This book draws on interviews with 47 former participants in one- and two-room schools, primarily in the northern part of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Chapter 1 presents a history of the one-room, one-teacher rural school, discussing the school consolidation trend, pupil transportation, and the three factors most instrumental in the one-room school's demise: the assessment by educational experts that rural one-room schools were inferior to urban schools, the belief that greater economies could be gained by school consolidation, and the movement to modernize due to the urbanization of population. Chapter 2 consists of seven oral histories of small rural schools in Pennsylvania, covering the early 20th century through World War II. The next two chapters draw from the interviews to gain insights on such subjects as the teacher and teaching methods, the culture of the school, games played by the students, and dealing with diversity. The final chapter discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the one-room school experience, citing the main advantages as the family-like closeness of the teacher and students, individual instruction, learning from older students, and the responsibility that came from helping each other. Disadvantages were the possibility of having a bad teacher for years, lack of socialization in large groups, lack of resources, and poor heating and plumbing. A discussion of lessons learned covers school culture, multi-age grouping, standards, volunteerism, and teachers. Two appendices list persons interviewed and where they attended or taught school. (Contains 48 references, photographs, and an index.) (TD)