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The idea of wearing school uniforms never became accepted in America, at least in the public schools. In this regard, it was not unlike England. English state primary schools did not require uniforms. Most private schools, both public schools and prep schools did require uniforms. In this regard, many of the exclusive private schools in America following the British system, also adopted school uniforms, but this was a relatively small number of exclusive schools. Parochial schools did not require uniforms. Younger boys wore quite a variety of outfit, even fancy suits like Little Lord Fauntleroy suits. Boys also wear sailor suits, but mostly city boys. Most boys in cities came to school in suits. In rural areas schoolwear was more varied. A lot of boys wore blouses and knee pants. Almost all American boys wore knee pants to school, although knickers were becoming popular by the end of the decade. Bib-overalls were commonly worn by workers and we think farmers. We do not see boys in rural areas wearing them to school until the end of the decade and almost etirely in rural areas. We do not know why this development ocurred so suddenly. Boys in the cities mostly wore high-top shoes. In rural areas many boys in warm weather came to school barefoot. America made a major demographic shift in the 1900s. Slightly over half of the population lived in urban areas. Still the rural population was very substantial.
American Children in the late-19th century tended to dress up for school. We see a lot of children weraring suits to school. Children had far smaller wardrobes at the time. And suitswere a far more common item thanis the case with modrrn children. We see boys commonly wearing suits at many schools, even elementary (primary) scgools, but this varied from school to school. The idea of wearing school uniforms never became accepted in America, at least in the public schools. In this regard, it was not unlike England. English state primary schools did not require uniforms. Most private schools, both public schools and prep schools, however, did commonly require uniforms. Many early British prep schools did not require uniforms, but by the turn of the 20th century this had changed. And many of the exclusive private schools in America following the British system, also adopted school uniforms, but this was a relatively small number of exclusive schools. Parochial schools did not require uniforms and were still limited in number. The variations in schoolwear were largely economic and regional. Interestngly the differences between rural and urban schools were mot as pronounced as they would become in the 1910s when overalls would become a virtual standard iniform atn rural schools. untill the 1910s, avtually the last few years of the 1900s decade, we still see rural boys dressing up for school. The girls did not wear overalls, but pinafores were common at some schools.
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Most American children began school at age 6 years. There were some kindergartens for 5 year olds, butb not verybmany. We see also see some younger boys at regular primaries, especially in rural areas where teachers might allow younger brothers and susters to tag along with older siblings. Younger boys just beginning school wore quite a variety of outfit, even outfits with Little Lord Fauntleroy touches. This style was going out of fashion in the 1900s, but we still see some in the early-1900s. We see many younger boys wearing button-on outfits like the boy here (figure 1). Blouses with large collars were also common. Sailor suits were a popular choice. Most younger and even tnagers knee pants with long stockings, usally black. We begin to see knickjers at the end of the decade, also worn with long stockings. Many American schools were eiight year elementary schools--1dst08thbgrade. Most children dud not go beyond these 8 years. Secondary schools meaning high schools existed, This was a 4 year porogram for both 9th-12th grade. It was mostly middle-class children that attended the highh schools m. Attendance was incresing, but was still a minority of children. First day portraits were not as common in America as in Germany, but a wealth of school photography provides derailed information on how chikldren dressed for school in the 1900s decade. As most schools were coeducational we have an extendsive record for both boys and girls.
American boys with only a few exceptions did not wear uniforms to school. Many mothers dressed up the children for school, but they did not wear uniforms. So the fashions we see at school were the populsar fashions of the day. We see major changes in boys' headweat at the turn of the 20th century. This was a process that was onservable in the 1890s, but was even more pronounced in the 1900s. Boys in the 19th century mostly wore hats, but in the 20th century they mostly wore caps. This major shift took place around the turn of the century anbd was clearly observable by the 1900s. Hats becanme seen as formal wear. We seem some younger boys wearing wide-brimmed hats, but not so much to school and the fashion was going out of style. It was much more common in the 1890s. Another major change that took place around was the long established convention if younger boys wearing skirted grments like their sisters. This was a childhood fashion convention for centurties, including the 19th cnentury. This began to change in the late-19th centuty. We are not entireky sure why. We suspect it had to do with the Fauntleroy Craze, but that is only a guess. Public eduvation was also involved. American boys rarely wore skirted garments to school. This essentialy placed definitive limits on wearing skirted garments and ultimately helped a well-entrenched fashion convention. Children still commonly dressed up for school in the 1900s. We see a varirty of suits. There were some styles for younger boys. They varies in their perceive suitabilty for school. We see boys wearing a variety of juvenile suits to school in the 1900s. Fauntleroy suits were not very common at school, although we see a few younger boys wearing them. Fauntleroy elements, however, were observable. The Fauntleroy craze, however, was declining during the decde. Boys also wore sailor suits in the 1900s, especially city boys. And this style was not declining, it was still very popular. We ee all kinds of permutations of the sailor style. They were worn by boys in primry (elementary) school to about 10 years old or about. This was a little youngwr than was common in Europe. We see older gurls wearing sailor outfits, but not boys. Most boys in cities came to school in suits. Boys commonly wore regular suits and ties. We see both single- and double-breasted jackets. In rural areas schoolwear was more varied. A lot of boys wore blouses. We don't get to se much of the shirts and bloses worn because so many mays wore suit jackets covering up ghe sirts and blouses. We can tell about the wrist cuffs that they were long sleeved shirts. We note that girls dresses had elbow-length sleeces, but the boy had long sleeves. And we see the collars. Boys wore collared shirts. Shirt waists wore with detachable collars were still common at the time, but not commonly worn at primary schools. We do see some in the highschools. We note both pointed collars and rounded collars. We do not see many Eton collars, at least worn by most American boys. They were more poular with boys from well-to-do families. Children usually took off their winterwear for the school oportraits which were often taken in the warmer months at ant rate. But we do notice that sweaters do not yet seem very common. We begin ti see sweaters as an importaht garment in the 1910s, commonly heavy button up collars worn like jackets, but we do not see many in the 1900s. Almost all American boys wore knee pants to school in the 1900s. This was a trend that began in the mid-19th century. Knee pants were virtually universal in the 1890s abd 1900s except in rural areas where long pants were nore common than in urban areas. Manby school portraits in the 1900s show all the boys wearing knee pants. They were even common with teenagers, except for the very oldest. This only began to change at the end of the decade. For some reason about 1908 we begin to see boys wearing knickers. Knickers suddenly became very popular. We see them in Britain during the late-19th century, but not very commonly in America. This change occurred very rapidly. Most scholl children, both boys and girls, wore long stockings. Black long stockings were especially common. It is a little dfficult to be sure about the color, but we mostly see dark colors and they were not all black. We believe black was the dominany colors. Some children, mostly girls, wore white long stockings, but the black and dark colors were much more common. We rarely see any kind of hosiery besides long stockings. The children commonly wore stocking supporters to hold up the stockings. Children in the cities, both boys and girls, wore high-top shoes. High-tops were also worn by adults. We notice a shift from button shoes to lace-up shoes during the decade. although we still see some button shoes in the 1910s. We see sandals appearing at the end iof the decade, but we do not commonly see them at schools. In rural areas many boys in warm weather came to school barefoot.
