Lessons From a One-Room Schoolhouse
Years ago, when visiting family in Iowa, my wife, Michelle, asked if we could go by an old one-room schoolhouse. She wanted to take a few pictures. Being a history nut, I was all in. That trip sparked a lasting fascination in me that continues to be fueled by the dual passions of education and nostalgia. So this summer, while again visiting family in Iowa, I asked Nanno (my wife’s grandmother), if we could go by that old schoolhouse again. My intention at the time was to take a photo that I could hang in my office. But as I walked around the simple white schoolhouse and stared into the restored interior, I found myself thinking of what teaching in such a school must have been like. Education has changed a lot since the old school bell by the back door was used to call students into class. In those days, students would settle into rows of desks and perform their work on pieces of slate. Today, students gather in pods h...