One of the most important social developments that made possible a shift in thinking about the role of public education was the

One of the most important social developments that made possible a shift in thinking about the role of public education was the effect of the baby boom of the 1950s and 1960s on the schools. In the 1920s, but(S1)especially in the Depression conditions of the 1930s, the United States experienced a declining birth rate. With the growing prosperity brought on by the Second World War and the followed economic boom, young people married and established households earlier and began to raise larger families. Birth rates rose.(S2)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.(S3)The baby boomers began streaming into the first grade by the mid 1940s and became a flood by 1950. The public school system suddenly found itself overtaxed. While the number of schoolchildren rose,(S4)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,(S5)large numbers of teachers left their profession for the better-paying jobs elsewhere in the economy.
    Therefore in the 1950s and 1960s, the baby boom hit an inadequate school system. Consequently, keeping youths aged sixteen and older out of the labor market by keeping them in school could no longer be a high priority. With the baby boom,(S6)the focus of educators and of laymen interested in education inevitably turned towards lower grades and back to basic academic skills and discipline. The system no longer had much interest in offering non-traditional, new, and extra services to older youths.