This
was a time when demographics were changing America from localized
rural schools to more city schools. During this time children did not
always go to school because of responsibilities to help the farming
family or the family business and when poor children and orphans had
to work in factories that paid them for their cheap labor. School was
not mandatory. In 1852, Massachusetts passed school laws that
required students to attend. Shortly after that New York did the
same. Within 50-60 years all states had such laws on their books to
at least get America's pupils through the elementary school years.
Catholic schools emerged as private schools. The Supreme Court in
1925 allowed children to attend public or private school, stopping
any legal battles over compulsory public schooling.
Localized
schools were small and tended to have boys on one side of the room;
girls on the other side. Some schools had individual desks in neat
rows. Others used tables and benches. Students of all ages were often
in the same classroom and the older students would help with the care
and teaching of the younger ones. Students tended to be gathered by
subject, and not by age, so the children learning a math assignment,
for example, might be younger students as well as older ones.
Chalkboards were common, and inkwells or quill pens were the norm.
The
August 17, 1999 edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch shared with
its readers that patriotism and citizenship were
taught in schools, along with the three Rs. The Pledge of Allegiance
was a daily practice. Teachers were often strict, and discipline was
routine. Actually, the parents would not be pleased if a teacher was
lax in disciplining the children for misbehavior. Whipping a child
was banned in 1830s, but not the use of switches or paddles. Children
were well trained to pay attention to the teacher, rather than the
kids sitting around or next to them. Each was expected to know their
lessons well. Children learned from others in the room too because as
they would be working on their assignments others might be learning a
different subject from the teacher that interested them too.
Classrooms were noisy and children spent a lot of time memorizing
lessons from textbooks and the Bible. They often recited their
learnings before the teacher. Older children tended to the woodstove
in the classroom to offer some comfort from the exterior cold. Some
parents still felt that school was a waste of time for their
students. Most of the learnings a person acquired were from
textbooks, family and schooling as most families did not travel and
have new more worldly experiences.
Black
children were not allowed to attend school. Any teachings for them
were done secretly. Some were taught by the white town members
or missionaries who
wanted them to know how to read the Bible. Even this was dangerous as
the teachers were subject to being jailed or fined, and the students
to being punished or whipped. After the Civil War ended, many blacks
chose to go to new schools as Freedmen.
Today
we go to school, typically, year round except in the summer. To help
with the farming, children in the 1800s would work the fields in the
spring and fall and go to school in the summer and winter. Some of
the older boys helped on the farms in the summer too. Teachers might
be tested, but often were just grown students now hired to teach the
next generation. Teachers might have their own place to live, but
could well be boarded by various student families throughout the year
which was known as being "boardround."
Children
walked to school, or rode horses. They might bring their lunch or
might not eat at all. They did get recess. At about age 10, boys
might be "apprenticed" to learn a job, which could stop
their schooling days. Girls might be married by 15 or so and no
longer in school. Penmanship was
a course that was given serious attention, along with the reading,
writing and arithmetic.
This
look back more than 100 years makes me curious as to what schools
will be like in the next 100 years. No doubt they will still be
centered around the 3 Rs, but I find it hard to truly imagine the
vast amount of future technological advancements that will enrich
schooling and lifelong learning experiences.
