4 ms·

The school couldn't tell from looking at him that he was closer to Kindergarten-aged (5) than 4th grade (9) !?

by jefftk 4y ago

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
darth_avocado 4y ago
The school didn’t care. They didn’t want him to repeat grades if he already knew everything. They were focussed on his development than arbitrary restrictions around age.
- SoftTalker 4y ago
  OK, but physical development is important too. Middle school would be rough as a 9/10 year old. He was 14 graduating from high school?
  - ptero 4y ago
    The "elementary/middle/high school" distinction might have been virtual. My grandfather told me that most rural schools in his time, including the one he went to, had several grades in a single room. Occasionally a single room for all students. For "elementary" grades it would be primarily by function (can read? can write? can count?) rather than age. And it would not be uncommon to have a much older kid from a poor family sit with little kids at the "cannot read" table. In this setup jumping a grade could be as simple as sitting at the next table. Can read -- go there. Can count -- one more step. Physical development came from carrying water, herding cattle, bringing and splitting firewood, etc. outside of school.
    - brewdad 4y ago
      That's a more severe version of what my child had in elementary school. To keep classes the right size, they would have a few 1st grade classes and a few 2nd grade classes and one 1st/2nd shared classroom. Repeat for each of the following years. My child was always put in the younger half of the shared classroom. After 3rd grade the principal invited them join the regular 5th grade class and skip 4th grade altogether.
      - Consultant32452 4y ago
        This arrangement is by design in some teaching styles, like Montessori. Unfortunately the Montessori schools in my area aged out after Elementary, would've loved to keep my daughter in that kind of environment.
  - vkou 4y ago
    Middle school isn't a universal thing, a lot of places have just elementary (~1-7), and high (~8-12) school. And the grades mix/don't mix on their own volition at lunch and recess, anyways.
csomar 4y ago
There was less "authority" back then. If you showed up to a school in the 1930s, they'll put you in some class. There won't be any serious paper work, no questions about where you are coming from or if you were residing near the school. The authority was manifested by the teachers/school itself rather than the state. To give you a better perspective, if you were traveling back then, border control will be the only deciding body of whether you make it or not. Nowadays, you only show up at the border if the "State" has determined that you are admissible. Border control still has a say in the matter but that's power is getting smaller and smaller. It's a paradox, because while the bureaucracy has increased and ossified, there was a lack of accountability back then. If the teacher of that school decided that you are inadmissible, you are pretty much out of option. Finally, here is an excerpt from Wikipedia to show you how much things have changed: > During World War I, European governments introduced border passport requirements for security reasons, and to control the emigration of people with useful skills. These controls remained in place after the war, becoming a standard, though controversial, procedure. British tourists of the 1920s complained, especially about attached photographs and physical descriptions, which they considered led to a "nasty dehumanisation".[19] The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act was passed in 1914, clearly defining the notions of citizenship and creating a booklet form of the passport.
StupidOne 4y ago
In my country (Croatia), post WW2 schools in rural areas were one man band. You had professor / teacher and he was in charge about anything and everything in the school. Also, note that some (if not majority) of kids were malnourished, so an older child could look like "properly developed" much younger kid. Those schools existed for two reasons: a) to teach kids how to read and write and some very basic math b) find ones with potential and connect them with benefactor to sponsor theirs more advanced education

The school couldn't tell from looking at him that he was closer to Kindergarten-aged (5) than 4th grade (9) !?

by jefftk 4y ago

The school couldn't tell from looking at him that he was closer to Kindergarten-aged (5) than 4th grade (9) !?

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

darth_avocado 4y ago

The school didn’t care. They didn’t want him to repeat grades if he already knew everything. They were focussed on his development than arbitrary restrictions around age.

SoftTalker 4y ago
OK, but physical development is important too. Middle school would be rough as a 9/10 year old. He was 14 graduating from high school?
- ptero 4y ago
  The "elementary/middle/high school" distinction might have been virtual. My grandfather told me that most rural schools in his time, including the one he went to, had several grades in a single room. Occasionally a single room for all students. For "elementary" grades it would be primarily by function (can read? can write? can count?) rather than age. And it would not be uncommon to have a much older kid from a poor family sit with little kids at the "cannot read" table. In this setup jumping a grade could be as simple as sitting at the next table. Can read -- go there. Can count -- one more step. Physical development came from carrying water, herding cattle, bringing and splitting firewood, etc. outside of school.
  - brewdad 4y ago
    That's a more severe version of what my child had in elementary school. To keep classes the right size, they would have a few 1st grade classes and a few 2nd grade classes and one 1st/2nd shared classroom. Repeat for each of the following years. My child was always put in the younger half of the shared classroom. After 3rd grade the principal invited them join the regular 5th grade class and skip 4th grade altogether.
    - Consultant32452 4y ago
      This arrangement is by design in some teaching styles, like Montessori. Unfortunately the Montessori schools in my area aged out after Elementary, would've loved to keep my daughter in that kind of environment.
- vkou 4y ago
  Middle school isn't a universal thing, a lot of places have just elementary (~1-7), and high (~8-12) school. And the grades mix/don't mix on their own volition at lunch and recess, anyways.

csomar 4y ago

There was less "authority" back then. If you showed up to a school in the 1930s, they'll put you in some class. There won't be any serious paper work, no questions about where you are coming from or if you were residing near the school. The authority was manifested by the teachers/school itself rather than the state. To give you a better perspective, if you were traveling back then, border control will be the only deciding body of whether you make it or not. Nowadays, you only show up at the border if the "State" has determined that you are admissible. Border control still has a say in the matter but that's power is getting smaller and smaller. It's a paradox, because while the bureaucracy has increased and ossified, there was a lack of accountability back then. If the teacher of that school decided that you are inadmissible, you are pretty much out of option. Finally, here is an excerpt from Wikipedia to show you how much things have changed: > During World War I, European governments introduced border passport requirements for security reasons, and to control the emigration of people with useful skills. These controls remained in place after the war, becoming a standard, though controversial, procedure. British tourists of the 1920s complained, especially about attached photographs and physical descriptions, which they considered led to a "nasty dehumanisation".[19] The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act was passed in 1914, clearly defining the notions of citizenship and creating a booklet form of the passport.

StupidOne 4y ago

In my country (Croatia), post WW2 schools in rural areas were one man band. You had professor / teacher and he was in charge about anything and everything in the school. Also, note that some (if not majority) of kids were malnourished, so an older child could look like "properly developed" much younger kid. Those schools existed for two reasons: a) to teach kids how to read and write and some very basic math b) find ones with potential and connect them with benefactor to sponsor theirs more advanced education