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A HBC reader has sent us a photograph from his elementary (primary) school in 1949. It is the 4th grade class at Westwood View Elemenary School. It was located in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. It is a good example of how elementary school children dressed at the time. The boys wear a variety of shirts and sweaters. Note the long-sleeved "T"-shirt. The boys wear long pants, including jeans. The girls all wear dresses or blouses and skirts. Some girls wear cardigan sweaters. Two girls wear saddle shoes. It must have been Scout day as some of the girls wear Girl Scout uniforms. I'm not sure why none of the boys wea Scout uniforms. At my school the Boy and Girl scouts (Cubs and Briwnies) wore their uniforms on the same day, always Thursday. Our reader writes, "Here is a description. Maybe more detail than you need. But WWV was a classic and typical school of Kansas, and likely much of the
non-urban US, in the 1940s.
Shawnee Mission is a little town called Shawnee Mission, named for a
Methodist Indian mission built nearby in the 1850s. (This was a period in which various church denominations were trying to “civilize” Native Americans by teaching them farming and the domestic arts and trying to convert them to Christianity.)
Westwood View School was built in the 1930s on the outskirts of Kansas
City, Kansas. Our school was a classic red brick building of two stories built in the 1930s and offered classes from kindergarten through eighth grade. I recall that it had that distinctive “school" smell about it--a combination of lavatory cleanser,
floor polish, chalk dust, and the aroma of (not always washed) children. The school was surrounded on three sides by playgrounds, sand boxes, a playground merry-go-round, two jungle gyms, basketball hoops on a tarmac, and large
activity fields. Inside the building, the younger grades were on the first floor; and one “graduated” to the upper floor in grade 5. Class size was about 25, and
there were just two sections of each grade. The two-storied gymnasium in
the center was used for basketball and indoor sports like gymnastics,
motion pictures, assemblies, and other school-wide events. It also sported
a stage with footlights, trompe d’oil backdrops, and curtains. In the 1940s in Kansas, one school served all. All pupils followed the same lesson plans and there was no ethnic diversity: we were all white and most of us middle-class. {HBC note: The landmark Supreme Court Brown vs Board of Education decession (1954) which ruled school segreagation unconstitutional was set in another Kansas school, this one located in Topeka.] There were no special provisions for students with physical or learning disability or attention deficit disorder, nor were there programs for what we now call the “gifted and talented.” One of my classmates wore leg braces due to polio, which at the time was a huge medical problem affecting children. Another classmate was a very slow learner (likely retarded), and still another had bouts of grand mal epilepsy in class. “Special ed” was unheard of.
Each year at Christmas time, the school would put on a Christmas pageant
and we would gather around the big decorated tree in the darkened gym to sing Christmas carols, watch a nativity play on the stage, and hear Bible readings. (After all, wasn’t everybody a Christian?) The high point of the festivities was a visit from Santa Claus, who happened to be the local Fuller brush man. He would bang loudly on a window in the balcony, find his way downstairs, and make a grand entrance with a huge bag over his shoulders.
In class we celebrated Valentine’s Day, with cards for all, Easter, and
especially Halloween. Most mothers stayed at home in those days, and
created particularly inventive costumes. One I remember vividly was my
friend Nancy, who came as a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes.
The principal would address students through the “Teletalk” and was also the
disciplinarian. (It was rumored he would spank students with a rubber hose
when they got out of line.) I was not perfect, but never go spanked. Of course there was no cafeteria, and since it was a neighborhood school, everyone went home for lunch.
The boys in rhe 4th grade class here wear a variety of shirts and sweaters. Note the long-sleeved "T"-shirt. The boys wear long pants, including jeans. The girls all wear dresses or blouses and skirts. Some girls wear cardigan sweaters. Two girls wear saddle shoes. One thing I recall was that one week in 2nd grade my mother and her next door neighbor decided their sons should wear knickers with long
stockings. We went to school and were teased mercilessly the whole day as
being old fashioned. After that, we wore them one more day and our mothers
mercifully relented. Wnters were very cold in Kansas, with snow over a foot at times. We all wore galoshes in those days, mufflers, and heavy coats. You'd see the
galoshes stacked up against the wall.
For boys, short hair was mandatory. When your hair got slightly over the ear, it was off to the barber. Gender roles regarding clothing and hair were very distinct (unlike the latter 19th century). One of the worst things a boy could be accused of was "playing with the girls."There were several girls with long braids and the boys would tug them from the desk behind or take off their ribbons.
I am the kid on the first row with something in my hand (figure 1). My best friend is on my left and my girlfriend (defined in those days as having kissed a girl) on the right. She had very pretty long red hair which I adored. (Charlie Brown, eat your heart out.)
It must have been Scout day as some of the girls wear Girl Scout uniforms. I don't really remember now why only the girls are weariung their Scout uniforms. . Several of us were Cub Scouts but we obviously aren't wearing our uniforms. Maybe the girls had a scout meeting that afternoon. [HBC note: I'm not sure why none of the boys wea Scout uniforms. At my school the Boy and Girl scouts (Cubs and Briwnies) wore their uniforms on the same day, always Thursday.]
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