Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1913-04-25
The Passing of the rlan.


The Passing of the rlan. CB&a 1914
4 Under the above heading recent issue of the
Educational Review published by the University
of Utah. contained an article on the passing of
men from the ranks Of the public school teachers,
from which we quote the following:
''The disappearance of male teachers from the
grades and the high school is causing much alarm.
The schools are becoming feminized, it is said,
and there is danger that the nation will lose
greatly in virility. The conviction is deepening,
that boys at any rate should be brought into con-
tact with male teachers somewhere before the
completion of the grammar grades.
''Of course no disparagenent of women
teachers is meant 1t will not be denied that there
are differences between the sexes mental, moral,
and emotional nor that the influence of a male
teacher is in many ways different from that of
female teacher. What is to be desired is that the
best influences of both shall be felt in the schools,
and each where it will bring the best results"
The above comment is from an article by
superintendent d. H. Christensen of Salt Lake City
schools, in which he declared the present teaching
conditions and the tendency to worse state of
affairs are a menace to the public schools of the
country. For years the number of men in the
schools has been decreasing each year. and it is
freely predicted that within few years there will
be no men teachers in the public or high schools
of the country. aFsstk 7aas 81
This condition is not at all strange to close
student Of human nature If one will but look
back over the changing conditions Of the last
fifteen to twenty five years and analyze the cause
therefor. the present conditions will be in no
sense d mystery, there will be seer, the Spruia;
(bin me next fa laly lnsl viii have ave 1s- Still
greater tendency to disorganize social and &C.
onomic conditions. sfoH 's
Up to twenty-five years ago the schools Of all
grades were taught by men only, just as the clerks
in stores, Office employees, stenographers, tee-
graph operators, and scores Of other positions,
were filed by men almost exclusively. About that
time women began to enter the business field the
number of female stenographers and book keepers
growing rapidly each year. With the coming of
women in these occupations men began leaving and
seeking Others until today male stenographers are
to be found in but few positions. principally as
court reporters and private secretaries to the
leading inanciers and business en- of the country,
where the executive ability and physical endurance
required make it impossible for women to fill
these positions. And this, in the face of the fact
that good male sten0grarher can get most any
salary he demands. But a man will not work
alongside women, in the same degree or grade of
employment, IL he can possibly avoid it, any more
than mouse will cultivate the friendship of a
kitten or oil mingle with water. ssr @y.7,5 stI
The day of the "school-master' when men
taught the schools, from the kindergarten to the
college, began to vanish into history with the
entrance of women into the field. until today the
lower and intermediate grades of the schools are
taught by women exclusively. as are majority of
the higher grades. and the number of female in
structors in the universities is increasing
each year and the number of men is decreas-
ing. If the ratio of change in the employment of
the sexes for the last ten years be maintained for
the next fifteen years. man teacher or instruct
or in any unsupported educational institution
will be something of curiosity. lN
Twenty-Five years ago ninety-fve per cent of
the employees Of mercantile institutions were
male; today eighty per cent are female. And this
is true of every line of employment; where women
have made any considerable increase men have
made corresponding effort to escape similar
employment aa w M
s. For many years women tried to enter the field
Of telegraphy. and at one time there were several
Thousands employed as telegraph operators. but as