The Heroines of the Western Schoolhouse
"School-Teacher Wanted: One room schoolhouse seeks a young, single white woman who is willing to leave her sheltered life and come teach twenty to thirty classes a day, for a variety of students ranging in ages from five to twenty-two. Teacher must be able to perform with inadequate teaching materials and minimal funding for her salary and for the maintenance of the school." If you fit these qualifications, you would've been a wonderful addition to the old Western schoolhouse.
Women of the Western schoolhouse had a reputation for instilling values and lessons to the children of the frontier. They were historical heroines who chose to journey all the way from the East just to hear the sounds of children learning. According to Anne M. Butler, in her book Uncommon Common Women, these women left behind their family and friends, "took teacher training, signed two-year contracts, and set forth for unknown sites " (68). Schoolteachers on the frontier must have had an incredible love for children in order to deal with the difficulties the West placed in their way.
Adventurous women came from the East to teach for many different reasons: some felt God's calling, others felt a sense of responsibility, and still others came because they needed money to support themselves and their families back home. But at the heart of all these women, was a love for children that allowed them to venture forth into the world unknown.
In reality, was a love for children enough to keep these women in this land far from home? Well, there were other advantages for their staying, as well. When women left the East, they were uncertain of their skills, and many felt this was their only option. But these dedicated women stumbled upon a sense of inner confidence they had never known before, and they also gained a more creative outlook on things. Other young women came with the hope they'd meet their perfect match and live happily ever after. For them, the West offered a sense of adventure worth pursuing.
Ladies certainly didn't choose the profession of teaching because of monetary benefits. Butler explained that schoolteachers were met with the challenge of having "low wages and a high cost of living" (73). Classes were only taught during the seasons that didn't coincide with the heaviest farm production, and many districts only paid "per head/per day, a system that lowered teacher salaries when children were absent for impassable travel conditions or seasonal farm and ranch responsibilities" (Butler 73).
The year of 1776 was a time of revolution, independence, and patriotism. American colonists had severed their umbilical cord to the Mother Country and declared themselves “Free and Independent States”.1 The chains of monarchy had been thrown off and a new government was formed. Shying away from a totalitarian government, the Second Continental Congress drafted a document called the Articles of Confederation which established a loose union of the states. It was an attempt at self-government that ended in failure. The Articles of Confederation had many defects which included a weak central government that lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, required equal representation and a unanimous vote to amend the Articles, and had only a legislative branch. As a result the United States lacked respect from foreign countries. These flaws were so severe that a new government had to be drafted and as a result the Constitution was born. This document remedied the weak points of the federal government and created one that was strong and fair, yet still governed by the people.
In 1853 Anthony called for women to be admitted to the teaching profession and for better pay for women teachers.
Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Autumn, 1980), pp. 17-20. JSTOR. 2
After beginning her teaching job there, she was shocked by the ignorance of the locals. As a young lady, she was not supposed to be intelligent, but her father had taught her well. She was utterly appalled at the lack of educational exposure in Kentucky. She wrote in a letter to her sister, Emily, that:
Education did not form part of the life of women before the Revolutionary War and therefore, considered irrelevant. Women’s education did not extend beyond that of what they learned from their mothers growing up. This was especially true for underprivileged women who had only acquired skills pertaining to domesticity unlike elite white women during that time that in addition to having acquired domestic skills they learned to read a result becoming literate. However, once the Revolutionary War ended women as well as men recognized the great need for women to obtain a greater education. Nonetheless, their views in regards to this subject differed greatly in that while some women including men believed the sole purpose of educating women was in order to better fulfil their roles and duties as wives and mothers others believed the purpose of education for women was for them “to move beyond the household field.” The essays of Benjamin Rush and Judith Sargent Murray provide two different points of view with respects to the necessity for women to be well educated in post-revolutionary America.
This piece argues most of the significant cases that are involved with the first amendment rights of public school students; it also shows all the cases that affect and gives significant information on all the...
The scarce amount of women who were fortunate enough to obtain schooling sadly did not receive enough to meet society’s expectations, or lead a content lifestyle (Tomaselli). Wollstonecraft believed that education should be equal for both men and women. She argued that women are capable and have the right to be learn about important subjects, including reading, writing, arithmetic, botany, history, and philosophy (Powell). Wollstonecraft even emphasized the significance of physical education (Powell). She called for reforms, suggesting that schools be mixed regarding sex so as to “‘form a just opinion of ourselves’” (“On National Education”). As mentioned earlier, Wollstonecraft did her part to advocate for this by opening a school, but was forced to close it in a short amount of time (“On National Education”).
