Education in the Early 1920's to 1940's

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Transportation | Grassroots 2002

Many years ago rural students went to school at country school and most of the town children went to school in the town of Cupar. These schools were one-room classrooms with up to forty kids, grades one to eight.  The country schools were located all over the countryside, around 5miles apart.  Even schools back then had their old fashioned rivalries surrounding sports and other competitive activities.

Most things in the old schools were different from today. One school had a piano double desks small library, slates, which are little personal blackboards, to write on. Paper was not plentiful and writing was done with a fountain pen, which had to be refilled from an inkwell. Younger students in the school had a two-seat type desk; the older kids had a single seat desk. Grade one children had tables and chairs.

  Schools were lit with candles and heated with a wood fire, which burned in a big potbelly stove. In the McDonald Hills School there were 5 windows and a wood furnace. The students would put their lunches around the stove in the winter so they would not freeze. Some schools were lit with wood and coal for heat and electric lights barely used. In the newer schools, like town or city schools, electric lights and a big furnace existed.

           People got their water from many different ways. The kids in this school got their drinking water from a drinking well. Some of these kids even brought their water from their farm. Some kids use to also hall their water by pales. Most would get water by pail from the well at school.  The water is then put in a porcelain container, with a tap at the bottom; this tap is used to drain the water into the student’s cups. 

A daily school routine involved waking up early to get to school at 9:00.  The classes would start at 9:00 and there would be 4 or 5 classes during the day. At 10:15-10:30 and 2:15-2:30 there would be a recess and a lunch break for an hour.  The types of classes they would have would be Math, Language Arts, English, History and Latin.  In the morning right at 9:00 they would sing O Canada, say the Lords Prayer, and at the end of the day (3:30) they would sing God Save Our Queen (or God Save Our King depending on the year).

  Some of the favorite songs in school were Oh Lord Jesus, Christmas carols, and songs that were popular on the radio. Often the children would talk about the popular radio show and listen to a radio if the school had one.

There were many games that they played at recess like Hopscotch, Jacks, baseball, tag, and Fox and Goose. The children, at recess, had to care for their horse, which were kept in a barn near the school.  They students often played sports or games including softball and basketball against other schools.  These games were usually played on the weekend at an event called a Sports Day. 

The teacher would wear casual clothes; a man would wear a suit with a white shirt and tie, and a lady would wear an ankle length nice dress, high button shoes and never pants or pant suits.  In a country school the teacher for the school usually boarded with a family close to the schoolhouse or whomever had an extra room in their house. The teachers form the town schools lived in town near the school also. A teacher would not make that much, which was usually around $500 a year.  They would often receive firewood or food if they lived by themselves instead of pay because during the Great Depression people could not afford to give the teacher money.

At Christmas time the school put on plays and sang Christmas carols. It was a huge and important event.  Everybody would come and take part in it. Children would dress up and perform plays, sang Christmas carols and they school would practice for weeks stitch and sew and paint all types of backdrops for the skits performed.  Many times the teacher would be judged if he or she was good or not based on the Christmas Concert.  It was usually very cold out at Christmas but it seemed that no matter what the Christmas Concert was always well attended.  . A Christmas concert was fun and entertaining for the children and the parents of that particular community.

           Transportation to and from school was very different also.  Students often got a ride from parent’s horse and buggy, or rode a horse to school.  Sometimes, if it weren’t too cold they would walk. In the spring the students would walk to school or ride bikes. Some students would drive themselves to school with the horse and buggy.  In the winter students might ride in a caboose–looking sleigh, pulled by a horse, called a closed-in cutter.  The cutter even had metal box in which wood could be burned so the occupants could keep warm.  Also, students could ride in a Bombardier it was a machine on tracks that could travel easily over any snow conditions.  

Education Now 

         Now a days kids like us go to a big school with lots of students. There are K-12 schools and up to one thousand students.  Schools today have many students and teachers, for instance we have a teacher for every subject. In the millennium, the schools will be getting bigger than they were ever before.

There are a lot of desks and classrooms. Now we have computers lockers and microwaves. There are many desks and computers and people. People say that we have it easy going to school. Actually we do cause we do not have to hall water or walk to school in rally cold weather. So we should be thankful that we have it easy. Students today need to know more information and be involved in more activities like sports, drama, and yearbook. Schools now have electric lighting at all times and are heated by natural gas, unlike the 1930’s or 1940’s. 

                   We now get our water from taps and from a huge well that is pumping the water to the school at all times. If the water line breaks which it doesn’t happen that much school will be cancelled. We drink from fountains and taps now. We don’t have to do anything to get our water. I think life is too easy now a day. 

                   A school daily routine today is a lot like in the old days, but we now have many new subjects.  A bell rings at 8:55 and we have 3 classes in the morning.  There is three breaks 9:55 -10:05, 11:00 –11:05, and 2:15 - 2:25.  We also have an hour break for lunch at 12:00 to 1:00. At 3:30 it is home time and often students have a sports game or practice after school.  There is also a drama club, yearbook, SADD, SRC and other activities for students after school depending on the time of year. 

 The teachers now have a variety of choices in clothing.  Skirts and dresses can be worn long or above the knee.  Sweaters, dress jackets, pantsuits, pant and low or high-heeled shoes are acceptable.  Most teachers wear dress pants, and a nice shirt, not jeans and t-shirt.  The teachers try to live close to their school that they teach in, but some live up to 45 minutes away from school. Some teachers live in town or on a farm near town also.  A teacher’s pay is around $35,000-$50,000.  Teachers travel to school easily and because of sound warm vehicles and decent roads travel is seldom a problem today.  Students arrive by bus, bike and if they live in town they will walk or catch a ride to school.