How was American teachers life between 1910 and 1920?

Answer 1

This decade was an era of transition for teachers. For many years, especially in rural areas, teachers often had only a "normal school" education, which was like an Associate's degree-- two years after high school. But as the decade progressed, more cities began to expect that a teacher should have a four-year college degree, and colleges began to form "schools of education" to train prospective teachers. The typical starting salary of a teacher by 1920 was $1,200 a year, but teachers with a degree were offered a larger salary. The lowest paid teachers were black-- since America was still segregated, black educators had the most difficult time finding schools to hire them, and many ended up working in impoverished communities.

Most elementary and junior high school (today called middle school) teachers were female, and there were still laws in the 1910s that said they could not marry. Some women were taking these laws to court and trying to win the right to keep their job after they married, but the society was still very traditional and a common belief was that married women did not need to work. Most principals were male, as were many high school teachers, and most college professors. Women were generally paid less than men.

Despite not receiving equal pay, many women were attracted to teaching: it was considered a profession with stability and status, and in a traditional culture, it was one of the few professions considered suitable for women to pursue (along with nursing and office work). While teachers, both male and female, encountered problems that we also see today (such as large classes, and a number of immigrant students with poor English skills), most of the men and women who went into the teaching profession felt positively about their choice. They believed they were doing their part to educate the next generation.