Posey County, Indiana - Chapter 7: Public Schools, 1913

Chapter 7: Public Schools

The first school house in Posey county was built in the year 1814. on the .southeast corner of the public square in Mt. Vernon (then called McFaddin's Bluff).

Another school was located on the farm of James Black about the year 1816. Mr. Black having built a new frame house, permitted the use of his old log house as a school house.

As the country was thinly settled, school houses were not numerous, nor were the buildings or furniture commodious. The houses were log buildings, usually about 12x14 feet. The seats were made of split logs with auger holes bored into the bark side and pegs inserted for legs. They were usually all of the same height and without backs. The writing desks consisted of wide, heavy planks sawed with a whip saw, resting on pins driven into auger holes in the side walls of the room. Instead of windows, an opening about a foot wide was hewed out of the upper and lower sides of two logs in the wall above the writing desk; over this opening, greased paper or rawhide was pasted as a substitute for glass. Stoves for heating purposes were unknown in those days and fireplaces, usually about 4x10 feet, were built in the end of the room. These fire-places were made of logs, poles and sticks heavily plastered on the inside with mud as a protection from the fire. The chimneys were built of sticks and mud.

The cost of a school building was not considered anything, as no money was expended incident to its erection. All that was required was labor, which was furnished by the residents of the district, free of cost. There was no public money available then, as there is now. Our present free public school system was not established until 1853. The above description is applicable in a gerieral way to school houses established in all the settlements and townships in those days all over the county.

money the teacher collected from the parents, according to the "article" arranged before the opening of the school, often taking a great portion in produce.

"I, Ebenezer Phillips, agree to teach an English school (here state county, township and district) for the term of three months at $. . . . per scholar, to begin (date). Will teach reading, writing and arithmetic as far as the single rule of three. My government will be : For being idle, two lashes with beech switch ; for whispering, three lashes ; for fighting, six lashes ; for pinching, three licks across the palm of the hand with my ferrule; for tearing the books or thumbing, four licks with ferrule across the palm of the hand.

"We, the subscribers, agree to pay said Phillips in vegetables, such as potatoes, onions, beets, cabbage ; in fruit, such as apples, peaches ; in corn, bacon and wheat, all at market prices or money in payments; last payment at end of term. (Following this were the names of subscribers, and number subscribed by each.)

They solicited their pupils from house to house, telling or submitting in writing to the parents where they would hold school ; that they would teach spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic, as far as the single rule of three ; they also announced what their charges would be. The children learned to read from whatever book the family happened to possess.

A pointed goose-quill was used for the pen, and the ink for copy-book work was manufactured from oak-balls saturated with vinegar. The teachers in those days were expected to be experts at making quill pens and keeping them in order.

The first year or two of the school life of the pupil was taken up in learning the alphabet - both capitals and small letters - fifty-two distinct forms. After the child had accomplished this task he spent another year or two in spelling and pronouncing monosyllables, as meaningless to him as the letters of the alphabet had been. At the end of that course the child was thought to be prepared to commence the spelling and pronouncing of intelligible words and, finally, he was allowed to read short, simple sentences, fables and stories found in the spelling book. Exceptionally bright pupils were sometimes allowed to read from a reader and "cipher" from Pike's Arithmetic. But the spelling book was the all-important and indispensable text book. Everything else was supplementary.

At night the school children studied their lessons and "worked their sums" by the firelight or the feeble flame of a "tallow-dip." Often pine knots were burned in the fire-place to produce a good light.

The pupils regarded the school as a place of torture and punishment. What little knowledge they did gain was acquired under the greatest disadvantages. They were confronted with incompetent teachers and were compelled to help their parents at home, thus preventing anything like regular attendance. The school term was short, usually about three months, but the daily sessions were long, beginning at sunrise, or as soon as the pupil arrived, and continuing until sunset. Probably the parents thought their children were getting a considerable amount of schooling by reason of these long daily sessions. As a rule, the school of those days was nothing short of a petty despotism. Fear of punishment was constantly on the pupil's mind, as the most trivial offense brought on a severe application of the rod. "Lickin' and larnin' " formed an inseparable link, according to the opinion of the majority of teachers and patrons. This was the theory of teaching in those days. Under such conditions, it is not hard to understand why so many of the children of our first settlers never acquired the rudiments of an English education.

The schools of the county made slow progress for a number of years. For more than half a centur}- the most serious obstacle was the great deficiency of qualified teachers.

W'ith the advent of the steam saw mill physical conditions were greatlj' improved, as new school houses were built of lumber, with windows of glass, instead of greased paper and rawhide. The seats were more comfortable, although they were very different from the comfortable school desk of today. The double desk, made entirely of wood with a single straight board seat and a straight, slightly reclining back, was considered a wonder in point of perfection. Then, too, stoves were invented, and soon took the place of fireplaces. However, with all these physical betterments, the qualifications of teachers were still at a low standard.

