Back to School: Then and Now

The days are cooler as well as the nights, and we in Northeast Ohio know what that means. Not only is Fall just around the corner, but the opening of school is here again. The sound and sight of school buses and the posted signs of school supplies in the stores are just some of the signs of the new school year.
When I began school in Lakeland, Florida, in 1951, the preparation for entering school for the first time involved receiving the smallpox vaccine. I still remember lining up with the other students as the nurse checked our arms for the scar left by the injection of the smallpox vaccine given with a two-pronged needle. Unfortunately for me, the nurse who had given me the injection at the doctor’s office had determined my small arm was not a good place for the shot and lifetime scar, so she gave it to me on the lower part of my hip! I had to be taken to another room and be checked which horrified me even at that age.
Preparation for going entering or returning to school is very different today. Not only do parents have to take their kids to get school supplies, they also have to purchase new clothes and shoes. I grew up in a household of five daughters and the only one that got new clothes was the oldest. The rest of us wore hand me downs reworked to fit each one of us. I was the middle child and definitely the smallest, so my mother would pull out her foot pedal Singer sewing machine and with her feet moving back and forth on the huge metal foot rest, rework the dresses from my two oldest sisters. We even wore hand-me-down shoes since my foot was so small and never got bigger. I would curl my toes under for the shoes that were too big in order to keep them on.
School supplies were furnished by the schools. You only had to buy 4-5 spiral notebooks and pencils. Pens were definitely not allowed. There were no donated clothes or supplies in a school closet for those who could not afford these things. Going to school in Florida meant we did not need coats, gloves or hats, and you rarely needed a sweater during the warm school days.
Yesterday I went with the grandkids and parents to buy school clothes at Grove City Outlets in Pennsylvania. I wasn’t buying anything; I just went along to spend time with them and to enjoy watching them try on clothes. Today’s moms and dads deserve a medal for surviving the shock of how much these kids need and the amount you have to spend on clothes.
Gone are the days of shopping at Hills, K-Mart, Penny’s and Sears for school clothes. Gone are the days of buying a new dress just for the first day of school. The outlets were so full of students that the line to get into a dressing room was often 10 deep! Groups of 4, 6, and 8 students moving together throughout each store was a real education to watch when I finally retreated to the bench outside each store.
I rarely saw a parent with these groups. They brought their parents’ money or cards and bought what they wanted or needed. It was interesting to watch groups of girls with a guy with them giving his opinion of what they bought. In my day, a guy would have rather worn a dress than been caught shopping with girls. It’s a different world and we must adjust, right?
One of the most popular styles I noticed throughout the stores was in stark contrast to each other. One was camouflage print on pants and jackets for school wear for both girls and guys, but you do not wear them together, I was informed. The opposite side of that style was the girls’ dresses and tops with lace, ribbons, embroidery and ruffles. That was the look when I was in school and I’m glad it’s back. The only difference is they have taken off about a foot or more off the length of the dresses, causing me to ask if they were tops.
I wrote a book in 2004 called, “Where Have All the Schoolhouses Gone?” It covers the history of the early one- and two-room schools of Ashtabula County of the late 1800s through 1954 as seen through the eyes of those who attended those schools. The Cherry Valley Center School closed in 1954 and was the last one-room school to be functioning in the county.
In order to write the book, I held two public recording sessions, one in north county and one in the south, in order to reach former students and teachers who wanted to share their stories and pictures. The book is not a complete history, just the memories of those who attended them. They shared stories of carrying metal lunch cans to school, walking long distances, stoking the wood or coal in the stove set in the middle of the classroom and other experiences.
Most of the dedicated one-room schoolteachers I interviewed were in their mid to late 90s. Anna Grace Norris Styles, at 95, recalled her teaching days at Cold Springs School in Austinburg. She said the boy students would take the job of cleaning the classroom to earn extra money. Two of the “janitors” were Fred Reushling and Bob Shore. The school had no gym or stage, so when they put on programs they went to nearby Eagleville Bible Church to perform.
Two beloved former schoolteachers were Vine Lipps and Grace Ednie. Ednie taught at the Cherry Valley Center School while Lipps taught all eight grades at the Piper School. The Piper School in 1938 was wooden but replaced with brick in 1939. The floor was still unfinished creating dust each time you walked on them. No grass had been planted yet, so mud was a real problem when kids returned from the well or outhouse. There was no indoor plumbing like today or multiple stalls! Water was carried from the well for drinking and washing. Programs were held in the Cherry Valley Town Hall.
No, I do not want to go back to those “golden days” of schools of yesterday because I love the convenience and the niceties of today’s schools. We have gyms, stages, theater seating, extracurricular activities, grants, scholarships and many great advancements. But have we lost something in the process? We still want to develop and maintain good character, patriotism, respect for God and the honor of teachers and those in authority. These students are our future dentists, doctors, pastors, teachers, financial advisors and politicians. They are the ones you will trust to fix your car, your house, and anything you own! We want to trust the tradesmen as well as the professional folks. Our kids need our support and our prayers. It was a tough life then and a tough life now! Pray they will have the wisdom to change the world they touch for good.