In the middle of the 20th century, American public schools were considered by many to be the best in the world. Through compulsory education laws and an enormous expansion of the high-school system, students from all economic levels and backgrounds had the opportunity to attend school. This educated populous would propel the country to economic prosperity as the nation ascended to become a global economic superpower after World War Two. Today, however, many stakeholders lamen

Schools in the early 20th century looked much different than they do today. At that time, the American economy was driven mostly by agriculture and manufacturing, two fields that did not require much more than a rudimentary knowledge of the three Rs, reading, writing, and arithmetic. Rural students could achieve this proficiency level with only a few years of formal schooling, usually in one-room schoolhouses. Urban students, many of whom were immigrants, became "Americanized