Customer Reviews

One-Room Country Schools: History and Recollections from Wisconsin

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For those who attended one-room country schools, this book, combining history and personal recollections, will bring back fond memories of a different era. Children were well-educated in these schools; many of them only completed eight grades, but they could read, write, spell, do math, think, and reason. They also developed social skills and were kind to one another. I would recommend this book to anyone who ever attended a one-room school or who is in the field of education.

The first school in what was to become Wisconsin was established in 1791. The one-room school became a part of every Wisconsin community during the state's formative years. Now they are a nostalgic memory as the state's population outgrew their utility with the completion of consolidated school districts in the 1960s. In One-Room Country Schools: History And Recollections From Wisconsin, Jerry Apps presents a collection of unique memories and shard recollections from a wide diversity of people who learned and taught in the one-room schools of Wisconsin, thereby presenting an informative, entertaining, nostalgic history of these yesteryear institutions -- the one-room school.

I bought this book for my mom who went to a one room school in rural Wisconsin in the 20s and early 30s. It took her a couple days to read (she reads a LOT!). When asked if she liked the book, her reply was "ehh". Translated from "mom-speak", that was "it was better than looking out the window".

My country school was not featured/mentioned in the book. No matter which country school one attended, the things that took place were the same, no matter the part of the country you were in. The chores students did, the lunches, the teachers, the special programs, the recesses with each season. I am proud to have been in that elite group of having attended a country school, Park School, Clark County, Wisconsin. I took the book along to our last school reunion for people to look at.