Back to School: 1924-1925
By Joan Groff
MCHA Education Committee
Paging through a Bell School teacher’s record book from
1924-25, the simplicity of a one-room schoolhouse education
is evident.
Sixteen male students, aged 6-12, and six female students,
aged 6-11, had their data recorded in separate sections of
the standard ledger, issued by the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction. Among these
16 students, relatively few absences were recorded, despite
having very few holidays. School was closed only on
December 25 and 26; school reopened on Monday, December 29.
As the school year ended April 29, no Easter/Spring break
was given.
A teacher was obliged to note absences and tardiness as
weekly achievement by grade levels. Academic study areas
were added by grade promotion. Students gradually would
have been taught Reading, Spelling, Arithmetic, Hygiene,
Language, Geography and History. Textbooks and workbooks
were issued, reused and replaced as the teacher requested
in her end-of-year order.
In beautiful, steel-penned handwriting, the teacher
summarized the year, noting subjects completed and pages
taught. She signed her pay receipt monthly in the same
record book where this receipt was endorsed by her
superintendent of schools. She earned $96.31 per
term/month, teaching 7 terms for the year. Another section
of the weekly page shows visitors who signed in, including
parents, the school superintendent and East Stroudsburg
State Teachers College teachers.
Preparing for the 1925-26 school year, a requisition was
made for: 10 doz. pencil tablets, 1 box blackboard crayons,
1 pack exam paper, 1 bottle ink, 1½ gross lead pencils, 1
doz. spelling blanks and 1 pkg. drawing paper. Students
still go through as many pencils today!
A final report of interest is from the Dept. of Health. For
1½ hours, a medical doctor checked students’ vision,
hearing (using the “Whisper Method”), nose, teeth, throat,
hair, skin, eyelids and cornea. He advised the teacher as
to proper seating of pupils, lighting and ventilation of
the room and also noted the drinking water supply, the
grounds and toilet provisions.
Of course, all of this was repeated in every schoolhouse
location in the county, but it impressed me as being quite
comprehensive and organized. The genders for teacher,
superintendent and doctor would be changeable today;
workbooks would not last as long, the
student-teacher-parent contact may be less personal now,
the class size larger and other comparisons readily made.
What a year’s educational history was revealed in just one,
thin record book!