T.,

Of course we needed to be purged of our erroneous opinions back then. Just think what the penguins were combating in the 70s--permissiveness, rising divorce rates, a mass exodus from the church, drugs, free love, key parties--it's no wonder they were so hard on us. Also of course, they were waging a hopeless rear-guard action to stamp us out as doctrinaire clones as we were exposed to the insidious menace of TV--Sigmund & the Sea Monster, Three's Company and the like. I imagine that the elderly sisters who taught in the 70s are now dead or raving in their Depends, fondly remembering (or not if they've taken their seat at the right hand of the Father) the twitch of the ruler as it impacted soft 7-year-old skin. And maybe the new nuns are handing out dental dams for all I know. As for the fate of our permanent records, I think they're housed in a silo in the Dakotas somewhere.

B.