Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 13 Aug 2015.<\/p>\n
I come from a long line of folks who love to learn \u2013 whether it was formally in school or on their own.\u00a0 My paternal grandmother and great grandmother both taught for a short time before their marriage.\u00a0 Since I had limited knowledge of my dad\u2019s side growing up I discovered this as an adult and was surprised that I shared this commonality.\u00a0 My husband changed careers in his late\u00a030\u2019s\u00a0 and\u00a0we\u00a0were astounded to discover after he became a teacher,\u00a0that his maternal great grandfather had also taught for years.\u00a0 Guess it\u2019s in our genes!<\/p>\n
As we begin a new school year I look back upon Teacher Rules that were in place when my great grandmother,\u00a0Emma Kuhn,\u00a0first taught.\u00a0\u00a0I received a copy of the Rules for Teachers 1872 when I visited Berkley, West Virginia Coal Camp\u2019s one room schoolhouse earlier this summer.<\/p>\n
Back in the day\u00a0women\u00a0could teach until wed\u00a0but could be dismissed if\u00a0caught in some type of unseemly contact.\u00a0\u00a0In 1915, the rules prohibited a teacher from marrying during the term of the contract.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t know when that rule changed but I suspect it must have been in the 20th\u00a0century as\u00a0a child,\u00a0I had teachers who were married and working.\u00a0 Having a baby, though, changed the rules and\u00a0teachers\u00a0didn\u2019t return to work\u00a0immediately after maternity leave.\u00a0 I\u2019m fairly certain the unseemly contact changed in the 1980\u2019s as when I first started teaching\u00a0in the 1970\u2019s, \u201cliving in sin\u201d was grounds for dismissal in Florida.\u00a0 I had a divorced coworker who lived in fear that our principal would find out she was living with her boyfriend.\u00a0 When I returned to teaching after my children were born the rules had changed and no one cared any more.<\/p>\n
Male teachers were allowed one evening a week to court and if they were regular church goers, could court for two evenings a week.\u00a0\u00a0By 1915, rules stated that both male and female teachers had to be home between 8 PM and 6 AM unless they were attending a school function.<\/p>\n
Although the following wasn\u2019t necessarily grounds for dismissal, since teachers were supposed to be role models in the community, these actions could cause \u201cgood reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty\u201d:<\/p>\n
Smoking or using liquor in any form<\/p>\n
Frequenting pool or public halls<\/p>\n
Getting shaved in a barber shop<\/p>\n
Beginning in 1915, these were added:<\/p>\n
Loiter in an ice cream parlor<\/p>\n
Travel beyond city limits unless permission of the School Board\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Chair\u00a0was\u00a0received<\/p>\n
Dress in bright colors<\/p>\n
Dye hair<\/p>\n
And just for women teachers:<\/p>\n
Ride in a carriage or auto with any man unless he\u2019s your father or<\/p>\n
brother<\/p>\n
Must wear at least 2 petticoats<\/p>\n
Dresses must not be any shorter than 2 inches above the ankle (in\u00a0\u00a0the\u00a01970\u2019s this moved to the\u00a0knee and hose was required!)<\/p>\n
Today, teachers start their day by making sure the technology\u00a0in their room\u00a0is turned on.\u00a0 In 1872, teachers were responsible for the \u201ctech\u201d of their day \u2013 filling the lamps, clearing the chimney, bringing a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal\u00a0into the classroom.\u00a0 Funny how we aren\u2019t even allowed to touch the thermostat\u00a0today\u00a0as it\u2019s controlled remotely by the district office.\u00a0 No amount of complaining that it\u2019s too hot or cold in your classroom alters the temperature so I think that it might not have been a bad thing\u00a0to have to make sure that the stove had coal.\u00a0The 1915 Board of Education in West Virginia added the following duties \u2013 sweep the floor at least once daily and scrub it with hot, soapy water at least once a week, clean the blackboard daily and start the fire by 7 AM so the room is warm when students arrive at 8.<\/p>\n
Students are responsible for their supplies today but teachers often know who is having financial difficulty and may need assistance.\u00a0\u00a0In 1872, teachers were responsible for making the pens but were\u00a0given latitude in \u201cwhittling nibs\u201d individually for the benefit of their students.\u00a0 Today,\u00a0we hand out pencil grips in elementary or allow students to type responses instead\u00a0so\u00a0the spirit of the rule remains.<\/p>\n
Teaching has never been a lucrative profession.\u00a0 In 1872, the contract stated that after 5 years of faithful performance a teacher was entitled to a quarter\u00a0increase\u00a0weekly.\u00a0 Teachers were advised to save a \u201cgoodly\u201d sum of earnings for their retirement so that they would not someday become a burden to society.<\/p>\n
People frequently tell teachers that it must be great having their summers off and so much free time with vacations during the school year.\u00a0 What they don\u2019t realize is that teachers aren\u2019t paid when they aren\u2019t working.\u00a0 They are contracted for a specific time period, such as 10 months, but may have that income equalized over the year so that they can have income coming in when they aren\u2019t under contract.\u00a0 Teachers also work extremely long hours that aren\u2019t covered by overtime or compensatory time.\u00a0 There are no grading fairies that magically review\u00a0all of the students\u2019 class and homework!\u00a0 In 1872, teachers were allowed to spend time reading the Bible or another \u201cgood\u201d book after their ten hour school day was over.\u00a0 During the summer months, my contract is for 10 hour days (7 AM-5:45 PM).\u00a0 Granted I only work 4 of 5 days in the summer but after my long commute, I tend to read my personal email and call it a day.\u00a0\u00a0I bet (oops,\u00a0betting\u00a0probably\u00a0wasn\u2019t allowed either!) that teachers were just as exhausted then as they are today.\u00a0 Some things never change!<\/p>\n
(West Virginia rules provided by Opal\u00a0Tolin\u00a0of the Youth Museum, Berkley, West Virginia)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 13 Aug 2015. I come from a long line of folks who love to learn \u2013 whether it was formally in school or on their own.\u00a0 My paternal grandmother and great grandmother both taught for a short time before their marriage.\u00a0 Since I had limited knowledge of my dad\u2019s side … Continue reading “Teachers’ Rule”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[136,134,135],"class_list":["post-159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-rules","tag-school","tag-teachers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions\/160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}