As a grade school student, one of my favorite field trips was spending a day attending the one-room school at a local historical site. My friends and I would pack our noontime meal in lunch buckets, dress in aprons and bonnets, and participate in a spelling bee at the close of the day.
But our lessons in the classroom covered more than just the three Rs. Often, the teacher would explain the types of trouble that students of old would get into, and the consequences they would receive for such behavior. To demonstrate, my friend Teresa got her braid “dipped” in the inkwell by a “naughty” boy, who was then sent to the corner to wear the dunce cap, while my friend Amy once had to play the antsy girl who had to stand at the blackboard, nose to a chalk circle, to teach her to remain still.
