back when people were working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, outdoors, rain or shine

Wow... that generation didn't have high schools, they hadn't been invented for the public school system in general until the 1930s

At the turn of the 20th Century, it was common for high schools to have entrance examinations which restricted entrance to fewer than 5 percent of the population in preparation for college. Most people were expected to be ready for a job or a family after junior high school.

By 1910, 72 percent of children attended school. Between 1910 and 1940 the high school movement resulted in rapidly increasing public high school enrollment and graduations. By 1930, 100 percent of children attended school. http://en.wikipedia.org/