What would life be like if you were an Abecedarian (a child learning their ABCs) in the 1800s? Let’s tackle the subject together.
I’m sure we all have ideas about what we think school would look like based largely on Little House on the Prairie. They got some things right, and some…not so much.
The first surprising fact is that the average child in the mid 1800s didn’t go to school at all. In fact, in many states school was not only elective, it was expensive. The government had not yet stepped in to make school mandatory (though it was in a few states) and tax dollars didn’t pay for it. So, the school buildings were funded by the town by collection and the teacher was paid by the fees charged for each student.
The second thing is that we assume that children went to school until they were seventeen, but that isn’t the case. Regular, one-room school houses were only first through eighth grade. If children wanted an education beyond eighth grade, their parents had to pay for a “high school” which would’ve been a boarding school.
Interestingly, until the mid-late 1800s, all teachers were men. But with western expansion came a boom in the population. Some sites say that by the 1870s, as many as a quarter of the unmarried women had acted as teachers at one point in their lives. But, how could that be… teachers had to be trained, right?
Well… not really. Some states required a certificate, but not all. Many states had rules teachers had to follow, but no rules about education requirements. All that was needed was proof that you had fulfilled your own eighth year of education. At that point, they were only teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and history. They taught the children exactly what they had just finished learning, often for very little pay. Since many of the families living rurally were poor, the only book they could afford to send with their child as a reader was the Bible.
Some areas of the country did two sessions, a summer and a winter. Girls and younger children would attend during summer while the boys were helping in the fields. In winter, boys would go to school, allowing the girls to help with chores during that season. In that way, the family was never left completely without the children to help. School years were roughly 78 days long instead of the current average of 180 days. Later, schools would adhere to the fall, winter, spring schedule they have now, but even so, boys struggled with attendance during the busiest seasons.
By the early 1900s, there were many schools for teachers and across the country large, multi-level school buildings were popping up. Even in the most rural of areas had multi-room, individual grade classes by the thirties. Interestingly though, my father attended a one-room school house until he was in 7th grade, when the local school building was finally finished. Even more interesting, the very school where he attended 1-7th grade is now the place were I vote.
Do you know anyone who attended a one-room school house?
Where western meets happily ever after.
Kari writes swoony heroes and places that become characters with detail and heart.
Her favorite place to write about is the place her heart lives, (even if she doesn't) South Dakota.
Kari loves reading, listening to contemporary Christian music, singing when no one's listening, and curling up near the wood stove when winter hits. She makes her home in central Minnesota, land of frigid toes and mosquitoes the size of compact cars, with her husband of over twenty years. They have two daughters, two sons, one cat, and one hungry wood stove.
I don’t know anyone who attended a one-room school.
That generation is becoming fewer and fewer. I think my dad’s experience was a rare one, especially for 1965.
I’ve heard stories of walking to school barefooted from my parents.Which wasn’t true! LOL Because they laughed. They did however, walked 6 and 2 miles to Clayland school. Which was on the grounds as our Clayland church. It was a three room house. First to third grades. But, my grandparents did have one school house which was a church in Statenville, GA. And I think they did go to school barefooted!
Thanks for the post Kari! It’s good to be back posting after Hurricane Idalia! I get to take my mother home today! She got power at her house yesterday.
Yay! So glad you and your mother weathered the storm! Here in MN, I don’t know if any children went to school barefoot, even the summer months aren’t that comfortable to go without shoes.
My grandmother did, but only to 3rd grade. She always told us grandchildren to get as much schooling as we could.
School was very precious before it was mandatory (and it still is to some). I wish we could find a way to bring that feeling back, that school is a blessing. My children felt that for homeschool when they were younger. Now that they’re older, I can’t muster a smidgeon of excitement for the first day (today was our first day of school).
I do not. Interesting blog.
Thank you!
My siblings and I attended a one room school house in Haven, Iowa. Mrs. Rorbach was our teacher. Now the school is registered as an historical place. I even have school books with my name written inside the cover.
Oh, that is so cool!
Both of my parents attended one-room schools through 8th grade. I’ve seen my mom’s school–she has a desk from it. It was converted to a home in the mid-to-late 80s. My dad’s school is long gone, but he has pointed out where it was
Obviously, all of my grandparents did, too.
I’m always struck by how small the one is where my father attended. It’s literally 20 x 30. He has one “class picture” that was taken from a front corner and it looks so much bigger in the photo than in real life.
my moms grandmother attended a one room school house. She home schooled her children. This was all in the far country of Ohio and schools were far and in between at the time.
I understand that. Here in MN, they were as well. Each township had one (though I don’t know which came first, the school or the township). Some of the Amish and Mennonite communities here in MN still do school one-room style.
I did not attend a 1 room school house, but a 2 room. We had grades 1-3 in 1 room with 1 teacher and 4-6 in the other room with 1 teacher. When I entered third grade we had moved to another town that had an elementary school with each grade in 1 room.
I’m sure that was a little stressful, going from something you knew to a whole new situation.
Both of my parents, who were born in the early 20’s, went to one-room school houses for awhile. They didn’t live in “cities” though, but in rural communities. My mom was probably in what we now call middle school before they moved to a “town” and even then, it wasn’t a big school, but it was more than one room!
