Education

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As with many communities, the school was the center of all activities and so it was usually built midway through the district. In 1840, the first one was built on MacDougall land near a small creek approximately 1A mile west from its present location. In the School Visitor Reports of 1841, the school received a very good report. The school had classes from one to ten and the teacher was Ewen Lamont. There were 43 scholars enrolled and upwards of 30 present at the different exams. A class of 12 was learning to read the Gaelic language and making excellent progress in both languages. The schoolhouse was said to be one of the largest and most commodious on the Island and was found to be very well supplied. Such things as blackboards, maps of the World and of the Island were considered rare and the school had them. A new school was built in 1852 at its present location and continued to be used, with many improvements and renovations over time until consolidation in 1973.

There are many stories about Argyle Shore residents and their time as students in the schoolhouse. One man remembered his days as a student and chuckled when he thought about the time he and his friend sneaked away from school and went down to the shore. The boys were not going there to marvel at its beauty however; they were going to experiment with chewing tobacco. The experiment resulted in one benefit for them because they became so sick they never attempted to chew tobacco again. This was not the only time someone sneaked away and misbehaved. One woman remembers sneaking out behind the schoolhouse in the mid 1920’s with a friend of hers and smoking a cigarette; they were apprehended and punished. This also resulted in good because the woman said that the punishment was bad enough

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