“A little learning is not a dangerous thing to one who does not mistake it for a great deal.”
William Allen White (1868 – 1944)
From Closed Schools in Kansas, 1942
In the midst of World War II, the state of Kansas conducted a survey of its school system. The survey noted that “Kansas (29th in population) ranks third highest among the states in the total number of school units (behind Illinois ans Missouri, ahead of Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin, and Nebraska) but third lowest in average enrollment per unit.”
Not surprising for a rural state with many small farms, but one that highly valued the education of its children.
There were many causes of the reduction in schools, particularly one room schools. These causes included: cost savings, the desire for graded schools, and the bus that replaced the horse or the student who in the early days walked to school. One must also be mindful of the consolidation of farming into larger holdings, greatly reducing the number of families with children in school districts.
The Kansas legislature which was aware of this depopulation provided the following encouragement to close smaller schools.
S. 1935> Sec. 72-701. It provides that if there are not enough children in a school district to warrant the holding of school, the district may discontinue its school for the year and make provision for sending the pupils to other districts.
Thus, the report observes, in 1941-1942,1,601 schools which were closed. Of these school closing few were one room schools meaning that parents continued to value education and schools were closed where it was practical to combine small schools into larger schools with better facilities, more grades, and more teachers. There was also a trend to separate schools into elementary and high schools.
Church supported schools played some part in all of this, but that is a question of cause and effect. Did parents send their children to church supported schools because of the declining quality of education, or did church supported schools depopulate state supported schools and the quality of education?
I am not sure of the value of such a report. Things take on a momentum of their own. Education is one of those things that matter to parents and communities. And parents almost always act to do what is in the best interests of their children.
Today, schools are larger and larger. But church supported schools and independent schools strive to provide a more personal experience, like the one room schools of old.
Kansas One Room Schools 