Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Tassajara One room school visit

In the era of smart phone, cutting edge technology, a one room school house  which was a learning center for children is really an amazing fact  that hard to believe. We cannot even imagine children from grade one to grade eight are sitting in the one small classroom and studying. When we can reach from one part of the world to the other part within 24 hours,  traveling few miles was an event and as well as nightmare in bad weather two hundred years ago. 


Students used to come to school by walking, or on ponies or in buggies through the prairies. The teachers used to stay with the any of the students of the school, as traveling was very problematic. She had to come very early in the morning to clean the school house. 


To know how was the life in the prairie of early pioneers , and how students were taught at that time, the class of my son went to visit the one room school house, and also enact ,as a part of their curriculum. Before going there their teacher taught them how to bow to teacher, how to answer to any questions, above all , the etiquette in that era. The boys dressed in plaid shirts and long trousers, the girls dressed in long skirts, aprons, and bonnets.It was not possible for every one to dressed up exactly like that era, so many of us improvised with the dresses available in our wardrobe.

 
Tassajara school house was like a living museum. The children lived in 1888 for few hours in one morning. On a cold windy day of May (very unlikely) we drove there crossing the ranches and vast open space to reach the tiny house. Two very nice ladies enacted as teachers for the children. From them we came to know in that era the female teachers could not get married. If they got married they had to leave their jobs. They had to dress up covering their ankles, and no ornaments, even a tiny studs in the ears were not allowed. On the top of they got paid way less than a male teacher, there was no concept of equal pay. There were many rules, those were must be obey by children without any mistake, otherwise the punishments were extremely severe. For example, if a boy played with a girl the punishment was 4 lashes, can you imagine it?


After reaching the school, they said the pledge first before entering the school. The “teacher” told them how to use wash basin if the hands got dirty. The basin was a big container of water with big spoon,and a small enamel basin bowl was kept beside that. Those who needed it, put water with the big spoon , then used the bar soap, again washed their hands taking water with the spoon, into the basin. After finishing they had to throw away the dirty water in the ground.

 

Anyway, after the pledge, they went inside the house. First they read from the Bible. Bible study was must at that time. After finishing Bible study, they started learning how to stay happy in life. In the mean time “Hanna”’s pony started roaming out side the schoolhouse . So, teacher and Hanna had to go out side the to tie the pony. As Hanna didn’t tie her pony properly, she got punishment. She stood for five minutes putting her nose on the wall. That was most funniest part of the act. Then they wet out for recess. They played with the toys of the 19th century. 


After coming from the recess they did mathematics, and wrote with a fountain pen. They even sang in their “music” class. After they finished their studies, the “teacher” showed them many of the things, which were very modern tools at that time, like a toaster, a butter churner, even a camera. Taking pictures,and getting the photo in hand used take 4-5 weeks time. It was the fastest possible time to get photos in hand.




We packed the lunch in wax papers, and cloth like that century. We ate our lunch after the school dismissed. It was a life time experience to live in that ear for few hours. 

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

It would be fun to visit here and experience the old ways. I enjoyed your pictures so very much. Your photos/stories remind me of the old tv show "Little House On The Prairie."
Thank you for sharing with me that you enjoyed car shows in India when you were young.

The Joy of Home with Martha Ellen said...

What wonderful experiences for children and adults of today to understand how it was back then. I love history and I love the lessons you and the children learned that day. ♥

Margaret D said...

Interesting read Christine and a very different lifestyle way back then, but that is all they knew.

handmade by amalia said...

I've enjoyed this post! The history is so interesting and the photos have such charm. I've wondered how these one room schools worked, I guess they had to.
Amalia
xo

mamasmercantile said...

Sounds like a wonderful place to visit and re-enact a bygone era, what a wonderful way to learn. Thank you for sharing.

Nancy Chan said...

Very interesting post. The basins for washing dirty hands reminded me of those old days and that was how we wash our face and hands. We don't have tap water then. Have a happy day!

Stephanie said...

Oh, what a neat experience! Thank you for sharing your adventure with us, dear Krishna. I thoroughly enjoyed this post.

Hugs to you!

Chris Lally said...

What a wonderful post, Krishna! Though it was fun traveling back in time, it makes me thankful to be right where I am.

♥ Łucja-Maria ♥ said...

Dear Krishna!
I'm glad I'm here again.
I admire this beautiful place and your pictures.
Kisses and greetings:)

JoJo said...

That is really cool!!! I bet it was a lot of fun. I was also going to mention the Little House books. That's what this reminded me of, esp. the later books, when Laura was boarding at someone's house while she taught at a tiny school in South Dakota.

Judy at GoldCountryCottage said...

Krishna, I love this post. The good old days were something special! That is a beautiful little school house. Wouldn't it be fun to make a home out of something like that? I spent my elementary school years in a two room school house. We had grades 1-4 in the "little" room and grades 5-8 in the "big" room. In my 8th grade class we only had 3 students total. The school house wasn't as eye-catching as the one you showed however. It is still standing and maybe I'll do a post on it someday..Thanks for your visit. Hopefully, we can show the porch soon..Happy Wednesday..xxoJudy

Beauty Unearthly said...

Excellent post (as always)!Thank you very much :)

Fashionlovelylook said...

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Karen (Back Road Journal) said...

When we lived in New Hampshire, we had a one room red school house within walking distance of our house. It was opened once a year so that people could learn more about its history.

Linda @ Life and Linda said...

How interesting that is and the photos are wonderful.

Kathy Leonia said...

i love look at those photos:)

doodles n daydreams said...

What a fascinating way of bringing history alive for the pupils , I wonder how they felt about it all.

Diana

Annie's Journal said...

WOW That's very interesting!Thank you for taking the time to do that in order to share it with us:) I really enjoyed all that information:) Happy weekend Krishna!

Prims By The Water said...

My dad went to a one room schoolhouse. In the Winter the boys had to take turns getting the wood for the fire. THanks for sharing and hope you have a great time on your vacation! Janice

Jenn said...

Wonderful! Thank you for sending me the link. I try to show these place to my son (7 years old) so he can see what it was like back then. So different now.

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