Figure 1.-- Here we see an unidentified class portrait. They look to be 3rd graders, about 8 year olds. It looks like the 1910s to us. Notice th girls' hair bowsSeveral of the boys are barefoot and we see some overalls. It was not a rural school as this is a class group and the school in the background was stone. We suspecv this was a small town school, not a city school. Unfortunately the placard in the front is illegible. We seem to see a 23, so it could be the early-20s.

During the 1910s the United States was finally approching the the point at which half of the population was living in urban areas which meant atending urban schools rater than small one and two room rural schools. Thus the educational expeiene was changing. And this crossed an imprtant educational threshold. Not only were more children going to city schools, but the were living in communities where secondary schooling (9th-12th grade) was possible. The rural schools only went up to 8th grade. You had to live in a city or town of sone size to attend secondary school meaning high school. Both Germany and America had lead the way in public education. But this mean basically primary education. America would lead the way in public secondary education. Few working-class Europeans continued their education into secondary schools. This began for the first time in America. And the course offerings included shop classes to prepare teen age boys for non-university careers. There were major changes in schoowear as wwell. that occurred early in the 1910s with boys switching from knee pants to knickers. Many boys at the same time in rural areas began wearing bib-front overalls. We also see this very clearly in the photographic record. These overalls were not new. Workers and rarmers had begun wearing them in the mid-19th century. For some reason, it is only in the 1910s that for some unknown reason, boys in rural areas began wearing them to school. This was not just a few boys, but we see large numbers of boys in rural schools suddenly wearing them. We have no idea why overalls appeared so suddenly in rural schools. Some boys wore overalls with suit jackets, we think because wearing suits to shool was stll common in the 1910s. It was also common in rural areas to come to school barefoot. This was not unknown in city schools, but was much more common in small towns and rural schools.

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Created: 7:55 PM 3/31/2024
Last updated: 7:56 PM 3/31/2024