rules for teachers
Be warned. This is a RANT. Out there somewhere in prairie land, people are discussing the "rules for teachers" and how hard it must have been to be Laura, or Eliza Jane, or anybody else who taught "back then."

You know what I'm talking about. The "rules for teachers" dated 1872 and 1915 that nobody seems to know the source of, but for some reason people still swear must be THE rules, which of course must have applied to Eliza Jane, or Laura, or whoever we're talking about at the moment.

I googled and found:
Rules for Teachers - 1872
1. Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean chimneys.
2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the daily session.
3. Make your pens carefully. You whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.
4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.
5. After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.
6. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.
7. Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of this earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.
8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honest.
9. The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.

Rules for Teachers - 1915
1. You will not marry during the term of your contract.
2. You are not to keep company with men.
3. You must be home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless attending a school function.
4. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores.
5. You may not travel beyond city limits unless you have the permission of the chairman of the board.
6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother.
7. You may not smoke cigarettes.
8. You may not dress in bright colors.
9. You may under no circumstances dye your hair.
10. You must wear at least two petticoats. (Gee, and on that prairie site I just looked at, it was nine petticoats...)
11. Your dresses must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankle.
12. To keep the school room neat and clean, you must:
* sweep the floor at least once daily
* scrub the floor at least once a week with hot, soapy water
* clean the blackboards at least once a day
* start the fire at 7 a.m. so the room will be warm by 8 a.m.

Fast forward to 2005, please. What are the "rules for teachers" today? All male teachers must wear coat and tie? All women must wear pantyhose? No teacher may date another teacher in the school? No teacher may date a student in the school?

There is no one set of rules for all teachers that applies today, any more than there was one set of rules for teachers that applied "back then." Today, the governing body of your school sets and enforces the laws, same as it has always been. And I dare say that today, as then, the governing body might possibly be influenced in the way they interpreted these laws by people, same as back then (think about Mrs. Oleson in the LH television show).

If you're going to tell how it was when Laura taught in Kingsbury County - or when Eliza Jane taught in Kingsbury County - then the only thing that matters is what was going on in Kingsbury County during the years in question.

I spent a lot of years researching education and school law in Kingsbury County. And here's what I've found so far in the way of "rules" for the De Smet school, which Laura attended and Eliza Jane taught --- culled from various sources and numbered by me.

1. Only a person of good moral character shall be hired as teacher.

2. At any time, a teacher's certificate may be revoked or refused, or a teacher's contract terminated, due to incompetency, immorality, intemperance, crime against territorial law, cruelty, or neglect, as determined by the County Superintendent.

3. No public school in session shall be disturbed by any person, teacher or student, by acts of violence, boisterous conduct or threatening language.

4. The Bible shall not be excluded from any school, and may be read silently or aloud for ten minutes daily, although no student shall be required to read it contrary to the wishes of his parent or guardian.

5. All teachers shall attend teachers' institutes for two weeks if offered during their term of employment.

By the way, I'll say it again. Both married men and women were allowed to teach in Kingsbury County from day one. And there was not a petticoat code in sight.
- posted by pioneergirl at 8:38 PM