Education by the Decades

1950’s -Uniforms, Prayer & Longer Days:
Catholic Schools were popular.  Student uniforms with slacks, button down shirts and ties.  Longer days (7:30am – 4:30pm).  School prayer until 1952.
 
1960’s- Speed Reading, Segregation, Science Push:
Speed reading which was debunked in the 1970’s.  Brown vs. Board of Ed was made in 1954, but it was not until Green vs. Kent County in 1968 that schools were ordered to desegregate.
 
1970’s -  Cuts in Funding –Vietnam War:
School funding was cut to fund the Vietnam War, and there was fear of the U.S. falling behind in math and science. Upper classmen were going to college to get out of the Vietnam War draft.
 
1980’s – Computers & “Latchkey Kids”:
Select schools received computers and with both parents working,  many kids were home alone until a parent came home from work.  Schools began offering school aftercare.
 
1990’s – SMART Boards, Chromebooks & Columbine:
The chalk board became a white board with markers,   and SMART Boards where you can post lessons, show images,  lessons and get access to the internet.  In 1991, 19% of school had computers, by 1999, 99% had computers.  The Columbine School shooting that killed 15 people,  changed security measures for schools across the country.
 
2,000’s: 9/11,  No Child Left Behind, Common Core & Testing Craze:
Bush’s No Child Left Behind (2002) ushered in the standardized testing, and the pressure of underperforming schools caused cheating by administrators and teachers.  In 2000’s,  President Obama pushed for Common Core, guidelines for what students should be studying at each grade level for all subjects.
 
2010’s: Sandy Hook,  Charter Schools & Transgender Bathrooms:
3.1 million students began attending charter for profit schools supposedly based strict performance goals.  With Sandy Hook,  Americans were forced to accept school shootings as common.  School shootings were now every 74 days versus the average of 282 days in the 1970’s.  Also in 2016,  President Obama issued guidelines sent to all school district to ensure no students, including transgender students were discriminated against.  Transgender students should use bathrooms that match their gender identity.
 
2020’s Prediction -  Computers and Robots replace Administration,  Teachers Get More Autonomy and More Respect as Professionals,  Cell Phones become Illegal in Schools and Students Start Valuing Education and Begin Standing and Bowing to Teacher as He/She Enters the Classroom as students in England, India and Asia do.
 
Don’t judge me for having goals and dreams.