Figure 1.--Here we see two American boys off to school in the 1930s. probanly about 1935. Notice the ties, cord knickers, patterned knee socks and low-cut oxfords. One boy seems to be carry his books with a strap. |
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Modern children cart vast quanties of books and papers back and forth to and from school so they can do assigned home work. This did not use to be the case. For one thing, books as well as paper was expensive. So children did a lot of their work on slate boards with chalk. This was not condusive for home work. An the fact that many children did not have lighting in their homes until the 20th century, espcially in ural areas, was another problem. And there was no such thing as work books until the mid-20th century. And we are not entirely sure just what the idea of educators and teachers was toward homework. We think it was a fairly modern idea. Without paper homework was difficult. They could do some reading if they took books home, but books were expensive. And until the mid-19th century few families had books in their home unless they were well-to-do. The sole exception was the family Bible. Any serious Protestant family would have had a Bible. This was less common with Catholics, but America until the mid-19th century did not have many Catholics. The first arrivals in large numbers were the Irish driven from their home-land by the Potato Famine. About the same time, the Industrial Revolution was beginning to change America and both education and the printing industry were affected. America because of its Protestant foundation placed an emphasis on public education. The industrial Revolution created the wealth needed to both fund public education as well as higher wages that allowed even working-class families to keep their children in school. At the same time, advances in manufacturing both reducedthe real cost of manufacturing paper and printing books. We begin to more often see books and magazines in homes. And we begin to see McGuffy readers (1836). This might be the only boos in a rural school, perhaps supplemented by the dictionary. This gradually changed as the American economy developed and Americans became more wealthy. More books were issued to the childen. And at some point copy books appeard. A German reader writes, "I noticed a nice photo of a 6-year old school boy in the United States.
My remark is about the difference how the pupils bring their paper work from and to school. In Germany till about 1970 they had "Ranzen" (this word is in German the same for singular and plural), 'satchel' worn on the
back, made with leather, two forms one for boys, the other for girls. This is true for Switzerland and Austria, too. Nowadays they have "Rucksäcke" (Rucksaecke), "knapsack". In America the children just seem S, they just hold the paper work in the hand, isn't it. That does not seem very practical for kids, running around, sitting on them, in rain etc.?" German school kids seem to have a lot more books and papers to take home. I can not recall in primary (elementary) school during the 1949s-50s not much in the way of home work, but this probably varied from school district to school district. As a result the first technique used by American children was just carrying a book in their hands. Another common practice was to use a belt or strap to to hold two or three books. This was the basic system. We do not see European-style book satchels. We do see children with lunch boxes. This was an estanlishedidea for workers and was adapted for the children. We are not sure just when the first purpose-made school lunch box prepared, probanly the 1920s. Gradually as more and more home work ws assigned, the children began using back packs, I remember using a surplus World War II back pack in my last year of primary school--6th grade (1954). High school was different. We notice various types of attache cases. Back packs proved more popular. Soon purpose made school back packs appeared (1960s). The school back pack is now an essentially school item.
Modern children cart vast quanties of books and papers back and forth to and from school so they can do assigned home work. This did not use to be the case. For one thing, books as well as paper was expensive. So children did a lot of their work on slate boards with chalk. This was not condusive for home work.
We do not yet have much information on homework. It was difficult without books and paper. An the fact that many children did not have lighting in their homes until the 20th century, espcially in ural areas, was another problem. And there was no such thing as work books until the mid-20th century. And we are not entirely sure just what the idea of educators and teachers was toward homework. We think it was a fairly modern idea. Without paper homework was difficult. The children could do some reading if they took books home, but books were expensive.
Until the mid-19th century few families had books in their home unless they were well-to-do. The sole exception was the family Bible. Any serious Protestant family would have had a Bible. This was less common with Catholics, but America until the mid-19th century did not have many Catholics. The first arrivals in large numbers were the Irish driven from their home-land by the Potato Famine. About the same time, the Industrial Revolution was beginning to change America and both education and the printing industry were affected. America because of its Protestant foundation placed an emphasis on public education.
The industrial Revolution created the wealth needed to both fund public education as well as higher wages that allowed even working-class families to keep theior children in school. Incredibly, American history text books often depictthe Industrial Revolution as leading to all kinds of social problems like poverty, tenaments, child labor, and low wages. Nothing could be furyher from the truth. The Indusyrial Revolution created the wealth need ibncrease wages and educate all children, including working-class children. At the same time, advances in manufacturing both reducedthe real cost of manufacturing paper and printing books. We begin to more often see books and magazines in homes.
And we begin to see McGuffy readers (1836). This might be the only boos in a rural school, perhaps supplemented by the dictionary. This gradually changed as the American economy developed and Americans became more wealthy. More books were issued to the childen. And at some point copy books appeard with children doing work on paper rather than slte boards.
A German reader writes, "I noticed a nice photo of a 6-year old school boy in the United States.
My remark is about the difference how the pupils bring their paper work from and to school. In Germany till about 1970 they had "Ranzen" (this word is in German the same for singular and plural), "satchel" worn on the
back, made with leather, two forms one for boys, the other for girls. This is true for Switzerland and Austria, too. Nowadays they have "Rucksäcke" (Rucksaecke), "knapsack". In America the children just seem S, they just hold the paper work in the hand, isn't it. That does not seem very practical for kids, running around, sitting on them, in rain etc.?" German school kids seem to have a lot more books and papers to take home. I can not recall in primary (elementary) school during the 1949s-50s not much in the way of home work, but this probably varied from school district to school district. ASaresult the first technique used by American children was just carrying a book in their hands. Another technique was to use a belt or strap to to hold two or three books. This was the basic system for many years. It worled well because the children did not have many books. We do not see European-style book satchels. Gradually as more and more home work ws assigned, the children began using back packs, I remember using a surplus World War II back pack in my last year of primary school--6th grade (1954). High school was different. We notice various types of attache cases. Back packs proved more popular. Soon purpose made school back packs appeared (1960s). The school back pack is now an essentially school item.
We do see children with lunch boxes. This was an estanlishedidea for workers and was adapted for the children. We are not sure just when the first purpose-made school lunch box prepared, probanly the 1920s. German children and lunch carrierts much earlier, snall leather affairs.
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