Education in the United States has changed dramatically and for the better in the last thirty years. Students are learning new skills and are being better prepared for the future as a result of changes made in America's education system. Desegregation has improved the educational experience for all Americans. Students are better prepared for college because of the way they are being taught in elementary school and high school. Access to personal computers, televisions and VCRs and DVDs are the most obvious examples of changes in the typical primary and secondary school classroom, but a strong case can be made that a curriculum that now focuses on critical thinking skills is more important than access to technology.
According to an article written by Russell Adams published in Black Collegian, thirty years ago America's higher education establishment was almost as segregated as the Southern public school systems had been prior to the landmark court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education. Since the early 1970s, African-Americans have experienced many barrier-breaking changes including an increase in the number of African Americans attending college as well as a significant increase in the number of black educators selected to lead colleges across the country. Prior to 1970 race was a primary factor in determining who was admitted to which college, and who would be offered teaching positions or administrative posts in colleges. Many factors contributed to the changes over the last thirty years including the momentum of the civil rights movement, an executive order prohibiting discrimination in hiring, the assertiveness of minorities in demanding equal access to higher education, and the assassination Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders. Diversity in education has created more tolerant, better informed and better prepared college graduates than students who graduated from segregated and insulated colleges (A...