Historical Tidbits: 19th Century Teachers, part one

Daily Diary, Tuesday August 22, 2023, Day 1087

During my career teaching at a community college, the fall semester started near the end of August, so it only seemed fitting that I would start a series of Historical Tidbits on the teaching profession now.

Just as an aside, this is usually the hottest time of year in San Diego (when we aren’t having a hurricane), which meant that teaching in the old, un-airconditioned buildings was a misery for all concerned. Definitely not the best way to start classes in US history when most of the 45 students per class were taking the course to fulfil a requirement in a subject that they had learned to hate in high school.

I did my best to keep everyone awake and in reasonably good spirits by lugging in a couple of portable fans I had bought and making my lectures as lively as possible, but it was a struggle. As a result, I really looked forward to the end of September when the temperature would begin to fall. For those of you who have read my first short story, Dandy Detects, you will see my experience reflected in Barbara Hewitt’s description of her first day of classes.

Anyway, these next series of posts on teaching come, in part, from my own experiences as a teacher--from my student teaching days in an Ohio high school, my teaching assistant days while getting my doctorate, my years as first an assistant history professor at Texas Tech University, then a visiting history lecturer at UC: San Diego, an adjunct at San Diego State, and finally the decades as a full professor of US and Women’s history at Mesa Community College. In addition, I am drawing from the work I did on my dissertation, ‘Like Machine or an Animal:’ Working Women of the Far West in the Late Nineteenth Century, as well as from articles from the San Francisco Chronicle.

First, here are some direct quotes from my dissertation to give some background about the teaching profession in the late 19th century:

“Less than ten percent of all the women working in San Francisco, Portland, and Los Angeles in 1880 held jobs in the professions, and over ninety percent of them were teachers. Fifty years earlier school teaching had been dominated by men; women had begun to join the profession in significant numbers as full-time teachers only in the 1840s, and yet by 1880 over two thirds of the teachers in the United States were women.

“There were several reasons for the increasing importance of women in this profession in the period. The spread of the common school movement, which worked toward the establishment of public schools, had produced an accelerating demand for teachers. Men, who had traditionally taught in the public and private schools of the nation, could no longer adequately fill this demand, at least not at a price that the small budgets of public schools could handle. As a result, the hiring of women as teachers at lower rates of pay seemed a practical solution to the problems facing financially-strapped communities. Catherine Beecher, one of the earliest promoters of women as teachers, stressed the advantages of accepting female teachers, writing at one point, ‘…women can afford to teach for one-half, or even less, the salary which men would ask…’

“Whether or not this view was correct, just as the demand for female teachers rose, there was an increasing number of women available and eager to meet this demand. The middle-and late-nineteenth century witnessed the expansion of institutions of higher learning for women, and more women were attending high schools, normal schools, and colleges. Teaching was a logical outlet for those women who wished to do something practical with their learning before settling down to marriage. At the same time, the middle classes were beginning to view teaching as a more respectable occupation for young women. The historical debate over the negative and positive effects of the ‘cult of domesticity’ still rages, but it is clear that activities, like teaching, that could be easily identified as an extension of maternal or domestic roles became more accepted pursuits for women in this period. Women who taught, particularly if they taught in the elementary grades, were seen as simply applying (or practicing) their maternal talents outside the home.

“Western school boards hired women as teachers for all of these reasons. Urban leaders in the Far West felt that it was imperative to provide up-to-date institutions in their cities to prove that their region was as modern as the East. With rapidly growing populations, however, it was often difficult to secure the funds necessary to set up good public school systems. All three cities witnessed battles over the issue of school funding in the 1850s and 1860s; hiring women seemed an acceptable solution to these problems in the Far West as well.

