Every year, come late July and early August, parents and educators begin to plan and organize for Back-to-School time. There is an endless supply of resources on what you will need to prepare for the new school year, what supplies your children will need, and where to get them. So, we thought we would take a bit of a different approach this year. Here are some interesting facts about the U.S. School system and the behaviors of American parents and students.
The number of students enrolled in American schools from Pre-K through college totals approximately 78.8 million.
The oldest public school in the United States is Boston’s Latin School, founded on April 23, 1635. Five of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence graduated from the Latin School, including Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine, Samuel Adams, and William Hopper.
Although Thomas Jefferson had supported the concept of free public education, elementary schooling was only available to America’s wealthy until the 1840s when reformers like Horace Mann of Massachusetts and Henry Barnard of Connecticut began to push for tax-funded schools in the belief universal education would produce good citizens, unite society, prevent crime, and end poverty.
Prior to the 1930s, most Americans only completed eight years of school. “High School” only became popular during the Great Depression when job-strapped communities saw benefits to keeping teenagers in class and out of the workforce where they’d only serve as low-cost competition to adults.
The largest high school in America is Morton High School in Berwyn-Cicero, Ill., with a student body of over 8,000 students.
Ohio State University is the largest college campus by enrollment, currently having 66,444 students enrolled.
Crayola produces nearly 3 billion crayons each year. By the time a child turns 10, they will have worn down approximately 730 crayons with an average of 28 minutes spent per day coloring.
The average pencil can write 45,000 words or draw a line 35 miles long.
Americans spend $8.5 billion on back-to-school clothes annually. 60% of these purchases are completed online.
In a poll of more than 1500 teachers, 93% of teachers said they need to spend their own money on school supplies for their classrooms.
The current spending per pupil for elementary and secondary public school systems in the United States is over $14,000 annually.
Sources: Everest.edu / U.S. Census Bureau / kendranicole.net
Shachihata Xstamper 