By Mrs. Raymond (Golda) Sander

The first school I attended was a one-room rural school located three miles north of Manning. The school house stood on a corner of a section of land. All the boys and girls in the adjoining three sections attended this school. Its bare walls, squeaky old oily floors, and the dim lighting gave it a dowdy look.

The building was heated by a pot-bellied stove in the middle of the room. The four corners of the room were never comfortably heated. The fuel, cobs and coal, were carried in from a coal shed some distance from the school house.

Inside the building immovable double desks and seats all the same height and size were nailed or screwed to the floor. The teacher's desk and long recitation bench were in, the front of the room. A few library books were enclosed in a glass-doored cupboard. In the back of the room was a wash stand with a wash pan, a bar of soap, and a cotton roller towel. Before lunch all the boys and girls washed their hands in the same water and dried on the same towel. An open bucket with a long-handled dipper was used to hold our drinking water. Each morning two of the older pupils were sent to a nearby farm house for a pail of water. The teacher and all the pupils carried cold lunches.

The two toilets were located a distance from the school house and during the winter months they were generally half full of snow. In the spring and fall the odor from these toilets was very unpleasant.

The subjects taught were reading, arithmetic, geography, grammar, spelling, and writing. Each class period lasted about 10 or 15 minutes. Much of the recitation period consisted of the question and answer method, no discussion or experiments, purely facts to be memorized. Sometimes the class, perhaps three or four youngsters, was sent to the blackboard to work arithmetic or to learn their spelling. Instead of studying, some child might draw a picture of a train or a horse -just as natural and real as could be. But even if the child displayed a talent for art, there was no art teacher to help bring out the talent.

In reading, the lesson was read orally, each taking his turn. All that mattered was to pronounce all the words and make it sound well. Comprehension, emotional reaction, structural analysis and interpreting were unheard of.

In geography we had what was called the "Rhyming Geography," to the accompaniment of a tune. A list of states, their capitals, cities, and the rivers on which they were located were repeated in a sing-song fashion.

At Christmas time and the last day of school all the parents, grandparents, friends, and neighbors of the entire district were invited to bring their well-filled baskets and come to hear the children sing songs, speak pieces, and take part in dialogues. Often someone in the district who was gifted with some rhythmical talent brought a fiddle or an accordion and the entire group sang folksongs and the children danced and kept time to the music.

Many of the boys and girls couldn't speak English when they started to school. Low German was the language spoken in many of their homes. These children had a very hard time learning to speak and to read the English language.

As for the teacher training program for the rural school, our teachers graduated from high school, and spent two weeks in Carroll or benison in the summer for "normal training." Then they wrote an examination and if they passed, they got a certificate to teach for one year.

The teacher was the janitor, made the fire, swept the floor, cleaned the chalk boards, and occasionally mopped the muddy halls. She walked to and from school, sometimes several miles a day, in all kinds of weather. When winter set in and snow filled the roads, she would board at a nearby farm house.

The terms of school were divided into spring, fall, and winter terms. For the spring and fall terms, the teacher got $28 a month, and $32 for the winter months.

When I was in the seventh grade, our old school house was torn down. A new wooden two-story building was built. It had a furnace, coal and cob bin, and a play room in the basement. On the first floor there was a large hall which served as a cloak room and at each end was a rest room. There were inside chemical toilets which had to be "churned" three times a day. A rod had to be pushed up and down to mix the chemical with the waste.

The class room or recitation room was a large sunny room with five windows to the south and two to the east. Graduated individual seats (but

not adjustable) were screwed to two long boards and could be moved a row at a time. A large water cooler with a faucet replaced the open pail. Each student had his own drinking cup which was of the folding type. Liquid soap and paper towels were now used.

For additional reading material, the County Superintendent's office sent out several books, and we were allowed to take them home to read.

No longer was the teacher satisfied to walk miles to reach her school. Now she bought a model-T Ford and commuted from her home in town to the school each day.

I finished the eighth grade, took an examination sent out by the County Superintendent, and entered high school in the fall of 1919. During high school I took two years of normal training, passed a teacher's examination, and started teaching in the same country school I had attended when I was a child.

Because of my former rural experiences and high school training, I was considered a good enough teacher to be placed in a standardized school (which meant that it met certain requirements of the state). This school was used as a training school for girls and boys taking normal training in high school. First they were observers a week or ten days; then they were placed in the teacher's charge to teach for two weeks. At intervals the high school normal training teacher would call and check with us. For this service the State Department issued a special Elementary Certificate.

During the '30s the nation's schools and teachers were among the first to be plunged into the Depression. Instead of being paid, we were given token pay or script. Six months to a year later, a new move toward federal aid began and we were given our back pay.

With the help of parents and saving every cent I made, I went to college and accepted a job in the Elementary Schools in Manning.

How the schools of the mid-1960's have changed! Consolidation and reorganization has tended to reduce the number of schools and enlarge the size of such institutions.

The Manning School District, recently reorganized, serves an area of 180 square miles. It has an enrollment of some 800 students. In 1964, the district constructed a large, modern, onestory brick elementary and junior high building surrounded by eight acres of playground and game area.

The curriculum now includes all the letters that have been added to the three R's -- domestic and mechanical skills, music, audio-visual, leasure time activities, special treatment for children with speech and reading difficulties and other physical or emotional handicaps, health services, vocational guidance and drivers' training.

Today we have light fixtures that produce many times more illumination, which makes our classrooms more efficient and comfortable. We have movable furniture and equipment, built-in heating systems, and each classroom has two-way ventilation. The floors are covered with a tile composition which is easy to keep clean. Each classroom has a sink with hot and cold water and toilets that are nearby. There is a large dining area where all the noon-day hot lunches are served to both children and faculty.

Our daily program is arranged in blocks, such as Language Arts (reading, grammar, spelling, writing). This is a 70 minute period, and likewise with science, social studies, and arithmetic. Twice a week we have a 40 minute period for each of the following: physical training, music, and art, taught by teachers trained in each field. In the class period the children are divided into groups according to their ability. Much time is given to discussion, laboratory work, experiments, and dramatization.

Instead of the report card we report to the parents by means of conferences held twice a year and oftener if necessary.

In the schools today a salary scale is in use, and members of the faculty are paid according to their training and experience.

The breakdown of rural social life has proceeded rapidly. Great shifts of population have taken place, family unity has broken down, standards of living have been modified. There is the desire today to have children in better schools. Schools today receive state and federal aid, and greater emphasis is placed upon the selection, training, and qualifications of teachers. All of these factors have contributed to the changes in our schools and communities.

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