Catholic school teachers in 1930's

General Joy · Mar 3, 2010

For my story, I'd really like to have my male character be a Catholic school teacher and layperson in 1933. But is this inconceivable? Were virtually all Catholic school educators in 1933 made up of nuns, monks, and priests only?

Thanks!

Shakesbear · Mar 3, 2010

Can you say, please, the location of the story and the subject the character would teach? Boarding school or other?

General Joy · Mar 3, 2010

Sure, Shakesbear. It's in Lawrence, KS. Not a boarding school, but your typical Catholic K-8 school. I haven't really decided on a subject that the character would teach. I'm flexible there!

PeterL · Mar 3, 2010

In a K-8 pretty much all of the teachers would have been religious. In high school there were some lay teachers. The proportions would have varied by subject and location.

IceCreamEmpress · Mar 3, 2010

More likely in an all-boys' school; in a co-ed parish school, very unlikely.

Shakesbear · Mar 3, 2010

Thanks for the info - I'm in the UK and taught in Catholic schools - though not in the 1930's! I've some contacts who might be able to give me some info - but I'm not sure how relevant it would be in the US. If you think it would be useful I'll do the business for you - might take a few days or so though.

johnnysannie · Mar 3, 2010

General Joy said:
For my story, I'd really like to have my male character be a Catholic school teacher and layperson in 1933. But is this inconceivable? Were virtually all Catholic school educators in 1933 made up of nuns, monks, and priests only?

Thanks!

In the 1930's, virtually all of the teachers in any parochial school would have been religious people. My dad went to parochial school and he was born in the 1930's. Grade school would have been Sisters; he went to the boy's Catholic High school and was taught by brothers; girls of the same era went to school at the local convent and were taught by Sisters.

Lay teachers in Catholic education are a relatively new development, definitely post Vatican II.

While a priest might serve as principal, they normally did not teach - that was left to the nuns and the brothers.

Hope that helps!

BTW: My dad went to school in northwest Missouri, not all that far from Lawrence.

maryland · Mar 3, 2010

Here is a completely different experience -which shows that you can make things up if you wish -
Over in England, I went to Catholic infant and grammar schools in the 1940s onwards. While the head teacher was a nun, in both schools, about threequarters of the staff were female lay teachers, both married and unmarried.

Boys left at the age of seven and went on to be taught by the dreaded (!) Christian Brothers, where there would be science/physics teachers or other specialists who would be male lay teachers.

johnnysannie · Mar 4, 2010

maryland said:
Here is a completely different experience -which shows that you can make things up if you wish -
Over in England, I went to Catholic infant and grammar schools in the 1940s onwards. While the head teacher was a nun, in both schools, about threequarters of the staff were female lay teachers, both married and unmarried.

Boys left at the age of seven and went on to be taught by the dreaded (!) Christian Brothers, where there would be science/physics teachers or other specialists who would be male lay teachers.

Good info if the story is set in England in that period but probably not for Lawrence, Kansas, USA!!!!!

General Joy · Mar 4, 2010

Thanks, everyone. All the info was helpful. Maybe if I comment on the fact that the non-clergy teacher is rather a rarity, it would make it more acceptable (?). By the way, the teacher would be a devout Catholic, and a former seminary student who left to get married, although it might not make any difference. It's important to the story though that the guy has a wife and son. Still thinking it over... I appreciate the replies!

johnnysannie · Mar 4, 2010

I just thought of this - don't know if it will help but maybe - one of my uncles coached the Catholic school basketball team in that era; he was a lay person, married, three kids but he did serve at the school as the coach.

Just sayin'

General Joy · Mar 4, 2010

Thanks, Annie, that's a great idea. I might just go that route. Do you happen to know if your uncle coached only boys, or were girls on the basketball team also?

johnnysannie · Mar 4, 2010

General Joy said:
Thanks, Annie, that's a great idea. I might just go that route. Do you happen to know if your uncle coached only boys, or were girls on the basketball team also?

If memory serves, he did both genders but not at the same time - no co-ed teams!!

citymouse · Mar 5, 2010

I was in grade school through the 1950s. I had two lay teachers. One was Miss Hanby fifth grade. The other was Mrs. Wingate eighth grade. In those days a grade (1-8) teacher taught all the subjects. They were very smart women and far nicer than the "good sisters".

jonnysannie's Vatican II observation is correct in that in the wake of VII there was a severe drop in the numbers of teaching priests and especially nuns available for parishes. Many schools and churches were closed. Those that remained were heavily staffed by laymen and women.
C

johnnysannie said:
Lay teachers in Catholic education are a relatively new development, definitely post Vatican II.

StephanieFox · Mar 6, 2010

There were entire Catholic orders of nuns whose vocation was teaching, usually grad-school and jr. high kids. They picked the meanest nuns possible to do this.

High School could be taught by lay teachers or priests or monks or brothers. (Brothers and monks are different.)

johnnysannie · Mar 8, 2010

StephanieFox said:
There were entire Catholic orders of nuns whose vocation was teaching, usually grad-school and jr. high kids. They picked the meanest nuns possible to do this.

High School could be taught by lay teachers or priests or monks or brothers. (Brothers and monks are different.)

In the time period of the WIP, it's true that some orders of Sisters were devoted to teaching just as some orders of Sisters still are and some are nursing orders.

They DID not pick "the meanest nuns possible to do this". Many of the nuns were indeed "mean" and discipline was harsh, harsh enough that my Catholic educated father refused to let me attend parochial school in the 1960's. But there was no meter of "hey let's pick Sister Mary Joseph; she's the meanest witch in the convent".

Girls high school into the 1960's was also taught by Sisters, usually connected to a Convent. Boys were taught by priests or brothers (and yep, not the same) but being taught by monks would be very rare. Part of becoming a monk is to seperate from the world, hard to do if you're teaching high school.

PeterL · Mar 8, 2010

johnnysannie said:
Girls high school into the 1960's was also taught by Sisters, usually connected to a Convent. Boys were taught by priests or brothers (and yep, not the same) but being taught by monks would be very rare. Part of becoming a monk is to seperate from the world, hard to do if you're teaching high school.

Most of the lay brothers who teach in Catholic schools are monks of some sort. There are many orders of monks and some of them spend their time teaching.

shaldna · Mar 11, 2010

General Joy said:
For my story, I'd really like to have my male character be a Catholic school teacher and layperson in 1933. But is this inconceivable? Were virtually all Catholic school educators in 1933 made up of nuns, monks, and priests only?

Thanks!

In Ireland boys were taught by priests and monks and girls were taught by nuns, except for RE which was taught by a priest.

This was standard practice until fairly recently, but even now alot of schools still have nuns and monks teaching.

Catholic school teachers in 1930's

General Joy

general soothsayer

Shakesbear

knows a hawk from a handsaw

General Joy

general soothsayer

PeterL

IceCreamEmpress

Hapless Virago

Shakesbear

knows a hawk from a handsaw

johnnysannie

maryland

johnnysannie

General Joy

general soothsayer

johnnysannie

General Joy

general soothsayer

johnnysannie

citymouse

fantasy dweller

StephanieFox

Maybull the Bulldog

johnnysannie

PeterL

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.