WHO WROTE THESE RULES, ANYWAY?

As I was making a grand effort to clean my room today, I discovered a copy of a teacher's contract from 1922, compliments of Reed School, near Neillsville, Wisconsin.  It served as a one-room country school for many years.  I have two very special aunts who taught there for a number of years. I wish I had been fortunate enough to have been in either of their classes.

Reed School operated at a time when there were over 6,000 one-room schools in Wisconsin during the first half of the 20th Century. It was closed in 1951 because of declining enrollment, but continues to be open part-time during the summer as a history museum.

What I found especially fascinating were the rules that teachers at that time needed to abide by.  They would be quite unimaginable today, as would the salary of $75 a month. 

 

Journey back to 1922 for a while, and imagine yourself with these expectations in your teaching life:

1.  You may not consider getting married because your contract would "become null and void immediately." This was a concern for my mother, even in 1938.

2.  Unless you were planning to be at a school function, you'd better be home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

3.  Plan to stay away from downtown ice cream stores, because that might be considered loitering.

4.  Stay in town unless you were given permission by the chairman of the trustees.

5.  Smoking cigarettes or drinking beer, wine, or whiskey would certainly invalidate your contract.

6.  Don't think about riding in a carriage or car with any man except your brother or father.

7.  Stay away from bright colored dresses, and make sure to wear at least two petticoats.

8.  Do not consider wearing your dress more than two inches above your ankles.

9.  Remember that it's your responsibility to keep the classroom clean by sweeping it at least once a day, and scrubbing the floor at least once a week with soap and  hot water.

10.  Do not have company with men.


**I can't sing the praises of those early teachers enough. 
 

 

Having been a teacher myself for approximately five years, I know how exhausting and challenging it can sometimes be, and I have the greatest respect for teachers everywhere.  But thinking of those teachers in Wisconsin's rural one-room schools in 1922, what I really want to know is, "Who wrote those impossibly restrictive rules," and had they been teachers at one time?

And to a number of my friends who are teachers or have been teachers at one time, you are the best!  Thank you for your kind, caring ways, and your dedication to young people.  You have made a huge difference in the lives of many, and I will always be grateful!!