Model Rural School - Alumni - Truman State University

Almost everyone has heard the story from a
relative or two recounting life growing up on a
farm and how many miles he or she walked to
their country schoolhouse. Driving through
the countryside today, one can still spot these
distinctive little white buildings, though most
are now abandoned. Back in the early 1900s,
University President John R. Kirk’s crusade
for a complete and practical rural schoolhouse
helped change the course of rural education.
A horse-drawn covered
wagon collected children
from around rural Adair
County and delivered them
to and from the Model
Rural School House that
was built on the University
grounds in 1907. The building
burned down in 1937.

Nowadays, Truman State University is known as a public liberal arts and
sciences institution, but in the fall of 1899 when John R. Kirk became the
fifth president of the University, the primary mission of the college was to
prepare teachers to teach in public schools. Having attended a rural school
as a young boy and then working in the field of education as an adult, Kirk
recognized the shortcomings of many of the rural schools in existence at
that time.
A contemporary quoted in University President Walter Ryle’s Centennial
History book provides this grim description of the typical rural schoolhouse
at that time in history: “The box-car type of building erected without any
consideration for the health and comfort of children; surroundings, a small
yard, bleak and bare...unequipped laboratory and library; short terms; illpaid
teachers; irregular attendance; antiquated and inefficient curriculum.”
Kirk’s dream was to remedy this situation by establishing country schools
with well-equipped facilities that provided opportunities for students that
were equivalent to those available in the city schools.
While serving as state superintendent of public schools during the 1890s
before becoming president of the University, Kirk had traveled throughout
Missouri and other states and had searched for an example of a rural
school that could serve as a model for others. Not finding what he considered
the ideal rural school, he began a series of experiments eventually
devising his own plans for a school building, as well as modernized educational
programming designed specifically for rural students. His plans took
into consideration how to build the school economically and efficiently, and
how to also provide for modern conveniences such as electricity, gas, and
hot and cold running water in buildings that would be constructed away
from town.
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The Model Rural School House was located south of the Kirk
Building, seen on the left side of the photo below.
Based on Kirk’s plans, a Model Rural School was erected
on the University grounds near the south entrance of the
Kirk Building, and the school opened its doors in 1907 to
a class of 28 students. “The building differs materially in
appearance, both inside and outside, from the old style
country school house,” wrote E.M. Violette, who served as
a member of the University faculty from 1900-1923 and
who wrote a paper about the rural school built on campus.
“Instead of presenting a forbidding aspect as does the old
style type with its low roof, its single entrance in the middle
of the front end, and its windows along the two sides, this
Model Rural School House appears inviting and suggests at
the outset commodiousness and style as well as utility. . .”
In his paper, Violette also provides a detailed description
of the school that illustrates Kirk’s meticulous attention to
details. “The school room, which is 22 x 27 feet, is
arranged so that the pupils sit facing the east to receive
the light over their left shoulders from windows in the
north wall,” wrote Violette, who also notes that inquiries
came from far and near concerning the school. Journalists
and educators from around the country visited Kirksville to
see Kirk’s plan in action, and as a result, many school
buildings in Missouri and other states were patterned after
the school.
“I believe schools all over the country used his curriculum
and operations model; one of the most prominent was
Porter Rural School just outside of Kirksville,” says Elaine
Doak, head of Special Collections/archivist at Truman’s
Pickler Memorial Library. “Marie Turner Harvey, who ran
our model school for a time, went to Porter and revamped
it according to what was done here.”
The Porter School was operated from 1907 until 1967,
and the Adair County Public Library has a collection of
materials that records the school’s history. The description
for the Porter School Collection says, “Progressives
searched for ways to address the new problems in society
created by the rapid industrial expansion of the late 19th
century. Progressive programs shared the common belief
that environment is the primary influence on behavior.
Porter School became a demonstration of the progressives’
commitment to education as a way of restoring vitality
to rural America. . .”
Rick Riley, a 1974 Truman alumnus attended the Porter
School from 1957 to 1965, and remembers how they
had grades one through eight in one classroom. “We usually
averaged around 28 or 30 students with three or four
students in each grade,” says Riley. His teacher, Marlene
Winslow, would go around and spend individual time with
each class throughout the day. “One group might have
reading with the Dick and Jane and Spot books in the
morning, and another group might have algebra and
math or spelling in the afternoon,” says Riley.
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The rural schools became a part of the rural community,
and Riley recalls the parents attending meetings at Porter
School while the children played outside. “There’s a lot of
history there and lots of fun memories,” says Riley, who
feels fortunate that he had the opportunity to attend
Porter School for his first eight years of schooling. “I
came to school in town for the ninth grade, and I was
really pretty much prepared, maybe even better prepared
than others,” says Riley.
“Teachers and students at these schools formed strong
communities of learners, and there were opportunities for
cross-age teaching and peer tutoring - teachers knew their
students well and made instructional decisions on the
spot,” says Sam Minner, head of the Division of
Education at Truman. “On the down side, in some cases
teachers in these schools knew little about some disciplines
- no one is an expert in everything - but it was a
problem if your teacher was great in literature, but at a
loss in math.” Minner says another drawback was professional
isolation for the teacher.
As time passed by, the need for these small rural schoolhouses
began to diminish. “The demise of the one-room
school was caused by many things, but chief among them
was an interest in providing American students with a
broader range of subjects,” says Minner, who notes that
one-room schoolhouse teachers not only taught, but they
served as janitors and disciplinarians. In an attempt to
professionalize teaching, others were ultimately hired to
do some of these non-teaching tasks. In addition, Jeff
Gall, associate professor of history, says that better roads
in the 1920s and beyond made it possible to consolidate
schools. “Educators believed they could pool resources of
local schools and create a far superior model – they were
probably right.”
Like so many other rural schoolhouses, the Model
Rural School on campus represented a passing phase
in American education. “They stopped using the building
as a school during or shortly after World War I,” says
Doak. The original building burned down in 1937, and
another building, constructed on the same site, was later
sold and moved.
The Model Rural School
was designed in response
to a growing movement to
improve the educational
environment in the country
schools during the early
1900s. Modern conveniences
were factored into
the design that also considered
the comfort of the
students. Adjustable desks
made it possible to accommodate
the various age
groups, and care was
taken to position the desks
to take advantage of the
natural sunlight that
streamed in through the
windows.
University President John R. Kirk carried a dollhouse-sized
replica of the Model Rural School on speaking tours. The
demonstration model could be disassembled so that Kirk
could explain the details of his design.
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