|
|
Article: Good old Golden Rule days.(history of schools in Detroit)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Detroiter
- Article date:
- May 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Detroit Regional Chamber. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
For more than 125 years after Detroit's founding, the education of its youth was largely a catch-as-catch-can proposition. Those who could afford the tuition sent their children to private schools. Those who couldn't simply did without.
The earliest forerunners of the modern school system were the "common" schools - for boys only - that first appeared in Detroit in the 1830s. Male teachers were paid $30 a month and female teachers $18. Female teachers had to be unmarried, though no such prohibition applied to their male counterparts.
Classes were held in churches, stores and other makeshift locations, and eight years of schooling was deemed sufficient. ...