1880s School Rules

Posted bySusan K. MarlowPosted inA Blast from the Past

This post first appeared on Andi’s old blog 11 years ago, in 2012.

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I almost got caned once, but Chad stepped in and rescued me just in time (it happened during the events of Dangerous Decision). It’s bad enough being stuck upstairs in a schoolhouse with no air conditioning (it hadn’t been invented yet and no electricity). September in California is hot!

A PEN AND INKWELL FROM 1880

But worse is this horrible list of rules that our new schoolmaster posted the very first day of school. I don’t know where he dug them up, but my brothers weren’t surprised at all (and neither was my mother). I guess many, many schools in the 1800s had all kinds of rules like the list below. (The list below is from a real-life list, The Old Sacramento Schoolhouse 1848) The first rule for Mr. Foster is “Do not be tardy.” When the bell rings the second time, we’d better be in our seats and quiet. Or else.

Or else what, you may ask? Well, gather around and I’ll tell you. Girls get their palms caned. That happened to me the very first day of school. I was humiliated into the very dust. Mostly because it wasn’t my fault. But I got blamed anyway. You can see what my hand looked like after that. This is a girl’s palm after only one strike of the cane. Mr. Foster hit my palm four times. It hurt really bad but I refused to cry. I was too angry and mortified.

And it set me up to make sure I never let that ol’ Mr. Foster cane me like a boy. Boys get it much harder! They get whipped on their backsides. Like half a dozen strokes. Cory got it after the baseball went through the window, and I could tell he couldn’t sit down very easily the rest of the day. Anyway, there are a number of rules Mr. Foster posted in our classroom.

  • Fighting at school – 5 whacks
  • Gambling at school – 4 whacks
  • Playing cards at school – 10 whacks (Johnny gets this one regularly)
  • Telling lies – 7 whacks
  • Calling each other ill (bad) names – 3
  • Climbing trees (the number of lashes for each foot up the tree) – 1
  • Swearing in school – 8 whacks
  • Misbehaving toward girls – 10 (Johnny gets this one a lot too)
  • Wearing long fingernails – 2
  • Making swings and swinging on them – 7 (Mr. Foster relented on this one)
  • Boys going to the girls’ area to play – 3 whacks (Miss Hall never enforced this one, and neither does Mr. Foster)
  • Girls going to the boys’ area to play – 3 whacks (see above)
  • Coming to school with dirty face and hands – 2
  • Calling each other “liars” – 4 whacks (Virginia never got whacked for this)
  • Wrestling at school – 4 whacks (Cory got this after fighting with Johnny)
  • Splashing each other at playtime – 2 whacks
  • Telling tales (gossiping) in school or even outside of school hours – 8 whacks

As you can see, school in 1880 is a great trial to me. Is it any wonder I’d rather stay at home and do chores? ANY kind of chores. And this is a country school. School in the city (girls’ finishing school) is even stricter. And I’m headed there soon because the Fresno Flood overran the schoolhouse and Mother insists I must continue by schooling so I don’t fall behind.

What about you? What kind of rules would you make if you were the schoolmistress back in the 1800s?

Published by Susan K. Marlow

I'm the author of the Circle C and Goldtown Adventures series. I blog as "Andi Carter," the main character in the Circle C series. She lives on a huge cattle ranch in 1880s California. These are her adventures.

22 thoughts on “1880s School Rules”

  5. Oh wow. Now I can definitely see why Andi didn’t like school!

    I am so thankful school isn’t like that anymore and I’m homeschooled. ❤️

    Hmmm…I’ll have to be thinking about a rule I would make if I were the schoolmistress.

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      2. you’re good! 😊
        I’m a freshman in high school, so I’m in 9th grade. 🙂
        The curriculum I use is Generations by Kevin Swanson. It’s amazing and for anyone else reading this, I highly recommend them. They focus God with everything and make sure that the student knows that even though things may look confusing God is still in the midst of everything and has a purpose for everything. (If anyone wants to know more, I’m happy to share!)
        Thanks for the link!!
        I used to live in Flowery Branch, Georgia (which was a tiny town) but then we moved to Belize City, Belize, a country in Central America, back in July. We are missionaries here. My dad is training several men to be pastors in hopes that they will go out and build strong churches, which, sadly, Belize City does not have at all. Like there is not a single strong church anywhere 😢.
        What about you?

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  9. Ouch! I think I’d get a fair few whacks……. I love climbing trees (Only problem is I can never get DOWN!!) And I never remember to cut my fingernails! 😂

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