Ronald McNair

Ronald Erwin McNair (October 21, 1950 – January 28, 1986) was a physicist and NASA astronaut. McNair died during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L.

Background

Born in Lake City, South Carolina, his parents were Pearl M. and Carl C. McNair, he had two brothers, Carl S. and Eric A. McNair.

In the summer of 1959, he refused to leave the segregated Lake City Public Library without being allowed to check out his books. After the police and his mother were called, he was allowed to borrow books from the library, which is now named after him. A child's book, Ron's Big Mission, offers a fictionalized account of this event.

McNair graduated as valedictorian of Carver High School in 1967.

In 1971 he received a bachelor's degree in engineering physics, magna cum laude, from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina. McNair was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. In 1976, he received a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the guidance of Prof. Michael Feld, becoming nationally recognized for his work in the field of laser physics.

High school

A high school (also secondary school, senior school, secondary college) is a school that provides adolescents with part or all of their secondary education. It may come after primary school or middle school and be followed by higher education or vocational training.

Terminology

The term "high school" originated in Scotland, with the world's oldest high school being Edinburgh's Royal High School from 1505. The Royal High School was used as a model for the first public high school in the United States, Boston Latin School founded in Boston, Massachusetts.

The precise stage of schooling provided by a high school differs from country to country, and may vary within the same jurisdiction. In all of New Zealand and Malaysia, along with most of Britain and parts of Australia, Bangladesh and Canada, high school means the same thing as secondary school, but instead of starting in 9th grade, these "secondary schools" begin at ages 11 or 12.

Country by country

Australia

In Australia, high school is a secondary school, from Year 7 or Year 8 through to Year 12, varying from state to state. High school immediately follows primary (elementary) school; therefore, a Year-7 Australian high-school student is sometimes as young as 12. In Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, the term "high school" generally refers to Years 7–10, whereas the term "College" is used for Years 11–12. In Victoria the term "secondary college" has largely replaced the term "high school" following the reforms of the Labor Government in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Some schools have retained the name "high school" (such as Melbourne High School) and many have now dropped the "secondary" and are simply known as "college".

High school (disambiguation)

High school is the last segment of compulsory secondary education in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Scotland, the United States, and other countries; the term also refers to the building where such education takes place.

High school may also refer to:

Education

Art, entertainment, and media

Comedy

Comics

Fictional entities

Films

Secondary education in the United States

In most jurisdictions, secondary education in the United States refers to the last four years of statutory formal education (grade nine through grade twelve) either at high school or split between a final year of 'junior high school' and three in high school.

History

The United States historically had a demand for general skills rather than specific training/apprenticeships. High school enrollment increased when schools at this level became free, laws required children to attend until a certain age, and it was believed that every American student had the opportunity to participate regardless of their ability.

In 1892, in response to many competing academic philosophies being promoted at the time, a working group of educators, known as the "Committee of Ten" was established by the National Education Association. It recommended twelve years of instruction, consisting of eight years of elementary education followed by four years of high school. Rejecting suggestions that high schools should divide students into college-bound and working-trades groups from the start, and in some cases also by race or ethnic background, they unanimously recommended that "every subject which is taught at all in a secondary school should be taught in the same way and to the same extent to every pupil so long as he pursues it, no matter what the probable destination of the pupil may be, or at what point his education is to cease."

Ronald McNair Sr. High School

Ronald Mcnair High School is a public school in DeKalb County, Georgia.

History

The school was built in 1964 and was named after confederate civil war General John George Walker. Classes were first attended in the fall of 1966. The class of 1969 attended Gordon High School using "split sessions" in 1964. Students graduating in 1967 were the first Walker High School graduating class. The first class attending Walker High School from 8th grade to graduation was the class of 1970. Walker averaged about 3,500 students in total from 1967 to 1980.

The first printed annual was called The Astur, and was first printed in 1966. The school paper was called The Talon.

The school's colors were crimson and silver. Alumni from 1967 to 1987 were known as the Walker Warhawks; they collected state championships in baseball, wrestling, and track and field. Their mascot was Thor, a red tailed hawk that lived in a large cage inside the senior courtyard. Thor accidentally froze to death during a sudden severe overnight cold snap in late 1968. Thor was preserved, and is still held by the class of 1973.