In general I think we should disband all public agencies that would dare to come between parents and their children, for any reason short of murder, and maybe for any reason whatsoever. Imagine the gall it would take to write a letter chiding one for wearing short skirts and -- reputedly! -- drinking. Not even an official agency, either: the P.T.A.
So things aren't all getting worse.
I doubt the PTA sent such notes home to parents ever. The organisation was used in the song as a stand-in for parents' attitudes in general about others that was expressed just as meanly, but less officially. People do the same thing with any institution or general group - the school, the church, the businessmen, the medical profession - if a few people are talking about you negatively, we all tend to generalise that to the whole group.
ReplyDeleteThey got a TV show out of it.