We all know the watershed moment when things changed...it was Collumbine. Those two psychopaths were trying to best Timothy McVeigh in killing...and failed miserably. But that was the fist "school shooting" that started the crazies coming out.
So the watershed time is really about what it was like for us, meaning all of us in this forum who are about the same generation, and why it is different today.
When I was a kid, we didn't act up or there were consequences. My teachers didn't need to send you to the principal....they were just as effective at beating your rear end and worse still, you got a repeat at home. My dad wasn't kidding with me when the belt came off. And he never said this will hurt me more then it will you. No lie.
Nowadays, kids get medicated for attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity. They are not disciplined.
Some of these kids claim they were "bullied". Well hell...I knew kids who were bullies, and you learned to handle your problems. You didn't run and tell. I learned to fight, and if my dad thought I didn't fight hard enough, he would finish the lesson. No lie. There is truth in the idea that life's lessons need to be painful. We were accountable.
Kids today are not held to be responsible. For anything. Every pickup truck in the parking lot at school had a gun rack, we hunted in season and no one was ever shot. We were taught to be responsible. There was a merit badge in Boy Scouts for marksmanship even. Now...kids are taught that being a pansy is somehow ok.
I feel sad that my grandkids can't grow up as I did.