Tough Times for Teachers

In those days, there were many more teachers than there were positions, I guess, for teachers were fired over nothing, I thought. They were required to go to church locally, and there were all sorts of rules that were imposed.

By the middle 30s, my cousin Ethel was teaching in East Texas. She was an art teacher, very talented artist, when she met Ross Jarvis and fell in love. They couldn’t get married because it was against the rules for teachers to marry during the school year.

But they went to a neighboring town where he lived and were married secretly. As often as she could, she went to the neighboring town for the week-end. Finally the end of May came and they could announce their marriage.

Had the school officials known about the secret marriage, Ethel would have had to resign. Isn’t that ridiculous? But that was one of many rules imposed on teachers then.

It was then than I decided I would not be a teacher. I would not subject myself to the whims of so many people who could so easily become disgruntled.