Art
This photograph captures children in an Ozark mountain community attending school, likely in the early 20th century. In rural America, one-room schoolhouses served as centers of education and community life, teaching children of all ages and abilities together under one roof.
Art · Full story
The wooden schoolhouse sits small against the landscape, its door open to children who've walked miles through forest and creek. Inside, the teacher—often barely older than the oldest students—moves between rows of desks, hearing lessons from six grades at once. Slates and pencils scratch; someone's stomach rumbles before lunch.
Reflect
What skills do you think this teacher had to master to teach children of so many different ages?