Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-07-07
ARE WOMEN TEACHERS " % " e
" e BARRED FROM l1ATRIMONY?
A CHICAGO Woman Says They Are, While Others Declares She Becomes
Too Cranky TO Make a Good Wife.
with me- in the way the stenographe
Teachers Dress ca~reIeseIy2

or bookkeeper is"
Teachers Dress careIessIy2
One dea little teacher i'm the Frank
lin school, who is also a married wom-
an, and who taught before she was
married, said sweetly: "a married
woman certainly will not each IL she
does not love her work. School teach
ing Is hard, end / could do other things
II / wanted TO, or needed 10. But / love
teaching.
Il Will tell you why / think so many
Sioux City teachers are unmarried. II
liz simply because they are careless
about the way they dress. They think
that no one but the children sees them
during the day, and they go to and
from their work with bedraggled skirts,
soiled collars and a general Yntidy APP
pearance. It's the little things thai tell
and when a mar sees a girl who Is
careless about these little matters OF
dress he naturally concludes that she
is careless about other things. You just
notice and see how many OF our Sioux
City teachers neglect little accessories
OF Dress"
Nc Social Handicap.
Miss Adah Jandt, OF the Dwight
school, has taught for ten years. She
says: 1T used to be hat the teacher
was handicapped socially. but this is
true any more, especially in Sioux
City. AS far as directors can tell they
will not employ teachers who do not
love their work. If one loves the work
IL is not harder than any other occu-
patton, but the teacher can make her
work hard or easy. according to her
disposition. ! certainly think that
teaching increases ones love for chill
dren."
Nearly All Marry.
Professor j. G. Hobson, a principal,
makes the rather strong statement that
nine o of ten young women teachers
marry. The fact that so many OF the
young women marry" he says. would
seem to indicate that teaching does not
unfit them for matrimony. Nine out
of ten marry. That is one great trouble
with the women teachers. About the
time they are good teachers, they leave
the profession.
Women teachers are just as good as
mel In the lower grades, but when Il
comes TO the larger school buildings for
rrincipalship, they have not the
strength. They worry more than men
and so many little things come to them
that h work is usually beyond their
strength. But as ordinary teachers and
rs principals of smaller schools they
succeed s~plendidly."
Forget Domestic Accomplishments.
One woman principal in Sioux City,
who has taught successfully for a num-
Der Of years, and whose wide expert
ence gives her a perspective view, re-
piled TO the question as TO whether
teachers really love the work; ITO be
frank, there are some women who
teach purely for money, but they are
in the minority. That hits the younger
teachers, but not the experienced ones,
/ think. In my experience / have met
two teachers who did not love the work.
One grew 10 like it, the other was an
absolute failure"
do o think that teaching units a
woman for matrimony?" was then
asked her.
IF you mean by the question, does II
lessen her chances OF marriage, /
would answer yes. She does not have
the opportunities for meeting men So
cfally. She is not at home during the
week and of necessity must give up
many social relations.
IF you mean to ask whether the pro-
fession changes a woman so that she
does not make a good wife. / will have
to confess that If the teacher stays at
her work long enough II renders her less
domestic. The very fact that she has
children under her discipline causes her
TO become 'bossy.' Handling her w
money has a tendency to make her self
sufficient"
Professor f. A. Brown. superintend-
ent of schools for Woodbury. county,
was inclined to stand up for the pro-
fession.
Doe teaching unfit a woman for
matrimony?'
"A brief term of teaching, no; contin-
ued teaching, yes. 1t varies, of course,
from the natural disposition and from
other causes"
Does teaching destroy her low for
children
No: the sincere teacher should have
her love for children increased because
Of her work with them. The u%nsincere,
unsympathetic teacher might and prob
ably would have her natural love for
children lessened by her work"
Does teaching pay financially 2"
Yes: probably some do not max as
much as they might In some other vo-
cation, but the average teacher prob
ably makes more than she would in
other callings, while some who are
teachers would starve II placed upon
their own u and not permitted
to teach"
DO women teachers in general love
their work. or do they teach because /.
seems TO be the only thing open?"
I'm general they teach because they
love the work. Certainly the most
successful really like teaching. Those
who do rot soone or later must drop
out but IL they are retained through
undue influence OF friends they are
hated by their pupils"
Teaching Makes Women Cranky"
Three years ago one of the brightest
girls who had w attended Morning
side college graduated and entered
school work.. The past year Florence
Cate has been principal ef the schools
at Randolph, Neb. She is the same
bright. popular girl that she was In
her college days, and she very frankly
gives her opinion on teaching.
NO." she said. II cannot say that !
love my work. with emphasis on the
"love"), but / like II. l do not know
OF any other work that / would like
better. III is not teaching that is un-
pleasant, il is discipline. Teaching IT.
self LIS delightful. but IL takes all ones
vital force 10 manage a school. 1t is
certainly true that teaching makes
women cranky There are SO many
petty details which wear upon her and
she unconsciously falls into an irritable
habit.
AS 10 her chances for matrimony,'
y said, with a bright little laugh,
you VIII ave TO ask the men. There
is a danger of the woman teacher be-
coming inclined to rule, a thing which
the masculine mind despises. II "a
girl who enters teaching realizes this
danger and sets herself to guard
against 1t she can keep herself sweet
and girlish In spite of the tendencies
In other directions.
II believe that teaching is my life
work" she continued. II like II better
than I'M other profession which / car
think OF, although I DO believe that q
woman's highest ambitions are reached