In the 1800s, teachers in America would routinely subject students to physical and mental abuse,
beating, whipping, and humiliating them – until one man put a stop to it all.
In the early 1800s, most schools were simple structures of wood, stone,
or brick, while more ornate school buildings might have a tower with a bell used to call
children to class. Floors were usually wood, and students would often be in charge of oiling
the floors to keep them in good condition. As students entered the building, a small area was
dedicated to being used as a cloakroom, where coats and bags or their metal lunch boxes were
kept. The room itself contained little except seats for the pupils, a raised structure where
the teacher's desk was located, and a blackboard that covered the entire front wall. There was an
outhouse behind the school and drinking water was taken from a well outdoors.
While urban schools were better supported, rural schools often depended on the community
they served. Residents would provide firewood for the school's stove, help with supplies,
and even build some of the furniture. Children only had basic supplies,
including slate boards and chalk, for learning. Teachers sometimes even had to
live with different families of their students, different rules for male and female teachers.
"Women couldn't marry during their contract, keep company with men,
dresses couldn't be more than two inches above the ankle, the list went on."
As there was no structured teaching system or curriculum in place and not enough textbooks
available, teaching in the 1800s focused on the basics. Most schools made reading,
writing, and math the focus of the school year. This is still known today as the three "Rs"
of basic skills-oriented education: "reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic."
Recitation was a big part of teaching reading, with students having to memorize long passages
that they would then repeat in front of the class. School would often start with
children taking turns to read or recite from a book. Writing was practiced on slate tablets.
At the start of the 19th century, teachers would often repeat basic math rules that needed to
be memorized. With the publication of Warren Colburn's First Lessons in Arithmetic in 1821,
a new system to teach math was put in place to help younger children understand the
concept of numbers. This was done via basic techniques like counting beans or buttons.
School-age children spent a large part of their day at school,
often starting at 8 or 9 a.m. and not going home until 3 or 4 p.m. However,
their days usually started much earlier than that. Without public transportation,
some children had to walk for miles to cover the distance between home and school. Older students
sometimes arrived even earlier to help teachers set up the classroom and get the wood stove going.
Students would wait to enter the classroom until everybody had arrived or it was time
to start. At that point, they would separate into two groups, with girls entering first.
The official beginning of the school day included reciting the Lord's prayer
and formally saying good morning to the teacher. Usually, anyway.
"Morning children!"
Students had lunch and recreational breaks throughout the day,
and some would stay after school — either as punishment for misbehaving
during the day or to help clean up the room and wash the floors.
While today's school year may seem long, students only attend school for around 180
days because of breaks and official bank holidays throughout the year.
This means students spend much of winter in school but have a big part of summer free.
Back in the early and mid-1800s, the school year was significantly shorter in rural areas:
an average of about 132 days or around 4 1/2 months. Even then,
rural students often missed school, and the attendance rate was barely 59%,
which meant students in the 1870s might only be in school about 78 days a year. Many of the
missing school days were connected to farm work, as children needed to take time off to help during
the harvest season. Things started to change when states like Massachusetts passed compulsory
school attendance laws in 1852. But farm kids were still often absent in spring and fall.
With an overcrowded classroom filled with children of all ages,
teachers often resorted to physical punishment to stay in control in the 1800s. This often
included spankings with sticks and whipping students with long rulers. Students were also
forced to write sentences hundreds of times, memorize stories and recite them error-free,
clean floors, and stand for long periods of time with their noses touching the blackboard.
The dunce cap was also used in U.S. schools in the 1800s as a punishment tool,
usually for poor behavior. Disruptive and unruly children would be told to wear the
cone-shaped hat and sometimes would need to stand in a corner for a period of time.
While rural schools continued using corporal punishment for many years, cities were starting
to move away from it as early as the 1820s. At the time, schools were still regularly using rods,
birch branches, and even whipping as a way to exert control over their classes. American
educational reformer Horace Mann was instrumental in fighting against corporal punishment in schools
in the 19th century, arguing that this repressed rather than reformed students.
Up until the late 18th century, girls were often educated at home. While boys
were learning additional academic subjects like math and logic in private schools,
girls' education focused on things like sewing, fine penmanship, needlework,
and art — all things that would in theory make them better wives and mothers.
