Rules for teachers of the past were a touch more strict than the rules those our teachers of today must follow. Here are two examples of rules for teachers of a bygone era.
Rules For Teachers – 1872
Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean chimneys.
Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the daily’ session.
Make your pens carefully. You whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.
Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.
After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.
Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.
Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.
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 honesty.
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.
You may ride in a buggy with a man if that man is your father or your brother.
Rules For (Female) 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 8:00PM and 6:00AM unless attending a school function
4. You may not loiter downtown in ice-cream stores
5. You may not travel beyond the city limits unless you have permission of the Chairman of the Board
6. You may not ride 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 colours
9. You may under no circumstances dye your hair
10. You must wear at least two 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 blackboard at least once a day
- Start the fire at 7:00AM so the room will be warm by 8:00AM
