'Old Order' Culture of Amish Schools

Amish schools, which are commonly small operations serving 25 to 35 students in a community, have generally been safe places without a history of violence, according to Donald Kraybill, a leading national scholar of Amish communities.

He recalled one or two cases of arson in Amish schools, but no shootings or hostage takings. The shooting at a school in the Nickel Mines farming community of Lancaster County, Pa., "is going to be a real shock to the Amish school system," he said. "I think this is really an aberration."

Kraybill, a senior fellow in the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County, has written numerous books on "Old Order" Amish, Mennonite and other communities in the United States.

Most Old Order Amish children are educated at schools only through the eighth grade. There have been controversies with states over how long Amish children have to stay in school. But in 1972, according to Kraybill, the U.S. Supreme Court gave its blessing to the eight-grade Amish school system.

As of 2001, Kraybill wrote, the Amish operated about 1,200 private schools for 32,000 Amish children. Many of the schools were one-room operations with 25 to 35 students, and one teacher for all eight grades. Teachers received about $25 to $35 a day.

Kraybill says there are about 150 one-room school houses in Lancaster County.

"The ethos of the classroom accents cooperative activity, obedience, respect, diligence, kindness and interest in the natural world," Kraybill wrote. "Little attention is given to independent thinking and critical analysis -- the esteemed values of public education. Despite the emphasis on order, playful pranks and giggles are commonplace. Schoolyard play during daily recess often involves softball or other homespun games.

"Amish schools exhibit a social continuity rarely found in public education. With many families sending several children to a school, teachers may relate to as few as a dozen parents. . . . Amish schools are unquestionably provincial by modern standards. Yet in a humane fashion they ably prepare Amish youth for meaningful lives in Amish society. . . . They reinforce Amish values and shield youth from contaminating ideas afloat in modern culture."

Bible reading and prayer open each school day, but religion isn't formally taught in the schools, Kraybill says. The curriculum includes reading, arithmetic, spelling, grammar, penmanship, history and some geography.

Classes are conducted in English, and both English and German are taught, Kraybill writes.

Among the things not in the schools, he says, that are schools outside Amish communities: Sex education, science, sports, dances, cafeterias clubs, bands, televisions, guidance counselors and college recruiters.

Kraybill speculated that the community in Nickel Mines in reacting to the shooting today will likely concentrate on the tragedy of those killed rather than answering questions -- among themselves or to throngs of reporters -- about the gunman.

While the Amish aren't known to carry handguns, they are no strangers to firearms. "They go hunting, there are guns around," Kraybill said. "Seeing a gun, at least a hunting rifle, is not an unusual thing."

While Amish are private about their Old Order customs, and don't like having their pictures taken, they are hardly separate from society. They do business with non-Amish, whether performing services such as installing kitchen cabinets or selling them quilts or other goods. And tourists regularly drive through their communities -- in Lancaster County and elsewhere, such as St. Mary's County in Southern Maryland. Still, all the media attention around the shooting certainly likely will annoy the Amish, he said.

"There's an enormous feeding-frenzy right now," Kraybill said from his office as the details of the shooting in Lancaster County was unfolding this afternoon. "It's going to be an enormous encroachment on the Amish community itself. . . . They feel like this is a tragedy here, yet they're being overwhelmed by these people coming in and taking their pictures."

While Kraybill likes to point out the apparent contradictions in the Old Order Amish lifestyles -- they will use other peoples phones, but not keep phone in their house, they'll take rides from non-Amish, but won't own cars -- he also admires the way Amish have been able to hold onto their values and traditions.

The total Amish population also has been growing -- generally their population in the United States doubles every 20 years.

In one of his books, "On the Backroad to Heaven," published in 2001, Kraybill estimated there were more than 180,000 Old Order Amish residents across 25 states and Ontario. The largest host states, in order, were Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Wisconsin. Maryland, with its settlements in St. Mary's County, placed 16th. Virginia placed 19th.