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The Old School
In 1969, in the Anthracite Coal Region of Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Dickson City, Olyphant, and Throop school districts merged to become the Mid-Valley School District. Soon afterward plans were made to build the new Mid-Valley Junior-Senior High School. The plans were put on hold indefinitely. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry condemned the elementary schools in Olyphant and Dickson City and ordered them closed. Some residents wanted a new school built; others wanted the old schools renovated. Lively debate ensued.
This book has two parts, History and Memoir. The History part of the book consists of factual data about the schools of Olyphant from 1855 through 1969. This is background information for the Memoir part of the book. This is a narrative about the author’s public school education starting in 1969 with kindergarten, and concluding with graduation in 1982. He also includes an Epilogue with a snapshot of the current status of items discussed.
http://www.thebookpatch.com/BookStore...
This book has two parts, History and Memoir. The History part of the book consists of factual data about the schools of Olyphant from 1855 through 1969. This is background information for the Memoir part of the book. This is a narrative about the author’s public school education starting in 1969 with kindergarten, and concluding with graduation in 1982. He also includes an Epilogue with a snapshot of the current status of items discussed.
http://www.thebookpatch.com/BookStore...
200 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2015
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August 8, 2023
While the few general histories of education tend to be replete with errors, oversights, and the curse of presentism, labor-of-love hyper-local histories can be great. This is one of the latter. You can tell from the author's attention to minor details that he is an engineer, and if those minor details are not what you are looking for, you'd not be reading this history/memoir of Pennsylvania's Mid-Valley School District.
Also, in a When Worlds Collide sort of way, there's a very valuable piece of information Klapatch has in regards to the resolution of the fight between Pennsylvania and the separate Amish school system that was set up after rural consolidation wiped out the local one-room schoolhouses. More details when I can dig up Kraybill's The Riddle of Amish Culture, but the short version is that what looks like a peculiar set of requirements made up for the 8th grade Amish graduates of the 1950s was, in fact, a revival of the old set of requirements for 8th grade graduates of regular Pennsylvania schools in the early 1900s.
Also, in a When Worlds Collide sort of way, there's a very valuable piece of information Klapatch has in regards to the resolution of the fight between Pennsylvania and the separate Amish school system that was set up after rural consolidation wiped out the local one-room schoolhouses. More details when I can dig up Kraybill's The Riddle of Amish Culture, but the short version is that what looks like a peculiar set of requirements made up for the 8th grade Amish graduates of the 1950s was, in fact, a revival of the old set of requirements for 8th grade graduates of regular Pennsylvania schools in the early 1900s.
Displaying 1 of 1 review