Free schools supported by public taxation

     While the pioneer schools in Iowa were open to all children, rich and poor alike, they were not wholly supported by public taxation. Parents were required to pay rates (or tuition) when the taxes were not sufficient to pay the expenses of the school.

    Then a commission was appointed to recommend changes for better school. It consisted of Amos Dean, F. E. Bissell, and Horace Mann. Dean was president of the University of Iowa, Bissell was a judge, and Mann, a prominent educator, sometimes called the father of the American public school. The recommendations of the commission were followed by the General Assembly in drawing up the school law of 1858, which laid the foundation for our present public school system. It provided definitely for free tax supported schools for all persons of school age.

Grading and longer school year

     Before 1858 little attempt had been made at grading the pupils. Grading began when the pupils in each school were divided into two, three or more departments. These were later divided into grades such as we have them in the schools today.

    The school year was shorter then now. In 1876 the average school year was about six months, but ten years later it was seven months....

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....long. The year was divided into a summer term, a fall term, and a winter term. In summer and fall the younger children attended; and in the winter the older boys and girls and frequently some adults. Usually the winter tern was taught by men, but the summer and fall terms were nearly always taught by women.

Teachers and subjects taught

     Some of the early teachers had received all their education and training for teaching in the rural or common schools, while the better trained teachers had studied at academies, seminaries or colleges. Many of the early teachers were expert penmen and prided themselves upon their perfection in spelling.

    Only a few subjects were taught- reading, spelling, grammar, writing, arithmetic, geography and United States history, but they were usually well taught, though by different methods from those in vogue now.

    There were probably now more children's game than in the days of the pioneers. "Blackman," "Drop the Handkerchief," "Last Couple out," and many other games were now all the go. Pupils also played ball, thought differently from now. Only little attention was given to organized play or gymnastics before 1900.

More improvements

     Constant improvements were made in methods, equipment, and buildings during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In 1896 a law was passed by the General Assembly which permitted the districts to furnish free text-books to the schools, and in a few years one half of the counties furnished the pupils free text-books. The General Assembly also passed a compulsory school law in 1896, which required all children between the ages of 7 and 14, if physically and mentally fit, to attend public school or some other school of a similar kind, for at least 16 consecutive weeks each school year.

    The law of 1896 was probably not well enforced. Other later laws raised the required time of attendance to 14, then 16, and finally to 24 weeks for all children between 7 and 16. And the local school board may now require attendance by all during the entire time school is in session. However, those between 14 and 16 may be excused from attendance, providing they have completed the eighth grade or the equivalent thereof.

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First Iowa high schools

     Before the Civil War there were few high schools in Iowa or anywhere in the West. In 1856 there was a high school in Chicago and another in St Louis. In Iowa there were high schools in Tipton and Dubuque. During the next 20 years there was much interest in high schools and more were opened in the State. In 1871 there were 40 grade schools in Iowa, which had courses above the common branches, but only 23 could be said to have real high school courses. The subjects taught in these high schools were English, Latin, German, French, mathematics, general history, and such scientific subjects as geology and astronomy.

    More scientific subjects were added towards the close of the century and less attention was given to Latin. The subjects were arranged in courses, and the students were permitted to choose the courses they wanted to study.

Consolidated schools

     Later developments were provisions for various extra-curricular activities, inter-school contests, and consolidation of school districts.

Distribution of consolidated schools in 1924

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    Consolidation of rural school, and rural school with town schools began in 1896. In 1924 there were over 400 consolidated schools in the State and more have been organized since. Most of them, have high school departments.

    There were at one time about 900 high schools. The number has dropped somewhat since, but Iowa still has more high schools than any other State excepting Illinois.

A State University

     Many of the graduates of the high schools became public schools teachers. Others later attended denominational and State colleges. The State has founded and supported three colleges: The State University of Iowa, The Iowa College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, and the Iowa State Teachers College.

    The United States gave the State two townships of government land for a university when she entered the Union. Already in 1847 the General Assembly passed a law for the establishment of a State University at Iowa City, but it was not opened for instruction until 1855, and little was done until after the Civil War. For several years, it was but little more than a high school. In the late sixties and in the seventies, new departments were added and the attendance increased. At the beginning of the present century, the university had 165 instructors and professors and over 1,500 students of both sexes. The enrollment now in the regular session is over 8,000, and there are about 1,000 instructors and professors. Several new departments have been added in the present century.

    The university trains for the learned professions -- law, medicine, teaching, engineering and others.

    Among the many noted scholars and scientists who during the years have been connected with the university may be mentioned Samuel Calvin in geology; Thomas MacBride and Bohumil Shimek in Botany; C. C. Nutting in Zoology; Edwin Starbuck and Carl E. Seashore in psychology; N. G. Alcock and Arthur Steindler in surgery; B. F. Shambaugh in political science; E. B. Reuter in sociology; and Louis Pelzer in Western history.

A school for farmers, mechanics, and engineers

     The United States also gave the State of Iowa lands for an agricultural and mechanical college. The whole land grant for this purpose amounted to over 200,000 acres. The Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts was located at Ames in 1868. At....

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first it consisted of only two departments- one in agricultural and one in mechanic arts. Since 1887 an experimental Station has been conducted in connection with the college. Several new departments were added, and at the beginning of the present century it had an attendance of over 1,200 students of both sexes. It is now over 8,000. In addition to offering a general four-year college course, the State College trains scientists for farming and manufacturing; and teaches farmers, mechanics and miners better methods of work.

