Posted on 05/19/2015 5:05:13 PM PDT by cripplecreek
HARBOR BEACH ‒ Most elementary and middle schools fairly buzz with noise just before the school day starts, as a stampede of students put away coats, take seats and share boasts over video game exploits or exchange giggles about young romance.
But one of the first things you notice at the Eccles School along rural stretch of Michigans Thumb is the quiet shuffle as students move from door to desk to computer station, creating a low-level hum until the Pledge of Allegiance. After which, theres an exchange of news about soccer, a puppy and one students gig as bat boy for a minor league baseball team nearly two hours away.
Here in Huron County sits Eccles School, which is at once a classroom, a school and its own kindergarten-8th grade district, known formally as the Sigel Township #3F School District.
(Excerpt) Read more at bridgemi.com ...
These are public schools and have many of the same problem as any other but I do think there are some big advantages in schooling students and siblings of different ages together. Personally I think its a great model for private and charter schools to follow.
Interesting pics at link.
My grandfather was the superintendent of a one-room school back in the 40s, in rural Illinois. The most important part of the job was getting there right after dawn to light the wood stove.
My great grandmother and her sister “graduated” from a one room school at the same time.
At that time the teacher was the final authority on when a student had enough schooling. There was no final graduation date, it was just when the teacher decided they were ready.
Went to a one-room school in mid-1940’s in Kansas grades one through eight, 24 students, two outhouses, a pot bellied stove in the middle of the room and a horse barn out back. Could do fifth grade math by the time I was in the second grade and one of the fifth graders who struggled with math was able to receive extra tutoring just by listening to the teacher teach all the other kids. Everybody could learn anything if they chose at any level they chose just by listening to the teacher as she moved from row to row and grade to grade.
We also had a stool in the corner on which one sat with a dunce cap on your head whenever you failed a test. At the front of the room was a blackboard on which one could easily fit 200 times sentences in neat cursive indicating, “I will not speak unless called upon by Mrs. Barker and only if I raise my hand first”.
Best learning experience in the world.
Just one more reason why I love living here!
Just something comforting about knowing that there are still one-room schoolhouses in this state.
Lots of the old schoolhouses still around but they’re all houses now.
A friend mother in law owns a one room schoolhouse converted to a cottage. It’s really cool. The chalkboard is still there
I once attended class in a one story house...that was built to be used as a schoolroom which when no longer needed due to the student overflow.. was to be remodeled to become a single family home. In Flint Michigan.
One room schoolhouses are still around. There is one in Florida, in Parrish.
Neat!
I knew a girl who taught at a one room SH up in the thumb area back in the 70’s......It could have been this school.
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