Photos From traditional classrooms
in the Progressive Era
in the Progressive Era
This photo was taken in 1920 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania at The Hillstreet School. As you can see, the desks are bolted to the ground and were described as being connected to the ones behind it. The subjects that were taught at this school were math, english, spelling, art, civics and geography and sometimes sewing. A record from a former student at this elementary school talks about how she can not remember any field trips or any educational activities outside of the classroom in the elementary years. All school work was done in the classroom at the desks seen above. The classes had 20-30 students and were conducted by unqualified teachers.
This photo was thought to be taken between 1900 and 1910 in an American School. As you can see, once again the desks are connected to each other and bolted to the floor. The walls are very sparce and the classroom lacks stimulation. There looks to be about 40 students of the same age in this class and only one teacher.
This photo is from the North Stamford School in 1900. The school was located at a church and as you can see was for white students of privileged backgrounds.
This picture is from 1923, but as you can see, not much has changed in terms of the looks of the classroom. Desks are still in straight rows, bolted to the floor and have large groups of students with one teacher. Again, there is little to no stimulating material around the classroom to spark or interest the students.
This is a floor plan for a one room school house in Michigan in the late 1890's. As you can see, the plan shows rows of desks crammed together in a tight space. The teachers desk is at the front. This school stayed this way until the 1950's. School houses across the country were set up this way. As you can see from the floor plan, there was very little room to move or do activities in the classroom, especially because the desks were most likely bolted to the floor.
Photos From the Lab School
This photo shows the Textile room at Dewey's Lab school. Dewey's school was set up totally different from the "one room school house" Rooms like the Textile room allowed students to explore and do "hands on" activities.
This photo was taken at the lab school in 1904 and shows children dancing around a maypole.
This photos is from an Elementary Geography Classroom at Dewey's Laboratory School. In the center is a sandbox that offered individual experimentation with landforms, erosion etc. As you can see, there is much more "stimulation" in the classroom; from the posters on the walls to the hands on activities spread throughout the classroom, this classroom was much more interactive then the "traditional" classroom at this time.
Above is a 1901 photograph of a play house being constructed by Dewey's students. From building the school house, student's didn't just learn "trade" skills, the building of the playhouse served as a launch point for further learning exploration.
