Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T12:33:58.333Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Retirement in Education: The Economic and Social Functions of the Teachers' Pension

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

William Graebner
William Graebner*
Affiliation:
State University of New York at Fredonia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In April 1891, the Journal of Education published a symposium on teachers' pensions, the first national attention the issue had received. The honor of opening the symposium went to U.S. Commissioner of Education W.T. Harris, who presented the case against pensions — even then, a minority view, shared by only six of the fifteen symposium participants. A general system of teachers' pensions, Harris argued, would bring undesirable persons into the profession, prevent the formation of habits of thrift, and reduce salaries, which were, Harris emphasized, rising. “Consequently,” the Commissioner said, “the teacher with an equal amount of thrift or personal economy may provide for his old age just as well as the mass of the community.” This last remark must have seemed as hollow to public school teachers as it did to a number of symposium participants, for at no time in the half century after 1870 did teachers receive more than minimal compensation. Chicago teachers argued before the Board of Education in 1895 that their salaries were much the same as they had been in 1877. A deflationary economy eased the teachers' plight somewhat through most of the late nineteenth century, but after 1900 this protection was not available. In 1905, E.G. Kimball, President of the District of Columbia Teachers' Annuity and Aid Association, appealed to Andrew Carnegie for subsidy. The situation he depicted might have been of any of hundreds of school districts across the nation—low salaries, a rising cost of living, a heavily female population bound to the city by family ties and thus unable to pursue higher salaries elsewhere. Several years later, the National Education Association (NEA) presented data revealing that in forty-four of forty-eight cities, salaries of elementary teachers were below those of laborers. Averaging only forty years of age in 1913, urban teachers had become bitter over their inability to save. Active or retired, Boston's women teachers were predominantly unmarried, burdened by the need to spend a portion of their earnings in the care of dependents, and having very limited savings or none at all.

Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , Winter 1978 , pp. 397 - 417
Copyright
Copyright © 1978 by New York University 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1 33 (April 2, 1891): 211.Google Scholar

2 Davis, Don T., “The Chicago Teachers' Federation and the School Board,” statement of February 1917, in Chicago Teachers' Federation (CTF) Papers, Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, Illinois, box 1; symposium statement by Bradley, John E., Journal of Education 33 (April 2, 1891): 211.Google Scholar

3 Kimball, to Carnegie, , Carnegie, Andrew Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., box 118; U.S., Congress, Senate, Teacher's Retirement Fund: Address given at Washington, January 16, 1909, before the College Women's. Club, by Best, Lyman A., Secretary of the Board of Retirement of the Department of Education of New York City, S. Doc. 541, 61st Cong., 2d sess. (N.p., 1910), p. 2; National Education Association (NEA), Report of the Committee on Teachers' Salaries and Cost of Living (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1913), pp. 49, 229; U.S., Congress, House, Committee on the District of Columbia, Retirement of Public School Teachers in the Distict of Columbia: Hearings before the Committee on the District of Columbia on H.R. 2076, 66th Cong., 1st sess., June 5 and 6, 1919 (Washington, D.C., 1919), pp. 6, 50–51.Google Scholar

4 Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Department of Research, Old-Age Support of Women Teachers: Provisions for Old Age Made by Women Teachers in the Public Schools of Massachusetts , Studies in Economic Relations of Women, vol. 11 (Boston, 1921), pp. 11–12, 47, 51, 54, 57.Google Scholar

5 House, Committee on District of Columbia, Retirement of Public School Teachers: Hearings, p. 9: NEA, Teachers' Salaries and Cost of Living, pp. 212–215; California, Report of the California Public School Teachers' Retirement Salary Commission (Sacramento, Cal., 1929), p. 21; Dix, Lester, The Economic Basis for the Teacher's Wage (New York, 1931), pp. 11, 87.Google Scholar

6 Waller, Jesse Crawford, Tenure and Transiency of Teachers in Kentucky, George Peabody College for Teachers Contributions to Education No. 60 (Nashville, 1929), p. 50; Williams, Lester Ward, “Turnover Among Secondary Teachers in Illinois” (abstract, Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, 1931). The problem seems to have been less one of teachers moving from one state to another than of the early age of withdrawal from the profession. See Shaw, Reuben T., A Study of the Adequacy and Effectiveness of the Pennsylvania School Employees' Retirement System (Philadelphia, 1926), chapter 2.Google Scholar

7 In the discussion following Anderson, William E., “Qualification and Supply of Teachers for City Public Schools,” Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the National Education Association, Session of the Year 1891, Held at Toronto, Canada (New York, 1891), pp. 422–30, 431–43 (discussion), p. 438 (quotation).Google Scholar

