The national average mathematics scores of America's fourth- and eighth-grade students had the biggest decline ever recorded since 2019. Reading scores also fell in The Nation's Report Card, a U.S. Department of Education assessment of students in public schools, making clear the detrimental effect the pandemic has had on students. Remote learning can be difficult for both students and teachers, but it's only the latest change to classrooms. In just a few short decades, classroom staples like overhead projectors and chalkboards have disappeared, while tablets and laptops have become everyday essentials. Here's how the classroom you may remember from childhood has evolved for today's world.
At one time, corporal punishment didn't raise many eyebrows, and students may have seen a fat wooden paddle or ruler hanging on the wall as a silent deterrent. But several states banned the practice in the 1970s. By 2016, less than 0.5% of all schoolchildren were subject to corporal punishment, compared with about 4% in the late '70s, according to the Society for Research in Child Development. Still, it remains legal in 19 states (mostly in the South) and a Missouri school district recently reinstated the practice of spanking children, as long as parents opt-in.
Chalkboards may long endure as a symbol of education, but the past couple of decades have seen them mostly phased out in favor of whiteboards that require dry-erase markers. Whiteboards outsold chalkboards 4-to-1 by the new millennium, according to The Atlantic. What's more, even fancier, pricier smart boards — so-called because they're interactive, allowing teachers to manipulate content from a connected computer — were outselling chalkboards by 2000.
In the 1970s, personal computing was still nascent technology, with the exorbitant price tag to match. It wasn't until the '80s that computers started popping up in schools in any meaningful way, and it would still take another decade for them to be available in larger numbers. In the mid-'80s, there was only one computer for every 100 students; by 1996, there was one for roughly every 10 students.
The first kids to use computers in schools were often herded to a computer lab, where rows of clunky desktop Macs or IBMs beckoned with their blinking cursors. Today, even computer labs are starting to go the way of the dodo bird as schools increasingly attempt to embrace computing by providing every student with their own laptop or tablet. In elementary schools, that often means students grab devices from an in-classroom cart when necessary; for older kids, it often means their school-provided laptop simply goes with them everywhere.
Fifty years ago, students were expected to sit as motionless and quietly as possible, behavior prized as a sign of an attentive, engaged student. Today, educators are increasingly recognizing that squirming isn't necessarily incompatible with learning, especially for children diagnosed with ADHD. Though fidget spinners are the most recognizable symbol of this trend — and one of the most controversial — other popular choices include squishy stress balls, plastic snap and click puzzles, Silly Putty, and even chewable jewelry.
The classroom could be a bland place 50 years ago. Dominated by cinder block walls and a drab black or green chalkboard, rooms were often monochromatic, save a large wall map or some scattered student artwork. Today, schools think strategically about what colors best promote learning and paint or accessorize accordingly. Research suggests that the key is finding a balance of shades that can keep students calm and focused, but stimulated enough to learn — for instance, muted colors paired with one brighter accent wall.
