Everyday School Life at Genet

The main subjects were Math, History (Social Studies), Science, and English. Girls took Home Ec. and boys had Wood Shop. The kids had textbooks for all of those subjects. They also had to have a composition book, a pencil, and an eraser. Other books that you needed were a Geography and Vocabulary book. Students also might study Printing and Writing, Grammar, Geography, and Health. They had Music, Gym, and Art. For library they would just go there and pick out a book they wanted to read. They had a study hall to get homework done. The kids had to sit according to grade in earlier times. They had 35-45 minutes for each subject. They had tests and quizzes. The kids needed at least a D to pass. They also needed a certain amount of credits to graduate. The first graduating class was in 1941.

There was a band and a marching parade and sometimes they would go on field trips to farms to help pick fruits and vegetables for the farmers.

They had holidays off such as Washington's birthday one year and Lincoln's off the next year and they would alternate. They had a couple of days off for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and New Year's. They also had summer vacation.

This picture shows an Easter Egg Hunt

Have a Fun Day When You Go Out to Play

They had outdoor recess unless it was raining, then they would play in the gym. If the grounds were muddy they would play in the front of the school. They might play tag and running games and baseball in earlier years. In later years they would play softball and touch football. They also had a large swing. If there was a fight, the punishment was getting cracked across the hands, staying after school to do chores, or they would have to write five hundred times: I won't fight in school anymore. Other discipline was detention or suspension depending on your record. They might just have to miss their next sports game. They might have to do an extra assignment or just help out. If they were really bad they might have to sit in front of the Principal's office and get spanked. If they were chewing gum they might have to go out into the hall and put the gum on their nose and just stand there.

For lunch they served hot dogs, hamburgers, sandwiches, and soup. They could buy tickets so they wouldn't have to pay right away when they get their lunch. They would give the ticket to the lunch lady.

When the kids were older they had dances like the Sophomore Hop, the Junior Prom, and the Senior Ball.

While World War II was going on they had practice air raid drills. You would have to go out into the woods where there was a path and stand there until it was all right to go into the building. They had those drills in case the school might be bombed. It looked like a factory from above.

Sometimes girls stopped going to school if someone died or if a person in the family was very ill. Boys would also stop to help on the farm. Boys would go to school in the middle of October because of harvest time. In high school girls would sometimes drop out and boys would stay.

Today: conferencing in the computer lab

Now things are mostly the same like the subjects. The discipline is different. We don't write on the board: I won't fight in school anymore. We don't get cracked on the hands. We can get detention and suspension. Now we also have more technology like computers, better televisions, etc. We also sometimes have playgrounds for recess. Girls get to go to college and boys don't have to work on farms so they can go to school. We now have President's Day instead of Washington's and Lincoln's. We have more days off of school. We start and end school at about the same time.

Everyday School Life at Genet

Have a Fun Day When You Go Out to Play

By Megan and Sarah