![](/sites/default/files/styles/assets_detail/public/kiad7/SC-I5low.jpg.webp?itok=xXTK_RvE)
The first graded school in St. Matthews, photographed around 1910. A campaign to improve rural schools in the late 19th century replaced many one-room schools, in which all students were taught by a single teacher, with graded schools that divided children into separate graded classes according to age and ability.
Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.