If getting pummeled in a dodgeball game during phys ed is your worst high school memory,
just be thankful you weren't having to spend the period prepping for World War
III. The world has changed a lot in the last 70 years, and — thankfully — so has school.
Religious activity in public schools has been illegal since 1962,
when the Supreme Court struck down school sponsorship of prayer or Bible reading in
the case Engel v. Vitale. But in 1950s America, school prayer was commonplace.
Back then, around 40% of American schools had some form of school prayer or Bible reading,
including recitation of the Christian Lord's Prayer. In some states,
it was even required by law. New York's Board of Regents, for example,
required the morning recitation of a non-denominational prayer that went,
"Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee,
and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country."
"Nobody questioned it. Twenty-two words. Who could object to that?"
This was the prayer that triggered the 1962 lawsuit. Pennsylvania,
whose law was overturned in the 1963 case of Abington v. Schempp, read,
"At least 10 verses from the Holy Bible shall be read, without comment,
at the opening of each public school on each school day."
Both states, however, allowed parents to opt their children out.
The Vitale case argued that organized prayer discriminated against students of
different faiths and non-religious students by making them pray against their beliefs,
but it wasn't voided on these grounds. Instead, SCOTUS ruled that organized prayer was a violation
of the Fourteenth Amendment, whose guarantee of equal protection forbade states from favoring one
religion over another. It was previously something that applied only to federal institutions.
Today, if a person lives in a particular school district, they get to attend the local public
school, no questions asked. But this wasn't always true. In the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson,
the Supreme Court ruled that, as long as available school facilities were equal,
students could be denied enrollment based on race.
"The Plessy decision is obviously a tremendous setback
for African-Americans in the 19th century."
This "separate but equal" doctrine was still in force in numerous states in the 1950s.
For Black students, the ruling meant they couldn't attend schools in their own districts that were
considered "white-only." As a result, Black students might be sent to small,
dilapidated, one-room schools, minimally equipped and funded,
often with just a wood stove for heat. One woman recalled being asked to use a microscope
in college but didn't know how because her segregated school didn't have them.
"Today, we sound the drum for freedom. And I say segregation now,
segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever."
Eventually, five lawsuits from across the Jim Crow South and Kansas were combined
into Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. It challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine as
unconstitutional. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that institutional school segregation was a
violation of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. If African Americans lived and paid taxes
in a particular district, they were entitled to use its schools. The decision angered many at the
time due to Chief Justice Earl Warren's reliance on social science rather than constitutional
precedent — although there wasn't much of that to work from. Ultimately, the decision stood, leading
to measures to overturn school segregation, sometimes with the backing of the U.S. military.
For many years, Americans were educated in one-room schools,
which brought together children of different ages under one roof and
one teacher. Although they sound like a relic of the 1880s Great Plains,
many rural students were still attending such schools as late as the '40s and early '50s.
Among rural African Americans in the Jim Crow South, one-room schools were often the norm.
Education in one-room schools was a bit different, even by 1950s standards. In most schools of the
time, teachers led age-segregated classrooms with a focus on one subject. But students at one-room
schools were separated by ability. They often had to independently figure out work assigned
by the teacher while he or she was busy testing and evaluating other students, usually through
recitations. At the time, "recitation" didn't mean rote memorization, but demonstrating proficiency
in a skill, such as math, handwriting, or knowledge of assigned reading or geography.
Although there were still many one-room schools in 1950s America,
they were on their last legs. Urban flight, the appropriation of rural lands for suburbs,
and school consolidation through state law resulted in most of them closing down by the
1960s. Their students were sent to larger public schools for the most part, although approximately
400 one-room schools still remain in the most isolated, rural parts of the United States.
Discipline in modern American schools ranges from detention to time out to suspension.
"Principal's office. Now."
Some teachers complain that modern discipline is too soft. Regardless
of where one stands on that debate, corporal punishment is by and large
no longer part of school disciplinary procedures, existing only in some
localities south of the Mason-Dixon line. In the 1950s, however, it was the norm.
1950s school discipline is best understood through personal accounts. There was knuckle-smacking
with a ruler or paddling and caning. And there were more Byzantine punishments,
such as having to stand on one leg or being forced to stand on
one's tiptoes while keeping one's nose inside a ring against the blackboard.
What could one do to merit such a punishment? According to a former 1950s Catholic school
student, it was easy to get on the nuns' bad side. Backtalk, speaking out of turn, and acting up at
Mass were all grounds for being slapped across the face. For girls, the punishment for offenses
such as having a skirt that was too short was being rapped on the knuckles with a ruler.
Interestingly, 55% of Americans, according to a 1954 Gallup poll,
approved of schools using corporal punishment on their children. It wasn't
until the 1970s that states started banning the practice, in part due to parents' belief
that they should be their children's primary disciplinarians — not schools.
In the 1950s, there was a pervasive fear that the Cold War could go nuclear. To
prepare U.S. students for a potential Soviet nuclear attack or air raid,
the Truman Federal Civil Defense Administration created the famous "duck and cover" films.
