One-Room Schools of the Middle West An Illustrated History Wayne E. Fuller 156 pages, 17 tables, 329 black-and-white photographs, 8-1/2 x 11 Cloth ISBN 978-0-7006-0637-5, $35.00 This profusely illustrated history chronicles the heyday of the one-room school and its vital influence on American education from the pioneer era through consolidation after World War II. The Midwest's one-room schools were, Wayne Fuller observes, the most democratic in the nation. Located in small, independent school districts, they were sustained with the barest of resources by civic-minded farmers who voted taxes, set budgets, constructed schools, elected school boards, hired teachers, and approved curricula. Their efforts virtually wiped out illiteracy, strengthened their children's devotion to democracy, and opened up new vistas beyond the borders of their lives. Filled with evocative images of school houses, students, and teachers, this volume rescues from obscurity the life and material culture of rural education: McGuffey Readers, wooden desks, slate blackboards, potbellied stoves, kerosene lamps, and screened privies. Fuller describes how rural children walked, rode horses, or drove buggies to school along dirt roads; the way they dressed; the games they played; and the lessons they learned. He also recounts the life of the typical teacher--usually female, young, unmarried, and educated in one-room schools and county teacher institutes. Entire communities, Fuller shows, revolved around these schools. At various times they were used as churches, polling places, sites of political caucuses, and meeting halls for local organizations. But as America urbanized and the movement to consolidate took hold in rural counties, these little centers of learning were left at the margins of the educational system. Some were torn down, some left to weather away, some sold at auction, and still others transformed into museums. Despite its demise, Fuller argues, here was a school system that worked. His book offers a timely reminder of what schools can accomplish when communities work closely together to educate their children. "Fuller is the nation's authority on the history of rural education. He offers in this volume new insights into the rise and fall of one-room schools and shows how they fostered a sense of community, parental support, and grass roots democracy. His book will have a strong appeal for college courses in rural history, social history, and the history of education; yet it is also very accessible for a much wider general audience. . . . A remarkable achievement."--William J. Reese, editor of History of Education Quarterly and author of The Social History of American Education "Told with economy and grace, Fuller's study should spur the burgeoning interest nationwide in the recognition, recreation, and preservation of our rural school heritage. It could become a virtual bible among local and state societies committed to preserving this heritage."--David L. Angus, School of Education, University of Michigan WAYNE FULLER is professor emeritus of history at the University of Texas at El Paso. He is the author of The Old Country School: The Story of Rural Education in the Midwest and The American Mail: Enlarger of the Common Life.   Home | About the Press | Recent Awards | Contact Us | Order New Books: | By Author | By Subject | By Title | By Series Books in Print: | By Author | By Subject | By Title | By Series ©2007 University Press of Kansas 2502 Westbrooke Circle, Lawrence, KS 66045-4444 Phone (785) 864-4155; Fax (785) 864-4586