from folks belonging to that category. And on top of that, she has something to say and says it elegantly.
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Is her image on a piece of toast, a stain on a wall, or the bottom of coffee cups? 😇
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Darned near it in my estimation.
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Mine too.
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Ever see “Idiocracy” (2006; dir. Mike Judge), D? It’s a movie that has, over time, transformed from a comedy to a documentary.
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I did not see Idiocracy but it sounds like I should.
You remind me of a word I learned a few years ago: kakistocracy.
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And I think to myself, what a wonderful word. I learned “kakistocracy” during the White House occupancy of Shrub the Illegitimate. From Paul Krugman, I believe. Little could we imagine that less than a decade after government by the worst, there would be government by an even worse cabal of crooks and liars.
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Happy Birthday and your advocacy makes you among the most beautiful on the planet!
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I read that part of her post and I thought of my high-school students, all of them lovely, like looking out over a field of flowers, and all of them convinced that they weren’t. Diane is and has always been, a beautiful human on lots and lots of levels, including that one.
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Bob I’m 76. A young and very good-looking black man tried to pick me up outside of a Target Store last week. I had to wait this long to be thought of as beautiful . . . or maybe it was because he thought I was a lonely rich white woman with a nice car and a diamond studded purse . . . hmmmm. . . MTG (It’s getting late, I’ll quit now.)
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Have a lovely evening, CBK!
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Interesting that I and I think other boys didn’t compare ourselves to Cary Grant.
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William Berkson Hmmm. . . . Who DID you compare yourselves with? CBK
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I compared myself to classmates.
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William Berkson About comparing ourselves with classmates . . . no technology, perhaps? In the early 50’s, we didn’t even have a TV or a working radio. Who else was there besides our families, neighbors, teachers, and classmates to compare with. CBK
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Gone to moderation. CBK
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They’ve got my name again in the In Moderation department. CBK
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I broke down and reported you to the authorities. You should be getting a visit soon.
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GregB OMG! (BTW, don’t tell anyone, but CBK is code for MTG.) CBK
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Ah, so it was Greg who called the Thought Police. Rm. 101 for you!
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Exactly, Mr. Berkson!
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Sunday’s looking like an Arsenic and Old Lace kinda day. In case no one’s heard the Mel Brooks-Cary Grant story:
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Take 85 years and divide that by 6000 years of human history. Multiply by 100 to get a percent of approximately 1.4% of human history described by your life span.
Happy big chunk of history.
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I knew someone would sneak in a
Math Word Problem, as soon as one turns 85. 😵💫🥴
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Thanks, Roy!
I can’t follow the logic but I don’t think my life spam covers 1.4% of human history
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Roy’s calculation is spot on: 85/6000 = .0141666… = 1.41666…%. His assumption that human history is 6000 years old is, umm, contestable.
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Sorry, Bill. I meant written history, which
Is also contestable. As a matter of fact, the generally arguable nature of the past makes it irresistible.
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Does your choice of 6000 have anything to do with Bishop Ussher, Roy?
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It has to do with when writing was invented.
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He is referring to written history.
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Happy Birthday from a classmate who didn’t make it on her looks!
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Ellen, great to hear from you!
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Happy Birthday! Interesting that I and I think other boys didn’t compare ourselves to Cary Grant.
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Exactly. Well observed, Mr. Berkson.
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Diane,
Thanks for sending this – I can’t wait to share with friends who graduated with me from Highland Park High School in Dallas in 1956!
Happy Birthday to you – I am not far behind – 85 on August 7!!
We just keep going – thanks for good health! My quote for each day: “Today is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift.”
Best wishes for a wonderful birthday,
Judy Casey Colorado Springs
>
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Thank you, Judy!
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Happy birthday Diane
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Happy Birthday, Diane! May your celebration of it be the best ever!!
Thanks for sharing the video. The many sci-fi movie clips remind me they showed us a lot about ourselves as a human species and where we were likely headed. The Day the Earth Stood Still, starring Michael Rennie, did this quite nicely and still does.
