Figure 1.--Here we see a one-room rural school in Pocahontas County, West Virginia during 1921. Teachers had to geoup the children to make assignments. Notice how the teacher has one group together at thefront for a lesson. |
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The United States was a largely rural country at the beginning of the 19th century and was still largely rural even at the time of the Civil War (1861-65). By that time, industrialization had begun and was greatly stimulate by the War. Even by the rnd of the century, bout half the population was rural. This of course meant, that rural schools were a very important part of the country's educational system. The United States in the 19th Century probably had the world's most progressive system of public education for children in rural areas. Early Federal land legislation had provisions for assigning land parcels for school as did the Homestead Act of 1864. The principal of free public education was well established in America at a time when the British conceived of public education as dangerous or only appropriate as charity schools for indigents. In contrast, in the United States a portion of each parcel of land was reserved to finance a public school. As a result, as the frontier moved west, public schools were automatically financed from the initial settlement. The early rural schools were all elementary schools--usually one room schools where children of all ages were educated together. Few rural children in the 19th century progressed to high schools, which were all located in cities.
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