The Washington herald., 1914-03-22
usefulness of Teachers Is
Not Affected By Marriage"
Mrs. Ella Flagg Young Welknown Superintendent Of Chi
cagos Public Schools, Gives Her Views on
Question of Motherhood.

Mrs. Ella tlagg Young. the most fam
Gus woman educator in America, who
receives $1,000 a year as superintendent
of schools in Chicago. began teaching Ar
Il c class in 1867 and has been teaching
ever since In 1868 she was married, out
she never allowed her domestic lie 10
interfere with her teaching. When her
husband died a few years afterward she
threw herself more than ever into her
work. So to Ella Flagg Young I went
for light on the question of marriage and
motherhood in relation to teaching. says
Henry n Hall, in the New York World.
There arc roughly speaking, half a
million school teachers in the United
States she said. about one man to
four women: so OF course, the question
of married teachers applies to men as
we'll as to women teachers. Some time
ago ] was asked how many married
teachers there were in Chicago, ana at
guess / said we had about a thousand.
On looking up the records / found that
there were ?Ss. and OF these about seven
hundred were women. don't think that
the fact that a man or woman Is married
in any way affects their value as teach
ers. II all depends upon the individual.
Some of the married teachers in Chi
cago are among the very best in the
country, and the same is also true of
some of our unmarried teachers. The
question Of marriage really makes no
difference"
Question of Motherhood.
well. but how about the question Of
motherhood" l asked. Mrs. Young SAID
That Is an entirely different matter.
Personally i do not favor allowing
woman who is bearing a child to teach
in the schools. but my reasons are not
at all the same as those which ] under
stand have been advanced against 1t in
New York. ! do not object on the
grounds that IL Is undesirable that chill
dren should see a teacher, even though
married in a state of approaching moth
erhood. My interest centers exclusively
on the welfare OF the unborn child. You
see teaching is a very great strain on
the nervous system. especially in a wom-
an. When a good teacher Is through
with her days work she is exhausted.
but after a little rest she Is all right
again and feels fine: an Indifferent teach
er is just dog-tired and stays dull and
tagged out. But in either case the strain
is unfair to the unborn child, and for
that reason I am against allowing women
who are bearing children to teach in the
schools.
First Duty to Child.
Then after the child is born i think
the mother ought to nurse Ii always.
Having given birth 10 a child 1t is her
duty to feed it and carry II in her arms.
As a woman 1 feel that a mother owes
herself TO her child first, and under my
administration as superintendent of
schools here in Chicago the rule has been
for the mother to remain away from
teaching till her child is two years old.
OF course, there have been exceptions,
when the father OF the child had died
or met with financial reverses that made
1t imperative for the mother to support
herself and her child. In those cases my
practice is to allow the mother to come
back as a substitute. I would not take
her back as a regular teacher, but 1
would put her on in places where she
would not have more than two or three
days consecutive work. This would en-
able her to divide her time between her
child and her professional duties, but
except in cases OF real necessity I never
allow the mothers TO come back to teach
until their own children are two years
old"
This woman OF nearly three-score and
ten years has the face and bearing OF a
lawyer. Put her in a full-bottomed wig
and black robes and no one could tell
that she was not a man. And yet withal
in her dress she is extremely womanly.
There is nothing mannish about the we'll
cut gray silk gown trimmed with delicate
lace and showing just a touch of color
around the neck and wrists. All her SYM
pathies are young. She drives an auto
mobile in the park, and-whisper 1t soft
ly-can dance as lightly as many women
half her age. And the delicacy that Is
the dominating note about her Is strong
ly reflected in her love for old china, old
mahogany, old prints, old lace and all the
faded and delicate things OF bygone days.
Fayors Phyical Culture.
1 turned the conversation on to the
numerical superiority Of women teachers
in the United States and asked her II
there was not danger that a race Of
women-taught men might be lacking in
the virility so essential to the growth of
a nation. She said:
well, j was never taught by woman
myself When l went to school 1 was
taught by an old-fashioned schoolmaster
who wore spectacles and had white hair;
afterward when / went through normal
school to become a teacher was taught
by a man. In those days all the teaching
in this country was dcne by school,
masters. In those days the men taught
even the girls: now the women teach
even the boys. But really Ado not think
If r,,akes much differences: III In NOT .ol