First, to Erling Landsverk, very good memory and great story. Although
I never attended a rural school, my dad taught several and I did go with
him on occasion. He always said the kids from a rural school really
learned their lessons because they had the lessons from all eight grades
for all eight years. As the younger ones listened, they learned the
older kids lessons as well. I do remember going to a program when Agnes
Berg was the teacher at one of the rural schools. I think it was
Wetherelt but it could have been Beaver Dam–I was real young, maybe
4-5. They had a bunch of fun things to do for the kids and the parents
and then had a drawing for some door prizes and I won a red slide open
pencil box. I don’t know how many folks younger than me know what a
pencil box was? It was made like a match box but larger. I treasured my
prize as it was the first thing I ever won! Several of the things that
all rural schools always had were a globe, large maps of the world, and
a picture of one of the early presidents–usually Washington–on the
wall. In the back was usually a crockery water cooler with a lid. We
lived in town so I started school in the big old white school building.
I had many good teachers over the years but I always liked Mrs. Conroy
the best. She, too, had a way of making class interesting and had us
looking forward to the next day. She was also strict but almost never
had to do much in the line of discipline because everyone respected her.
There are still people who confuse respect with obedience. Teachers can
demand obedience but they have to earn respect from the kids. I do
remember one time we got a new girl from a boarding school in South
Dakota. When Mrs. Conroy told her to do something, she swore at Mrs.
Conroy—BAD! Mrs. Conroy walked around her desk and grabbed her by the
hair and then picked up a meter stick and took her in the small room
just off the fourth grade room. We heard whack,whack, whack,whack! The
door opened and the girl went back to her desk. Mrs. Conroy came out and
threw the meter stick in the trash can by her desk–in three or four
pieces! We had no problem with the deal. The girl deserved it for saying
what she said to Mrs. Conroy–and I still feel that way!I would
certainly have deserved it if I had said it.We have come full circle now
and can’t understand why kids are unruly and mouthy. We can always give
them some sort of tranquilizing drug to lessen their aggression. Of
course if a teacher spanked a kid now, lawyers would be in the school
the same day filing charges and counselors would be called to help the
kid cope with the trauma. What a mess! Thanks to Erling and Gary!

Dick