The Secret School

The story takes place in 1925 in a rural area of Colorado. Ida is a young girl who lives on a working farm. She goes to school and wants to become a teacher, but doing that will require her to first go to a high school.

The local school is grades K through 8. It's a one-room schoolhouse, and the teacher is leaving to attend her ailing mother. The school is planned to be closed, but Ida becomes the new unofficial teacher. Things don't stay secret for long, though, and eventually various officials find out what is going on. Ida is allowed to remain the teacher. At the end of the school year, she is to take her exam to see if she can go to high school.

The major part of the story is about the conditions that Ida has to live in. The vast majority of her time is spent helping out on the farm and schoolwork has to come in second place in importance. One of the officials believes that girls have no need to go to high school. One of the neighbors actively opposes his son going to school.

Living conditions are fairly primitive, and it's a very rough life that all of them have to live; in modern terms, we'd call it a “third-world” type of living. The author does a good job making this all come alive. It's a good book, showing how the human spirit can triumph against rather difficult odds.


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