"Up Hill Both Ways"

A Short History of Local Public Schools

By Elizabeth Y. Rump

Since its founding, Pennsylvania’s government has been concerned with the education of future generations. William Penn’s Frame of Government stated that "the Governor and Provincial Council shall erect and order all public schools." (Wickersham) Students whose parents were unable to pay the tuition were usually taught for free until such time as they could be apprenticed to learn a trade, as in the case of the Friends Public School (now William Penn Charter School) established in 1689. In 1809, a law was enacted that entitled children between the ages of 5 and 12 to free education. In 1835 there were 51 children in Pennsbury Township who qualified under this law. In 1881 it was legislated that African-American children could not be turned away from a school because of their race but, if there were more than 20, a separate school should be established. The biggest controversy was over the 1834 Common School Law. Taxpayers should note that this is the law which provided for school taxes.

The earliest schools in the American Colonies were held in private homes (dame schools), churches or especially in this area, meetinghouses. Later, "subscription" schools were set up by the local community who elected a Board of Trustees, constructed a building to hold classes, determined the number of children who would be attending, set tuition, and hired the teacher. The Orthodox Friends School in Birmingham set their subscription price at $610.00 in 1854. Locations of the earliest schools in our area were Birmingham in 1753, Goshen in 1782, and Kennett in 1798. All, as you might be able to discern, were associated with a Quaker meetinghouse.

Furnishings in early schoolhouses were sparse. In a letter to the editor of the West Chester Daily Local News in 1873, a person named Stickler advised that "a good stove, plenty of fuel, good window glass" were mandatory items for a schoolhouse. The teacher’s desk generally sat at one end of the room on an elevated platform and, by the late 1800s, a blackboard hung behind the teacher’s desk. The stove was generally located in the middle of the room to allow the heat to radiate to the entire room. Older students sat at desks facing the windows to allow for proper lighting. Younger students sat on backless benches in the center of the room. Other items that may have been found included a globe, a clock, wall maps, writing charts, prepared pasteboard cards with the alphabet and reading exercises, an unabridged dictionary and, perhaps, an encyclopedia. Slates and pencils for individual students were not generally available until after the Revolutionary War.

Curriculum for early schools consisted of reading, writing and arithmetic. Religion played a major role as The Bible, prayer books, and religious based A-B-C books were used to teach reading. Those who intended to pursue a career in the clergy or as a lawyer completed their education by attending Latin Grammar Schools, where the curriculum included Latin and classical studies. Textbooks were uncommon until the mid 1800s. Students used "copybooks" to practice their penmanship and to write down "sums" or arithmetic problems that were dictated to them. Eventually, many teachers took matters into their own hands and began to write textbooks for use in the classroom. In 1859 Pennsbury School ordered the following books: Greenleaf’s Arithmetic, Stoddard’s Intellectual, Pelton’s Outline Maps of the United States, Brown’s Grammar, Goodrich’s Common School History, McGuffey’s Reader list, 2nd and 3rd books (Shur: 215).

During the last quarter of the 1800s, subjects such as science, drawing, vocal music, and physical exercise became part of the curriculum. Mention should also be made that the education of young ladies included sewing and other domestic skills.

Teachers came from a variety of sources, such as mothers or fathers who offered to teach other children along with their own. Some were indentured servants brought over from England or Germany for the more affluent families and their subscription schools. Others might be ministers or lawyers or men and women who had had the benefit of what constituted "higher learning" in the late 1700s and 1800s. Men predominated as teachers until the early 1800s, with women becoming more prevalent as time went by. Then, as now, salaries for teachers were a source of heated debate. Among the many arguments was the fact that a male teacher could not afford to support a family solely on a teacher’s salary. According to Pennsylvania annual school reports published in local newspapers, men consistently received a higher salary than women. However, during the Civil War years, salaries were almost equal. In 1893, Kennett Township hired 5 women teachers at the rate of $40.00 per month and 1 male teacher at the rate of $77.77 per month. Birmingham and Pennsbury Townships also hired women teachers in 1893 for salaries between $40 and $45 per month.

Expectations for teachers were high. They served not only as instructors but also as janitors and disciplinarians. They averaged as many as 10 hours each day, 5 1/2 or 6 days a week. They were expected to see that the schoolhouse was clean and orderly at all times. One reason for preferring men in the earlier schools was the belief that women would not be able to mete out the necessary discipline to maintain order within the school. Sometimes women were hired to teach only during planting and harvesting, when the older boys would be needed in the fields. Discipline varied from the wearing of a "fool’s cap," smacking the knuckles or open palm with a ruler, holding a book at arm’s length, or the most severe: a whipping.

Education has changed much from the years of the one room school house. The buildings are bigger, the classes are larger, discipline is no longer of a physical nature. We have increased course offerings and improved technology. But, some things never change--the basic curriculum of reading, writing, and arithmetic; the need for enthusiastic and qualified teachers; disputes over salaries and hours; the best locations for the schools; oh, and don’t forget, the continuing debate over school taxes.

Blackboards & Chalk

Blackboards were originally just that - black boards. They were made by any of the following methods:

- painting or varnishing a board or boards.

- using wallpaper coated with a mixture of lampblack, flour of emery and spirit varnish.

- making a mixture using mason’s putty, sand, plaster, lampblack and alcohol to apply to the wall.

Crayons, rather than chalk, were used on the above surfaced blackboards. Chalk left behind scratches, creating the need for more frequent maintenance. Teachers often made their own crayons using Paris white, wheat flour and water. This mixture was kneaded and rolled out to form the crayons.

To learn more read:

Going to School in 1776, John J. Loeper.

Pennsylvania School Architecture: A Manual of Directions and Plans for Grading, Locating, Construction, Heating, Ventilating and Furnishing Common School Houses, Thomas H. Burrowes, Editor.

A History of Education in Pennsylvania: Private and Public, Elementary and Higher From the Time the Swedes Settled on the Delaware to the Present Day [1886], James Pyle Wickersham, LLD.

The Emergence of Free Common School in Chester County, Pennsylvania 1834-1874, Irene G. Shur.

Ye West Side of the Brandywine: The Story of Pennsbury Township, M. L. Chandler Hughes and Frieda W. McMullan.

A History of the Development of Chadds Ford School 1916-1980, Mary W. McMullan.

Pennsylvania Agriculture and Country Life 1640-1840, Stephen Whitcomb Fletcher.

A History of Birmingham Township, Chester County, Arthur E. James.

Chester County Historical Society, Public Schools Newspaper Clipping Files.