8 Allen, Elizabeth A., “Teachers' Pensions,—The Story of a Women's Campaign,” Review of Reviews 15 (June 1897): 701.Google Scholar

9 Journal of Education 33 (April 2, 1891): 213.Google Scholar

10 Prosser, Charles A. and Hamilton, W.I., The Teacher and Old Age, intro. by Snedden, David (Boston, 1913), p. vi.Google Scholar

11 Flint, Lillian C., “Pensions for Women Teachers,” Century Magazine 79 (February 1910): 618.Google Scholar

12 U.S., Senate, Committee on the District of Columbia, Teachers' Retirement, S. 1064, 64th Cong., 2d sess., February 14, 1917 (Washington, D.C., 1917), p. 2.Google Scholar

13 Reichenbach, A., “The Superannuation of Teachers,” Education 16 (March 1896): 386–87; Hobbs, Lucy Edith, History of the Teachers' Annuity Movement in Iowa, University of Iowa Extension Division, Bulletin 145, College of Education Series No. 20, April 1, 1926 (Iowa City, 1926), pp. 5–6; Bradford, Mary D., “Teachers' Pensions and Insurance,” Journal of Education 61 (May 11, 1905): 512; Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Old-Age Support of Women Teachers, p. 39.Google Scholar

14 Senate, , Teacher's Retirement Fund, pp. 6–7; Allen, , “Teachers' Pensions,” p. 700; Reichenbach, “Superannuation of Teachers,” p. 388; Anderson, , “Qualification and Supply”; Shaw, , Pennsylvania Retirement System, pp. 11–12.Google Scholar

15 Senate, , Teacher's Retirement Fund, p. 6; Allen, , “Teachers' Pensions,” pp. 703–04.Google Scholar

16 LeLuce, Arvilla C., “Brief Account of the Pension Movement,” handwritten statement, CTF Papers, box 1, file “Historical Data”; Catherine Goggin, “Brief History of Chicago Teachers Federation,” statement, November 3, 1906, Ibid.; recollection of Margaret Haley, in “Stenographic Report of the Regular Meeting of the Chicago Teachers Federation, October 12, 1935,” CTF Papers, box 19, p. 78.Google Scholar

17 U.S., Department of Interior, Bureau of Education, State Pension Systems for Public-School Teachers, by Ryan, Carson Jr. and King, Roberta, Prepared for the Committee on Teachers' Salaries, Pensions, and Tenure of the National Education Association, Bulletin 14, 1916 (Washington, D.C., 1916), pp. 5–9; Hobbs, , Teachers' Annuity Movement, pp. 7, 22.Google Scholar

18 “Stenographic Report of Monthly Meeting of the Chicago Teachers' Federation, March 10, 1928,” CTF Papers, box 8, p. 84.Google Scholar

19 Allen, , “Teachers' Pensions,” p. 701; Journal of Education 33 (April 2, 1891): 211–14.Google Scholar

20 Norton, to Vanderlip, , 1 February 1908, Vanderlip, Frank A. Papers, Columbia University Library Division of Special Collections, box 11, file “CFAT. Misc. Correspondence.” Google Scholar

21 Ibid. ; McAndrew, William, “Some Suggestions on School Salaries,” Educational Review 27 (April 1904): 383.Google Scholar

22 Norton letter, cited note 20; Illinois, The Illinois Educational Commission, Tentative Recommendations in Regard to Minimum Salaries for Teachers, Proposed by the Educational Commission of Illinois, Bulletin 7 (Springfield, Ill., 1909), p. 24.Google Scholar

23 California, , Teachers' Retirement Salary Commission Report, p. 26.Google Scholar

24 Statement of Grady, William E., in “Addresses at Teachers' Union Mass Meeting,” July 6, 1916, CTF Papers, box 45, file “July-October 1916,” p. 28; Jessup, Walter A., The Teaching Staff (Cleveland, 1916), p. 65.Google Scholar

25 Holy, T.C., Cleveland Teachers' Salaries, A Study Sponsored by the Cleveland Teachers Federation in Co-operation with the Cleveland Board of Education (Columbus, Ohio, 1932), pp. 161–62; National Education Association, Committee on Retirement Allowances, Anna Laura Force, Chairman, “Retirement Systems in the Depression,” Record Group 47, “Records of the Committee on Economic Security,” Subject File, National Archives, Washington, D.C., box 38, file “Old Age Retirement-Teachers System,” pp. 3, 4, 14.Google Scholar

