Williams Elementary School third graders stepped back into time last week with a visit to the Sacramento Valley Museum.
The date on the chalkboard inside the Glen Valley School, located on the premises, was Sept. 26, 1910, to reflect a time when teachers were firm and students learned reading, writing, geography, and math inside a tiny one-room schoolhouse.
The Glen Schoolhouse, which was used from 1875 to 1935, provided a one-day experience for students to learn what it was like when one teacher taught all grade levels at the same time, inside the same four walls.
“Teachers hardly ever smiled,” said retired teacher Joy Barnette, who dressed the part of a historic school marm. “They would bang their ruler or hand on their desk. Teachers back then were very, very strict. The reason they had to be is they had first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth all in the same room.”
Part of the day’s lesson included reading aloud from McGuffey’s Reader, a widely used primer from the 1830s to the 1920s, which standardized English language use and taught more Americans to read than any other textbook.
As students addressed the school mistress, they stood and bowed or curtsied before asking or answering a question.
Barnette said there were good things and bad things about education in the 19th and early 20th century, largely that women teachers were not typically allowed to marry and teach school, and that most students were not expected to continue their education beyond the eighth grade.
One thing that hasn’t changed, she told the students, is the Golden Rule, the principle of treating others as one wants to be treated, which is still taught in schools today.
“It works every time,” Barnette said. “Good is still good; bad is still bad. It hasn’t changed. Being good, being nice, accepting, and being patient; all of those things are as important today as they were 100 years ago or even 1,000 years ago. It’s important just to be nice.”
After the lesson, the students went on a scavenger hunt for items inside the museum, where they were transported into another world and time.
Students searched for previously unheard of items like stiff collars, washboards, and butter churns.
“This was the best part,” said Padme Zaragoza, 8. “The children’s room was my favorite because it had scary dolls.”
Alina Vazquez said the military room was her favorite because she was grateful to those that served.
Only three students from Ada Calderon’s class said they had ever been inside the museum, and most had wanted for more time to find everything on the scavenger hunt list, given to them by Museum Director Elijah Rodriguez.
“I’m going to come back with my mom,” Zaragoza said. “I think she knows what everything is on the list.” ■