Little Egypt Heritage Articles eduda tsunogisdi © Bill Oliver 17 December 2006 Vol 5 Issue: #41 ISBN: pending O’siyo, Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, “One-Room Schools” During my career in public education many of my colleagues taught under teaching licenses which were earned from a two year ‘Normal School’ certificate or began their careers with such licenses. This was particularly true in rural school districts. Many of us can ‘thank our lucky stars’ that we were taught by such folk. These folks, in the main, recognized that education was important and that those who sat in front of them were ‘the future’. There were other traits that they also recognized. That no matter the academic ability of the pupil there was a ‘place’ within the community for their ‘skills’. As a group the teachers who began as ‘Normal School’ graduates were the most dedicated toward their charges as I have ever encountered in twenty-one years in administration. Most of those wonderful folk have passed on to their ‘rewards’ but they are remembered by some like me. As we, my family and I, have traveled around this wide nation, we have seen abandoned one-room school houses. Out in the most remote places of our ‘outback’ there are some still in use. Some are preserved to illustrate ‘how it was’. The majority have been totally abandoned or used as storage houses for farm equipment or grain. Still others have been ‘recycled’ as homes, craft shops, boy scout meeting-houses, Grange buildings, etc. Some still have black iron pump handles which rise above the quack grass. Some school houses still have an out-house or two marking the back corners of the school lot. Usually they tilt off center. School yards were usually on one acre lots with fence posts to mark the boundaries. There might be a lean-to or attached room used for a woodshed or coal house, for the school would have been heated by a fireplace or a stove which was the teacher’s responsibility. The earliest school’s purpose, in New England, was to instruct in Bible reading and though religion, morality and knowledge were the main objectives the Ordinances of 1785 and 1787 defined that public education was a public responsibility and shall be supported by the resident public. The Ordinance of 1785 reserved Section 16 in the township form of land division for the financial support of public education, while the Ordinance of 1787 stated that “Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” In Ohio after the state incorporated school districts [usually into six or seven sections], the resident populace took over control, as ‘shareholders’. Thus, school houses became the center of community activity. Running and maintaining them was the responsibility of the residents. As community buildings they served the populace as churches and/or meeting halls as well. School programs were big social events at one-room schools. Parents and other community members came to programs, often monthly, to see what the students were learning. Many programs centered around holidays. Normally dancing or card playing were not allowed. However, outside games certainly were in vogue. Often the raised area at one end of the room might be used as a stage. Curtains often were sheets hung across the front of the room. Christmas programs were often standing room only. The overflowing audience gathered to see children perform in plays, recite memorized poems, and sing, in duets and choruses. Following these events everyone ate of the bountiful refreshments brought by those attending. Other activities involved box socials, pie socials, even penny socials to help offset the expenses of running the schools. Sometimes these would last into the evenings and kerosene lanterns would be hung from trees. Many a young lad ‘sparkin’ would bid on his ‘girls’ box for along with outbidding rivals and such, came the right of eating with the female who had cooked food and fixed the box. Schoolhouses were cooperatives and work was a community effort. In one NWOhio case a farmer had donated windows and doors to his neighborhood school building. When he and the ‘Board’ differed and he became disenfranchised, he on a weekend removed his donated materials. The court said that wasn’t allowed and restitution was to be made. Before iron stoves, there were stone and mud fireplaces. Homemade plain writing tables lined the walls. Students sat on wooden benches with the only light being furnished by windows that the students faced. If you are old enough to have attended a one-room school or have visited a preserved one, you will remember black boards, framed pictures [usually of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln] and lamps on the walls. These were ‘modern’ additions to the first school houses. In the earlier ones the wind whistled through cracks and the air was smoke from the fireplaces. Students wrote on slate or homemade paper with quill pens. Most school materials were home made. Books were few, though there was most likely a Bible and maybe, a dictionary. If the building was also used for church services hymnals might be found. Numbers [or sums] were practiced using charcoal on birchbark or on slates using slate pencils. And, now we are back to the beginning. The instructors were ‘schoolmasters’ or ‘schoolmarms’ and these folks were responsible for more than just teaching reading and numbers. They stoked the fire each day and filled the kerosene lanterns. They had few belongings and often found ‘room and board’ with the parents of their charges on a rotating basis. They could not be married. Think of the added expenses. [grin] The one point made, teachers were dedicated to teach and most parents were supportive. e-la-Di-e-das-Di ha-WI NV-WA-do-hi-ya NV-WA-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) Wado, Bill -=- 931 PostScript: "Myths are universal and timeless stories that reflect and shape our lives ..." Alexander McCall Smith, Dream Angus