Milam C. Rowold, of Pflugerville, Texas, is co-author of a new book entitled Ringing the Children In: Texas Country Schools. Here are the voices from those schoolhouses, as the authors sought out and interviewed dozens of country school teachers and students.
The authors re-create the lost world of Texas rural education, when teachers taught and students learned the basics that everybody talks about returning to. The order of the day was strict discipline, steadfast parental support, eagerness to learn, practical jokes and pranks, physical hardships, and rigid moral codes.
Teachers...