Art
This photograph captures an American schoolroom during World War I, when education was transforming from a privilege for the few into an expectation for all children. The image shows how schools looked, felt, and functioned in the lives of ordinary families a century ago.
Art · Full story
You step into a crowded classroom thick with the smell of chalk dust and wood. Rows of children sit upright at wooden desks, eyes forward on the teacher at the blackboard. Sunlight streams through tall windows; the room is cold in winter, hot in summer, with no air between the packed bodies.
Reflect
What surprised you most about how school looked back then? How is your own school experience different?