Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentified CYKO postcard back school portrait. Itbwas probably taken about 1905bas the boys are wearing knee pants. Thy look to be about 13-year old which was the final year of an 8-year elementary school which was common at the time. The boys are all wearing suits, except for one boy wearingb a sailor suit. All that we can see with kneeopants. Three girls wear sailor dresses. They are also wearing long black stockings. We are not sure who the older individuals at the back were. One might be a teacher, but we suspect they are older students. This was sometime the case as farm boys might be kept at home for extended periods to help on the farm. Thus they often took longer to finish their schooling.

Age 13 years was the last year for many American children to attend school. In he 19th and early 20th century, many if not most children attended 8-year primaries. And most children did not go on to high school until well into the 20th century. Of course a factor here was that until the 1920s, most Americans lived in rural areas. And thus if even they wanted to, there was not a nearby high school that they could attend. We do not have a great deal of information on the 19th century, but by the 1890s we do begin to see images as school photography was becoming an established tradution. Most teenagers, even younger teens, were wearing long pants in the 1870s, but by the 1880s, knee panys were becoming more important and by the 90s we see 13 year olds wearing knee pants to school. After the turn of the 20th century, knee pants were standard school wear for 13 year olds, except in rural areaas. Boys shifted to knickers in the late-1900s decade and knickers were standard school wear during the 1910s and 20s for 12 year olds. This began to change as we see more and more boys wearing long pants in the 1930s, especially the late-30s. Elementary school was becoming standardized at six grades. School wear was becoming increasingly more formal. Most 13-year olds were wearing long pants to school in the 1940s. There were also shifts in school organization, depending on the state. Children 10-13 years old (5th-8th grade) might be assigned to middle or junior high schools to ease the transition between elementary and high schools. We see athletic type shorts becoming popular in elementary school during the 1970s, but 13-year olds generally wore long pants withn some regional/seasonal variation.

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Created: 6:54 PM 12/13/2023
Last updated: 6:55 PM 12/13/2023