ANN ARBOR—For more than 80 years, America’s high schools subscribed to an educational system that favored its brightest students. If you weren’t among the academic elite, came from a blue-collar family, were not white or if you were female, chances are you’d have a hard time getting into college preparatory classes.

“The quality of education students received depended on your academic ability and your ‘probable destiny.’ That system often robbed children of having a decent chance at life,” said David Angus, University of Michigan professor of educational history and policy and co-author of “The Failed Promise of the American High School, 1890-1995.” The book is co-authored by Jeffrey E. Mirel, professor and director of the Division of Educational Studies at Emory Univesity.

Angus and Mirel explore the development of the American high school from 1890 to 1995. Their work is based on an analysis of school reform, course offerings and student course taking. It also explores course taking and course offerings in public schools in Detroit and Grand Rapids, Mich.

Educators introduced “democracy’s high school” in the 1920s, a concept in education primarily defined by two points: students would be assigned to courses that reflect their perceived ability; and, most high school students were incapable of and had no need for serious academic study.

“Rather than furthering equality, these ideas spurred the creation of high schools in which students followed increasingly separate and substantially unequal educational programs. Few ideas have been more destructive to equal educational opportunity or to democratic education itself than the two cited above. Despite claims by educators that they were building ‘democracy’s high school,’ the institutions they created were deeply undemocratic, providing only a small percentage of students with the opportunity to master the knowledge and skills that might lead to power and success in American society,” the authors write.

By the 1930s, students were sorted along class, racial and gender lines. Educators also introduced intelligence testing as a means by which to offer a scientific rationale for the differentiation of students. Students of supposedly low ability were offered watered down courses. “By the middle of the 20th century, education aimed at the lowest common denominator had become the norm in American’s high schools,” the authors write.

The economic conditions of the Great Depression were cited as the main reason why this new approach in education was necessary, yet this philosophy remained intact through the early 1970s, Angus and Mirel said.

The policy of split-level education did not go unnoticed by students and parents. In Detroit in the 1966, students boycotted high school because the standards were too low. “Few college preparatory classes were offered. In some high schools, you couldn’t get enough mathematics to pass the test for an apprenticeship in a skilled trade.

“But the theme in the 80s and 90s has been that we’ve got to get back to having a strong high school curriculum and we’ve done that,” Angus said.

For example, educators have increased the number of credit hours necessary for graduation. In 1904, Grand Rapids high school students needed 150 credit hours to graduate. The number of credit hours required for graduation changed little over the years, but by 1977, it had only grown to 160 credit hours. It reached 225 credit hours in 1990.

In 1982, 31 percent of all U.S. students took two years of math and science. By 1994, 75 percent of all students were taking two years of math and science.

Even though progress has been made, educators and policy makers have just begun the process of repairing America’s high schools, according to Angus and Mirel.

They offer some suggestions for school reform:

? Continue to raise graduation requirements.

? Introduce national standards for all subject areas taught in elementary, middle and high schools. Higher standards for students can’t be achieved without raising the standards for teachers. Another study found that 39.5 percent of science teachers, 34 percent of math teachers and 25 percent of English teachers had neither a major or minor in the subjects they teach.

? Schools should emphasize that academic subjects have a higher priority over all other subjects, including vocational subjects.

? School teachers and other educators should introduce methods designed to enable all students to master challenging coursework.

Other steps need to be taken, the authors said: equal funding for all schools; expansion and improvement of preschool programs; summer learning and tutoring programs for low-achieving students.

“We would really like to see schools raise their graduation requirements. From the mid 70s to the early 90s it really worked, but the steam seems to have gone out of that. I don’t think states have added requirements. We can still do a lot better than we’re doing,” Angus said.