Failure™ Magazine

The Little Red Schoolhouse

The distorted history of an American icon.

Written by Kathleen A. Ervin   Filed under History

A hundred years ago, half of U.S. school children attended a one-room school. But by the early 1960s that figure had declined to less than one percent, and today the one-room schoolhouse has all but disappeared from the American landscape. Yet with its bell, flag, and iconic color, it remains an instantly recognizable image, idealized in our collective national memory.

In the brand-new book “Small Wonder” (Yale University Press), New York University professor Jonathan Zimmerman examines the history of the little red schoolhouse, and how America remembers—and misremembers—this national icon. Today we invite you to go back to school with Failure as Zimmerman imparts a quick lesson about the red schoolhouse, which, you may be surprised to learn, was very often not red.

Why did the little red schoolhouse become an American icon?
A few reasons: First, it built upon a common 19th and early 20th century experience—attending a one-room school. Second, it became the target of a massive “memory industry” in the late 19th century, when painters and poets began to romanticize it. Finally, in the 20th century the image was invoked by a wide range of Americans to suit present-day predilections. Liberals invoked the little red schoolhouse on behalf of “cooperative learning,” while conservatives celebrated it as a lodestar of strict discipline.

What was it like to attend a one-room school?
In general, the physical plant was Spartan and threadbare: a few benches and desks, and nothing more. It was often extremely cold, unless you got a place near the fire. Instruction occurred almost entirely by rote—that is, kids memorized passages from books and recited them. And the teacher kept order via corporal punishment and a variety of other punishments, which typically echoed the infraction. Kids who spoke out of turn had twigs attached to their tongues, for instance.

Page 1 of 2 pages 1 2 >