New Book "Darn Good" Captures Little Schoolhouse America

There were few settlers in the west until after the Civil War. When they arrived one of the first things they did was build a schoolhouse made out of logs. Soon rural education districts were developed and the need for teachers grew dramatically. The struggle to provide those teachers grew as rapidly. The story of education in Minnesota followed along that line and Steve Grineski captures it in his new book We Were Pretty Darn Good.

Teddy Roosevelt said that the farmer was the back bone of America and the need for education was absolutely necessary. His words and subsequent Country Life Commission in 1909 spurred an impetus. Soon chalk and blackboard became common place in schoolhouses in countryside America and progressive education was underway. .The story is in Steve Grineski’s new book We Were Pretty Darn Good recently published by History Publishing Company.

Paul Theobold, Dean of Education at Buena Vista University, knows a great deal about history and education and said of Steve Grineski’s new book that “Utilizing sources ignored by the vast majority of historians who rush to document America’s urban experience, he demonsrates that there was a time in America when the countryside mattered, when genuine efforts were made to tailor rural education to the circumstances of life.”

Author Steve Grineski has documented those efforts and uncovered a virtual mother lode of information and fact that brings alive a remarkable time in America adding to the legacy of the world of education and the nostalgic world of countryside America that added immeasurably to the growth of the United States.

Steve Grineski started his teaching career in 1975 as an elementary teacher. In 1984 he joined the Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) faculty and in 1989 earned his doctorate from the University of North Dakota. We Were Pretty Darn Good 9781933909523 was published by History Published Company in May, 2013. It is also available in e-book 1-933909295.It is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble Booksellers, and fine bookstores everywhere.