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Monday, November 29, 2010

Dust Bowl Teachers

Dust Bowl Teachers

Dust Bowl Teachers

What was it like to teach during the Great Depression? Well, if you were like Ann Marie Low, living in Dust Bowl North Dakota, it was probably pretty tough. $50 a month, no heat in the hotel room you share with another unpaid teacher, when you’re not forced to take another room that a trucker wanders into.

You might have a student like, Dora, whom after sensing that she will never be up to the curriculum, you teach to crochet instead. You might have some leeway when it comes to curriculum, but not much. Consolidation and compulsory education make you march to the same drummer we march to today under Arne Duncan and No