“Even after the passage of a California law in 1874 that states, ‘Females employed as teachers in the public schools of this State, shall in all cases receive the same compensation as is allowed male teachers for like services, when holding the same grade certificates,’ the average salaries of women teaching in California were substantially lower than those made by males. For example, in 1879 a woman’s average monthly salary of between $70 and $80 was $50 a month less than a man’s. The ineffectiveness of the state law explains this differential in part, but the fact that women were usually limited to teaching in the lower-paying, elementary and primary grades while men were more likely to hold jobs as administrators or high school teachers explains most of the difference.” — Locke, “‘Like Machine or an Animal:’ Working Women of the Far West in the Late Nineteenth Century.”

While I knew the general outline of the problems facing women teachers from my dissertation work, the research I did in preparation for writing Bloody Lessons, the second full-length novel in my Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, proved extremely enlightening. A search of the San Francisco Chronicle for 1879-1880 exposed the fact that in December 1879, just a month before Bloody Lessons opens, the newly elected city school board, in an attempt to cut the costs of public education, slashed the salaries of the primary school teachers––in some cases cutting their monthly salaries in half.

Previously, a teacher’s salary was determined by the grade they taught (lower grades, lower salary), supplemented by the number of years teaching experience they had and what level of teaching certificate they had obtained through a statewide examination. Now, the base salary of primary school teachers was lowered and their experience and training would not be taken into consideration.

This decision was made by a slender majority of the School Board, and it caused an uproar among the teachers and their supporters, culminating in a mass meeting held December 21,1879 in the Metropolitan Temple (the large Baptist church founded by Rev. Isaac Kalloch, who had just been elected mayor of San Francisco.)

Teachers, principals, and the board members who had voted against the measure spoke out against the cut in salaries. Over and over, women testified that the new salary of $46.50 a month was not enough for a woman to live on, stressing that many of them were either entirely self-supporting or, even worse, were the sole support of widowed mothers. (My own study found that 30% of the women in San Francisco who held teaching jobs lived at home with unemployed parents–reinforcing the women’s testimony.)

They also argued that the new method of calculating salaries would drive the most experienced teachers out of the city’s public school system––or force them to refuse positions in the primary school grades.

However, it was clear from the Board’s decision to cut the salary of the teachers in the lowest grades the most, that these men had accepted the common rational for paying women less––that women were simply exercising their natural maternal instincts with young students––hence their experience or education shouldn’t count.

Several of the teachers and principals directly addressed this idea in the mass meeting, one stating that “…the real work lies in the primary grades, where the groundwork for the pupil’s education is formed…” while another said, “Little children of six to ten years of age must be carefully handled, and it is only after years of experience that any teacher can successfully cope with the difficulties of a class of very young children.” --San Francisco Chronicle, December 22, 1879

The Board did not step back from its decision, causing one young woman to suggest that the teachers go out on strike, and in March, 1880, a bill called the Traylor Act passed the state legislature, rolling back the salary cuts. Yet, when the law’s constitutionality was questioned, the Board withheld these teachers’ entire pay until halfway through the next summer, causing great economic difficulties for teachers and those who depended on their income. --San Francisco Chronicle, July 29, 1880

As a retired teacher, I must say I found this battle over teachers’ salaries distressingly familiar, echoing the periodic controversies and cut-backs in salaries that face public school teachers throughout the nation. However, as a novelist, I couldn’t have been happier. I wasn’t going to have to invent a sense of crisis among my characters, it was already there, waiting for me to discover and turn into a mystery plot as I wrote Bloody Lessons.

I hope you enjoyed this Historical Tidbit, and I would encourage you to click Here, to see the kickstarter campaign by Sara Rosett (who writes a delightful 1920s historical mystery series) where she is offering Bloody Lessons as one of the free bonus books to people who pledge at any amount. Do go check this deal out, or tell your friends, particularly if you like historical mysteries.

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In case you wondered, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. This is my newsletter reflecting on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully. If you aren’t already subscribed but are interested in doing so, you can subscribe for free by clicking the little button below. If you enjoyed this post, please do click on the little heart and/or share with your friends.