If space had to be organized in order to accommodate various groups and types of children efficiently, so did time. It was increasingly felt that large numbers of children could not be instructed individually. Nor were educational authorities willing to tolerate the "idleness" that had apparently prevailed during much of the school day in the early Nineteenth-century school. Their goal was to occupy all of the children all of the time, to prevent idleness and, as an important by-product, to accustom the children to the scheduling of work and play. Thus, the nineteenth century saw the increasingly widespread use of timetables and of school bells. Children would learn to read clocks and to enter the school at the ringing of a bell. The ding of the small desk bell would tell them, once in school, when to sit, when to stand, when to move or be still, when to talk or be silent, and when to change from one subject or room to another. Being "on time" became an important value of the schools. The school bell is a dominant feature of this school in Blandford Township, Ontario. Also illustrated are other types of bells which were used in the classroom and in play areas.
Courtesy: Public Archives of Canada and National Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada
