1915 Rules for Teacher

This weekend my Dad was looking at my aunt's photo album. She had gone on a trip with her church's youth group, and they visited an old schoolhouse. My Dad read these rules to me for women teachers back in 1915. I thought some of them were pretty humorous. :) My, how times have changed since then!

1. You will not marry during the term of your contract. (I guess they worried that the teacher would be a bit distracted if this occurred!)


2. You are not to keep company with men. (Maybe because guys have "coodies"?? ;-))


3. You must be home between the hours of 8 pm and 6 am unless attending a school function. (Like teachers have time for a "social life" anyway :D)


4. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores. (What a shame! I loiter in ice cream stores all the time!)


5. You may not travel beyond the city limits unless you have the permission of the chairman of the board. (Maybe they were worried that if the teacher had a rough day with the kids, she would run FAR away and NEVER return! :))


6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother. (Like I said, all guys (minus family members!) must have the "coodie" disease :D)


7. You may not smoke cigarettes. (no problem there!)


8. You may not dress in bright colors. (Oops! I have definitely broken this rule...like in this picture :))





9. You may under no circumstances dye your hair. (How did people dye their hair back in 1915 anyway?)


10. You must wear at least 2 petticoats. (Ummmm...yeah)


11. Your dresses must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankles. (Well, at least they were concerned about modesty back then! What changed???)


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, and start the fire at 7 am so the room will be warm by 8 am. (Wow! Teachers had soooo many responsibilities back then! Not only did they have 12 grades to teach by themselves but they had all this cleaning to do as well?!
    Yep, I was definitely born in the right century!)