For me, it was really weird… I came up in the Pittsburgh Public Schools in the mid to late 1970s. At that time, experimentation in public education was ramped.  There was forced busing at my elementary school (East Hills, if you know anything about The Burg); white kids from other parts of town were bused  to my neighborhood (the black one); like that was supposed to fix  the academic achievement problems, LOL!  Also, my elementary school was brand new at the time, and was a model of the “open classroom learning environment” that was popular at the time.  I just remember constantly being distracted because you could always be able to see and hear stuff going on in the other classrooms. Continue Reading