The Canton Independent -Sentinel/ Troy Gazette Register, Canton, PA 17724 of April 12, 2012 carried an article taken from their 1887 paper closest to the current publication date.
As a retired CCSD teacher and principal, I found this interesting and perhaps some of your readers would also.
The Troy Register- 125 years ago-1887:
“School at East Troy closed last Friday after one of the most successful terms of four months that we have enjoyed for many years. In fact, a full school to the last day is something not on record. Professor Heverly has done his pupils justice so far as could be with the large school he had. With a school of over fifty, ranging from six to twenty years of age all in the one room, is no task that any teacher would covet. But the Professor has shown himself equal to the task. In the limits of the district there are seventy children between six and twenty-one years of age that should go to school eight months in a year, and all the seating capacity we have in our school room is forty-four. By crowding, sixty-two.”
Public education has always had challenges. Over-crowding and large class sizes are nothing new!
Katherine Peek