US schools have undergone massive changes since the 1950s — here's what school was like the decade you were born

American children and teens spend around 7.5 hours a week more at school than kids did 20 years ago.

That's only one way in which schools and education have changed over the years. Fashions come and go, but historical events and political changes impact education in many ways.

From speed-reading to SMART boards, here's what going to school looked like the decade you were born.  

1950s: Uniform restrictions, public school vs. private school, and longer school days.

Catholic schools were very popular throughout the 1950s. For example, around one in three students went to Catholic school in New York, as reported by the New York Times, but that number has dropped drastically in the present day to less than 10%.

Quora user Sue Murphy wrote in a thread that at her public school in the 1950s she had to wear a uniform. Uniforms were quite popular in the 1950s at both Catholic and public school, with most girls required to wear skirts or jumpers of a certain length while boys traditionally wore a button down shirt, slacks, and maybe even a necktie, with options like blazers and cardigans available.

According to Murphy, she also remembers having longer school days that started at 7:30 a.m. and ended at 4:30 p.m. and that they had more time off: "Back then holidays were really on holidays, which made life a little less boring since it broke up the routine," she wrote.

Murphy is right — students today are in school 25 more days out of the school year than kids in the 1950s.

1960s: Speed reading, segregation, and science equipment.

Change was the name of the game in the 1960s. Even though the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision was in 1954, it wasn't until the Supreme Court decision Green v. County School Board of New Kent County in 1968 that states were ordered to desegregate schools. 

Another major change was that teachers were allowed to be more creative and students were given more choices than in previous decades. Quora user Jack Mendez had a unique experience attending an experimental elementary school where he had no grades.

Mendez also said they were encouraged to speed-read at his school, which is unsurprising given The Wall Street Journal's reporting that speed-reading first started gaining popularity in the late 1950s when it was introduced by a Utah teacher named Evelyn Wood. The practice was debunked, but not before Wood pushed ads promoting the practice during the 1960s through the early 1970s.

1970s: Open classrooms, less government involvement in education, and the Vietnam War.

The 1970s were a tumultuous time. 

Due to funding cuts and economic pressures of the time, there was less government involvement in schools. Schools started experimenting more and more. Open classrooms — where students could roam free and weren't tied to a desk — were tested around the country and people began to fear the US was falling behind in science and math from the rest of the world, according to The Atlantic.

Meanwhile, high schools did not go untouched by the Vietnam War. Reporter Gary Dutery posted on a Quora thread that before the draft lottery was put into place in 1969, many middle or upper class men would go to college as an escape from going to war. After the draft had become more democratic, it became common for students to ask, "What's your number?" and public outcry for the war grew.