Yvonne Hollenbeck: Hats off to country schools
As I learn about more and more rural people home-schooling their children, I cannot help but reminisce about the good old country school of yesteryear. For America’s rural schoolkids, and from the beginning settlements in the upper plains, the one-room schoolhouse was the main source for farm kids to get their education. Children that were educated in these simple, one-room schools did not have many of the amenities afforded to town schools, but in a way, they had much more…many learning opportunities to better prepare them for adulthood. Thinking about my own children who attended country schools, their day began by preparing their lunch (no hot lunch programs in the country). They were responsible for taking their school work, lunch pail, and whatever else might be needed for the day. Some kids walked, some rode horseback or were delivered by a parent via everything from an old caking truck, tractor, or other method of transportation (no school buses available). When they got to school, if there was time before the bell rang, children played on the playground with the older ones pushing the younger ones on swings or turning a merry-go-round (no physical education programs). It did not matter the age, gender, nationality or social standing, the kids got along well and had a lot of fun. Students were enlisted to help with janitorial duties (no janitors). Yes, “if” they were lucky enough to have an indoor restroom, cleaning it was also done in part by the students. You see, the kids learned responsibility at a young age and you can bet, because of that, were never inclined to trash or deface a public facility.
The rural schools did not have special music teachers or programs such as town schools had. It was about this time of the year that they were all hard at work preparing for the Annual Christmas Program. If you ever were a part of one of these programs, or attended one, you will undoubtedly agree with me that there was no better form of entertainment. Because there was no formal music curriculum available, and if the teacher was a little musically challenged, a local volunteer would be asked to step in and help with the production. That would be me.. The area country schools at that time were Star Prairie, Beaver Creek, and Millboro, where I made the rounds helping the kids with these programs. Now the kids at the Beaver Creek School were for the most part, “cowboy” kids. They turned their noses up at the types of skits the teachers found available, so good old me was called upon to write skits that was better suited for them. I recall one was about a poor Texas ranch hand named Cooper that was bullied by the other cowboys so he packed his horse and left, ending up at the North Pole, cold and hungry, was taken in by “guess who”…the Clauses and ended up helping drive Santa’s sleigh; sure enough, left gifts (spurs, ropes, etc) to the others back at the bunkhouse who had bullied him. Another skit was about some train robbers stealing Santa’s bag and the whole ordeal that ensued. These were the types of “cowboy” skits we had and those kids loved them. They made their own props from cardboard boxes, (no art classes in country schools). They not only sang Christmas songs as a group but all the kids, young and old, had a part (no speech classes available). The kids helped from beginning to end, from decorating the school to forming a stage with sheets hung on wires, to making gifts for one another and their parents.
No one that attended country schools enjoyed the many advantages that town kids had, but they were well prepared to face a lot of situations that they would encounter in later years. Most country school kids were able to speak in public (thanks in part to those Christmas programs) and for some reason, practically every valedictorian and salutatorian, honor student or scholarship winner I knew during my years working with the schools, received their grade school education in a one-room country school. In my opinion, it is sad to see their disappearance and I sure miss those programs!