Morre, Denise. "The Western Frontier and its Impact on Women: The Western Frontier and its Impact on Women: 19th Century Women Go West http://www.suite101.com/content/the-western-frontier-and-its-impact-on-women-a185192#ixzz1FfAZwiav." Suite 101. N.p., 03. Jan. 2010. Web. 4 Mar 2011. .
On April 20th, our class and many other classes from American Indian Public Charter School II walked to the library to listen in a meeting room to two exceptional female teachers. Not only teachers, these two women were the author, Kate Schatz, and illustrator, Miriam Klein Stahl of the book, Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future!
When confronted with the task of constructing a new nation, the founders of the United States had recently emerged from centuries of religious and political oppression by an overly strong central government. After winning their independence, one of the most pressing issues on their minds was the assurance that their new government would have limitations, disallowing it to molest their posterity. The patriarchs wanted a government that balanced between abuse and inefficiency. The first attempt to satiate this dream was the Articles of Confederation.
Which include danger to the school or any of the students and this should be the only way teachers and schools can restrict students’ rights. but schools tend to go too far restricting students’ rights “The principal had ordered the stories removed from the paper because he believed the story about teen pregnancy was inappropriate for some of the younger students at the school, based on its discussion of sexual activity and birth control”(What are the free expression rights of students in public schools under the First Amendment?) a student though that this was appropriate for the school to read and it was but the officials at the school did not think the same way. also another case Bazaar v. Fortune officials tried to stop publication of a book just because it had a few words in it that they did not like.(The First Amendment and Public Schools) this is taking there restrictions just too far. The government should be able to set guidelines of what the immediate danger is and what kind of expression goes way too far and have it sent out to all the schools in the United States. This might help schools from restricting our
In that time the women were expected to “act as peacemakers, using their influence to promote social consensus and conservative principles,” (Karen Fisher 247). This plays an interesting position to the treatment of women in Liberia. According to the Philadelphia’s Ladies ' Liberia School Association and the Rise and Decline of Northern Female Colonization Support article about how women in Liberia, “aimed to bring education to become a bigger social issue as they also stayed in domestic and private lifestyle. They set the idea of education being an important as a worldwide agreeance to be taught not only to both genders,” not only does this give women in Liberia a better opportunity but shakes the stereotype of having no political or social point unless they were backed by their husband (Karen Fisher 250). The sexism emplaced by centuries of patriarchy women had to hold behind their husbands as they were seen as submissive gave way when women begin finding ways to hold up the colonization of Liberia by supporting education. The sexism the women of Liberia faced began to shift in political and social positions as, “The Philadelphia Ladies’ Liberia School Association leaders pointed with pride to their impartiality regarding slavery and how their efforts fit unequivocally within the “separate spheres” ideology that defined a woman’s role as being domestic and private, separate from the public sphere”. (Karen Fisher 248). Women in the 19th century found it difficult to have a political stand point in society let alone to be colored, to which the need of teachers for schools in Liberia allowed women to find a foothold in bigger social issues. With the teachings of Christianity as a way
In the Old World, these children did not have the opportunity to attend school, thus this restricted their knowledge base to only the knowledge of the community. To many immigrants, schooling and education was of the utmost importance as it provided the potential for upward mobility for the entire family: “He could send his children to school, to learn all those things that he knew by fame to be desirable” (Antin, 161). Often times, the older children would have to work, and would in turn become stuck in the Old World, in order for the younger ones to go to school. This allowed the younger children to escape into the New World and in turn embody the promises of a better life in America. Mary Antin’s family was no exception. While, Mary was allowed the privilege of receiving an education, the same privilege was not given to her older sister Frieda, who had to work in a factory making garments in order to help support the family: “[Mary] was led to the schoolroom, with its sunshine…while, [Frieda] was led to a workshop, with its foul air, care-lined faces, and the foreman’s stern command” (Antin
She thought that if she was going to be in a bad mood, she was going to take
Women want to look like Barbie . Men want to look like Ken . This continuous race for beauty and eternal youth never ends , and with the medical’s inventions and innovations everything is possible today . Thanks to cosmetic plastic surgery , you can become the person you ever wanted to be . If you are bothered by a too big chest, a small chest , or a drooping one , you can resort to a breast surgery operation . Whether hunchback , too long or too wide a nose operation changes the shape or size of the nose to give it a smooth appearance with the face. And many other surgeries like lip enhancement , liposuction are available and accessible like never before . In other words , plastic surgery is designed to repair