Interior of One-room School
School Book
Frontier EducationEarly Teachers
In the early 1800s girls in Iowa and most states were denied an education because in general, people believed girls and women were inferior to boys and men. They didn't believe that women should participate in many aspects of society. Women couldn't vote. They had few job opportunities other than working in homes. Laws were written that restricted their ownership of property. By the mid-19th century, however, this thinking changed. People began to see the value of education to females. With an education, married women could become better wives and mothers and single women could teach school or find employment in a few other occupations.
It was a common belief that since women raised children, they would be good
teachers too. The teaching profession seemed to fit into their "womanly
duties." So, as men left teaching for higher paying work in factories
or farming, teaching jobs opened up for women.
By 1880 teaching was the second most popular employment for Iowa women. Two-thirds
of public school teachers were women. Many women wanted to escape what one
girl called the "drudgery'' of farm work. Others wanted to earn money
to help support a family's income, or to pay for a brother's or sister's education.
But women teachers were paid less than men teachers.
Riding Horseback to School
What was life like for teachers?
Take a look at Alice Money Lawrence who lived on a farm near Albion. When
she was 14 years old, Alice made $1.50 a week for taking care of sheep. She
used the money to pay for tuition at the Albion Seminary where she received
a teaching certificate in 1866.
Alice's first teaching job was at a school in Grundy County, 16 miles from
her home. She rode 45 minutes on horseback each way to school. Twelve students
of all ages were in her class, but five left school when harvest began. Older
farm boys usually helped with the fall harvest and spring planting. Because
so many rural kids had to help with farm chores during these times, there
were two school terms: "winter" and "summer." They each
were about four months long between the harvest and planting seasons.
In 1868 Alice taught at another school. Teachers often moved from school to
school. She instructed 40 students in a one-room Vienna Township schoolhouse.
Students learned reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling and geography. They
had to memorize many facts. Students in 19th century schools did not have
colorful textbooks, magazines, maps or computers. Students brought whatever
books they had from home. The only supplies found in most classrooms were
slates and the blackboard in the front of the room.
Like other teachers, Alice "boarded" with a family. She paid for
rent and food. She disliked these living arrangements because the house was
dirty and her hostess could not cook well. Alice spent long hours alone at
the schoolhouse reading and writing letters.
Despite its difficulties, teaching was rewarding for Alice. In the late 1860s, she wrote to her sister Sarah in Ohio:
You ask if I like teaching. Oh, yes, the teaching part but not the discipline. I had to keep all my scholars but one in at recess today, and I had to whip one boy—the first punishment of that kind that has been necessary. Then it is so hard not to like some children better than others, and there are so many little disputes to settle. But I do like teaching.
In 1869 Alice ended her teaching career. She married a doctor the following year. For many women like Alice, teaching was not a lifetime career. They taught only until they married.
Teaching Opens More Doors for Women
Other women did pursue lifelong
careers in education as teachers, principals and school superintendents. Some
women teachers went on to careers at colleges. Education and teaching had
helped to open once-forbidden doors to careers outside teaching such as business,
law and medicine.
