Teacher Suspended for Giving Birth to Child! (In 1913, but Still.)

Education is one of the fields that looks today a lot like it did a century ago.  (Though, I will note that Dewey’s Democracy and Education was published way back in the day, so the fact that some things remain calcified is not due to lack of innovative thinking.)  Believe it or not, one of the issues educators endured in the early 20th century was whether married women should be teachers.  One article in the Los Angeles Herald put it like this:

Reports Against Married Teachers

NEW YORK, June 24.—After Investigating the case of Mrs. Bridget C Peixotto, a public school teacher, suspended for absenting herself from duty while she gave birth to a child, the committee on elementary schools of the board of education has returned a report saying married women who are teachers are inefficient and undesirable as teachers. The report will be presented to the board of education tomorrow and probably will be approved. “We fuly expect to have to take this matter into court,” said Abraham Stem, chairman of the committee.

Consider adding to your rightful disbelief and indignation this list of acceptable behaviors for teachers, both men and women.  😉