26 David statement, CTF Papers, box 1, p. 7; “Pension Delegate Convention, Meeting April 12, 1913,” typescript, CTF Papers, box 41, file “Jan-April 13, 1913, pp. 13–14, 20–21, 24–25, 35; “The Chicago Teachers' Pension Situation,” Ibid., file “April 14–September, 1913”; “Points for March 13, 1917 on Teachers' Tenure Bill (House Bill 394) in House Committee on Education,” typescript, CTF Papers, box 46, file “Jan.-March, 1917.” Google Scholar

27 “Pension Delegate Convention, Meeting April 12, 1913,” typescript, CTF Papers, box 41, file “Jan-April 13, 1913,” p. 17.Google Scholar

28 Goggin, , “Chicago Teachers Federation,” CTF Papers, box 1, file “Historical Data”; “The Chicago Teachers' Federation,” Ibid .Google Scholar

29 Bradford, , “Teachers' Pensions,” p. 512 “Stenographic Report of the Mass Meeting of the Chicago Teachers Federation Held at the Studebaker Theatre on Tuesday, November 25, 1924, at Four-thirty O'Clock P.M.,” CTF Papers, box 4, p. 74; Allen, , “Teachers' Pensions,” pp. 701, 703; Senate, , Teachers Retirement Fund, pp. 3–4; Snedden, , introduction to Prosser, Teacher and Old Age, p. vi.Google Scholar

30 House, , Retirement of Public School Teachers: Hearings, pp. 42, 9.Google Scholar

31 State ex rel. Dudgeon, v. Levitan, , State Treasurer, 181 Wisc. 326 (D. Wisc. 1923).Google Scholar

32 Harris, to Fuller, Lucius E., 7 October 1901, CTF Papers, box 36, file “Sept–Dec 1901”; “Stenographic Report Meeting November 25, 1924,” pp. 63ff.Google Scholar

33 “Stenographic Report of Monthly Meeting of the Chicago Teachers Federation, March 10, 1928,” CTF Papers, box 8, pp. 99–101.Google Scholar

34 Margaret Haley's Bulletin 3 (January 30, 1926): 187–88. A similar phenomenon was taking place among federal employees in the 1920s.Google Scholar

35 “Stenographic Report of Meeting of Chicago Teachers' Federation, December 12, 1925,” CTF Papers, box 6, p. 46.Google Scholar

36 Margaret Haley's Bulletin 4 (October 25, 1926): 55; “Stenographic Report Meeting December 12, 1925,” p. 47.Google Scholar

37 “Stenographic Report Meeting March 10, 1928,” p. 101; Margaret Haley's Bulletin 3 (January 30, 1926): 188–89; 4 (November 16, 1926): 66–67; 3 (January 30, 1926): 187.Google Scholar

38 Margaret Haley's Bulletin 4 (June 15, 1927): 293; 3 (May 17, 1926): 329.Google Scholar

39 Jessup, , Teaching Staff, pp. 49, 52–53.Google Scholar

40 Discussion following Anderson, , “Qualification and Supply,” pp. 438, 440.Google Scholar

41 Illinois, The Illinois Education Commission, Preliminary Report to the Forty-Sixth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, Submitted in Accordance with an Act Approved May 25, 1907, Bulletin 9 (Springfield, Ill., 1909), p. 41.Google Scholar

42 House, , Retirement of Public School Teachers: Hearings, p. 24.Google Scholar

43 Illinois Educational Commission, Minimum Salaries for Teachers, p. 18; Jessup, , Teaching Staff, p. 41.Google Scholar

44 House, , Retirement of Public School Teachers: Hearings, p. 10; Prosser, , Teacher and Old Age, p. 35; Illinois Educational Commission, Minimum Salaries for Teachers, p. 18.Google Scholar

45 I am indebted here to Wiebe, Robert H., The Search for Order: 1877–1920 (American Century Series, New York, 1968), and Gutman, Herbert, “Work, Culture and Society in Industrializing America: 1815–1919,” American Historical Review 78 (June 1973): 531–88.Google Scholar

46 Journal of Education 33 (April 2, 1891): 211.Google Scholar

47 Ibid., 212.Google Scholar

48 Senate, , Teacher's Retirement Fund, p. 2; Dix, , Economic Basis, p. 11; Cabell, William D. Mrs., “Is the Teacher a Proletarian?” Education 20 (September 1899): 35; Henderson, Charles Richmond, “Municipal Pension Systems and Pensions for Teachers,” American Journal of Sociology 13 (May 1908): 846; Davis statement, CTF Papers, box 1, p. 9; NEA, Report of the Committee on Salaries, Tenure, and Pensions of Public School Teachers in the United States to the National Council of Education, July, 1905 (N.p., 1905), p. 466.Google Scholar