The movies used a cartoon turtle to teach children how to recognize a nuclear explosion
and protect themselves from it by ducking under desks and pressing their faces against
their knees to shield them from the flash of the blast and debris. They were also
taught to use alternative cover when not in the classroom, such as walls and fallout shelters.
"It could knock you down hard or throw you against a tree or a wall.
"It can smash in buildings and knock signboards over and break windows all over town."
While the duck-and-cover drills were useless for surviving direct nuclear blasts,
the drill was likely meant to teach children how to protect themselves from a nuclear attack or
air raid occurring in their vicinity, since 1950s-era nuclear strikes were survivable
outside the immediate blast radius. The threats outside the immediate impact zone were things
like blinding lights that could ruin eyesight and shockwaves that could shatter windows and
damage buildings. The duck-and-cover drill could actually have been effective against such dangers.
But opponents of the drills saw them as fear mongering.
"Always remember: the flash of an atomic bomb can come at any time, no matter where you may be."
In her 1955 pamphlet, Fear is Now the American Way of Life,
Catholic peace activist Dorothy Day accused the Eisenhower administration of using tactics
like drills and air raid sirens to scare people into supporting aggressive stances abroad. She,
alongside other anti-war activists, refused to take part in duck-and-cover and was arrested.
Most American students enjoy broad freedom of dress in public school,
as long as they're decent. In the 1950s,
however, student dress was meant to project a dignified image of American youth to the world.
The "in" styles for 1950s girls included tight, waist-accentuating belts, dresses, half-length
pants, and clingy tops. In school, however, skirts were expected to go below the knee.
And in Catholic schools, the nuns even measured the distance between hemline and ankle to catch
violators. High-necked tops were a must, but they couldn't be too tight. Schools also banned half
and three-quarter-length pants like pedal pushers, while hair had to be shoulder length or longer.
For boys, the dress code prohibited things like leather jackets, which were
associated with gangs and other undesirable elements of society, and long hair. Instead,
they were expected to dress in neatly pressed slacks and button-down shirts or polos.
Schools justified dress codes by saying they improved the learning environment and
created a safer environment for girls. The emphasis on conformity ultimately
resulted in the backlash among youth that led to the 1960s counterculture movement.
As Catholic schools are shuttered due to declining enrollment and financial woes, older alumni might
wistfully recall the 1950s — the golden age of American Catholic schooling. At the time,
Catholic schools taught 80% of all private school children and 10% of the total student population.
"Miss Mallon, please, raise your hand if you want
to ask a question." She raises hand.
According to The New York Times,
"In the 1950s and 60s, Roman Catholic schools were known as ​​places where all students had
to wear uniforms and bad students got their knuckles rapped or their ears pulled by nuns."
Catholic schools today are mostly run by laypeople — that is, non-clergy. The presence of clergy,
apart from the occasional nun or priest serving as principal or school chaplain, is rare. In the
1950s, however, nuns and priests ran the show as teachers, administrators, and disciplinarians.
However, the 1950s were also the last days of the nun-dominated Catholic school. The United States
experienced a large fall in the number of new priests and nuns starting in that same decade,
according to a study by the Catholic outlet The Pillar. With the collapse of religious vocations,
the smaller number of priests still had to keep the same number of parishes running,
leaving less time for teaching. Thus, schools had to hire laypeople.
The change had financial ramifications for Catholic schools, as nuns and priests were
less expensive to employ since they didn't receive salaries. Lay teachers, however,
needed to be paid salaries in line with the cost of living,
which translated to higher operating costs and higher tuition.
Today, having a "C" grade on one's transcript can be a dealbreaker when it comes to getting
into an elite college. Earning a "C" on a college exam or class often sends
students into a panic. But in the 1950s, a "C," which historically meant average,
was, as one would expect, the most common grade.
"Hey, how do you like that last one? D-minus. Boy, now we really got something on him."
In fact, the average GPA in the 1950s and early 1960s was 2.5 – a "C" or
"C-" depending on the scale. In the late '60s and '70s, however, the average GPA
increased to 2.8 at public and 3.1 at private colleges. And today the average is nearly 3.0,
and 3.3 at private colleges — much higher than the 1950s average.
Before 1971, good academic performance meant draft deferment, while an unsatisfactory or
below average performance meant the front lines. Professors began
artificially inflating students' grades to help them avoid the Vietnam War.
"I can't fail this class."
"Oh, don't sell yourself short, Mr. Coates. I truly believe that you can."
A report from Los Rios Community College blames the second spike of grade inflation
in the 1980s on skyrocketing college tuition and the transformation of a college education
into a product. As tuition increased and college admissions became a high-stakes game,
students expected a good return on their work and
investment — namely a degree and a good enough GPA to get a job.
The cost of a four-year college degree has skyrocketed. Average tuition is now nearly
$37,000 per year, while student loan debt is approaching $1.8 trillion. While it's still
possible for in-state students to work through college to cover at least some
tuition at public universities, it's virtually impossible when tuition is
equivalent to a year's full-time salary. In the 1950s, however, as university ranks swelled,
in part thanks to the 1944 G.I. Bill, it was possible to work one's way through college.
