That's absolutely true, and yes, I believe that there were polite kids in the 50s. And as you say, the white kids of the 50s were absolutely terrible to the black kids of that era (she disregarded me when I brought this up). She only cared about the "Leave it to Beaver" type world that didn't ever exist.

My objection was that the woman made the generalization that every kid in that era was better than every kid of today. I feel that generation bashing is just one of many weapons wielded to devastating effect by oppressors. They want our young people beaten down because that's the easiest way to retain power.