From 1824 to 1837 three trustees were authorized to examine applicants for schools as to their qualifications before employing them. It is easy to see how inefficient their examinations must usually have been, if they made an examination at all. Quite often the whole matter was turned over by two of the trustees to the third, who was left to carry on the school in his own way. From 1837 up to some time in the '50s, the law required the county commissioners to appoint three examiners to examine teachers and grant certificates to those found to have the requisite qualifications. No record was required to be kept of the result of these examinations. Tt was not expected that the examiners should sit as a board, so each acted wholly independent of the other. But the}' had no standard of qualifications and, in some cases, one of the examiners ^vould issue a certificate without any educational test. The examiners were men of various pursuits and callings, some were county officers, some were lawyers, some were one thing and some another, but whatever they were the business of examining teachers was of minor importanc to them. In an examination the teacher had an easy time. The examinations could be held on the street or anywhere. The nature of the examination was left to the discretion of the examiners.

A certain young man went to the county seat to secure his license. Applying to one of the examiners - a young lawyer - that official told him he was too busy and sent him to another examiner, who was a preacher. The preacher was just getting ready to attend a wedding and sent him back to the lawyer. He found the lawyer on the street, apparently not very busy, and told him the preacher's reason for not being able to conduct the examination, so the lawyer finally consented. On the way to the office the examiner asked, "How many genders have nouns?" The candidate's answer was "Four." "All right," said the examiner, "of course you could name them." On to his office, and after a little conversation, the examiner wrote him out a two years' certificate. So we see that the teachers of those days had an easy way of securing a certificate to teach.

In 1853 the State legislature fixed a standard of qualification and gave to the county commissioners the authority to license teachers, and in case there was not a sufficient number of properly qualified teachers in the county the commissioners were authorized to grant temporary licenses and to employ "unqualified teachers," especially in remote rural districts.

The greatest need in 1854 was for qualified teachers, although the progress of public education during this and following years was very great.

State Superintendent Barnabus C. Hobbs, who held the office from 1868 to 1871, was among the first in this country to give attention to the question of grading the district schools, and of regular and uniform courses of study and a common scheme of recitation. His first step toward the improvement of the schools was to recommend that the office of county examiner be changed to that of county superintendent. Accordingly, the office was established, in 1873.

Our free school system, which is a part of. our new State constitution, adopted in 1852, provided for the election of three trustees, a clerk and treasurer in each township to constitute a township board. This board was charged with the duty of looking after the schools, roads, bridges and the poor.

The first duty of the board was to establish and conveniently locate a sufficient number of school houses to educate the children of their respective townships. Previously, the school houses had been built by the districts. Now they became the property of the township, but many were unfit for use, and several new houses were built at the expense of the township by an appropriation of township funds by the trustees, as provided by law.

All schools, from the elementary up, had been left to private enterprises. Even as late as 1850 the prevailing opinion was that parents alone were responsible for the education of their children, and should determine the extent of their education. The idea that every child has a right to an education, and that it is to the interest of the general public to provide it, and if need be, compel it, had not yet been recognized or accepted.

The legislature of 1852 enacted a law that provided for a tax of ten cents on each one hundred dollars for school tuition purposes. Up to this time there had been no free schools. Section 32 of this law made incorporate cities and towns independent of townships for school purposes, and gave them trustees with power to establish graded schools, and power to levy taxes for their support, to erect school houses, etc. Section 130 of the same act gave townships the same power as granted cities, in the following words :

"The voters of any township shall have power at any general or special meeting to vote a tax for the purpose of building or repairing school houses and purchasing sites therefor, providing fuel, furniture, maps, apparatus, libraries, or increase thereof, or to discharge debts incurred therefor, and for continuing their schools after the public school funds shall have been expended, to any amount not exceeding annually fifty cents on each one hundred dollars of property, and fifty cents on each poll."

This law gave new life to the entire educational work of the State. New schoolhouses were erected and graded schools were established in rapid succession. In a few years many cities and larger towns had flourishing high schools. But in 1858 these two sections were declared unconstitutional on the ground that the local laws were not "general and uniform," as the constitution requires. This virtually killed every high school in the State and crippled all other free schools. But while it did this, it created a universal sentiment in favor of local taxation, which resulted in the enactment, in 1865, of exactly the .same law, only with different wording. The result was high schools began to increase in all the cities, incorporated towns and townships all over the State, and continued to increase down to the present time.

In the same year the amendments to the school law added history of the United States and physiologj^ to the subjects to be taught and examined upon.

