Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, schools were quite a bit different than what many of us are used to today. It was a time when teachers began trying new things to see what worked best for everyone and brought about some interesting changes that still affect us today. Let’s take a look at 10 of them!
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Teaching Kids to Think on Their Feet
In those days, teachers wanted you to really think about ideas instead of merely memorizing facts. Our classes focused on making us question what we had learned and discuss different views, which was particularly important with all the social changes happening. It was a kind of education that prepared you to handle real-life stuff. The younger generations wish they had it this good.
Art and Music Weren’t Just Extracurriculars
Students would find themselves holding a paintbrush or an instrument as often as they would a pencil. Schools packed the day with arts and drama because the teachers knew these activities weren’t simply time-filling exercises. If anything, they helped students be more creative. And for some students, these lessons helped them to do better in their other classes.
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Going Green Before It Was Cool
Just as people were starting to talk about saving the planet, schools jumped on the bandwagon. They began teaching students about pollution and conservation, as well as why throwing trash out of car windows wasn’t cool. Such lessons were utterly priceless. They taught young people to think about their impact on the world and how to care about the earth before it became mainstream.
Gym Class Got Serious
Forget dodgeball and duck-duck-goose—the ’60s and ’70s made gym classes actually matter, as they focused on staying active and healthy. You learned all kinds of things, including how to play basketball and what good nutrition means. It was these lessons that got a lot of kids into sports and staying fit like no other generation.
Prepping for Real Jobs
Back then, not everyone was planning to head to college. No, many schools had programs where you could learn trades like mechanics or carpentry because they knew that not everyone needed to write essays for a living. After all, some people will build houses or fix cars and that’s just as important. It’s a real shame we don’t give students these opportunities anymore.
Parents in the Picture
Schools got smart and realized that getting mom and dad involved in education would help kids to be happier, which in turn helped them achieve better grades. So, they started inviting parents to host events and meetings to get directly involved. It was with this involvement that everyone got on the same page. Soon enough, school felt more like a community effort.
Celebrating Different Cultures
As America worked through wider civil rights and equality issues, schools started to introduce classes and events to celebrate different cultures. Beyond simply teaching history, such classes helped every student feel like they belonged. They taught students to be proud of their backgrounds, not hide them.
Tailoring Teaching
It was during the ’60s and ’70s that teachers began understanding how different kids have different learning styles. As a result, some kids got extra time with tricky subjects while others got more challenging work if they were zooming ahead. The point? To make sure everyone got what they needed to succeed. Fewer kids fell through the cracks that way!
Talking It Out
Remember when teachers would let the class just talk something out? It was known as the “Socratic method” and it involved using questions to encourage discussions. In theory, it would help students to explore topics in more detail. Eventually, the Socratic method made class more like a group project where everyone could throw in their two cents. It really made you think.
Early Tech in Classrooms
Even though it was long before smartphones and the internet, schools started using the latest technology like overhead projectors & early computers. Of course, it wasn’t exactly cutting-edge by today’s standards. However, such technology made lessons more exciting and showed kids that technology was going to be a big part of the future.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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