One-room schools were commonplace throughout
ruralRural areas are large and isolated areas of a country, often with low population density.About 91 percent of the rural population now earn salaried incomes, often in urban areas...
portions of various countries including the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
,
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In most rural (country) and small town
schoolA school , is an institution designed to allow and encourage students to learn, under the supervision of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s, all of the
studentThe word student is etymologically derived through Middle English from the Latin second-type conjugation verb studēre, meaning "to direct one's zeal at"; hence a student could be described as "one who directs zeal at a subject"...
s met in a single room. There, a single
teacherIn education, a teacher is a person who educates others. A teacher who educates an individual student may also be described as a personal tutor....
taught academic basics to five to eight grade levels of
elementary-ageA primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
boys and girls. While in many areas one-room schools are no longer used, it is not uncommon for them to remain in developing nations and rural areas, such as much of the
FalklandsThe Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located approximately from the coast of mainland South America, from mainland Antarctica, and from Africa. There are two main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, as well as 776 smaller islands...
and
ShetlandShetland is an archipelago in Scotland, off the northeast coast. The islands lie to the northeast of Orkney, from the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total area is approximately 1,466 km²...
.
The quality of facilities at one-room schools varied with local economic conditions, but generally, the number of children at each grade level would vary with local populations.
One-room schools were commonplace throughout
ruralRural areas are large and isolated areas of a country, often with low population density.About 91 percent of the rural population now earn salaried incomes, often in urban areas...
portions of various countries including the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
,
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In most rural (country) and small town
schoolA school , is an institution designed to allow and encourage students to learn, under the supervision of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s, all of the
studentThe word student is etymologically derived through Middle English from the Latin second-type conjugation verb studēre, meaning "to direct one's zeal at"; hence a student could be described as "one who directs zeal at a subject"...
s met in a single room. There, a single
teacherIn education, a teacher is a person who educates others. A teacher who educates an individual student may also be described as a personal tutor....
taught academic basics to five to eight grade levels of
elementary-ageA primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
boys and girls. While in many areas one-room schools are no longer used, it is not uncommon for them to remain in developing nations and rural areas, such as much of the
FalklandsThe Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located approximately from the coast of mainland South America, from mainland Antarctica, and from Africa. There are two main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, as well as 776 smaller islands...
and
ShetlandShetland is an archipelago in Scotland, off the northeast coast. The islands lie to the northeast of Orkney, from the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total area is approximately 1,466 km²...
.
United States
The quality of facilities at one-room schools varied with local economic conditions, but generally, the number of children at each grade level would vary with local populations. Most buildings were of simple frame construction, some with the school bell on a
cupolaIn architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like structure, on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from the lower Latin cupula small cup indicating a vault resembling an...
. In
Midwestern statesThe Midwestern United States is one of the four geographic regions within the United States of America that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau....
,
sodSod or turf is grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, or a piece of this material.The term sod may be used to mean turf grown and cut specifically for the establishment of lawns...
construction was also used, as well as stone in areas such as portions of the southwest where trees were scarce. In some locations, the schoolhouse was painted red, but most seem to have been white.
Mission Ridge School was one of the early schools built in
Mason County, West VirginiaMason County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of 2000, the population was 25,957. Its county seat is Point Pleasant. The county was named for George Mason, one of the principal architects of the 1776 Virginia Constitution....
. It has been moved to the West Virginia State Farm Museum complex near
Point PleasantPoint Pleasant is a city in Mason County, West Virginia, United States, at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers. The population was 4,637 at the 2000 census...
. Examination of the materials in this building indicates that boards and timbers were hand-sawed and also hand-planed. Square nails were used throughout the building. Except for the roof and a few boards in the floor, all of the material in this building is original. The
blackboardA chalkboard or blackboard is a reusable writing surface on which text or drawings are made with sticks of calcium sulphate, known, when used for this purpose, as chalk. Chalkboards were originally made of smooth, thin sheets of black or dark grey slate stone...
really is a black board, made of wide boards painted black. It was not until much later that slate was used for chalkboards, although students often had individual slates for writing practice.
TeacherIn education, a teacher is a person who educates others. A teacher who educates an individual student may also be described as a personal tutor....
s in one-room schools were often former students themselves. Their role is well-described by a student from
KentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. Kentucky is a Southern state situated in the Upland South, although the state is infrequently placed, geographically and culturally, in the Midwest. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a...
in the 1940s: "The teachers that taught in the one room, rural schools were very special people. During the winter months they would get to the school early to get a fire started in the
potbelly stoveA potbelly stove is a cast iron wood-burning stove, round with a bulge in the middle. They were designed to heat large spaces and were often found in train stations or one-room schoolhouses....