The natural advantages and resources of the county continued to attract settlers, and the taxable property increased rapidly. Taxes for school purposes were levied. The salary of teachers was increased, and the standard of qualification of teachers was increased as rapidly as the available supply of qualified teachers would permit. The salary paid to teachers in the county has always compared favorably with that of Other counties in the State; in fact, a great many teachers from other counties in the State, and from other States, have been induced to seek employment in Posey county by reason of a pecuniary consideration.

The present high state of efficiency which the schools of Posey county have attained has been brought about by the ceaseless, untiring and intelligent efforts toward organization, supervision, gradation and general betterment on the part of superintendents and teachers, working together.

Material progress was quite slow for several years after our free school system was in operation. In 1873, when the supervision of the schools of the different counties of the State of Indiana was turned over to the county superintendents, they found them without order or system, and in the hands of untrained teachers. A tremendous task confronted them. System had to be created out of chaos, and this was not to be accomplished in a day, but they set themselves to work. They were never content with things as they found them, if they could discover a chance for improvement. They had the courage of their convictions and held firmly to what they believed to be good. Their aim was to produce better results each day. They must administer the system as they found it, and at the same time endeavor to develop and perfect it.

Chief among the defects in the workings of the system, as they considered, was the lack of uniformity. They established a standard not lower than the best school in the county, and endeavored to bring all others to it. The first step was to improve the teachers. With this idea in view the results accomplished were: Our system of teachers' examinations, the steady and healthy growth of our State Normal School, which was established in 1865, private normals throughout the State, county summer normals of six or eight weeks' duration, the county and township institutes prescribed by law enjoyed a greater increase in attendance and interest.

The second step taken up was the classifying or grading of the country schools, which resulted in the preparation, adoption and enforcement of a uniform course of study for the common schools of the State, bimonthly examination questions prepared by a committee of county superintendents, and forwarded to the county superintendents by the State Superintendent.

A uniform length of school term of eight months for all the schools in each township has been established. This arrangement makes possible better systemized work, uniform examinations and reports, and gives equal advantages and opportunities to all the children of the county. Agriculture and domestic science are taught in all schools of two rooms or more in the county, in the seventh and eighth grades. The law requires that music and drawing be taught in commissioned and certified high schools of the county. Manual training is taught in the city schools.

All the high schools in the county, not already commissioned, are advancing toward that end as rapidly as possible. Those of Mt. Vernon, New Harmony, Poseyville and Cynthiana are commissioned, and the Wadesville and Stewartsville schools will be able to meet the requirements necessary to become commissioned, next year.

Within the last three years Black township has erected four good school buildings, modern in all respects, at a cost of $15,000, one of which is a consolidated school of two rooms.

Simultaneously Marrs township was expending $11,000 in the erection of two one-room buildings, and building an addition to one of her oneroom buildings to accommodate a consolidated school.

Point township, in 191 1, built a two-room concrete building, with furnace, heat and a modern system of ventilating, etc., at a cost of $4,000, and a one-room concrete building of modern design at a cost of $2,500. Point township has two two-room buildings.

During the school year, 1911-1912, the total enrollment in the county was as follows: The certified high schools of the county, 31 pupils; in the non-commissioned high schools, 46; commissioned high schools, 398. The total enrollment in the county was as follows: In township schools, 2,543; in town schools, 582; in city schools, 1,233, making a total of 4,358 pupils enrolled in the schools of the county, not including enrollment in parochial schools of 404 pupils.

Pupils graduated from the different schools of the county in 1912 as follows: From commissioned high schools, 74; from certified high schools, 6; graduates in the common branches, 198.

The county emploj'S 162 teachers, forty-seven of whom teach in single room schools in the rural districts. There are twenty-one township consolidated schools, employing two or more teachers. The average amount paid teachers per daj' in the district schools in the school year 191 1- 1912 was $2.73. The average in the graded township schools was $3.14; in the graded town schools, $3.27, and in the city schools, $3.29; average 'in the county, $3.18.

The entire number of school-houses, year ending July 31, 1912, was: Concrete, one ; brick, thirty-eight ; frame, thirty-nine ; total, seventv-eight.

Public School Building

Education reform has always been slow to reach the country school. It has been the rule for the country schools to have the poorest equipment, poorest buildings, shortest terms and the poorest paid teachers. It seems that all reforms have been introduced into the city first, then the towns, and after a long time it reached the country schools. Undoubtedly, one of the greatest steps of the State of Indiana has ever taken toward advancement in the efficiency of our country schools was the consolidation of weak country schools into strong central ones. The little one-room school house at the crossroads, with its six months' term, and one lone teacher, has always been a sorry substitute for the advan-' tages supplied by the city schools. But, fortunately, our leaders in educational matters had visions of better ways and finally the general assembly, in 1899, passed a law, giving the township trustees the right to transport pupils at public expense to a stronger central school, and in 1907 a law was passed compelling them to discontinue weak schools averaging twelve pupils or less. There are at present twenty-one consolidated schools in the county, each employing two or more teachers and children are transported to better equipped schools than could be maintained in the little crossroads school house attended by less than a dozen pupils.