    Several Ames professors have become scientists of note. P. G. Holden wrote scientific treatises on corn growing and L. H. Pammel on Iowa plants. Others wrote on scientific dairying and many other subjects relating to farming.

A school for teachers

     When the state orphanage at Cedar Falls was closed in 1876, the General Assembly decided to use the vacant building for a State Normal School. The school was opened in 1876 with five instructors and 27 students. Of the five instructors four were men and one a woman. The principal, as the head of the school was first called, was J. C. Gilchrist, who had been a devoted student of Horace Mann, while the latter was president of Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio.

    At first the school offered courses only for elementary school teachers, but in 1887 courses designed especially for high school teachers were introduced. In 1901 there were over 2,000 students in attendance, and 356 pupils were enrolled in a training school, organized like a public elementary and high school where the normal school students practiced teaching.

President Homer H. Seerley

    The Normal School grew to be a four-years college, and its name was changed to Iowa State Teachers College in 1909. The college enrollment in 1953 during the regular session was 2,233.

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    In 1886 Homer H. Seerley succeeded J. C. Gilchrist as head of the institution. Seerley was born in Indiana, but grew up on a farm in Keokuk County, Iowa, where he attended a rural school. After his graduation from the Iowa State University, he taught rural school, became a high school principal and finally superintendent of schools at Oskaloosa, Iowa. From 1886 to 1828 he served as the honored president of the Iowa Normal School and the later Iowa State Teachers College.

Schools for the blind, the deaf, and the deaf mutes

     When one recalls that about a quarter of a century passed before very much was done by the State for those having defective hearing or sight or otherwise in need of special training, one feels especially thankful and proud of all that has been done by Iowa since.

    The work of teaching the deaf and the blind in Iowa was begun privately by kind-hearted individuals. Reverend William E. Ijams opened a school for the deaf at Iowa City in 1854, and Samuel Bacon taught a school for the blind at Keokuk in 1852. The next year Bacon moved his school to Iowa City, and the same year it was taken over by the State. In 1862 it became the College for the Blind and was permanently located at Vinton.

    The school for the deaf and deaf mutes became a State institution in 1855. Reverend Ijams continued his connection with it until 1863. In 1869 it was moved to Council Bluffs.

    The General Assembly passed a law in 1909 which makes attendance of blind and deaf children in Iowa between the ages of 12 and 19 compulsory at these schools unless excused for valid reasons. The graduates of the school for the deaf may continue their studies at the National College for Deaf Mutes in Washington, D. C.

Iowa's Helen Keller

     In 1893 Linnie Haguewood, a deaf and blind girl from Delaware County, was admitted to the College for the Blind. A special tutor had to be provided to teach her. So the General Assembly made an annual appropriation of $500 for this particular purpose; and Linnie learned to speak, read, write on a typewriter, and do fancy work. Sometimes she is spoken of as the Helen Keller of Iowa.

Industrial schools

     In spite of defective senses, the blind and the deaf often have alert minds and good character. The most unfortunate boys and girls are those who have social or mental defects. To help them the....

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....State maintains two Industrial Schools, one for boys and another for girls; and four other schools for neglected, unfortunate, and mentally retarded children.

    Before the opening of the Reform School at Salem, Henry County, in 1868, juvenile offenders had been kept at the State Penitentiary at Fort Madison. It was a happy change for them indeed to be transferred to the school at Salem, located in the midst of a settlement of Quakers, who took a friendly interest in the school. There were separate departments for boys and girls. In 1873 the boys' department was moved to Eldora, Hardin County; and later the girls department was transferred to Mitchellville, Polk County. In 1884 the names of the schools were changed from Reform Schools to Industrial Schools.

    Children and teen-agers in these schools study the same subjects as they do in the public schools, but practical subjects are stressed. About three out of every four who enter the Industrial Schools become useful and worthy men and women.

    The Annie Wittenmyer Home in Davenport and the Juvenile Home at Toledo, Tama County, care for unfortunate and neglected children. A school and hospital for epileptics are maintained at Woodward northwest of Des Moines.

    The State school for the Feeble-minded was opened at Glenwood, Mills County, in 1876. This school aims at training such children who, because of defects in body and mind, cannot be taught in public schools. Their teachers say that they like "noise and show." Some do well in music and gymnastics, but only a few in arithmetic.

The permanent State school fund

     All the public schools of the State are supported mainly by taxation. Small amounts are derived from certain fines, and from current interest on the permanent State school fund. The fund comes from the sale of public lands which the United States gave to the states to help to support the common schools. The fund amounts to almost $5,000,000. The interest on this money is apportioned annually among the public schools of the State. Some other states have much larger permanent school funds than Iowa.

Questions and Exercises: What did the school law of 1858 provide for? How did the common schools become graded? Where were the early teachers trained? What subjects were taught in the early graded schools? Explain the importance of the school law of 1896. Who must attend the elementary schools now? What is gained by consolidating school districts? How did the United States aid in the founding of the State University and the State College at Ames? Compare....

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....the present enrollments of the three State colleges? Name the special State schools and the state the purpose of each. Who was Linnie Haguewood? What is the source of the permanent State school fund?