A study of a small school in the mountains of Virginia
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After studying various aspects of the Lambsburg School – its physical and social environment, plant, curriculum, faculty, students, homes represented, holding power, position in the community, parents’ organization, dietary provisions, athletics, and outcomes – there emerged a general picture of the school somewhat as follows:
The school was situated in a mountainous section, favored by a temperate climate, and inhabited by indigenous folk living on farms in dwellings of a modest construction. Its community was seen as one which was not self-sustaining, in that many of its inhabitants were impelled to take employment elsewhere, some as skilled workers in one or another of the factories located outside the community and others as unskilled day laborers. Its history was continuous with a former institution, an academy which had been housed in a building destroyed by fire in 1916. Its growth was traceable by means of the evolution of its physical plant: from a two-room beginning to a building of approximately two and one-half times as large; including four classrooms, a lunchroom, a stage, and a combination office-library.
Its typical teacher was a woman who had attended school in Carroll County, who had studied at a nearby teachers’ college maintained by the State, whose stay at Lambsburg School tended to be no longer than three years, whose work was influenced but little by any supervision of instruction, and who tended to solve her own problems without administrative or supervisory aid.
The typical Lambsburg School pupil had already advanced farther in school, or could be reasonably expected to do so, than had his parents. He was a healthy person who took part in a variety of school experiences. His was of normal native ability, but his achievement in subject matter was before national norms. He accepted responsibilities readily at school and was considered trustworthy by his teachers. He tended, after entering the upper elementary grades, to make tentative plans for the future.