, so the building would be warm for the students. On many occasions they would prepare a hot, noon meal on top of the stove, usually consisting of soup or stew of some kind. They took care of their students like a new mother hen would care for her newly hatched chicks; always looking out for their health and welfare."
A typical school day was 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with morning and afternoon recesses of 15 minutes each and an hour period for lunch. "The older students were given the responsibility of bringing in water, carrying in coal or wood for the stove. The younger students would be given responsibilities according to their size and gender such as cleaning the black board (chalkboard), taking the erasers outside for dusting plus other duties that they were capable of doing."
http://www.snowkentucky.com/one_room_school.htm
Transportation for children who lived too far to walk was often provided by
horseThe horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
-drawn
kid hackA kid hack was a horse-drawn vehicle used for transporting children to school in the late 19th and early 20th century in the United States. The word hack, meaning a horse-drawn cab, is short for hackney carriage. The vehicle was actually powered by both horses and mules, and usually loaded at the...
or
sulkyA sulky is a lightweight cart having two wheels and a seat for the driver only but usually without a body, generally pulled by horses or dogs, and is used for harness races...
, which could only travel a limited distance in a reasonable amount of time each morning and evening, or students might ride a
horseThe horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
, these being put out to pasture in an adjoining paddock during the day. In more recent times, students rode
bicycleA bicycle, also known as a bike, push bike or cycle, is a pedal-driven, human-powered vehicle with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist or a bicyclist....
s.
The school house was the center and focus for thousands of rural communities, hamlets and small towns. Often, town meetings and picnics were also held there.
The vast majority of one-room schools in the United States are no longer used as schools and have either been torn down or converted for other purposes. However, in some rural communities, including among the
AmishThe various Amish or Amish Mennonite church fellowships are Christian religious denominations that form a very traditional subgrouping of Mennonite churches. They are best known for their simple living, plain dress and resistance to the adoption of many modern conveniences...
, one-room or two-room schools are still used, primarily for elementary education, with students graduating to local or regional middle and high schools.
Ireland
In
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
, free primary education was mandated in 1831, prompting the establishment of many single-teacher National Schools across rural areas, most initially using a room in an existing building. By the 1850s there was a school in every
parishA parish is a territorial unit that was usually historically served by a local church. This administrative unit is typically found in Roman Catholic, Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church of Sweden, United Methodist, and Presbyterian churches...
. Most extant one- and two-room school buildings date from the decades after 1891 when primary education became compulsory. Most of those still in use today have been extended following merger with neighbouring schools. Since 2002, any state-funded school with at least 10 pupils is entitled to at least 2 teachers; the 21 schools which fell below this threshold are located on
offshore islands http://www.education.ie/home/home.jsp?pcategory=17241&ecategory=17241&language=EN. In recent decades, an increasing number of schools have been founded for parents not content with the National School system. These include
GaelscoilA gaelscoil is an Irish-speaking school, often also co-educational, usually found in Ireland, but outside the predominantly Irish-speaking Gaeltacht areas.Irish is the working language for these schools...
eanna (which teach through
IrishIrish is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now only spoken natively by a small minority of the Irish population but also plays an important symbolic role in the life of the Irish state, and is used...
rather than
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
) and multi-denominational schools (most Irish schools are controlled by one or other of the main Christian churches). Although such schools eventually become eligible for state funding, they usually begin with a single teacher in a room or prefabricated building.
Teacher's residence
The teacher's residence, or teacherage, was often attached to the school, or very close by, so that a male teacher's wife and family were an integral part of the management and support system for the school. Single, female teachers were more often billeted or boarded with a local family to provide for social norms requiring social supervision of single females.
Canada
Many one roomed schools also served as the local chapel on Sundays, and evening/Saturday meeting places for local people and activities. Being mostly rural, many schools had no water or sanitation and this was often provided by converting wells into toilets (through the use of a plank with a hole in it), melting snow for water in the winter and relying on the help of nearby farms in the summer. In the 1950s a milk truck would sometimes come in the summer weeks offering a variety of dairy products (principally milk).
Teaching standards often varied from school to school as the teacher was compelled to coach children of all ages/grades within one room. This sometimes meant younger students often listened to, and became aware of concepts and teaching that, normally, they would not encounter for some years. This has sometimes been presented as being one cause of the "precocious" period of the early 60's.
Consolidation
Motorized
school busA school bus is a type of bus used for transporting children and teenagers to and from school and school events. The first school bus was horse-drawn, introduced in 1827 by George Shillibeer for a Quaker school at Abney Park in Stoke Newington, London, United Kingdom, and was designed to carry 25...
es in the 1920s made longer distances possible, and one-room schools were soon consolidated in most portions of the United States into multiple classroom schools where classes could be held separately for various grade levels. Gradually, one-room school houses were replaced. Most one-room schools had been replaced by larger schools by
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
except in the most rural areas.
