The one-teacher school in the United States is usually housed in the meanest type of school building, the supplies furnished the rural children are the scantiest, the school term is usually the shortest, the rural teachers represent the most inexperienced, and community support of the school is usually less enthusiastic than the support accorded…

As late as 1913, half of U.S. schoolchildren were enrolled in the country's 212,000 one-room schools--the heart of American education. Although only about 428 of these schools remain in use as of 1994, the country school continues to be a powerful cultural symbol. The first section of this book examines country schools' educational and cultural…

As revealed in personal interviews, periodicals, published and unpublished manuscripts, and school records, the teachers were the key factor in bringing education and culture to the frontier that was western South Dakota. Many teachers were girls of 16 or 17, inexperienced, hired from states to the east (Minnesota and Iowa), sight unseen.…

This book examines Gallia County (Ohio) one-room schools through the oral life histories of 14 retired female teachers. Interviews with the teachers focused on conditions and practices in one-room schoolhouses in the early to mid-20th century in rural southeastern Ohio, and on the common characteristics of one-room school teachers who became rural…

This investigation undertakes to analyze and interpret the character and content of State courses of study for rural elementary schools. It presents in tabular form the aims, subject matter, and materials most frequently recommended in these courses. It seeks to point out the great need for wisely selected materials of instruction and for changes…

This illustrated book chronicles the history of the one-room school in the Midwest and its vital influence on American education from the pioneer era through consolidation after World War II. The Midwest's one-room schools were the most democratic in the nation. Located in small independent school districts, they were sustained with the barest of…

This book presents the oral histories of one male and seven female retired teachers who began their careers during the 1920s and 1930s in one-room schools in the Texas hill country. These teachers continued to teach until after the desegregation of public schools in the 1960s. The married black couple included began teaching in rural Texas in 1931…

A unique collection of photographs and personal letters, journals and diaries, newspaper clippings, official reports, readers and textbooks, mail-order catalogues, architectural plans and diagrams recreate the flavor of the Canadian one-room school and the rural communities it served from the 1840's to 1960's. The emphasis is on the human…

Country schools were important in the growth and development of North Dakota. While most of the early schools were constructed of wood, some were constructed of stone, sod, or logs. Standardization was established by 1915, and the white framed one-room school was duplicated in every township of the state until the end of World War II. A former…

Country schools in eastern and central Kansas are explored from six different aspects: country schools as historic sites; teachers (their roles, rules, and restrictions); reading, writing, arithmetic, and recitation (a day in a rural school); country schools and the Americanization of ethnic groups; country schools as community centers; and…

This book aims to understand Virginia's rural past through a study of its schools. Rural Virginia schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were affected by at least three distinctly southern influences: the legacy of the Civil War and Reconstruction, regional underdevelopment and poverty, and the dilemma of racial coexistence in the…

This book documents the history of one-room schools in Wisconsin and presents the author's experiences in a one-room school during the 1940s, as well as the experiences of former teachers and students throughout the state. The first chapter reminisces about the 8 years that the author spent in a one-room school near West Rose, Wisconsin, recalling…

This book focuses on the lives and work of women teachers in two rural California counties between 1850 and 1950. It explores the social context of teaching and what teaching meant and provided to women teachers. Chapter 1 explores the shifts between 1840 and 1930 in representations of the woman teacher in the United States. Chapter 2 discusses…

This book draws on interviews with 47 former participants in one- and two-room schools, primarily in the northern part of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Chapter 1 presents a history of the one-room, one-teacher rural school, discussing the school consolidation trend, pupil transportation, and the three factors most instrumental in the one-room…

Teacher duties and curriculum developed by North Dakota, in deciding what role teachers would play in the community and what standards of conformity and propriety would be applied to teachers, mirrored certain aspects of the local culture and reflected a wider national culture. The inclusion of health studies reflected the local majority concern…