Chapter 25 Quiz: Education and the Fight for Literacy — From Settlement Schools to Consolidation

Multiple Choice

1. "Subscription schools" in early Appalachia were:

a) Schools funded by newspaper subscriptions and publishing revenue b) Informal schools funded by fees paid by participating families, often taught by itinerant teachers c) Schools exclusively for children of subscribers to religious organizations d) State-funded schools available only to property-owning families

2. The Hindman Settlement School, founded in 1902, was:

a) The first public high school in eastern Kentucky b) The first settlement school in Appalachia, providing education and social services to mountain communities c) A vocational training center established by coal companies d) An agricultural extension program of the University of Kentucky

3. A significant criticism of the settlement school movement is that it:

a) Failed to provide any meaningful education to mountain children b) Taught only vocational skills and refused to offer academic instruction c) Imposed middle-class cultural values while suppressing Appalachian language, music, and customs d) Was exclusively funded by coal companies seeking to control the workforce

4. Berea College was unique among American educational institutions because it:

a) Was the first college in the South to offer engineering degrees b) Was founded on principles of interracial education and charged no tuition c) Required all students to work in the college's coal mines d) Was owned and operated by the federal government

5. The Day Law of 1904 forced Berea College to:

a) Close permanently b) Move from Kentucky to Tennessee c) Segregate its student body, ending its interracial mission d) Stop charging tuition

6. The Highlander Folk School, founded by Myles Horton in 1932, was based on the premise that:

a) Mountain people needed to be taught by credentialed experts from outside the region b) Education should focus exclusively on vocational skills for coal mining c) The people closest to a problem are the best equipped to solve it, and education should serve organizing d) Religious instruction was the foundation of all meaningful education

7. Rosa Parks attended a Highlander workshop in 1955. She described the experience as:

a) Disappointing because the instruction was too theoretical b) Transformative because she experienced an integrated community for the first time in her adult life c) Frustrating because the workshop focused on labor issues rather than civil rights d) Frightening because of threats from local segregationists

8. The Citizenship Schools developed at Highlander were designed to:

a) Teach civic values to immigrant communities in Appalachian coal towns b) Help Black Southerners pass literacy tests used as barriers to voter registration c) Train settlement school teachers in Appalachian culture d) Prepare coal miners for citizenship examinations

9. The primary argument for school consolidation in Appalachia was that:

a) Small schools were a health hazard and needed to be replaced b) Larger schools could offer broader curricula, better facilities, and more efficient use of resources c) The federal government mandated consolidation as a condition of War on Poverty funding d) Coal companies required consolidated schools to serve company town populations

10. A major consequence of school consolidation in rural Appalachia was:

a) Dramatic improvement in test scores across all consolidated districts b) Significant cost savings that were redirected to teacher salaries c) Loss of community social centers, extreme transportation burdens, and accelerated community decline d) Integration of previously segregated school systems

Short Answer

11. Explain the dual nature of the settlement school movement — how the same institutions could both help and harm the communities they served. Provide at least two specific examples of each.

12. Describe Myles Horton's educational philosophy at the Highlander Folk School and explain how it differed from both the settlement school approach and the traditional public school model.

13. Why was the one-room school more than just an educational institution in many Appalachian communities? What community functions did it serve, and why did its closure have consequences beyond education?

14. The chapter identifies three contemporary challenges in Appalachian education: the digital divide, teacher shortages, and funding inequity. Choose one and explain how it connects to the longer history of educational access in the region.

Essay Question

15. Education in Appalachia has consistently been shaped by the question of power: who defines what counts as knowledge, whose culture is valued, and whose voices are heard in decisions about schools. Write an essay (500-750 words) tracing this theme through at least three of the educational institutions or movements described in this chapter (settlement schools, Highlander, Berea College, school consolidation, community colleges).

For each institution or movement, identify: Who held power in the educational relationship? Whose definition of education prevailed? What was the impact on the communities served? Conclude by reflecting on what this history teaches about the relationship between education, culture, and power.