ONE-ROOM SCHOOLHOUSES ONCE DOMINATED PUBLIC EDUCATION

ONE-ROOM SCHOOLS A WAY OF LIFE: Hundreds of rural schools, like the Tilsit School shown here, dotted the countryside through the first half of the century. Even after consolidation ended many rural school districts, the buildings remained in use for years. After the Tilsit School closed, the building was used as a 4-H meeting house. (CHRISTABEL LACY)

WHITEWATER R. Glenn Jones began his teaching career in 1928, a year before he graduated from high school.

Jones, who now lives at Whitewater, was a teacher for 44 years before retiring. Most of those years were spent teaching in one-room schools.

Small rural schools dominated public education from the turn of the century well into the 1950s.

In 1928, Jones had completed three years of high school and passed the state's teacher examination.

His first teaching assignment was instructing fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth graders at Crump. When Jones began teaching, at age 18, some of his eighth-grade students were as old as he was.

"Lucky for me I only had about 14 pupils in the four grades," he said. "And they were all so nice; no problems in discipline at all."

The next summer, 1929, Jones finished high school at Will Mayfield College in Marble Hill and in the fall began his second year teaching at Crump.

In addition to teaching at Crump, Jones tenure included assignments at Hog Creek in Bollinger County, Stroderville, Gravel Hill, Helderman, Oak Valley and Hickory Grove. He retired from a teaching post at Delta.

Jones recalled the teaching-learning environment at the rural Stroderville School.

He arrived at school early, about 8 a.m., especially in the winter. "It was a fairly large room and would be so cold on a winter morning that the floor snapped and cracked," he said.

Jones and his students had laid in a supply of kindling and wood for these cold days. "The kids would help me. It was a lot of fun," he recalled.

With waste paper collected from the day before and a small amount of kerosene, Jones would start the "old box stove."

The stove sat in the middle of the room, about 15 or 20 feet from the flue. Jones said on more than one occasion the pipe connecting the flue to the stove fell down.

In those days, school was never canceled because of bad weather. "We did have school rain, snow, ice, cold or hot," Jones said. "Some of the kids looked like little snowmen when they got to school. But their cheeks would be rosy-red and their eyes bright as buttons.

"In spite of the distance some of them had to walk, the attendance was good."

School began at 9 a.m. with Jones and the children singing "America" or attempting "The Star Spangled Banner." They would also say "The Pledge of Allegiance."

"Then we would sing," Jones said. "They liked to sing rounds `Three Blind Mice,' `Are You Sleeping, Brother John?' and `Morning Bells are Ringing' were their favorites."

Students learned math, spelling, art, history and government, but reading was a main focus throughout the day's instruction.

"They loved the `Little House' books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I also tried to read such classics as `Tom Sawyer' and `Black Beauty.'"

During the first period, all the students would participate in reading lessons.

"The seventh and eighth graders would take turns hearing the first and second graders read from their readers or would use word cards I had made," Jones said. "Everyone spent the time reading. I tried to divide my time hearing different groups read."

The state set guidelines for reading selections based on different grades. Students read "The Courtship of Miles Standish," "Snowbound," "Evangeline," "A Christmas Carol," and many others.

"By the time some of the youngsters reached the seventh and eighth grades, they knew selections by heart," Jones said.

At recess time, the teacher said he always participated with the children.

"What a time we would have playing," he said. "I would always play with the kids, usually basketball or softball. Sometimes running bases, drop the handkerchief or similar games."

For anyone who has read about a water bucket with a single dipper for all to use at rural schools, don't believe it, said Jones.

"We had a large crockery fountain that was kept full of fresh water. It had a faucet on it and each child had his own cup."

According to "Rural Schools and Communities in Cape Girardeau County," by Christabel Lacy and Bob White: "The closing of one-room schools would forever change the landscape of rural America and diminished close community ties and a sense of social cohesion among rural Americans. Reorganization was a product of modernization which in turn brought changes in rural and small town economics. The rural school was a victim of that change, yet rural residents resisted the loss of something that meant a great deal to them."