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I have a picture of the full enrollment, all ten of us, at Wildhorse School in Savageton, Wyoming, taken about 72 years ago. The building was long since ready for kindling. The postoffice, which rested in a country store, is closed.Three taller girls in the back row are my two classmates and me. We were the only ones in our class for those eight years, and we graduated high school together in 1940. The younger children were all our siblings.
Our teacher was certified to teach all 8 grades. If necessary she (occasionally he) was also expected to monitor high school examinations if there happened to be any local students taking freshman and sophomore years by correspondence. During the last three years of grade school, we were given state tests in core subjects, which in those days included agriculture.
No one had money to speak of in the 1930s. But Wyoming financing was better than surrounding states, because Wyoming inherited federal land when it became a state. It set aside 2 sections of every township to be leased, rents from which were used for schools. A section is a mile square. It takes 36 of them to make a township. Things are much better today because of energy exploitation. Taxes are low because of a severance tax from the minerals extracted.
Our high school in Gillette was the thing we wanted to achieve. To do so, country kids had to board and room in town, and that was expensive. I took the first two years in town, but crops failed terribly in the fall of 38 and there was just no way my parents could pay. Because I maintained a good GPA the superintendent made an exception and allowed me to take my junior year by correspondence. All would have run smoother if I had not insisted on continuing with Latin. I couldn't cut translating the classics. So I was short a credit when I got back for my senior year, which stands out as more memorable than most of my college experiences.
This little story stops with basic learning. I had it good. It turned out I found a way to go to college. If I hadn't, I would have returned to high school for a year of teacher training. At the end I would have earned a provisional certificate to take over in a school similar to the one I describe here. And I would have driven long distances and taught all grades, living in the schoolhouse when weather made the roads impassible.