Things improved significantly for girls in the 19th century,
with many towns opening girls-only schools led by better-educated female
teachers eager to pass on their knowledge. As public schools became more commonplace,
so did the enrollment of girls in those schools. By the second half of the 19th
century, enrollment rates in school were roughly equal between boys and girls.
Education for Black Americans in the 1800s was complicated at best. Before the Civil War,
Black people in southern states weren't allowed to attend school and many were not able to read
or write. Even in northern states, where they were technically allowed to receive an education,
access to it was very limited before the 1860s. After the Civil War ended in 1865,
things improved quickly. By 1870, 10% of Blacks were enrolled in school, and by 1880, 34% were.
Much of the change was due to the work of the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen,
and Abandoned Lands, which helped formerly enslaved people transition into society
after 1865. This included everything from relief work to medical aid and helping
settle disputes. But their most important work was done in the field of education. In fact,
the Bureau oversaw the opening of over 1,000 schools for Black students.
In the south, where resistance to accepting Black Americans into society was stronger,
the Bureau was even more active. Their Freedman's Union Industrial School in Virginia was key to
helping Black students learn the basics of reading and mathematics, but also a trade that would help
them find a job. By the end of 1865, about eight months after the war ended, more than
90,000 previously enslaved people were attending schools set up by the Bureau.
As it had since its founding, the U.S. government spent much of the 1800s waging war against Native
Americans. By the 1860s, when the Union Army was fighting for the end of slavery,
Natives were being imprisoned, killed, and persecuted around the country.
But there was also another war taking place on the education front,
supported by something called The 1819 Civilization Fund Act,
the main focus of which was to eradicate Native culture by indoctrinating Native children in
American schools. Children were separated from their families and taken to 357 Native American
boarding schools that opened up across the country in 1860, whether they wanted to or not.
"In the end, I think American Indian families had no choice. They had to submit to this policy."
One goal of these schools was to eliminate Indigenous history and identity by giving
children Anglo-American names and forcing them to convert to Christianity. The
other was educating them not only in basic subjects like reading, writing,
history, and math but also teaching them a trade, like blacksmithing for boys and
cooking for girls. While these seem useful enough, children were then often placed in
"programs" where they would be exploited as free or cheap labor using those skills.
According to The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition,
boarding schools, many of which were run by the church, were involved in
sexual and physical abuse towards these children. Many disappeared and were never
returned to their homes, as detailed in a 2022 report by the U.S. government.
"At least 53 burial sites have been found, some marked, some unmarked."
"Our children deserve to be brought home."
The monitorial system was meant to take some of the pressure off teachers. With teachers
often taking on quite large classes to make up for the lack of available educators, teachers
would only teach new concepts to older students or those who were performing better academically.
These students would then in turn teach the younger ones, but also sometimes take attendance,
test students to see if they could be promoted to a different class, or even take care of preparing
materials for the classroom. This freed up time and resources and allowed teachers to
focus on organizing and overseeing the classroom instead of teaching the same things over and over.
Although unusual, the system did have some benefits. For example, it allowed schools to
operate even if there was an issue finding enough teachers, and it also eliminated waiting time.
If a single teacher had to teach different subjects at different levels to a big class,
many students would have to wait their turn; but with older children assisting with teaching,
everybody was always actively involved in the learning process.
Horace Mann, who took over as secretary of education of Massachusetts in 1837,
revolutionized the educational system in America. Mann used what he had learned
observing the European school system to transform the one in the U.S.,
including requiring examinations for teachers to ensure their competency. By the midpoint
of the century, Mann's methods had begun to spread across the country.
Mann advocated for state-supported schools, a unified curriculum, properly set up school
buildings, and free public education for all. Another major change from the previous century was
the introduction of "normal schools" — basically, a two-year college-level education to prepare
teachers to lead a classroom. Before these schools were put in place, teachers didn't necessarily
have any formal education or the tools needed to properly instruct children. The first private
normal school opened in 1823, but by 1839, public normal schools were starting to open as well.
There were significant educational changes in the second half of the 19th century,
which not only improved education in general but also opened the door to many new things.
A big one was the introduction of kindergartens in 1856. Until then,
children started school straight into first grade and immediately focused on
learning the same subjects as older students. Kindergarten was a major success in helping
children improve manners and speech and learn self-control and social skills.
In the 1890s, another major change took place in schools with the introduction of
physical education. As noted by the Library of Congress, this was a major step forward
not only because it helped recognize the importance of team sports and exercise,
but also because it was available for both boys
and girls.