In early Canada, rural children were spread far and wide, living on farms and in small villages. There were no buses to gather them up each morning and take them to class, and not enough children to construct large schools. The one-room schoolhouse was the solution to the problem. Hire one teacher to give lessons to all of the children in one room, from six-year-olds right up to teenagers. The first buildings were constructed in short time of whatever was handy, and if the area was poorer, the furniture was whatever was available, too.
Building Kits by Eaton's
The schoolhouse buildings were often similar in structure: peaked roof with a chimney, clapboard siding, a small entrance porch at the front and windows along the sides. Windows were used as a means of lighting, according to Jean Cochrane, author of The One-Room School in Canada, since “much of rural Canada didn't get electricity until after World War Two, and even when they did, they didn't always take it into the school.” Differences were made by adding fancier window trims, a nice bell at the top or maybe a second floor. Plans and complete building kits were sold by the T. Eaton Companyin the early 1900s. There were exceptions to the school buildings, such as those in rural Quebec and Alberta, where sturdy school buildings were constructed of hewn logs. The bathroom was often a separate little structure behind the school, the outhouse.
The Ontario Department of Education in 1885 had several requirements for the new schools:
The school should be at least 30 feet from the highway,
There should be at least 12 square feet of floor space and 250 cubic feet airspace per student, and
There should be separate entrances and cloakrooms for boys and girls.
Unfinished Interiors
Classrooms were outfitted with student desks and seats, teacher desk and chair, a pail, basin and cups, books, blackboard, maps, globe, mirror and ... a punishing strap. The interior walls were often bleak, unfinished without insulation to keep out the cold or heat. Wood stoves or coal stoves, sometimes made of old barrels with pipes attached, were used to heat the buildings, sometimes causing the classrooms to fill with smoke. Those children next to the stove would be very warm during the day, the unlucky kids furthest away would be chilled by the end of class. The children were often required to bring in wood for heating the classroom.
The day in the one-room schoolhouse usually began with the Lord's Prayer, then singing of the national anthem. When studying was underway, the older grades helped the younger grades with questions, while the teacher was busy instructing one group at a time. Inspectors came on occasion to see how things were progressing.
Property Taxes Paid Bills
In Ontario, the 1871 Grammar and Common School Act was passed, enabling kids to attend school without cost to the family. The bill was paid through property taxes and government grants, said Larry Turner in his book, Ernestown: Rural Spaces, Urban Places. Some schools were used for other purposes, also. Church services on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings and revival meetings were popular uses.
One of the goals of school was to prepare youngsters to write the high school entrance exam. The youngest learned to read with primers such as Dick and Jane and Aesop's and La Fontaine's Fables. Older children used books by authors Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson. The Bible was also part of the curriculum in some schools. History, geography, music, gardening programs, art, sports, home economics and shop classes filled the days of students. The education was varied and beneficial to kids of all ages.
Gradually, larger, more solid buildings were constructed to accommodate grades in separate classrooms, becoming the school systems we are familiar with today.
Sources:
The One-Room School in Canada, by Jean Cochrane, published by Fitzhenry and Whiteside Limited, 1981.
Ernestown: Rural Spaces, Urban Places, by Larry Turner, Dundurn Press, Toronto 1993.
Susanna McLeod - Intriguing Canadians, the art of cartoonists, and fascinating moments in Canada's history have kept Susanna McLeod writing for 16 years.
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