Well, here is where I admit that I live VERY rurally in Minnesota. There are rural farmsteads near me that only got indoor bathroom plumbing in the early 2000s (I’m not exaggerating, I visited one of them during a homeschool field trip).
Both of my parents, who were born in 1920, also went to school in a one-room school. I remember being told that they had to walk a good distance just to get to school.
Yes, my dad was born in ’51 and his school was about 4 miles from the house. He rode bike when he could. I can’t imagine walking to school that far every day through the winter.
Yes, I attended a one room schoolhouse when I was in the 7th to 8th grade. I do not recall much about it, allowing for the teacher to teach different aged students. I know it all seemed to work out well as we did not have that many students that I can remember. We played softball together, and also had a Christmas program for our parents. It was fun to the best of my recollection. Once we graduated from there we went, by bus, to the high school in a nearby town. As a farming family, we had a small community of friends until high school where all sorts of activities were available. I truly enjoyed high school.
Wow! Very interesting!
I went to the first grade in a one room schoolhouse in Colorado. it was a small town in the mountains and the students came from other small towns. Several rode their horses to school and they got to go out during the day and feed their horse.
Oh, wow, though I’m glad if they had to come from so far that they had the option of riding.
My sister and I attended a one room school from first to fourth grade. by that time the big school had been built and the little one room school was torn down. The original school was interesting. There was a huge coal furnace in the middle of the room, and first and second grade were on one side and third and forth grades were on the other side. Mrs Smith was the janitor, and kept the coal fire going in the school building, as well as the smaller building that was used as the bathroom. Going to the bathroom in the winter was fun, Since it was outside, we had to bundle up to run outside to get to the other building, But we all had fun, washing our hands, because we could shake our wet hands on the side of the stove, and listen to it sizzle as the drops landed on the pipes. The playground was an empty lot next door, that had been layered with cinders. I wonder whose ides was it to put sharp glass like cinders on a child’s playground. I know that both my sister and I had to have our father take shards of cinders from our knees, many times. The new building was 2 stories high and had all the grades in separate rooms. We didn’t like it, because it was no fun, anymore.
What a big change!
My father attended a one room schoolhouse before the new elementary school for grades 1-6 was built in the little town of Hillsdale that my sisters and brother attended.
I bet he had stories to tell.
My first grade was in a small school! IT housed 1-8th grades in 4 classrooms, so 1&2 were together and so on – my sister was in 2nd and I was in first! The new school was being built at the time, and this school was torn down and a house built out of all of the bricks from it! The house I live in was a one roomed school house that they moved from the corner west of the house on top of logs, pulled by horses and mules! The old blackboard is still there and the black painted walls too!
That is really wonderful! I’m glad you were able to use such a valuable part of history!
My cousins attended a one room school until 1961 when their district consolidated with the town school. This was in NY State. Here in Central Washington we have several two or three room schools with seven to twenty students pre-school through sixth grade but we also have town schools with less than fifty students pre-school through twelfth grade. Those schools have multiple grades in one classroom. All of these schools are in very rural areas. Our local middle and high school athletic program is a cooperative of five schools with twenty-five miles from our gym and playfields to three of the other schools and seventeen to the other. The closest one co-ops with us for academics also. That way there are 30-40 students in each grade allowing more classroom opportunities. Our school alone had that many students when our girls were in K-12. Agriculture Economics resulting in bigger farms and fewer farm families have forced our school districts to be creative in how they provide services to our kids.
That sounds very familiar. While my town was able to maintain an elementary and high school from the 60s to the 80s, at that point they could no longer afford to stay as one school, they had to combine with another nearby town. Eventually, in the 90s, they combined again with another nearby school to make the district what it is today.
I don’t know anyone who attended a one room school that is still living, but when I attended the school my great grandfather built from kindergarten up through second grade. It was in a small town in Mexico, had a room for each grade, and was built with an inner courtyard (the school was built to surround the “playground”) which was just a big square area of dirt and cement… no playground equipment. I have fond memories of skipping rope and playing marbles during recess (and beating the boys)!
I love fond school memories, thank you for sharing!
My grandmother housed the local teacher although by that time taxes paid the for the teacher’s salary. She said she wanted to make sure her 5 children did their homework and if they needed assistance, the teacher was right there. She also gave us books for birthdays and Christmas – to everyone, even my husband after I was married. She spent hours over catalogs choosing the right book for each of us. I was schooled in the original 2 room schoolhouse, but by that time (1950s) it only housed the 3rd & 4th grades. My teachers then only held an associates degree. I think Michigan still has a couple of one room schools on the islands up north. Only a couple of kids in each. I love visiting the old schools open to the public.
I went to grade school 2-6 grade in a parochial school that was two rooms that had three grades in each room. First grade I went to a school that had three rooms with grades up to eighth grade. There was a farm with peacocks across the road and the birds made a lot of noise.
As consulates districts abd more state control hit tge one room and local schools were doomed. Bussing hours a day was the new standard. We’re they better? Who can say.
Yes, my Mom, aunts and uncles on my Mom’s side. I actually was able to go inside her one room school house and one room church before they were brought down. I have fond memories that my Mom had shared of some of her experiences of going to grade school there. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.
I attended a two room school. First through fourth was the “little room” fifth through eighth was the “big room”. My dad attended the same school. When he went to school there was just one room with one male teacher. The stories he can tell about what went on during recess !