Broken bricks, cracked plaster, roof, all but gone. I have passed this one room school-house hundreds of times in my life. I have watched it fall apart and wondered about the days that it was filled with children’s voices and dreams. In this rural part of our state, there are many old schoolhouses still standing. Several have been converted to homes. Some became storage for farm equipment. A few moved and converted to museums. Many were torn down. What is must have been like! I taught as many as thirty children in one elementary classroom before, but they were all the same age. I’ve read stories about how the older students would help the younger students with their lessons. Lessons that go beyond reading and arithmetic were taught in these old structures. Old school.
related post: https://retiredruth.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/the-old-brick-house/
My mom taught in a one-room schoolhouse, different row for each grade, lots of peer-tutoring. Parents stayed out of it, only came by to deliver coal, stoke the fire, and make repairs or leave an invite to dinner. As a teacher myself, I’d like to have been part of that community. Small, friendly, and I’d understand the math. 🙂 Am enjoying your posts. Toni
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Thank you. I was lucky to teach in the early 70’s when there was still community in the schools. Thanks for commenting.
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What a poignant yet one filled with wonderful thoughts… Your photos really complemented your words as well.
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There’s an old one-room schoolhouse up the road from my parents’ house, where I grew up in Connecticut. It has been converted into a little home. I was always fascinated about it.
Imagine– one room, all ages together. What a talented teacher!
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Just keeping order would be an accomplishment. I like the idea of older students helping younger ones. When I was teaching in the 90’s someone came up with the idea of “peer tutoring”…. not a new idea. It’s been done before!
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Do you know if there are any plans to save / restore / covert this one?
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It’s doubtful. There are others that are in better shape. Not sure who has ownership. It would be cost-prohibitive to restore. Our county museum struggles to survive .. it is located in a Victorian house which was donated by the family and there have been tax levies to support it but they just barely get by. It’s unfortunate that parts of our history can’t be saved, but we live in a poor area with no big cities and little industry. We do have one wooden school house which has been moved to our county’s Historical Farm and it is restored and used for school programs…
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What a beautiful building. It’s so hard to let go of the past…people, buildings, memories. Seems they have to go when no one cares enough to keep them going. Could be the story of the school! Beautiful post.
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I hate to see all old buildings decay. Schools, stores, homes…. I like the looks of the older styles of buildings. It’s just not feasible to save them all.
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That’s sad. So many kids have probably sat in there and learned, and now it’s fading into history.
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