49 Quoting Johnson, D.B., President of Winthrop Normal and Industrial College, in discussion following “Statement of the Work and Proposals of the Committee on Teachers' Salaries and Cost of Living for 1912–13,” Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the NEA, 51st Annual Meeting, Held at Salt Lake City, Utah, July 5–11, 1913 (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1913), p. 413; Clark, John E., “Shall Teachers Be Pensioned?” Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the NEA, 35th Annual Meeting, Held at Buffalo, N.Y., July 3–10, 1896 (Chicago, 1896), pp. 989–90. On professionalization, see Hofstadter, Richard, The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R. (New York, Vintage Books, 1955), pp. 154–55.Google Scholar

50 Aaron, Marcus, A State System of Retirement Funds for Teachers: From the Viewpoint of a Business Man and a School Teacher, Address Delivered Before the State Educational Association, Harrisburg, Pa., December 29, 1916 (N.p., n.d.), p. 4.Google Scholar

51 Senate, , Teacher's Retirement Fund, p. 6; House, , Retirement of Public School Teachers: Hearings, p. 9; Harris, Graham H. to Yeates, Richard, 7 May 1901, in CTF Papers, box 35, file “Jan-May 1901”; Journal of Education 33 (April 2, 1891): 211.Google Scholar

52 Journal of Education 33 (April 2, 1891): 212. See also McAndrew, , “School Salaries.” Google Scholar

53 Flower to President and Members of the Illinois State Federation of Teachers, CTF Papers, box 36, file “Sept-Dec 1901.” Google Scholar

54 NEA, Report on Salaries, Tenure, and Pensions, 1905, p. 466. Draper was not a member of the Committee; his statement is part of a brief discussion appended to the report.Google Scholar

55 The quotation is from Heilbroner's, Robert review of the Hirsch book in New York Review of Books, 3 March 1977, p. 11; Hirsch, , Social Limits to Growth (Cambridge, Mass., 1976), pp. 119, 122, 128–29, 137, 139, 143–44, 175.Google Scholar

56 Aaron, , Retirement Funds for Teachers, pp. 3–4; Allen, , “Teachers' Pensions,” p. 702; Flint, , “Pensions for Women Teachers,” p. 619; Seyfried, John Edward and Robinson, DeWitt Grady, “New Mexico Retirement System with Model Plan and Laws,” University of New Mexico Bulletin, Education Series 8 (October 15, 1934): 7–8; “Teacher Retirement Legislation for Kentucky,” Bulletin of the Bureau of School Service, College of Education, University of Kentucky 9 (September 1936): 11–12, 24.Google Scholar

57 Prosser, , Teacher and Old Age, p. 19.Google Scholar

58 “Stenographic Report of the Regular Meeting of the Chicago Teachers Federation, June 15, 1935,” CTF Papers, box 19, p. 73.Google Scholar

59 Harris, Graham H. to Yeates, Richard, 7 May 1901, CTF Papers, box 35, file “Jan-May 1901”; Senate, , Teacher's Retirement Fund, pp. 6, 7; fragment of undated letter from Catherine Goggin (c. 1897), CTF Papers, box 35, file “1868–1899”; Jessup, , Teaching Staff, pp. 38–39; “The Chicago Teachers' Federation” and other statements in CTF Papers, box 1, file “Historical Data.” Google Scholar

60 Allen, , “Teachers' Pensions,” p. 705; Goggin statement and DeLuce statement, CTF Papers, box 1, file “Historical Data”; Squier, Lee Welling, Old Age Dependency in the United States: A Complete Survey of the Pension Movement (New York, 1912), p. 140.Google Scholar

61 California, Teachers' Retirement Salary Commission Report, p. 28; Allen, , “Teachers' Pensions,” p. 706; Senate, Teacher's Retirement Fund, p. 8; Clark, , “Shall Teachers Be Pensioned,” p. 995 (discussion); Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Old-Age Support of Women Teachers, p. 40.Google Scholar

62 Allen, , “Teachers' Pensions,” p. 706; Senate, , Teacher's Retirement Fund, p. 8.Google Scholar

63 Shaw, , Pennsylvania Retirement System, p. 30.Google Scholar

64 “Stenographic Report of the Proceedings of the Regular Meeting of the [Chicago] Board of Education, April 8, 1925,” CTF Papers, box 5, pp. 20–27.Google Scholar