New tech has a habit of arriving with big promises for education. For more than a century, each generation has had its own machine that seemed ready to reinvent the classroom.

In the 1930s, some futurists imagined television delivering university courses directly into the home. By the 1950s, videophones and early computer systems were being discussed as possible answers to crowded schools during the baby boom.

In the 1920s, though, the breakthrough technology was radio!

Educators and inventors saw broadcasting as a way to send lessons far beyond the walls of a school.

The November 1924 issue of Science and Invention captured that optimism.

From the article:

With the everyday added perfections in the transmission and reception of radio, such a remark as the above will soon be a thing commonplace. Little Mary Jane will enjoy her radio lessons as much as she now enjoys her bedtime stories. Everything will be an “open book” to her. A complete set in the shape of a leatherette covered book will take the place of bulky primers and readers. Home work will now be a great joy to the kiddies and lesson will be learned with much greater facility.