Monday Open Line


Of the millions of students going to class in the new school year, many are attending junior high schools or middle schools. The first such school in the U.S. opened its doors this week in 1909 — the Indianola Junction Junior High School in Columbus, Ohio, with seventh, eighth and ninth grades. Ninth grade students were offered courses in English, German, algebra, science and geography, as well as manual training, domestic science, history, and the government of Ohio. Today, most middle schools are composed of grades six to eight, some even five to eight, with a much broader curriculum. Of the 78 million students across the nation — from preschool to college — over 16 million of them are enrolled in grades five to eight. You can find more facts about America’s people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey, at <www.census.gov>.