Small country schools
Vesta stayed in school throughout the ninth grade, and she and her siblings all attended the same country four-room school house.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Vesta and Sam Finley, July 22, 1975. Interview H-0267. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- MARY FREDERICKSON:
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What was the school like that you went to?
- VESTA FINLEY:
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Well, it was just an elementary school, you know. We had teachers from
Mars Hill, a little town near us. You know, the closest town. I guess
you've heard that they're going to have a college there, you know. But
it was just a country school
[laughter]
- MARY FREDERICKSON:
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How many grades? It was one where all the grades were together, or. . .
- VESTA FINLEY:
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No. Well, some teachers had two grades; most of them, I guess, did,
because we had a four room school and we had seven grades. Well, my last
years I was in school there it went to the ninth grade; we had a teacher
through the ninth grade.
- MARY FREDERICKSON:
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Was that in the same place? In the same building?
- VESTA FINLEY:
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Yes.
- MARY FREDERICKSON:
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How far did you go?
- VESTA FINLEY:
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Well, I was in the ninth grade when I quit school and went to work. But
since then I went to tech school, and I got an equivalent certificate
for high school education.