Figure 1.--Here is a boy at one ofvthe Hutterite residential (boarding) schools. We are not sure why some of the children attend residential schools.

Hutterite schools stress hard work, often farming skills, but tractors and modern mechanical implements are used. Children, if old enough, are taught to drive cars. Basic academic subjects are taught, languages, arthimetic, history, and so forth, but there is an emphasis on the practical. A strict rule of life obtains in Hutterite schools and infractions of rules often result in public punishment, pupils being required to stand up for an hour or so in church as examples of those who, for instance, have talked back to their parents or teachers, have disobeyed their elders, or have been dishonest. Most Hutterite communities have their own primary schools. We notice the Riverview Hutterite Colony School in Saskatchewan near Saskatoon in Canada. It is a residential school for both boys and girls up through the age of 15 years. We don't understand why a Hutterite community would have residential schools rather than the children living at home. A reader writes, "I assume that boarding makes control of the children's lives and schedules easier to enforce, but I'm not sure. Maybe the distances have something to do with it. The children seem to do farm work when not in the classroom. They seem to have fairly strict rising and going-to-bed rules in the Riverview school."

Created: 8:40 PM 3/15/2011
Last updated: 9:00 PM 3/15/2011