Discussions

Today in Brandon you can still meet people who attended “One Room Schools”. You may also find a Retired Teacher who taught in one. In the days when transportation was scarce and inconvenient many One-Room Schools dotted the area around Brandon. To make schooling accessible to all children, at least in the primary grades travel by foot was the norm and therefore schools had to be with in walking distance of the junior student. Faced with this situation many local School Divisions were established, and they were responsible for their own Schools and the employment of their own Schoolteachers. Teachers in the early 1900’s were expected to be the finest, honest, celibate, single, teetotal, smoke and tobacco free, dress only in drab colours, wear natural coloured hair, wear at least two petticoats with the dress not any shorter than two inches above the ankle. The Farmers who supported the Schools were dirt poor and so they could not employ a Custodian, this then became part of the duties of the Teacher, but she often conscripted the services of a student to help out. To fill the school, each Grade would only have one or two Students in it, and so the Teacher would have to prepare a lesson each day for each child. The teachers also had to organize Christmas Concerts, Field Days, School Picnics, and all other extra curricular activities. This sounds a lot of work by today’s standards, but Teachers were not allowed to associate with men, and had to be home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 am, so without television they probably were happy to do something to pass the time. Truancy was a constant problem for Teachers because it was difficult to keep to the syllabus when students missed a lot of days. It was difficult to enlist Parents help with this problem because they were the ones who required the children to help with chores and to augment the work force in the field at harvest time. When these absences were finished the students, mainly boys were expected to catch up on their missed studies. The teacher accepted this fact of life and coped as best they could, as did the Farm boys involved.  
If a student should wish to advance above the elementary grades a trip to the city was required. This put a terrific strain on the student as well as the family. Daily travel for the rural student was impossible and so the only way to attend High School was to find Room and Board in Brandon. This not only involved added expense, but also removed a valuable working member of the family. Many chose to end their education at Grade eight.  
For the Students who were able to come to Brandon, they were welcome to attend in 1909 the Brandon Collegiate Institute, B.C.I. it had ten classrooms, an auditorium, and its own gymnasium. The collegiate operated until 1974, I taught there in its last year, Mr. M. Bohonos was the principle, it was renamed New Era School.  
To attend B.C.I. a student had to pass an entrance exam. Once accepted the student had to pay a monthly fee to the Brandon School Board, it was collected by the Principle. When Mr. McDougall was principle he would not let girls play Basketball if he thought boys would be present in the Gym. The girls Basket Ball uniform consisted of “bloomers” and “middies”, clothing he thought was suitable for playing sports, but not suitable for mixed company. The bloomers stretched all the way down to the ankles, and even though no flesh was exposed, Mr. McDougall believed the shape of the girl’s limbs would be revealed.  
All teachers maintained discipline and school regulations, and punishment was given out to the fullest extent when required. Chewing gum in class was the most common infraction, but smoking on school grounds would merit the strap. In 1900, two boys were suspended indefinitely from school for leaving school premises to attend a Public Bar in a City Hotel to drink with adult friends. Most students Graduated and joined Brandon’s work force, some continued their education at nearby Brandon College, or the Wheat City Business College, and some entered the Normal School to train as teachers.  
 
Source: The Way We Were. Gary D. Palmer.