Was there ever a time in America when teachers were not allowed to marry?

Question

This sounds ridiculous to me, but a co-worker of my wife insists that there was a time in America when a teacher could not be married. If so, does anyone have a proving link? Thanks and best answer will be awarded.

Answer 1

For female teachers, yes, there was.  They were allowed to marry however once they were married they were no longer allowed to teach, because it was believed they should care for the home.  Typically during this time there were very few male teachers (of which were the first teachers).

Answer 2

I don't think there was ever such a requirement. I think that it was just assumed that woman would no longer continue teaching once she had a family of her own to take care of.

Here is a link to an interesting site....

http://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/index.ht...

Answer 3

I don't have a link but before World War I, which changed a lot of things for women, women had to quit when they got married.  Males could be married & teach, though.

Answer 4

weird i never heard of this before...ill be interested in finding out if this was once true as well.

Answer 5

There was no time in American history when teachers were not allowed to marry. I think some teachers, from post-Civil War and coming forward through WWII, remained single as they wanted to teach rather than pursue the traditional role of a housewife and mother. The stereotypical "schoolmarm" was a single woman and eventually became a spinster.

During that same time, teachers were held up as highly respected role models and were not regarded as "real people." Thus, a teacher going on a date or keeping company with a man was considered somewhat scandalous.

Generally, when a female teacher married, she left teaching to become a homemaker. She was not prohibited from teaching; she just took on another role. As recently as the early 1970s,  teachers were not allowed to continue teaching if they were pregnant.

There was however no rule or legislation prohibiting marriage and forcing teachers to quit if they married.

The role of women began to change as we moved through the 1950s and into the 60s when the whole "have it all" movement took hold. That's why the "never married" teacher stereotype is associated with earlier times.

Answer 6

There are varying beliefs about the truthfulness of these 1872 teacher rules.  At any rate, it was definetly a widespread belief that teachers should be single.  Here's a link with these rules.

  http://teacherworld.com/potrules.html

Snopes casts some questions on the validity of these same rules.  

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/...

Answer 7

yes but i forget when.  like the time period of little house on the prairie.