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Early National Period
A lot of schools and changes in education occurred during this initial start of our individualized country, but as it relates to today, grade levels became more structured with elementary, high school, and colleges. This has been a building block for education in our country. It was also a time when women became the majority of teachers which is still true today and creates a gender gap amount teachers and students.
Photo: Harvard University -
The Child-Centered Approach
Before this time, education was strict. G. Stanley Hall studied how children's minds and personalities develop and identified this as a key part of educational psychology that continues today. This made a huge turn for how we now teach in the classroom by putting children's needs first and expanding what is being taught. We know as teachers that kids will learn better when we teach where they are at developmentally.
Photo: G. Stanley Hall -
Brown vs. Board of Education
This historical event is so important to show how education has evolved. All students should be given the same opportunity no matter what their ethnicity. Today, our whole country, school districts, and classrooms should remember this time when schools were segregated and how unfair this was so that we can reflect on our roles as teachers and be able to work with any student.
Photo; Shari' Nycole -
Sputnik
It seems we are always in competition with the rest of the world, and after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into space, the U.S. felt we needed to further our educational practices to compete against the world. Today teachers still have a lot of pressure on them to educate kids to certain standards not only in our country but in the whole world.
Photo: Lily Rothman -
No Child Left Behind
As I went through school I always heard my teachers talking about the No Child Left Behind Act. I never knew if this was a good thing or not at the time, but I think it has paved the way for more federal input and funding to make our schools a better place. At the lower grade levels, there have been improvements from this act and we can continue to build on these.
Photo: Alia Wong
