The motto of the totally rubbish secondary modern boys school I attended in the 1950s was "Manners Maketh Man". As we who were viewed as failures for not passing our Eleven Plus Exam by the education system at that time soon found out on leaving that school, that it was not to be good manners that would progress us very far in an adult world of manual work.
Being fifteen and suddenly thrown into working forty five hours per week, what we did soon find out in learning that world of work would be that forman and supervisors did anything but approach you in any way that resembled good manners.
For anyone to state that manners were better in times past is to me and many others of my generation " total rubbish". Such practices may have been for the homes and workplaces of the better off or better educated, but exemplary manners were not for the homes and workplaces of the average manual worker in previous generations.
In these times I believe in a standard of behaviour and dress around the home and office that bears in mind the thoughts and feelings of others, However, exemplary manners will not in any way progress a person in today's world, while reasonable behaviour, a good working aptitude, and intelligent actions will.