America made a major demographic shift in the 1900s. At the turn of the century, 60 percent of the population still lived in rural areas. By the end of the decade the rural population had declined to only 55 percent. This meant that only a little more than half of the population lived in rural areas. This was a huge shift from the early-19th century when someyhing like 95 percent of the popultion lived in rural areas. The rural population was still very substantial. And there were substantial differences between school wear and urban and rural schools. Interestingly, at the beginning of the decasde, school children dressed much like urban children. This changed during the decade and by the by the end of the decade we see many boys wearing overalls.
Something very interesting was happening in American schools during the the late-19th century which was still apparent in the 1900s ecade. Since formal education first appeared in the ancient world, schools and education meant educating boys, exclusively boys. The idea of educating girls was limited to wealthy families hiring tutors. The tutors even then were usually hired for the boys of the family, but girls often joined in fir the tutoring. This did not change until the rise of the West. (Something that gender studies professors commonly hide from their students.) The Protestant Reformation changed everything (16th century). Luther and other Protestant luminaries differed on a great deal, but one rock solid tenant throughout all Protestant churches was the importance of Bible studies. This mean that literacy needed to be expanded. And of course women were half of the populate. In addition women needed to be literate because hey were important for teaching young children, especially before public schools. This is why when public schools finally appeared, it was first in Protestant states (Germany and America). This is when the wide spread education of girls actually began. Public schools were primarily primary schools. And in both America and Germany girls tended to attend school in roughly the same extent as boys. In America the schools were usually coed. In Germany village schools were coed, but city schools were commonly single gender. This is commonly seen as a major step in mass education, which it was. Often ignored, however, is that for the first time in history, girl were receiving the same education as boys--at least at the primary level. Fast forward to the late-19th century. A strange phenomenon occurred in America. As America and Europe began building secondary school systems, a starveling disparity occurred. In Europe , most students at secondary schools were boys, but in America, there were more girls than boys. About 60 percent of high school diplomas were award to girls (1900). This was because, boys by about 13 or 14 years olds were expected to begin earning a living. meaning that most working-class boys ended their education at about age 13 (8th grade) when they finished primary school. My dad (born 1903) had to run away from home so he could attend high school. (His father wanted him to work on the farm.) Actually, boys in rural America (the majority of the population until the 1920s) often took longer to finish primary school because they missed extended periods during the harvest and planting seasons. Now the predominance of girls in secondary schools did not carry over into university for some time. But it was true of secondary schools.
We see many different types of schools in America during the 1900s. THe United States was on the brink of a major demographic shift, although it would not cross that threashold until World War I and the end of the 1910s. For the time a majority of the population still lived in rural areas, although an increasingly small majority. America was approching the threashhold from a majority rural to a majority urban country and its industry cities grew exponentially. This of course affected schooling and schools. More and more children were now goung to school in urban schools rather than rural schools. At the time. rural schools still dominated, but it was a relatively a small majority and each year that majority decreased. A very substantial number of children attended small rural schools. These were 8-year elementary or primary schools. Urban elementary schools tended to be 6 year schools, but this varied from state to state. Rural scgools were scattered throughout the country which meant that most children lived within walking distance of a school, but only through 8th grade. Children that wanted a secondary education had to live in a city where junior and senior highschools were located. This meant that rural children had to move into cities and towns and stay with family and friends to be able to get a secondary education. At the time most children ended their education in the 8th grade and did not go on to secondary schools. This was not only true for rural children, but for urban working-class children as well. That said, America had a higher rate of school attendance, including secondary schgools, than was the case in Europe. High schools by the 1900s existd in all cities and in most towns of any size. They could be quite small, especially the town secondary schools. It was no uncommon to have graduating classes of 15-25 students. The specifics of the public school system varied from state to state. States in some states, especially the South were segregated. In addition to the public school system, there were a range of other schools. Catholics had founded a parochial school system. There were special schools for Native Americans. There were a range of private schools. Some followed British appoaches. Others were structured as military schools.
We also have information on individual schools during the 1900s which provide more information on school wear trends duting the decade. This section is especially useful in establishing chronological trends because many of the images are dated.
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