The county supported
education reform to keep current. By 1875, 188 schools had been
built, with 203 classrooms and 7,200 students. There were also private
seminaries, academies, and select schools.
Callensburg Institute
was chartered in 1858.
"Clarion County's Earliest Elementary Schools,
1803-1834" -- When the county was settled in 1801, no schools
existed in what is now Clarion County. Early pioneers
built a school house in 1803 on lands of Philip Clover
in what is now Clarion Township. In 1812, a school
was opened where Strattonville Road now stands.
"Teachers of
the earliest schools were generally Scots-Irish, while many of the settlers
of Pennsylvania were German. From 1840-1850, a number of Yankee
teachers from Connecticut and Vermont
taught in Clarion County. They were among the
first to advocate the use of blackboards in schools.
"The common schools
were known as subscription schools and were usually started by an enterprising
man in the community, who had children to educate. He would call
a meeting of his neighbors and the result would be the appointment of
a board of trustees. Then they would build a school house, determine
the number of pupils to attnd, fix the 'tuition,' and employ a teacher.
A location for a school would be agreed upon and a committee appointed
to make arrangements for the construction of a building. On the
appointed day, both old and young would gather at the appointed place
and participate in the construction of their school house. The
women brought food, and the men brought axes, saws, and other needed
tools. It was a happy holiday for these pioneers, as well as a
day of hard work.
"The salary of
the teachers was about $12 per month. Sometimes, teachers were
paid in rye, which they, in turn, sold to the distillers. Requirements
of the schoolmaster were that he could read, write, and cypher as far
as the 'double rule of three.'
"Discipline in
early schools was severe, and frequiently undue punishment was administered
for trivial offenses. The rod was used sparingly. One pupil
was often required to carry an offender around the room on his back,
while the teacher would administer the flogging! For mild offenses,
a stick, split at one end, was made fast to the victim's nose or ear,
after which he was made to jump over benches and run around the room.
"Extracts
from School Laws of 1849: Schools must be kept open at least
three months per year. Neither school directors nor teachers can
compel scholars to chop wood for the school house. A clock in
a school room, so placed that every child may see the hour, has very
important uses. It is not unlike the 'mile stone' to the traveler.
It is an encouragement to theweary and a reproof to the laggard.
"Old foggyism
prevails to a great extent among the teachers in the Iron County,
and many of them, forgetting that this is an age of progres, still follow
the old system of 20 years ago. Many school directors, in hiring
a teacher, follow precisely the same course they would in purchasing
a horse; i.e., get him as low as possible."
About Clarion County 
