"The Right Kind of Men": Controversial Efforts to Create a Class of Male Teachers in Philadelphia, 1888-1918

• In Event: Division F Vice Presidential Session: Uncovering Hidden Narratives in American Education

Abstract

In 1891, Philadelphia established the controversial School of Pedagogy for Young Men with the stated goal of growing a male teacher supply to benefit adolescent boys. This paper explores the Philadelphia Board of Public Education’s other, status-driven motivations for the school. These include giving School of Pedagogy graduates a monopoly on coveted teaching positions and pathways for advancement beyond teaching, while excluding male candidates who failed to meet its “right kind of man” criteria. Such policies rendered the school a staging ground for sex discrimination and undermined its stated goal. These findings deepen our understanding of male teachers during teaching’s feminization, an undeveloped area. They additionally put current trends and discourses on gender and teaching into historical perspective.

Author

• Jeremy T. Murphy, College of the Holy Cross