Photo courtesy Sue Grosboll, Marshall Center School.
The award-winning documentary Country School: One Room - One Nation will make its broadcast premiere on WQPT-PBS on Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 7:00 p.m reaching tens of thousands of viewers in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois.
From immigration issues in early schools to the controversial demise of their widespread use in the 1950s and 1960s, Country School: One Room - One Nation combines visually stunning images of a myriad of restored and decaying buildings with surprising, humorous and heartwarming stories from former teachers and students. More than just nostalgia, Country School also delves into the dark side of the one-room school experience and dispels the myths behind the revered institution that helped bind a young nation together.
The critically-acclaimed film by filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle provides insight into lessons learned from the school days and school ways of yesteryear with a who's who of one-room school historians, writers, preservationists and educators.
The documentary was shot in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Eastern Iowa schoolhouses featured in the film include Northbend Community Center in Spragueville, Brandon Township School in Emeline; Marshall Center School, Bennington #4 and the "R" Little Red Schoolhouse in Waterloo/Cedar Falls; Forest Grove School, Old Schoolhouse #9, Butler #2 in the Quad Cities.
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Country School: One Room - One Nation was funded in part by Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, Humanities Iowa, the Kansas Humanities Council, the Wisconsin Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