The county has tried the plan to its entire satisfaction. The children transported find themselves in better buildings, under better teachers, and with access to libraries, and more thorough work is possible for the teachers.

The object toward which the friends of improved rural schools are working is, that each township shall have a complete system of schools centrally located, with a uniform standard throughout the country and the entire State. The plan is to equalize the advantages for education between the city and the country youth.

Centralization is the farmers' opportunity to get as good schools as the village and town schools have. It is cheaper to run the wagons than it is to run the little weak schools, and the educational advantages are many times greater. The schools are made more interesting and more practical. The children are reading more books and better books than ever before. It is possible for every child to have access to a good library. All in all, the outlook is encouraging. We are certainly on the road to better things. The spirit of community life will build a central school where every boy and girl will have the best there is in education.

For many years after our free school system became operative throughout the State there was no law making attendance compulsory, and truancy or very indifferent regularity of attendance was common.

In 1897 and 1901 laws were enacted compelling attendance at school until the age of fourteen; and the same law provided that books and clothing should be furnished if necessary. There is no longer any doubt that there is a very close relationship between truancy and crime. Truancy, idleness, ignorance, incompetency and drunkenness are the allies that work to keep our jails, reformatories and prisons full.

On the first Monday in May, each year, the county board of education, as a board of truancy, appoints one truant officer for the county. In addition to this officer the cities may appoint officers, the number to be determined by population. The law has been effective, and with good teachers and conscientious truant officers, the attendance can be kept to the maximum.

Mt. Vernon schools are under the supervision of Prof. E. J. Llewelyn. Besides the thirty-eight principals and grade teachers, the city schools employ a supervisor of music and an office clerk. There are five school buildings in the city. The work covers primary, intermediate, grammar, and high school departments. One of the five school buildings is that known as the Booker T. Washington School for colored children.

New Harmony schools are under the supervision of W. V. Mangrum and employ eleven additional teachers. The town has under construction a commodious and up-to-date building of modern architecture and design, to cost about $35,000.

Poseyville is justly proud of a recently constructed up-to-date building at a cost of about 827,000. Prof. O. H. Harrall is superintendent and eight additional teachers are employed.

The town of Wadesville has a new, modern building of six rooms, erected in 191 1 at a cost of $16,000. Prof. J. Ora Ault is superintendent and five additional teachers are employed.

The Stewartsville school is under the supervision of Prof. B. A. Trimble, and six additional teachers are employed. An addition to their school building was made in 191 1 at a cost of about $7,000.

ferent counties occasionally. The law provided that when there was a surplus in the county seminary fund of $500, the trustees might, at their option, erect a seminary building.

The fund grew out of certain fines, forfeitures, penalties, etc., before the justices, circuit court, etc. The first trustees for the Posey County Seminary were Samuel Jones, Joseph Price and William Hunter. They were appointed in 1822, and made their first report in November, 1825, which showed a balance of about $300 on hand. In February, 1833, sufficient money had accumulated to begin the erection of the building, and the General Assembly appointed General W. Johnson, of Knox county, Daniel Grass, of Spencer, and the Hon. George H. Proffit, of Pike county, as commissioners to locate the seminary building. Several places made offers of money and land as inducements to secure the location of the seminary. Hon. R. D. Owen offered ninety-two square rods of land at New Harmony, and about eighty acres of land on the Springfield road, and the free use of his library. The McClure library also was offered. Money to the amount of $1,399.50 and a petition of 114 names also came from New Harmony. Lynn, Robb, Smith and Robinson also sent petitions. Mt. Vernon sent a long list of petitioners and offered $500 and about four acres of ground.

The commissioners decided on Mt. Vernon, and the erection of the building was begun on the site now occupied by the grammar school, and was completed in 1843. The building was begun with an available amount on hand of $1,564.78, in 1841, and on its completion there was a deficit of $194.27. In September, 1850, the trustees were out of debt and had a surplus of $277.66. For that year, Mr. R. K. Dibble, the principal, reported that the average cost of tuition per scholar was $4.

To encourage patronage and to give all parts of the county some benefit of the school, the trustees recommended that free scholarship be given to one or two in each township.

The adoption of the constitutional amendment in 1853 providing for a free school system, which was soon in practical operation, made the seminary as a separate institution unnecessary, and the building was sold and the proceeds transferred to the common school fund.