It was women's work in the past; that's simply historically true. I think another underlying historical truth is that there was no public education in the past, and we have little experience with it. Education is not strictly "women's work", nor merely "nation-building", nor simply "a slave to our economy". It can elevate minds, enrich lives and build the capacity for democracy. Americans disrespect learning and government to an outrageous degree, and it shows in how they treat public schools.

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Read "The Teacher Wars - A History of America's Most Embattled Profession" by Dana Goldstein.

"...if it would not be better to put the thousands of men who are keeping school for children into the mills, and employ the women to train the children?' ...Beecher openly pitched hiring female teachers as a potential money-saving strategy for the state and local governments launching compulsory schooling for the first time. 'A woman needs support only for herself while a man requires support for himself and a family..."

And indeed, female teachers proved to be a bargain...

likesmart

Wow! And this also explains why we feel like babysitters sometimes under the guise of teaching.

smart

In addition to what you brought up about it being “women’s work” in the past, it was expected that when a woman got married, she would stop working. What that has translated to over the years was 1) a low pay scale in spite of the required college education, 2) the assumption that it was a secondary salary because women who taught were married (how many times did students and peers refer to female teachers as Mrs. when they weren’t? It happened to me throughout my career!), 3) men who entered teaching would be pushed towards admin positions, and 4) in our capitalist society, teaching was undervalued because of the salary while some people said at the same time how important it was that we educate their children?!

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Teaching wasn't always feminized - it became so over time - in the early years most teaching was done by men (exception - women historically always taught the youngest kids in separate primary schools/dame schools that were usually out of her home). Also around the turn of the century, when more and more schools consolidated into larger buildings with multiple grades, there came a need for administrators, which paid more and were mostly men. The history of gender in education is fascinating.

likesmart

So true

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It's pretty clear why teacher pay is so bad historically. The male jobs, let's say, like police, fire, and government workers like PERS, get a way better pension than teachers and nurses. Their formulas are pretty sweet, and they only recently started paying into their retirements a few years ago, while teachers have always had to chip in.

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I think it's important to note that "public education" was created in large part to "train" children to work in factories more than 100 years ago (and they were told then that they could have "The American Dream" by the same bloated megarich that are still floating on low wage workers...you know, the "job creators"). Working in factories didn't take much - basic reading so that they could read manuals and "entertain" themselves with books, basic math so they could understand whatever measurements may come with the factory job, etc. All basic. Follow the bells, eat quick, sit or stand in rows, all that. It didn't take much to teach that stuff, because it was expected that most people would not "need" or "want" a higher education.
Of COURSE women were doing this work, because they were also "maintaining a home" AND the pay was low - it didn't need to be higher because it was ALL BASIC.

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In response to California High School 2- Untrue. The US public education system began in 1635. This country was mostly agricultural at that time.The Industrial Revolution was estimated to have begun around 1760, more than 100 years after the establishment of the first public school. So, your assertion that :"I think it's important to note that "public education" was created in large part to "train" children to work in factories more than 100 years ago" is incorrect on both counts.The education system was created not 100 years ago, but more than 400 years ago, and at that time, there were no factories for the children to be forced into. Also, your reference to the 'American Dream' being some kind of 'hook' at that time is not appropriate. It is not something that came over on the Mayflower ( one of the first passenger ships to arrive), no that term was first coined in 1931 by James Truslow Adams. Your comment is filled with emotion but no logic and your facts are incorrect. I see this as the much bigger problem= teachers who are not articulate, fact driven thinkers. Look back at what you wrote for your peers to review. It looks much more like something that would have been written by a student, than a teacher. You make assertions and supply no evidence. It is embarrassing. I am seeing this more and more, TEACHERS who are.... clueless!

This is actually getting cause and effect backward. Teaching is not low paid because it's "women's work" but rather it became "women's work" when they decided that low-wage workers were needed. As public education became universal and publicly supported, there was a need to find a cheap labor source. And there was a supply. For many years, teaching was one of the few options for a woman who wanted to be educated and have a career. Plus, in the 2nd half of the 19th Century there were many widowed and never married females due to the Civil War wiping out so many men. War tends to do that.

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The first 100 years of our country, teachers were exclusively male. The next hundred years almost exclusively female. We have a mix now, but I do wish there were more men in the profession. They don’t know what they’re missing. I love being a male elementary school teacher!

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🙌🏼💯 Yes!

Historically, teaching was a male dominated profession. It began to change in the mid 19th century with Catherine Beecher and Horace Mann. But it wasn't until the late 19th/early 20th century with the Chicago Teachers Federation (today the AFT,) that women began to even the numbers.

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