"I don't remember anything bigger than a bear"

Ok. So. Fifty years is a lot, right? Well I always knew that, but in looking at how America's school system changed in the beginning fifty years of the 1900s, fifty years seems like an eternity. At the beginning of the century, kids hated schools. Well, more than kids usually hate school. During this time students had the option of working in the mills and elsewhere. Here, students didn't have to read, no calisthenics, or listen to teachers. AND they got to make money (that they gave to their families... but still... come on!). So, while kids were hanging out, hating school and working in the factories, BAM: immigration! Millions of immigrants entered the United States, and they brought their millions of school age children. All of a sudden, schools were filled to the rafters, and schools often had to have shifts because there were too many bodies in one place. Eventually, to combat the overpopulation of schools, schools started being built at about the rate of one a day. (That's a lot). Students were able to filter into these schools in order to take some of the pressure off.
Problems solved, right? Well, not really. Things were pretty crazy. The whole "one room school house" thing wasn't cutting it anymore. Students were split into grades and taught completely in English. Yup, all of those people from countries that weren't English speaking countries were forced to learn in this new COMPLEX language. Well, ok. That's a problem that is still an issue. What else was happening? Well, John Dewey came around and decided to spice the educational system up a bit. He decided students should learn by doing. They should exercise their bodies as well as their minds. They should learn outside of the classroom. Kids should move around the school. Students should learn trades and useful things for later. All this learning should be fun. (And somewhere in there a zoo and bears and stuff happened... ?)
So while all that crazy stuff was going on, some French guy decided that IQ testing was a great idea. No big deal, it was just a system that was developed in order to achieve a Utopia filled with only smart people. The average mental age of an American man was 13.7. Smart, huh? Well, this test was used on students. White students tended to do fairly well, but the severely affected groups were those that differed in ethnicity. Apparently, being not white makes you stupid. Those students that didn't score an agreeable score were tracked into shop classes and other remedial programs.
Apparently, thus ends 1950. So, looking back, we might have made a few mistakes. And, who is to say that we aren't making mistakes now? I suppose what we have to do is continuously ask ourselves if what we are doing is beneficial to all learners. What sort of biases are we doling out? Are we giving the same opportunities to all learners regardless of age, ethnicity, ability, level, gender, sexual orientation, political standing, religion, etc etc etc... Also, do we have enough bears?