When did waking up early for school start?

Answer 1

There are numerous reasons for early school starts, not just one reason.

1. First, early humans got up with the rising sun and went to bed / to sleep at dusk.
2. Second, in early days (such as in Colonial America), people in towns awoke just before light, did heavy work before the sun rose high at noon. Thus, they could stay cooler in summers. By heavy work, I mean scrubbing clothing by hand; drawing water from wells; tanning hides; making candles from animal fats; etc.
3. In rural life, livestock dictated a large part of the early A.M. work. Cows needed miked, and cows, goats, oxen, chickens, etc. needed fed. They also collected eggs so breakfast could be made and eaten as soon as the livestock were taken care of in the barn /stable.
4. After breakfast on farms, men plowed, seeded, and took care of crops. They fixed or made farm tools, like hoes, rakes, shovels-- wooden handles frequently broke.
5. Since boys primarily went to school, but only until grade 3, they were expected to first help their Pa on the farm, then take off to walk to school. Moms taught their girls around the kitchen table, and both boys and girls in their families if the farms were too far from town.
6. Even as State legislatures ordered kids to go to school, most boys only received 5 grades of instruction, unless they had mentors or sponsors who apprenticed the boys to be teachers, preachers, or lawyers. Girls began to get more formal education than boys, since most boys still worked on farms.
7. As formal schools took over education, men and boys got up even earlier to take care of animals in the dark in early morning hours (4 to 5am). Girls helped their moms before also walking to school.
8. These factors lingered, even without many farm-kids having to work before school. Plus, school boards increased the school day to include afternoons.
9. After a while, school attendance became mandatory until certain ages, when a child could withdraw with parental permission. But every State had different rules. And throughout the decades, events in society generally determined how much schooling a child got. For example, up through the 1800s, kids often went to work as early as 8 years old. If parents could not feed all their kids even in small families, they became farm hands and domestics who lived in their employer's home.

Answer 2

It's been working that way pretty much since school started - people have always thought that "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."