The GI Bill offered one year of tuition per tour of duty served,
up to $500 per year. For those not receiving benefits, state universities
offered a chance to study while working. The University of Wisconsin, for instance,
charged in-staters $120 — around $1,400 in today's money — and out-of-staters $420. For an in-stater
earning a federal hourly minimum wage of around 75 cents, tuition was perfectly affordable with a
summer's worth of work. Even at elite schools like the University of Pennsylvania, which
charged $600, it was possible to reduce one's obligation considerably by working part-time.
On the other hand, women's enrollment declined as they opted to marry early and start families,
according to a study by University of Colorado Professor Murat Iyigun. However, women also
worked to fund their husbands' education. And this is not just a theory. Universities
even invited the wives of graduates to a "PhT" ceremony — shorthand for "putting him through."
Today, asking an employee or potential hire their political views is fodder
for a discrimination lawsuit. In the 1950s, however, amid the Red Scare and
fear of communist infiltration in schools, it was not only permitted but encouraged.
"One communist on the faculty of one university is one communist too many."
As noted in Stuart Foster's "Red Alert!," published in the journal Education and Culture,
public schools were considered breeding grounds for communism
amid a growing American culture war. There were integrationists — often accused of being
communists — vs. segregationists. Advocates of rote learning vs.
advocates of "new" methods. Supporters of patriotic education vs. dissenters, etc.
The flurry of accusations resulted in many teachers being investigated and fired from
their jobs. The 1953 Philadelphia purge was one such example, with 32 teachers suspended
over alleged ties to the American Communist Party. Such charges became criminal matters
with the 1954 Communist Control Act, so the stakes were pretty high for accused teachers.
The National Education Association responded by closing ranks around teachers. The organization
explicitly declared itself anti-communist and established the Defense Commission. This body
presented itself as defending teachers from "red scare propaganda" and "witch
hunters" who sought to undermine America's educational future. Overall, the commission
was able to insulate teachers from the worst of the Red Scare, but as Philadelphia showed,
it could only do so much when facing the full might of U.S. government paranoia.
Since the 19th century, separate schools have existed in the United States for blind, deaf,
and cognitively impaired children. As compulsory education laws became the
norm and public school enrollment increased from the 1930s onward,
however, children with special needs fell by the wayside.
"My mother took me to the local school to enroll me, but the principal said
I couldn't go to that school because I couldn't walk. I could be a fire hazard."
By the 1950s, conformity in education was emphasized, although not the norm in practice,
and there wasn't much room for curricula tailored to individuals or groups in need. As a result,
children with disabilities, cognitive and otherwise, could be denied access to public
schools by state law. When children with special needs did end up in public schools,
they underperformed. Gambino family underboss Salvatore "Sammy the Bull"
Gravano, for instance, had dyslexia. Speaking to The Patch, he recalled,
"People would ask me to read something and I couldn't. I
would get a blank piece of paper, scribble on it."
Gravano told "The Jordan Harbinger Show" that dyslexia was his biggest
challenge because people believed he was stupid. Humiliated at school and
with few prospects, he turned to crime — a frequent outcome for such children.
The situation improved in the 1960s, thanks to President John F. Kennedy,
whose support of special education stemmed from his sister Rosemary's cognitive impairment. In
1963, he signed the Maternal and Child Health and Mental Retardation Planning Bill, which increased
federal funds for special needs programs and facilities. Disabled children could be, quote,
"victims of fate," Kennedy said, but a country as rich as the U.S. had no excuse to neglect them.
Today, the focus in American schools is overwhelmingly on college prep.
Classes like shop and home economics, once mandatory for large swaths of the population,
have either been cut or demoted to electives.
"Okay, kids, now I'm going to take the casserole out of the oven. Okay,
it's a little burned. No reason to panic."
This has caused concern that the U.S. is neglecting students who
aren't interested in college, denying them crucial skills
that could allow them to go straight into the workforce or trade school.
In the 1950s, however, there was career tracking, which separated students
based on whether they were considered college-bound. The system was simple:
students who excelled in traditional subjects like Latin, Greek, literature,
math, and the hard sciences were put into college preparatory schools. Those
who didn't exhibit such aptitude were put into vocational schools, where the academic
curricula were more basic. Classes like shop for boys and home economics for girls, however,
were mandatory. In shop, boys were exposed to a variety of trades, including woodworking
and metalworking. Although the classes didn't prepare them to immediately become tradesmen,
the skills were usually enough for them to get apprenticeships straight out of high school. Girls
were taught domestic skills to become homemakers, in keeping with the 1950s ideal of marrying early.
While the system worked insofar as it ensured all students had the opportunity to explore
options besides college, it was criticized as hampering social mobility. Students who
were shuttled into the non-collegiate track were often from poorer households. The work
track became considered the remedial track, according to Forbes, and it was gradually
phased out in favor of today's system which focuses on college preparedness.