The Legacy of North Dakota's Country Schools [Library Binding]

Warren A. Henke (Author), Everett C. Albers (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0965457915 | ISBN-13: 978-0965457910 | Publication Date: December 1, 1997 | Edition: 1

Lavishly illustrated with historical photographs from private and public North Dakota collections, the 8.5x11" book printed on acid-free paper features 21 major chapters and memories of nearly 100 former teachers and students. The book provides the first major history of the 4,732 country schools of North Dakota and its students. There are chapters on what was taught, the qualifications and duties of the teachers, the tests students took, the role of the schools as community centers and as places where immigrants learned to become Americans, and first-hand accounts of the way it was during blizzards and prairie fires as well as the good times with Christmas programs and spring programs. Included in the book being sent around the world are chapters on school barns and the school lunch bucket and comparisons of the one-room schools in Norwegian and German from Russia communities. Editor and author Warren A. Henke provides the first history of the Young Citizens Leag! ue in the state, and editor and author Everett C. Albers offers an essay about his own experience in a one-room school in Oliver County, North Dakota.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Once more than 4,700, a mere ten of North Dakota's one-room schools remain at the dawn of the twenty-first century. But the legacy of the tens of thousands of teachers who educated nearly 90 percent of the state's students in the early years continues to influence our values and our philosophy of what our children and grandchildren ought learn. Hundreds of thousands of North Dakotans scattered throughout the United States and the world far beyond the state's borders began their education in country schools.

In the two decades at the beginning of the twentieth century when Europeans immigrated to the state to homestead, the population more than doubled to about the same number who live in North Dakota now. The country school became the community center where students learned the language of their new country and the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship.

Mostly shamefully underpaid, far-from-adequately educated themselves, country school teachers sometimes taught without even a dictionary or blackboard in the classroom. They kept the ignite burning in the potbellied stoves and fired the imagination of the students -- who might be as young as five and as old as eighteen or nineteen -- in those single rooms out on the prairie.

Here's the history of those schools illuminated with more than 100 photographs, first-person accounts by more than 80 former teachers and students, and essays by historians and educators from then and now. Much more than nostalgia, the reader will find more of the whole story than has ever been told of what it was like in country schools from the opening Pledge of Allegiance to the closing song.

Made possible in part by a major grant from the North Dakota Centennial Commission in 1988, The Legacy of North Dakota's Country Schools required a decade of researching.

About the Author

About fifteen years and eighteen miles separated the childhoods of editors and authors Warren A. Henke of New Salem and Everett C. Albers of Hannover, North Dakota. They met in 1972 as charter members of the state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities and determined they were third cousins once removed. Historian Henke served as Chair of the North Dakota Humanties Council and has participated in scores of Council public programs. He holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of New Mexico. A teacher in North Dakota his entire professional career, including twenty-seven years at Bismarck State College, Henke has edited and contributed to several books on North Dakota subjects. Albers has served as executive director of the North Dakota Humanities Council since 1973. He grew up on a farm in Oliver County and attended one-room schools. He holds an M.A. in English from Colorado State University. He has edited collections of memories of North Dakota seni! ors and the eight-volume The Way It Was: The North Dakota Frontier Experience, which features the stories of the original homesteaders to North Dakota.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 320 pages
• Publisher: North Dakota Humanities Council; 1 edition (December 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965457915
• ISBN-13: 978-0965457910
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,159,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Had to buy a second copy, January 25, 2001

By 

"timay" (Milwaukee, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Legacy of North Dakota's Country Schools (Library Binding)

I purchased this book for my mother for Christmas. She grew up in North Dakota and went to a one room schoolhouse through the eighth grade. After the holidays she lent the book to a friend who enjoyed it so much that we needed another copy.

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, entertaining, and educational!, February 14, 2004

By 

Teresa Lyn Tande (Devils Lake, ND United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Legacy of North Dakota's Country Schools (Library Binding)

I use this book as a supplement to my Foundations of Education Class to show how basic issues in education[even in ND] have been around since statehood. In evaluation after evaluation, students say I need to keep this book as required reading. Many not only keep their own copy, but also buy an additional one for parents or grandparents who attended one-room schools. This book is rich with teacher narratives, copies of primary documents [ledgers, teacher's school day, exams], and words that still ring true today. I highly recommend this book ESPECIALLY for Midwest education teachers!