| The effect of the baby boom on the
schools helped to make possible a shift in thinking about the role of public
education in the 1920's. In the 1920's, but especially{{U}} (1)
{{/U}}the Depression of the 1930's, the United States experienced a{{U}}
(2) {{/U}}birth rate. Then with the prosperity{{U}} (3)
{{/U}}on by the Second World War and the economic boom that followed it,
young people married and{{U}} (4) {{/U}}households earlier and began
to{{U}} (5) {{/U}}larger families than had their{{U}} (6)
{{/U}}during the Depression. Birth rates rose to 102 per thousand in 1946,
106.2 in 1950, and 118 in 1955.{{U}} (7) {{/U}}economics was probably
the most important{{U}} (8) {{/U}}, it is not the only explanation for
the baby boom. The increased value placed{{U}} (9) {{/U}}the idea of the
family also helps to{{U}} (10) {{/U}}this rise in birth rates. The baby
boomers began streaming{{U}} (11) {{/U}}the first grade by the
mid-1940's and became a{{U}} (12) {{/U}}by 1950. The public school
system suddenly found itself{{U}} (13) {{/U}}The wartime economy meant
that few new schools were buih between 1940 and 1945.{{U}} (14) {{/U}},
large numbers of teachers left their profession during that period for
better-paying jobs elsewhere. {{U}} (15) {{/U}}, in the 1950's, the baby boom hit an antiquated and inadequate school system. Consequently, the custodial rhetoric of the 1930's no longer made{{U}} (16) {{/U}}; keeping youths ages sixteen and older out of the labor market by keeping them in school could no longer be a high{{U}} (17) {{/U}}for an institution unable to find space and staff to teach younger children. With the baby boom, the focus of educators{{U}} (18) {{/U}}turned toward the lower grades and back to basic academic skills and{{U}} (19) {{/U}}. The system no longer had much{{U}} (20) {{/U}}in offering nontraditional, new, and extra services to older youths. |