And you’re right, the girls—ALL the girls—were beautiful! But now we’ve an obesity crisis that began during the 1980s, thanks mostly to profit-makers’ introduction of cheap-to-make poisonous High Fructose Corn Syrup into almost every manufactured food and drink product we consume. Coca-cola and such are nothing but diluted HFCS with flavoring and carbonation. Thank goodness the WHO seems set to declare Aspartame a carcinogen. One particular folk here would do well to be more concerned with these matters and the consequences for black folks and less concerned with “There were more images of aliens from outer space than actors or entertainers who weren’t white.”
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People were drinking Coca Cola before the 80s, probably even the beautiful girls you mention. Portion size, perhaps? A Medium soda today would have been a Large in 50s.
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Yes, they were. I was, too. But back then, Coke, Pepsi, etc. did not contain High Fructose Corn Syrup or Aspartame or any other poisonous chemical as a fake sweeter. I’ve not drank a soda since about the late 1980s, after I wised up. I used to love Cherry Coke with salty peanuts. What a treat, that was!
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Ed, did you put the salty peanuts in the beverage?
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Yup. Sure did. Delicious!
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Happy Birthday, Diane, from a faithful reader who is already 85 and grew up just as you describe! As a neurologist whose specialty was learning disabilities and related developmental issues and taught in School of Education for the last of my four decade career, who was married and had 3 sons and the has been divorced for half of my long life, I feel so closely identified with you, your causes, your convictions! I feel like an unseen unheard friend! As we Jews say, “You should live to be 120!”
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Thank you, Martha! We will meet at our 110th!
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xoxoxoxoxoxo!!!!
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Happy Birthday, Diane!
You are a contemporary of my late father who unfortunately succumbed to his many health issues in 2020 just before he was to turn 82. He avidly read your blog during his last years, and every year your birthday has a special connection for me as you were both born in 1938. He was a teacher, activist and scholar in his own right, but considered your voice to be among the most valuable in public education. We are all fortunate that you have chosen to help us navigate this world through a socio-historical lens. I am personally grateful for you to have picked up the mantle of posting about social issues as public education is interconnected to these topics. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and analysis, for connecting and reposting the work of other important voices, and for allowing so many others to have a place to share their commentary. I come for the articles, pore through the links, and stay for the comments, as you have cultivated a rich network of conversation among so many.
Wishing you a healthy and very joyous year ahead.
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Dear LG,
Thank you for your comments. Your dad and I would have been friends had we met.
I enjoy your comments. Please stay engaged.
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Happy Birthday❣️
Thank you for all you’ve done for children, education, society and those of us who read your Blog religiously every day. You are an inspiration to us all.
We have learned so much and must continue to be WOKE.
You are a real Mensch. THANK YOU.
This 1950s video is an amazing archeological find…..explains so much.
Thinking about all the folks who were not represented, who were spending every moment in hiding, or fighting to be seen and heard. Years went by, and now the closet doors are being erected again – with padlocks. We will not let that happen.
Thank you for giving us hope, Diane.
Interesting, after watching the 1950s video, immediately after, the next YouTube popped up with Joan Baez’s Goodbye Tour in Paris, 2018.
What a SHIFT from the 1950s.
Great Day to celebrate your LIFE.
Hanna Hurley
PS. Today is our daughter’s 44th Birthday.🎂
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Happy Birthday, Diane! You are a gift to all of us. Blessings today and every day! ❤
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Many Hapy Returns, Dr Ravitch!
July 1 was my mom’s birthday. She often got red & blue tinted carnations and cakes w. red & blue sprinkles. Hope you have a festive celebration.
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Diane: you were and are beautiful inside and out; and amazing and brilliant! Happy birthday!
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Happy birthday, Diane! Hope it’s a gre
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May your birthday be one filled with memories to cherish.
