When we think of schools today, I think most of envision the standard classroom with one teacher and 30 or so students, a chalkboard or white board, desks , bulletin board, playground, and so on. But while I was conducting research for my first book Chalkboard Champions, I learned a great deal about various types of schools that I had never heard about in my 36 years as a teacher. Industrial schools, emancipation schools, farm schools, normal schools, specialist schools. In our nation’s past there were many types of schools that didn’t look like the picture I have described above. One type of school I learned about that I found particularly intriguing is the farm school.

A farm school was a boarding school which primarily served teen-aged boys. These schools were most often established by missions or charitable organizations during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The purpose of the farm school was to care for orphans and homeless youth, while simultaneously giving these youngsters the opportunity to learn a marketable skill which would enable them to find employment on farms in the Midwest or the South.

The farm school provided housing, food, and medical care. In addition to room and board, the school offered training in agricultural skills, and in fundamental literacy skills in such subjects as reading, writing, and mathematics.