One Room Schoolhouse

1912

This recreation of an early 20th century one-room public schoolhouse gives an idea of what learning was like for most students at that time. Children of all ages were grouped together and the basic curriculum covered reading, writing and arithmetic with some history and geography. The quality of education varied from school to school. Public schools in this region began after the Civil War. Prior to that, formal education was private and available to those who could pay. Slaves in the South were barred from any formal education.

CHILDREN, FAMILIES AND DAILY LIFE

Before public schools, all schools were private and were for white students only. Families in an area would get together and hire a teacher to teach all grade levels. Someone would donate the land and a one room school would be built. All of the families whose children went to the school would contribute to the teacher’s pay as well as sending coal or firewood to the schoolhouse. Children would have to bring their own lunch and help clean the school. There was no lunchroom, bathroom or custodian to clean them. Older children were expected to do their part to help the younger children. School was important, but the needs of the family came first. If children were needed to help out at home, they would not go to school that day. Also, farming schedules were more important than school schedules because farming provided the family’s food supply. The regular school schedule we use today still reflects the old farming needs
schedule, with students being out during the summer planting and harvest times.

After the Civil War, public education up to the ninth grade was instituted in Columbus. This was the first city supported school system in Georgia. Few organized schools had existed in the region prior to that time. For example, Wynnton Elementary School was established as a private academy in 1843. Columbus’s first public high school for white students was established in 1871. The Freedman’s Bureau, a federal agency that looked after the welfare of African American citizens during Reconstruction, established Claflin School for black children in 1868.