Memories of One-Room Schools
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About this ebook
Some of the things included are a brief history of one-room schools and the special state program that was legislated to solve the teacher shortage. Some topics covered in the book are:the different languages spokensporadic attendanceclothes wornhickory stick disciplinegetting to and from schoolsleigh/bob sled rideshorses ridden to and from schoolwhere the teacher stayedwater for the schoolbuilding and banking firesschoolhouse pestsouthouseslard or syrup lunch pailssnowbound at the school housesubject taughtspelling beesYCL songspecial daysschool picnicsdescription of classroom and some of the recess and indoor games played by the students.
But the highlight of the book is the humorous, interesting memories of former students, parents and friends. Baked potatoes and the game Anti-I-Over appear to be favorite memories.
Lorraine Jorgensen-Zimney
The draft and “baby boom” during WW11 and the Korean War resulted in a teacher shortage in one-room rural-schools that prompted the South Dakota Legislature to enact a special program. As a result of this program, Lorraine Jorgensen-Zimney was able to begin her thirty-eight year teaching career as a seventeen year old high school graduate, in a school where her eighth grade boy was only three years younger than she was. Though at times she misses teaching and the students, she now has the free time that comes with retirement, so that she can enjoy doing some of her long postponed hobbies and projects. Other books available by Lorraine Jorgensen-Zimney are TEDDY and TEDDY THE SEQUEL about life on a 1940s farm with her beloved Border Collie, Teddy.
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Memories of One-Room Schools - Lorraine Jorgensen-Zimney
2014 Lorraine Jorgensen-Zimney. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
Published by AuthorHouse 01/17/2014
ISBN: 978-1-4918-4967-5 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4918-4968-2 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-4918-4969-9 (e)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014900246
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,
and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Contents
Dedication
Foreword
Chapter One My First Day Of Teaching
Chapter Two Rural Schools Where I Taught
Chapter Three My Path To Becoming A Career Teacher
Chapter Four Early One-Room Schools
Chapter Five Subjects
Chapter Six Extracurricular
Chapter Seven Special Days
Chapter Eight The One-Room Classroom
Chapter Nine Games
Chapter Ten My Memories
Chapter Eleven Memories From Students, Parents And Friends
Chapter Twelve State Fair
Chapter Thirteen
Dedication
To my niece, Deb Jorgensen-Gerlach
Without her gentle prodding and determination this book may never have been written.
To all my students that I’ve had the privilege to teach in my thirty-eight year career.
To Eleanor for her special editorial expertise.
To Alice and Jim, Deb, and Tami for sharing memories, proofreading and editing.
A big thank you
to:
Arlene, Bonnie, Charlotte, Darlene, Darlys, Dennis, Don, Dorothy, Dwight, Fred, Gen, Jim B, Lucille, Nancy M, Nancy R, Patricia, Phyllis, Sheila, Shirley, Wanda and Wayne for contributing their memories and photos. Also to Tim Ferrell of the USD Music Dept. for helping me research the YCL song and to Lisa Scholten, Coordinator/Curator of Collections at SDSU South Dakota Art Museum for authorizing the use of Harvey Dunn’s After School.
Foreword
It was a great pleasure to read Lorraine’s manuscript and the memories of her former students and friends. The one-room schoolhouses of our childhood seem very far away as we turn on our computers only to discover that now you can get a Ph.D. on-line from a virtual university without ever encountering another human being. One of the most noticeable themes that recur in Lorraine’s account of her long career in teaching is the strong bond that was formed between students, teacher, parents, and other community members when the little schoolhouse was the focus of the rural community. Not only did a seventeen year old girl have to teach her students basic life skills, she also introduced them to a wider world of art, literature, music, history, and geography. The little schoolhouse marked the passing seasons and their celebrations for the entire community, transmitted the values that we cherish in our civic life, and opened windows of opportunity for many of its students. In many ways, the school and its teacher were the glue
that held isolated rural communities together. I’m not sure that virtual professors can bring the same shrewd insight and gentle humor to their students that Lorraine brought to the many children of rural South Dakota whose lives she touched. To Lorraine and her students and friends who shared their memories—thanks for reminding us of the real value of education!
Eleanor Seabrook Mundhenke,
Ferney, South Dakota,
November 26, 2013
painting.jpgAfter School, Harvey Dunn, image courtesy South Dakota Art Museum
SCHOOL DAYS
Words by Will D. Cobb; Music by Gus Edwards
School days, school days,
Dear old golden-rule days,
Readin’ and ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hick’ry stick.
You were my (I was your) queen in calico;
I was your (You were my) bashful, barefoot beau
And you wrote on my slate
I love you, Joe (so),
When we were a couple of kids.
Driving along the back roads or through the small towns of South Dakota you may have noticed the peeling remains of the little one-room schoolhouses sitting isolated near the road surrounded by fields of grain. Maybe nearby a bent flagpole still stands or a dilapidated barn and leaning outhouses. It seems improbable to imagine that the building once formed the social center of so many rural communities in this State. Or that on a cold, snowy winter night the windows were alight with lantern glow, because the community was gathered to celebrate the school’s Christmas Program.
Can you picture them sixty plus years ago as a crowd of children from six to sixteen years old flocked to the door summoned by a teacher, perhaps one or two years older than her oldest student? See in your mind’s eye the teacher ringing a big brass hand bell and calling her students to the education that formed the lives of many of us who learned our readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmetic
in the little schools of South Dakota’s past.
The Enabling Act provided for the division of Dakota into North and South Dakota and enabled the people of each state to form a government and to be admitted to the Union.
Two of the provisions of The Enabling Act covered establishing schools.
One was that public schools shall be established, open to all children of the state and not controlled by any sect.
The second was that lands set aside for the schools shall not be sold for less than $10 per acre. The money from the sale of these lands shall form a permanent school fund. To it shall be added 5% of the net proceeds of the sale of the United States land within the state.
* * *
The school district system was originally modeled after that of New England. Later the township system was introduced with one school board having control of all schools within the township.
Each South Dakota Township had sections #1 and #16, out of the thirty-six sections, set aside by the state for the state school fund. A section is a square mile of land. Each section of land was known locally as The School Section.
South Dakota thought that the money from these lands would be sufficient to fund the schools, but soon learned otherwise. To this day, the rent money from this land still goes to the state school fund.
Many changes to the school system have been made over the years. The one-room schools are becoming a thing of the past.
When the one-room rural schools closed and consolidated with the town
schools due to finances and dropping enrollment, it took away an important part of the rural sense of community.
And later as the schools closed in the small towns due to consolidation, businesses were affected. Parents no longer came into town each school day to drop-off or pick-up their children. Town loyalties and school pride was now transferred to the larger schools.
Chapter One
MY FIRST DAY OF TEACHING
On a sunny, crisp