However, they are still common in rural parts of Australia. Megalong Public School is a good example of a one-room school.
Preservation: buildings and cultural
In
Calvert County, MarylandCalvert County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. It occupies the Calvert Peninsula which is bordered on the east by the Chesapeake Bay and on the west by the Patuxent River. Calvert County is part of the Southern Maryland region. Its residents are among the highest median...
, Port Republic School Number 7 closed its doors in 1932 and sat unused for over 40 years. Then, in 1976 the Calvert Retired Teachers Association, looking for a Bicentennial Year project, decided to restore the one-room schoolhouse. On July 24, 1977, after months of hard work by teachers and community volunteers, the old school bell rang out once more, and the little one-room school house, filled with its memories and memorabilia, was ready for visitors.
http://calvert-county.com/school.htm It is now one of the county's tourist attractions.
A similar project was done in
Queen Anne's County, MarylandQueen Anne's County is a county located on the Eastern Shore of the U.S. state of Maryland.As of 2000, the population was 40,563. Its county seat and most populous municipality is Centreville. The census-designated place of Stevensville is the county's most populous place...
by retired Teachers and Community Volunteers. The restored schoolhouse is located in front of
Queen Anne's County High SchoolQueen Anne's County High School is a four-year public high school in Centreville, MD, Queen Anne's County, Maryland, United States. It is one of 2 public high schools in Queen Anne's County along with Kent Island High School.-Overview:...
In
IowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of...
, over 125 small one-room school houses have been turned into local museums. The buildings in some places found new purpose as homes.
The One Room School House Project of
Southwestern CollegeSouthwestern College is a four-year college, affiliated with the United Methodist Church, and is located in Winfield, Kansas, United States. It was founded in 1885 and graduated its first class in 1889....
in
Winfield, KansasWinfield is a city situated along the Walnut River in the west-central part of Cowley County, located in South Central Kansas, in the Central United States. The population was estimated to be 11,861 in the year 2005. It is the county seat and most populous city of Cowley County.Winfield is home to...
, includes listings and information on some 880 schools throughout the state and nation. The information, pictures, and stories included in this site have been collected and sent to the project by researchers and historians from across America.
Copper Harbor, MichiganCopper Harbor is a small, unincorporated community in northeastern Keweenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is within Grant Township on the Keweenaw Peninsula that juts from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan into Lake Superior. The town's name alludes to the former use of its harbor as a...
continues to use a one room school house. The Copper Harbor School teaches K-8th grades.
Famous students of one-room schools
- Robert Gordon Menzies, the longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia, holding office on commission from the Governor-General. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful political office in Australia...
- school at Jeparit, VictoriaJeparit is situated on the Wimmera River in Western Victoria, Australia, 370 kilometres north west of Melbourne. At the 2006 census Jeparit had a population of 582.-History:...
- Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was an American author who wrote the Little House series of children's books based on her childhood in a pioneer family.-Early life and marriage:...
, who later dramatised her experiences in one-room schoolhouses as both student and teacher in Little House on the PrairieLittle House on the Prairie is a children's book by Laura Ingalls Wilder that was published in 1935. It is part of a series of books known collectively as the Little House series....
and other children's novels.
- Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is an American author. Raised in rural, working-class New York, Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction...
, the Pulitzer-prize-winning writer, attended a one-room schoolhouse in upstate New York.
- Alan B. Shepard, Jr., the first American in space and one of only twelve astronauts to have walked on the moon, attended a one-room schoolhouse in East Derry, New Hampshire.
- Hazel Miner
Hazel Dulcie Miner , the daughter of a North Dakota farmer and a student at a one-room school, died saving her 10-year-old brother, Emmet, and 8-year-old sister, Myrdith, during a spring blizzard in Center, Oliver County, North Dakota.After her death, she became a national heroine...
, who froze to death in a spring blizzardThe 1920 North Dakota blizzard was a severe blizzard that killed 34 people from March 15 - March 18, 1920 in the state of North Dakota. High winds and an eight-inch snowfall stopped rail service in Bismarck, North Dakota and only one telephone line functioned between Fargo, North Dakota. and...
in Center, North DakotaCenter is a city in Oliver County, North Dakota in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated town in Oliver County. The population was 678 at the 2000 census. Center was founded in 1903...
in March 1920, but saved her younger brother and sister by covering them with her own body.
- Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur and a co-founder and promoter of Wikipedia. •...
, Wikipedia co-founder.
- Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted government intervention under the rubric "economic...
, US President.
External links