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School
Slates and the Willow Switch
Author John
Charyk was an authority on one-room school houses. Not only did
he teach in them, he wrote The Little White Schoolhouse,
the most comprehensive treatment of one-room schools in western
Canada. Published in 1969, the book is a sensitive portrayal of
the kind of education Canadian students received at the turn of
the century. Charyk also wrote four other books on early education
in the Canadian west.
When John
Charyk visited the restored Edmonton (1881) School, he was delighted
to observe what he described as a very sensitive rebirth of our
educational past. Lamenting the rapid disappearance of one-room
schools from the Alberta scene, the prize winning author was pleasantly
surprised to learn that Edmonton's oldest schoolhouse is alive
again with the sounds of children's voices.
Like John
Charyk, many retired teachers who taught or were taught in one-room
schools regret that the days of slates, of frozen bottles of Reliance
ink, water coolers, double desks, outdoor privies and classrooms
redolent with the smell of wet moccasins and cedar oil, have passed.
Gone
are the copy books with their seemingly endless pages of spirals
and figure-eights, designed to improve the penmanship skills of
even the most awkward left-hander. The spelling bee is no more,
and the teachers' timetables no longer list such subjects as manual
training, nature study, grammar and agriculture.
Gone, too,
are the compulsory patriotic exercises including the flag salute,
and the celebration of the twenty-fourth of May as Queen Victoria
Day. "And if you don't give us a holiday we'll all run away,"
chanted many a reluctant prairie scholar in anticipation of the
school holiday.
The ubiquitous
Union Jack has disappeared from classrooms as well. Study of its
evolution and the symbolism of it colours– red for courage,
blue for truth, and white for purity– is seldom recalled
in modern-day classrooms. Seldom, that is, except in Alberta's
oldest schoolhouse – the Edmonton (1881) School. Since its
restoration in 1982, many thousands of Edmonton and area students
have sat in rough desks within the historic building for half-day
lessons conducted by stern teachers who hesitate not to use their
willow switches. Today's students are fascinated by the ambience
of the old schoolroom and the teaching methods of yesteryear.
Today's 1881
schoolhouse lessons include patriotic studies, rapid calculation
and pure British and Canadian history – none of that modern
social studies fluff! Oral reading occupies a prominent slot in
the little school's timetable, and each selection conveys a strong
moral message.
Like the students
of the 1880s, visiting scholars record much of what they have
learned on slates, using real (and very screechy) slate pencils.
Not once has any teacher currently in charge of the 1881 Schoolhouse
had to refer a reluctant or socially maladjusted scholar to a
school psychologist. As was the case a century ago, a supple willow
switch serves to discourage any misdemeanours or social problems
that may erupt to disturb the decorum of the class. Described
by museum officials as the best kept one–room schoolhouse
secret in Canada, Edmonton's 1881 Schoolhouse continues to charm
its visitors through vicarious educational experiences reminiscent
of our historic past. And the hundreds of letters received from
visiting students, parents and teachers are testimonials to this
fascination experience.
By the way:
for how many years was Queen Victoria our queen? And how many
gallons are there in a firkin? If you donšt know the answers to
these questions, perhaps you should sit in on a lesson in the
little schoolhouse soon.
by Michael
A. Kostek
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