Changing Roles of Public Education

　　One of the most important social developments that helped to make possible a shift in thinking about the role of public education was the effect of the baby boom of the 1950's and 1960's on the schools. In the 1920's, but especially in the Depression conditions of the 1930's, the United States experienced a declining birth rate -- every thousand women aged fifteen to forty-four gave birth to about 118 live children in 1920，89.2 in 1930，75.8 in 1936, and 80 in 1940. With the growing prosperity brought on by the Second World War and the economic boom that followed it young people married and established households earlier and began to raise larger families than had their predecessors during the Depression. Birth rates rose to 102 per thousand in 1946, 106.2 in 1950, and 118 in 1955. Although economics was probably the most important determinant, it is not the only explanation for the baby boom. The increased value placed on the idea of the family also helps to explain this rise in birth rates. The baby boomers began streaming into the first grade by the mid 1940's and became a flood by 1950. The public school system suddenly found itself overtaxed. While the number of schoolchildren rose because of wartime and postwar conditions, these same conditions made the schools even less prepared to cope with the flood. The wartime economy meant that few new schools were built between 1940 and 1945. Moreover, during the war and in the boom times that followed, large numbers of teachers left their profession for better-paying jobs elsewhere in the economy.

　　Therefore in the 1950's and 1960's, the baby boom hit an antiquated and inadequate school system. Consequently, the "custodial rhetoric"of the 1930's and early 1940's no longer made sense that is, keeping youths aged sixteen and older out of the labor market by keeping them in school could no longer be a high priority for an institution unable to find space and staff to teach younger children aged five to sixteen. With the baby boom, the focus of educators and of laymen interested in education inevitably turned toward the lower grades and back to basic academic skills and discipline. The system no longer had much interest in offering nontraditional, new, and extra services to older youths.

　　全文翻译：公共教育的角色变化

　　一项重要的、有可能促使人们对公共教育的角色的看法发生转变的社会发展是本世纪五六十年代的生育高峰对学校的影响。 在 20 年代，尤其是在 30 年代后的大萧条中，美国经 历了一次出生率的下降--1920 年每千名年龄在 15 岁至 45 岁的妇女生下大约 118 个存活婴儿，1930 年 89.2 个，1936 年 75.8 个，1940 年 80 个。 随着二战带来的持续繁荣以及随之而来 的经济增长，年轻人比大萧条中的同龄人更早地结婚成家，而且比前辈养育更大的家庭。

　　1946 年出生率上升到 102%，1950 年达 106%，1955 年达 118%。 对于生育高峰，经济有可能是最重要的决定因素，但它并不是唯一的解释。 不断受到重视的家庭观念也有助于解释 出生率的上升。 到 40 年代中期为止，这些生育高峰出生的孩子们开始源源不断地进入小学 一年级。 到了 1950 年，就形成了一股洪流。 公共教育系统突然感到不堪重负了。英语作文
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