life was different 100 years ago!

Picture taken in Culver city in 1912

Rule for Teachers, 1915

1. You will not marry during the term of your contract.
2. You are not to keep company with men.
3. You must be home between the hours of 8 PM and 6 AM unless attending a school function.
4. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores.
5. You may not travel beyond city limits unless you have the permission of the chairman of the board.
6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with a man unless he is your father or brother.
7. You may not smoke cigarettes.
8. You may not dress in bright colors.
9. You may, under no circumstances, dye your hair.
10. You must wear at least two petticoats.
11. Your dresses must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankle.
12. You will keep the schoolroom neat and clean, sweep the floor at least once daily, scrub the floor at least once each week, clean the blackboards once a day, and start the fire at 7 AM so the room will be warm at 8 AM.

-Cabell County, West Virginia
Board of Education, 1915



Rules for Teachers, 1872

1. Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean chimneys.



2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day's session.



3. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.



4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evening each week if they go to church regularly.



5. After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.



6. Woman teacher who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.



7. Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a good sum of his earnings for his benefit during declining years, so that he will not become a burden on society.



8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity, and honesty.



9. The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.