Life in US, 1917 Delaware

From Delmarva.com: Makeshift buildings used for schools
"Delaware had dilapidated and unsanitary school buildings, almost no equipment, an attendance which made a mockery of the supposed compulsory provisions, and teachers many of whom had not even a high school education," a state commission appointed in 1917 found. "About one-fourth of them were under 21 years of age, 43 were 18 years old and nine were only 17."

In the late 18th century, Delaware had a slipshod system of education. The wealthy hired private tutors for their children and the rest of the population pooled their resources to hire teachers who used makeshift buildings to serve as schools. William Morgan, a native of Northwest Fork Hundred who attended one of these schools, recalled.

"I was sent to school in my sixth year, had to go about a mile and a half in winter, as there were no summer schools at that time in the neighborhood.

The house the school was kept in was (built of) pine slabs, notched up, and covered with boards and slabs, a hole cut in the top of the roof at one end to let out the smoke. The fire being made on the ground, with a back of bricks and clay, three or four high to keep the fire from burning the house. As to windows, we could do very well without any, for we could see through the cracks between the slabs and have as much air as we wanted."

In the 19th century, educational reformer Willard Hall introduced a number of improvements into the Delaware school system, but the state remained divided into more than 400 independent school districts. At the dawn of the 20th century, many of these districts operated a single school that contained only one classroom. In 1919, the New York Times reported, "The truth is the district system represents pioneer conditions. It goes back to the time when an isolated group, desiring some sort of school for its children, pooled its meager resources in order to establish a neighborhood school."

The deplorable condition of public education in Delaware convinced businessman Pierre du Pont to lead a drive to modernize the state's school system. He advocated consolidating the state's 424 separate school districts into a more manageable system, but the plan caused an uproar across the state. In Sussex County, du Pont's consolidation plan was attacked as autocratic, undemocratic, and downright un-American. One of the chief complaints of the school reform effort was that it reduced the number of people with the power to make decisions, and that, some people believed, robbed parents of control of their schools.

In a bitterly fought battle, many of du Pont's reforms were enacted into law by 1919, but the opponents of educational reform had not surrendered. When critics pointed to the high cost of building schools fit for the 20th century, du Pont countered by donating $2 million to replace some of the dilapidated buildings that were being used for schools. When opponents of the reform plan claimed that teachers could not afford additional training, du Pont funded 60 free scholarships to further the education of teachers. At that time, Delaware operated a dual school system: one for white students and another for black students. When some white residents objected to being taxed to fund schools for black students, du Pont agreed to build every schoolhouse needed for Delaware's black population.

Due to du Pont's bold efforts, the Delaware school system was modernized. Students could attend 20th century schools that were no longer built of "pine slabs, notched up, and covered with boards and slabs, a hole cut at the top of the roof at one end to let out the smoke."