Abstract

The school built circa 1900 is nestled in a wedge of land between two dirt roads. The white clapboard building, which serves about 25 Amish children in grades 1-8, has a combination wood/coal stove, unpainted wood floors, and four sets of large single pane windows on each side of the school. The unheated porch serves as a site to place personal belongings such as boots, coats, and lunch pails. Four rows of desks face the front of the classroom and the teacher's desk. The one-room school has no electricity. Most of the public would assume that the above is a historical portrayal of a one-room school of the early 1900s. Instead, it is a description of an Amish school in Holmes County, Ohio, June 2000. The school is similar in both structure and instruction to that of many public one-room schools in the United States in the early 1900s. In fact, this structure was originally built and utilized as a public one-room school.

How to Cite:

Dewalt, M. W., (2001) “The Growth of Amish Schools in the United States”, Journal of Research in Rural Education 17(2), 122–124.

Rights: Copyright