Just read the '98 article. Man, is that ever relevant to today! It's amazing. Centralization of the schools is something that's been going on in my area for the last several decades. Every town and community used to have its local elementary school where the students, parents, and teachers all knew each other, and there was community pride. Now everything is centralized. The same with the high schools. Yes, it might save some money, but I think a lot more is lost.
And then, with all government-driven emphasis on testing now, things like *playing*, imagination, art, music, have all gone out the window. We could learn a lot from the 1898 article.
Ok, sermon over.
You're right about the language used. It is on an academic subject, but written in such a way that it's very readable for the average person.
Popular Science has morphed into different things over its history. Back in the early days, it was more of a serious, scientific journal. Later, in the mid-20th century, it became much more focused on a blend of news of the latest inventions together with do-it-yourself types of articles—things like auto mechanics, woodworking, etc. Then later, the do-it-yourself articles went away. I guess other specialty magazines cover those areas now.
My favorite things in the issues I have are the story-type articles, especially the Gus Wilson auto mechanic stories. Here is one of my issues, the February 1964 issue. I don't know if the Gus Wilson story would be anything you'd be interested in, but you can check it out on page 178.
https://books.google.com/books?id=qS0DA ... &q&f=false