From "Norsk Religionsskole" to Parochial School in Fifty Years: Norwegian Lutheran Congregational Education in North Dakota

Abstract

11 From Norsk Religionsskole to Parochial School in Fifty Years: Norwegian Lutheran Congregational Education in North Dakota.* by Erik Luther Williamson From the 1880s through the 1910s Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in North Dakota supported religious summer schools. From 1920 congregations closed or modified these schools, until by 1940 most were known as Vacation Bible Schools, were taught in English, and ran for only an eighth of the time of the older schools. For the first two generations the norsk religionsskole was a vital component in the lives of the prairie pioneers. Often taken for granted, seldom mentioned, the "Norwegian school" bequeathed to its alumni fond memories. Before Norway established state public schools in the nineteenth century her religious education for youth was limited . Sunday School was a British and American concept that slowly gained acceptance in Norway by 1900. Lutheran pastors - state officials - and precentors taught the last preparatory classes for confirmation. Wealthy city parishes could af- *This article is based upon the author's "The Norwegian Short-Term Parochial School (Religionsskole) in North Dakota Lutheran Congregations, 1880s-1930s" (Doctor of Arts Research Paper, University of North Dakota, 1991). 299 300 Erik Luther Williamson ford excellent instruction. Far-spread country parishes could not - devout parishioners instructed their children at home. The Haugean lay movement encouraged both young people and adults to study the Bible.1 Parents in remote valleys wanted additional Christian nurture for their children and hired teachers for a few weeks in the summer. These teachers traveled from place to place to repeat the same subjects. This education was hence called omgangsskole (ambulatory school or itinerant school). Although the government did not direct the ambulatory schools, it acknowledged them and published at least one songbook for them. Haugean lay evangelists held rallies in itinerant schools and public halls, and parents and students attended them faithfully . The Danish folk high school apparently was not an inspiration - the itinerant schools were mainly for the very young up to confirmation age. When Norwegians came to America they saw a need for similar schools alongside the "English" or "common" public schools. In some parts of northern Dakota Territory (which became North Dakota in 1889) public schools were not established , so some immigrant parents wanted secular subjects, mainly mathematics and geography, taught in their parish schools.2 Their greatest desire, however, and what the English schools omitted, was instruction in the Lutheran faith, music, and norskhet (Norwegianness). Although they freely chose to dwell in an English-speaking land and were cognizant that they and their children would need to master English, they believed that Norwegian was the true language and feared the exclusiveness of English in their culture. No state church funded these transplanted institutions: the immigrant citizens had to support their own religious schools. There the Bible and Luther's Small Catechism would be mastered and choice hymns memorized and sung in Norwegian. Readings in Norwegian literature complemented the curriculum. Even after 1900, when English was gaining and communities were becoming more Americanized, newly established immigrant congregations began Norwegian schools and insisted that the old language be spoken. As late as 1929 Norwegian was still Norwegian Lutheran Congregational Education 301 spoken in a few schools. By the 1920s parishioners were struggling to maintain the Norwegain schools as a shield against secular Americanism. From Norway professional schoolteachers, neither itinerants nor evangelists, came to the Midwest. They ranked with the pastor as a mainstay of faith and culture; sometimes teachers became pastors. Often a bachelor dedicated to learning and teaching, the leerer (teacher) in Norway enjoyed medieval respect from common folk who addressed him by title. In at least three North Dakota congregations three men were addressed as skolelcerer and seemed to exert their Old World authority.3 With the same zeal of mission that pastors emigrated to the United States to minister, the teachers followed to educate Norwegian- American youth to higher standards than the itinerant school offered. When some highly educated Norwegians of the upper class emigrated to the United States they taught religion schools in Norwegian- American communities. The teachers were conscientious and dedicated. When one overslept his noon nap and rushed to class tardy, he apologized to his pupils. Many...