School
has changed dramatically during the last 100 years. They only went to school a few months
a year. It started at October 15th and ended at December 1st, and
then from March 15th to May 1st. In between these months there was
something called "omgangsskole". A teacher came to one of the pupil's house and
held lessons there. All the other pupils also gathered there.
There was about ten pupils in each class, boys and girls were separated in the classroom. Every morning they started school by singing hymns and reading from Martin Luther’s
catechism.
R
eading was the most important way of learning at school. They read from Martin Luther’s catechism and Mr. Pontoppidans interpretation of this. Later a reading book entered the school. All textbooks were written in Danish. This written language was very different from our dialect, and the questions about getting an own written language was very usual.They went to school 36 hours a week and the subjects they had were Christianity, Norwegian oral, Norwegian written, Mathematics, nature’s knowledge, history, geography and music.
In the classroom there was an oven and an oil-lamp. Two and two pupils shared one desk. Under the desk-lid there was a shelf for each pupil. The desk had a hole for an inkpot. They wrote on a blackboard with chock. In the middle of the day they had a one-hour break. The teacher had a "spitpot" filled with spoon nearby, so when the teacher wanted chewing tobacco, he lifted the lid, so the pupils wouldn’t see it.
Punishment
A law-suggestion in 1881 about teacher's limited access to punish the children caused a lot of arguing. In the middle of this fight it had been said that it wasn't unusual to punish the pupils, in a way which caused injury for the rest of their lives. The local education had to decide whether it was illegal to punish the pupils or not. Where permission was granted, should punishment only take place after consolation together with their principal. Girls at the age of ten or older could not be punished. It was the parents who got punishment if their children scowled. It was punished with a fine. The reason for not attending classes, was usually louse, itching, epidemic or they had to work at home.
Teachers
A strict teacher was usually taken for a good teacher, if only he was fair and didn't favour any pupils. From his place behind his tall master's desk he controlled everything what was going on in the classroom, masterful and with his professional authority. A highly distinguished teacher-type that often had a call to become a teacher in the rural district, had a wide cultural field of interests on a national and Christian basis. He also made himself actively present in idealistic community strengthening work also beside school, - in politics, church, and volunteer organisations.