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A most Happy Birthday, Diane! My idol in all things education related. My final paper for my Masters has your name as part of the title – have been following your blog for years. Keep up the good work. L’Chaim!
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Thank you, Susan. Happy to be of service!
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Happy birthday, and don’t feel bad about being naive when you were young. Heck, I am old and I thought the pandemic would reshuffle the deck. You know, better access to health care, an end to gross inequity, stuff like that…..
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Cindy, I had the same dreams about “after the pandemic.” That everyone would respect teachers more, pay them more, knowjing how hard it was to have them home. I did not expect M4L and all the other extremists. Censorship. Book banning. Attacks on the tiny number of trans kids.
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Thanks for this — and have a very happy birthday! barbara
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Well, it seems that our birthdays are less than a month apart and almost in the same year. (Mine was exactly 3 weeks ago.) Enjoy! I spent mine at the Belmont Stakes (my first time at horse races in more than 50 years) at a SJU alumni event.
Your comments today hit a nerve which is sometimes (fortunately rarely now) still raw At age I7, I was one of only 2 girls in a freshman math class of 60 at St John’s Univ. in Queens. Needless to say, I was popular with the boys in that class only for homework help. In those days, girls weren’t supposed to be good in math and were often feared by the boys. (I ended up as a public hs math teacher – except for two unfortunate years at a private hs – for more than 40 years.)
Eventually, I was invited to lots of parties but always with the request to “bring your guitar”. It made me feel that I was invited to provide the entertainment and not for myself. But even so I had fun and enjoyed myself.
Nowadays, when I see pictures of myself at that age, I realize that I wasn’t ugly or fat. Being a teenager has always been a challenge (and perhaps even more so these days) even though I did not realize it at the time. It’s nice to know that I had company in those feelings. In your case, if I recall, you are taller than I am even though I am by no means short.
Enjoy the rest of your special day!
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Thank you, Roberta!
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YOM HULEDET SAMEACH!
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Progress is inevitable, Diane. One day, no one will even know anything about the 45th president without being taught in school. Humanity should look forward to that brighter future. Time will abate those unsettling flashbacks of Rudy Giuliani before you know it. Time flies. Heck, I practically forgot about 45’s dumb ass already.
Time flies. Seems like we just celebrated your birthday like a year ago. Ba-dum-bump. But seriously, folks, the 1950s was a strange time. People filtered their cigarettes instead of their selfies. Weird. Hard to understand how the people in that 1950s pop culture montage could even figure out how to dance without TikTok tutorials. Baffling.
I think of the 50s as a time when kids had more unstructured time to play outside. More hula hoops, fewer cell phones. More taxes, less Florida. We’ve gotten away from a lot of that. Sometimes progress means restoring the past, I guess. It’s possible to get a new deal. We’ve done it before. Anyway, a very Happy Birthday to you, Diane. Let’s take some more trips around the sun together.
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Happy Birthday.
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Happy Birthday. My granddaughter turned 7 today. I don’t want to turn back the hands of time. I want her to have the time and freedom to move forward!
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Debbie, you will have to fight for it.
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I know that it is impolite to comment on people’s looks, and at any rate, it’s just not a really important part of who a person is, but Diane Ravitch, from what I can tell of old pics I’ve seen on the Net, was always stunning. I think almost anyone would agree.
But ofc, what drew us all to her so was her compassion and brilliance.
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Something I noticed during my years in high school and later as a high-school teacher–a tiny number of kids in the school thought they were good looking, and the rest of them were merciless in their appraisals of their own looks and of the looks of others. This is so sad.
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And how much worse this must have been for women in the 1950s!
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Bob Jane Mansfield came to a supermarket opening in our town once (a suburb of San Francisco). I was around 12. Even then, I thought it was pretty shabby and didn’t want to look anything like her, or Doris Day, for that matter. But when Peggy Fleming came on the scene, now there was someone to emulate. I’m going to bed now. CBK
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