The Thread That Runs So True A Brief Summary

April Sandlin
History 240-A0Z1
November 14, 2014

“The Thread That Runs So True, A Brief Summary” The history books about Kentucky talk about the conditions of teaching in the state in early times. However it really doesn’t give a clear picture the way the autobiography by Jesse Stuart does in “The Thread That Runs So True”. The history books tells give obscure descriptions of the conditions of the educational system. They tell how the schools were run. Stuart goes further into detail of how it was in Greenup and Ashland. The vivid detail puts the reader into era that Stuart lived. He gives some information about his life, but most importantly he tells about the community in which he taught school and the ideas of the people around that time, and the emphasis they put on education. He talks about his sister and how that may have been the deciding factor that made him choose to teach. He talk about Lonesome valley and the people there, along with his long time friend Don Conway. Guy Hawkins is probably one of the most pivotal people in his career he came across. Some of the things Stuart had to do in his career would definitely not be acceptable in this day a time. The first chapter of the book tells how his decision to teach and where he chose as his first school was at. His sister had taught there a year earlier and one of the students Guy Hawkins had blacked both her eyes and beat her up pretty bad. He lied about his age to get the teaching certificate. His parents questioned his motive for teaching and choosing the school he chose. He assured them it was not for vengeance. Stuart was not intentionally looking for a fight but he was determined not to let them get away with hurting his sister. When he got the job he was shocked at the condition of the school house and how the people in the area didn’t make their kids go to school. He did understand in those times all members of the family had to help with the chores of the house. Once the crops were harvested then the attendance picked up. It was a one room school with grades one through eight. He was expecting the student who beat up his sister to initiate the encounter. One that Stuart was not looking forward to he was smaller than Guy. Late one day Guy came sneaking around the school looking for Stuart. In the school house he confronted him and told Stuart about beating up his sister and he was going to do the same to him. Stuart had run this encounter through his mind more than once his preparedness gave him an upper hand. When Guy lunged for Stuart it was pretty much over from the start. Stuart was the victor he won the fight. But more importantly he won the respect of Guy and the whole community. Stuart was the only person to defeat Guy in a fight. Plus Lonesome Valley people lived with the mentality might makes right. The stronger your was the better. He cleaned up the school house and repainted it. The next year he had a better idea of what he had to do. The attendance picked up, he was involved in his kid’s lives. And he showed a lot in the community how a proper education was worth its weight in coal. One of the people in the community came by with a wagon of coal. He had his students estimate its weight. When the man took it to market he was shocked to see he had been cheating himself for many years because he was inaccurately calculating how much he had. Jesse realized how politics and social structure played a part in the general lives. People judged everyone on just about everything where they went to church what they wore, or who they talked to. It was a very judgmental and politically motivated time. He became interested in a women in the next town, he tells about one night getting ambushed while walking to see her. He was egged and had gunshots fired over his head. He took his class out of this one room school and put them against a city school in an academic challenge and won. Shocking most of the people in the big city school who made fun of the group as they entered town. His way of teaching and figuring what needed to be done in the classroom was what got his students the achievements they did. His determination to succeed is what fueled his willingness to teach. From his time at this school he went on to be principal at Landsburg High. He still walked to school because teacher salaries were not much. It took dedicated people to be teachers. He faced similar challenges as far as attendance goes. He started his career as principal walking to school five miles it was then he found out people were questioning if he died his clothes because they were discolored. That is when he learned of an unwritten rule about the principal having to live in town. When he moved to the local hotel he seen why he had attendance problems. His students were out all hours of the night. He observed them drinking, gambling and rebel rousing. He came across a game behind the school fence one day as he walked by he asked “who was winning” causing the students to scramble. He said nothing to them it was the anticipation that was torturing the students. But one thing he learned was if the PTO was not in agreement he was not going to get anywhere with punishments. When they called a meeting and during the meeting he was accused of letting it go on he confronted them. Telling them exactly what he observed and what children were involved, many were prominent figures in the community. It was then that he was able to implement changes and make the school better for all the students at the time. Throughout Stuart’s career as an educator he had many trials and triumphs. What was amazing is how education was view at the time. The emphasis was not to educate but to give them something to do in the off season of farming in rural Kentucky. In the city it was not as much as the off season but the social standing was what decided whether the child was a success in life. It was interesting to see how much teachers got paid and how they were at the mercy of the people who sponsored them. The times of Stuart’s career was definitely different than that of a teacher today. I was really surprised at the living conditions that he endured. As I read this I would ask myself would I be as dedicated or self disciplined enough to do what Jesse Stuart did and make it. What especially was eye opening was the fight. If that were to happen in a school toady I think both Jesse and Guy would end up in jail. Jesse for striking a student, and Guy for violating the zero tolerance policies. But then I see it as a school shooting today not a fist fight. Times were much different then. I think doing away with the sponsors helped with the political aspects of teaching to begin with. That way the student was not bound to what the sponsor wanted taught. I enjoyed this book extremely well, at times I found it funny and other times it was disheartening at the treatment of the teachers. I would recommend this to anyone. I have actually encouraged several people to read it. For the enlightenment of how people lived back then.

Works Cited Stuart, Jesse. The Thread That Runs So True. New York.

Cited: Stuart, Jesse. The Thread That Runs So True. New York.