School Life in the 1950's
School Life in the 1950’s
School Life in the 1950’s was harder than today because the facilities were few and inadequate. Teachers were stricter and corporal punishment was still in use. They had fewer subjects and wealth, discrimination, sexism and racism meant they could only do certain subjects.
After World War 2 there was a baby boom and as a result in the 1950’s schools were quickly filling up as the children enrolled. The enrolments increased as much as 30% over the ‘baby-boomers’ decade. In the year 1950 there were 166 437 existing elementary and secondary schools in the USA to educate over 29 million students. As the amount of students increased, the schools and resources declined. It was reported by the Office of Education in 1953 that there was a shortage of 345 000 classrooms, meaning overcrowding in 60% of America’s classrooms and up to 20% of schools failed to meet basic safety standards (statistics- www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3468301830.html 6/08/2013)
School facilities were even more unpleasant for the coloured people of America. Their schools were separate from the white people and they were poorly funded by the government. “By 1950, the inequality in educational achievement between white students and minority students had increased since 1900, when very few Americans or and race or gender attended high schools, and formal education was only marginally a factor in national economic and social life”- historians Mondale and Patton. (www.illinoishistory.gov/Illinois%20History/Jan05-21Vargas.pdf 14/08/2013). This all changed in 1954; when a father named Mr Brown took his case to the United States Supreme Court declaring his daughter should be allowed to go to school with white children. “Mr Brown was upset that his daughter had to walk over a mile through railroad yards to get to a black school when a white one was only seven blocks away” (www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe50’s/life_12.html 14/08/2013). The United States Supreme Court declared a
School Life in the 1950’s was harder than today because the facilities were few and inadequate. Teachers were stricter and corporal punishment was still in use. They had fewer subjects and wealth, discrimination, sexism and racism meant they could only do certain subjects.
After World War 2 there was a baby boom and as a result in the 1950’s schools were quickly filling up as the children enrolled. The enrolments increased as much as 30% over the ‘baby-boomers’ decade. In the year 1950 there were 166 437 existing elementary and secondary schools in the USA to educate over 29 million students. As the amount of students increased, the schools and resources declined. It was reported by the Office of Education in 1953 that there was a shortage of 345 000 classrooms, meaning overcrowding in 60% of America’s classrooms and up to 20% of schools failed to meet basic safety standards (statistics- www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3468301830.html 6/08/2013)
School facilities were even more unpleasant for the coloured people of America. Their schools were separate from the white people and they were poorly funded by the government. “By 1950, the inequality in educational achievement between white students and minority students had increased since 1900, when very few Americans or and race or gender attended high schools, and formal education was only marginally a factor in national economic and social life”- historians Mondale and Patton. (www.illinoishistory.gov/Illinois%20History/Jan05-21Vargas.pdf 14/08/2013). This all changed in 1954; when a father named Mr Brown took his case to the United States Supreme Court declaring his daughter should be allowed to go to school with white children. “Mr Brown was upset that his daughter had to walk over a mile through railroad yards to get to a black school when a white one was only seven blocks away” (www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe50’s/life_12.html 14/08/2013). The United States Supreme Court declared a
Bibliography: Anali Vargas, ‘Some Major Differences Between High School in the 1950’s and Now’-Page 4, www.illinoishistory.gov/Illinois%20History/Jan05-21Vargas.pdf, August, 2013 August, 2013 The 1950’s: Education: Overview http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3468301830.html, August 13, 2013 August 2013 Vanessa Lockstein, Ontario School discipline, 1950-Present