school back then

n8terry · Dec 5, 2008

Got to thinking about my grade school education in a one room school house.

My teacher Gertrude, taught grades 1 through 8.

Gertrude would come to school early on Monday to fire up the coal furnace which had gone out over the weekend. By the time the students got to school, it had warmed up to 50 degrees. When the winters were bad and the roads were blocked, her brother would fly her in with his plane. Oh, forgot to mention, he did it at no charge. If the winter weather was so bad he couldn't fly, he would just ski over the snow and rise up to go over the fences.

Would someone please tell me how much I owe these folks for this lousy education?

Anonymous-0 · Dec 5, 2008

went to a one room and a two hole[outside] hand pump outside 28 boys and one girl for 5 of my 8 years then we got over run with girls we got one more for 6th 7th and 8th grade and had a teacher that cared and did not bit@h about not getting paid enough. each day we had to carry in the wood for the stove. most years we got out around the 10th of May we went on Saturdays in the winter and NO after school sports God how did we survive o ya i learned how to work

NEKS · Dec 5, 2008

Had a fuel oil furance. A different student had to pump the water bucket full each day and carry it in and put it by the sink for drinking water. School started at 9 AM and was over at 4 PM. Nobody told us you was suppose to have sports during school time. My FFA class started as soon as I walked the 1 1/4 mile home, changed clothes and got to the milk barn.

moonlite 37 · Dec 6, 2008

It is now pay back time and we need to support and honor our dedicated teachers. i rode a "39 Dodge school bus and sometimes it would take about a half hour for the driver to start the old engine. This old antique bus had the seats running the long way, like some city busses. Clas of "55

Bill(Wis) · Dec 6, 2008

We were down to 11 kids in a one room school at one point and each grade had at least one pupil in it so the teacher still had to teach all 8 grades. The neighbor's hired man built fires. We'd put our ink bottles and pens (before ball point pens were invented) back in the corner around the stove each evening so they wouldn't freeze overnight. When I add it all up, most of us did quite well. Many military officers, pilots, veterinarians, nurses, teachers, one MD. My brother graduated from West Point and acquired three master's degrees after that. Retired from the Army as a Colonel. 2 silver stars, bronze with a V, air medals out the gazoo, etc. It was not looked on as a very good education for some reason. The only thing I didn't like about it was there just weren't enough books in our small library and we had to run into town a lot to get the books we needed.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 6, 2008

I also went to a country school. At the time, I would have rather went to "town" school, but I believe my education didn't suffer because of the small one room schoolhouse. We didn't have PE, but we did have football games at recess. Usually didn't matter how cold it was, we still went outside for recess. Another country school about 25 miles north of us had three girls in the eighth grade. When they were old enough to go to high school, each one went to a different high school. And each one was the valedictorian of their high school graduating class.

Paul from MI · Dec 6, 2008

I went to a one room school that had the first 6 grades, then into town for Jr. HIgh & High School. It was a pretty good system in a lot of ways. Younger kids learned a lot from hearing older ones recite. Older kids helped teach younger ones too. No running water, it had to be carried from the neighbors. We had an old oil pot-burner stove for heat, and an outhouse of course. You had to give those teachers a lot of credit. They were miles from any medical care facility and the closest neighbor was probably out in the field and couldn't be found if needed. They were on their own to handle any emergency that came along. I was the president of our local school board for 10 years and you couldn't get one out 20 teachers today to teach under those conditions. Still we learned a lot that was taught and a lot that was not.
Paul

lucas boy · Dec 6, 2008

the bill was paid by land owners so you dont owe anything for it now, just the kids going now you have to pay for.. maybe you didnt learn anything because you are learning handicapped. i had to struggle to get c's but have done well working with my hands. our schools keep throwing money at the problem of kids not learning , but the kids dont mind anymore.. lucas

Fergienewbee · Dec 6, 2008

I started in a two-room country school. One of my friends always kept fish hooks in his hat--until the day he sat on his hat. Had to have the male teacher take him aside and get the hook out. Sure couldn't do that now days. Probably illegal to have fishhook at school. And couldn't trust some of the teachers.

I liked the country--still do. Dad kept watermellons in the milk cooler in the summer. Coldest mellon I've ever eaten. Grandma ground horseradish root pulled from beside the milk house.

My scarlet fever, the well going dry and Dad's lack of diligence in breeding cows, put him out of business in 1952. We moved to a small town. I still remember threshers coming to the house. Great time to grow up.

Larry in Michigan

George gregory Smith · Dec 6, 2008

We still have 6 country schools in Huron county, Michigan, Most are doing well. My three boys went to one, Church school. I have been on the board, on and off for close to twenty years.

Eric SEI · Dec 6, 2008

Around 1920 the farmers in my area told the township trustees "you buy the materials and we'll build a school". They built a brick building with a gym in the basement and all 12 grades on the 2 floors above. They closed 16 one room school hoses and one two room school house. Before that anybody going to HS had to go to town.

My first grade teacher had taught the grand parents of some of my classmates, she taught almost every year that school was open (closed by consolidation in 1973). Before my time it had outhouses, when I was there they had been placed next to the fence and used for storage. We had a concrete block building between the school and the baseball field where the restrooms were.

Our schools are a lot nicer now, but I'm not convinced the education is any better. The bus rides are longer now.

school back then

n8terry

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Anonymous-0

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NEKS

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moonlite 37

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Bill(Wis)

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Anonymous-0

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Paul from MI

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lucas boy

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Fergienewbee

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George gregory Smith

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Eric SEI

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