I was born & raised in Wisconsin.
I went to a one-room school. 14 kids, 8 grades, 1 teacher who had 2 years of college.
The school board consisted of the parents & farmers who paid taxes to support the school.
THEY reviewed every single textbook every year, and the same basic textbooks were used again & again. I am POSITIVE that books were never ordered & then thrown away. Nothing was wasted.
PARENTS bought our school supplies——NOT the teacher.
NO running water—it was brought in every day in a 10 gallon milk can & put into a ceramic container with a spigot. The bathrooms were outside & there was one each for the girls & the boys. In winter—NO ONE lingered there.
The older students who had their work done HAD TO assist & mentor the younger students. NO EXCEPTIONS.
I would bet that at least 50% of those kids got some college education. 25% got a 4 year education in college.
This was in a rural dairy farming community where cows were king.
Today’s schools trend toward fancy buildings & extra rooms for ‘theatre’ & other items which are NOT basic to education. Also- today’s schools are held hostage to the teacher’s union...which have little to commend.
When you are spending that kind of money on the fancy stuff, you’re NOT giving a basic education to the kids. I will add that none of the kids in our area came to school unable to speak English...or write it...or read it.
As long as this “Immersion” of non-English speaking kids continues, we are cheating American kids of the education they need & deserve.
Thank you for posting that.
We’ve gotten far away from education.