Last week we discussed the toys and games children played with in 1924.
Today, let’s talk about what the schools were like. They were much different than they are today.
Until the early 20th century, most schoolhouses were just the one room schoolhouses similar to what you see on Little House on the Prairie. By the 1920s, larger schools were beginning to replace the one room.
Corporal punishment was used in schools and even encouraged at times. If a boy did something wrong he was more likely to get hit than a girl that misbehaved {although many girls also received corporal punishment}. Girls would often write out lines {you remember…I will not talk in class} for their misbehavior.
Children often dropped out of school between 3rd-5th grade to go to work. This was the way of life for children that lived in mill towns, mill villages and on farms.
Children that lived in cities had a better chance for an education and often went through to at least the 8th grade and often finished their schooling.
In 1924, congress attempted to pass a constitutional amendment that would authorize a national child labor law; however, this measure was blocked by opposition within Congress and the bill was eventually dropped. The Fair Labor Standards Act was passed in 1938.
A typical school day lasted for six hours and school was five days a week. That is not much different than today.
Schools did not typically have cafeterias yet, and the student would bring his/her own lunch. Only a handful of schools were trying this new idea by the 1920s.
Although larger were beginning to spread across the nation, this was still the days when students stayed in one classroom with one teacher throughout their day for their studies. Their studies included a variety of lessons included English, History, Math, Geography, etc.
Teachers made about $2,000 a year in the 1920s to teach.
Team sports were beginning to be assembled to play games such as basketball, tennis and cricket. Other popular children’s games of the day included hopscotch, marbles, hide and seek, egg and spoon races, the sack races, and three legged races.
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