18 vintage photos show how high schools have changed in the US

During this time period, secondary schools were largely reserved for the children of wealthy parents — they were the ones who could afford to spend their days in the classroom instead of working to support their families, according to the Library of Congress.

According to the Library of Congress, Progressive Era reformers introduced physical education programs "on a wide scale" in the 1890s.

The College Board was created in 1900 as a not-for-profit membership association driven by the single goal of guaranteeing students "the opportunity to prepare for, enroll in, and graduate from college," according to The College Board.

The first entrance exams in 1901, PBS reported, "consisted of essay examinations in English, French, German, Latin, Greek, history, mathematics, chemistry, and physics." 

Now, the association consists of more than 6,000 leading educational institutions and is dedicated to excellence and equity in education.

As the economy improved, slightly higher wages came as a result, and more working-class families began sending their children to high schools, hoping they would come out with better jobs, according to the Library of Congress. This included learning essential trades, such as blacksmithing, as depicted above.

These early school "buses" were known as "school hacks" or "kid hacks," according to the Wayne County Historical Museum.

A period of significant social and political reform, the Progressive Era changed the way Americans viewed education. School became a place where children could find their role in society and become productive citizens, according to the Library of Congress.

In 1918, the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education declared the primary purposes of high schools were "health, citizenship, and worthy home-membership and, only secondarily, command of fundamental processes," according to a report by The Berc Group, "The Essence of College Readiness: Implications for Students, Parents, Schools, and Researchers."

According to The National Museum of American History, there were 63,000 school buses on the road by 1932.

Some women even rolled into the ocean using these exercise wheels, as seen in archival footage from the '30s and '40s, uncovered by YouTube channel MyFootage.com.

"In 1940, less than half of the population age 25 and older had a high school diploma. Over the years, this has increased to the point where we now have 90 percent who have completed high school," said Kurt Bauman, a demographer in the Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics division, according to a 2017 press release from the US Census.

During the 1950s, after the Supreme Court ruled that prayers did not belong in public schools, criticism erupted, and many rose up to challenge the merits of church versus state. It would spur a debate that would remain unresolved over decades to come.

According to Annenberg Classroom, surveys from the 1940s and 1950s reported that nine out of 10 surveyed believed in God, and five out of 10 attended worship regularly — figures that ring true to this day. 

Related issues also fiercely debated included Bible reading in public schools and public schools excusing children to attend religion classes for one hour per week.

Speaking to the Associated Press in 1950, Ira Jarrell, then the superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, said that the radio broadcasting station at Russell High School in Atlanta, Georgia, was proving to be a "valuable adjunct in classroom work."

On-air classes first emerged during the 1920s, alongside the rise of commercial radio broadcasting, according to Purdue University.

According to the Institute of Progressive Education & Learning, the first documented use of closed-circuit televisions in the classroom was in Los Angeles public schools and at the State University of Iowa in 1939.

After that, the popularity of instructional television rose between 1939 and the 1950s.

The invention of videotapes in 1951 also introduced a then-novel way to teach and engage students, according to Purdue University.

Despite the court's landmark ruling, efforts to desegregate schools were met with widespread protests and riots, particularly by white Americans in the South who opposed integration, PBS reported.

By 1956, only 49% of Americans — 61% of Northerners and 15% of Southerners — believed that white and Black students should attend the same schools, according to Teaching Tolerance Magazine. 

In one of the most infamous examples of Southern resistance to integration, nine black students were repeatedly blocked from entering Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, over the course of three weeks in September 1957, according to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

It wasn't until then-President Dwight Eisenhower intervened that the students — now known as the Little Rock Nine — were able to enter the school on September 25, escorted by a federalized Arkansas National Guard and troops from the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army.

By 1963, 62% of Americans — 73% of Northerners and 31% of Southerners — believed that white and Black students should attend the same schools, according to Teaching Tolerance Magazine.

One year later, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation in public places and prohibited discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, sex, or national origin.

According to "A Life and Career in Chemistry," life in the 1960s saw much upheaval, from the Vietnam War and student protests to assassinations of political activists and drug addiction. What many may not know is that chemical science also saw very significant advances.

For example, James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the ladder-like structure of DNA known as the double-helix structure, according to Fisher Science Education. They shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine with Maurice Wilkins in 1962.

While 18% of schools had computers in 1981, that number had grown to 98% by 1991, according to a 1992 article in "Education Week."

This decade saw the introduction of interactive content-based software packages, simulations, intelligent tutors, and cognitive-based learning tools in the classroom, according to the Institute of Progressive Education & Learning.

According to a 2016 article in "Education Week," one-to-one computing programs were introduced to elementary and secondary schools in the US in the late 1990s.

These initiatives allow each student to use an electronic device to access the internet and digital instructional materials.