The one-room schoolhouse may be a thing of the past, but it is the
foundation on which modern education rests. Sue Thomas now traces
the progress of early education in Missouri, demonstrating how
important early schools were in taming the frontier. ""A Second
Home"" offers an in-depth and entertaining look at education in the
days when pioneers had to postpone schooling for their children
until they could provide shelter for their families and clear their
fields for crops, while well-to-do families employed tutors or sent
their children back east. Thomas tells of the earliest known
English school at the Ramsay settlement near Cape Girardeau, then
of the opening of a handful of schools around the time of the
Louisiana Purchase - such as Benjamin Johnson's school on Sandy
Creek, Christopher Schewe's boy's school when St. Louis was still a
village, and the Ste. Genevieve Academy, where poor and Indian
children were to be taught free of charge. She describes how, as
communities grew, more private schools opened - including ""dame
schools,"" denominational schools, and subscription schools - until
public education came into its own in the 1850s. Drawing on oral
histories collected throughout the state, as well as private
diaries and archival research, the book is full of firsthand
accounts of what education once was like - including descriptions
of the furnishings, teaching methods, and school-day activities in
one-room log schools. It also includes the experiences of former
slaves and free blacks following the Civil War when they were newly
entitled to public education, with discussions of the contributions
of John Berry Meachum, James Milton Turner, and other African
American leaders. With its remembrances of simpler times, ""A
Second Home"" tells of community gatherings in country schools and
events such as taffy pulls and spelling bees, and offers tales of
stern teachers, student pranks, and schoolyard games. Accompanying
illustrations illuminate family and school life in the colonial,
territorial, early statehood, and post - Civil War periods. For
readers who recall older family members' accounts or who are simply
fascinated by the past, this is a book that will conjure images of
a bygone time while opening a new window on Missouri history.
General
Imprint: |
University of Missouri Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Missouri Heritage Readers Series |
Release date: |
August 2006 |
First published: |
April 2007 |
Authors: |
Sue Thomas
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 12mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
160 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8262-1669-4 |
Categories: |
Books >
Social sciences >
Education >
General
|
LSN: |
0-8262-1669-2 |
Barcode: |
9780826216694 |
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