April, 2008

Greetings,

This is the first in what I hope will be a series of messages as I serve my term as president of LHMA.

My older sister loves to visit little shops in out of the way towns.  On one of her excursions she found the following "Rules for Teachers" which she brought home to me.  I chuckle every time I read through these fascinating rules.

Rules for Teachers

~1879~

1. Teachers will daily fill lamps, clean chimneys.

2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day's session.

3. Make you pens carefully.  You may whittle nibs to the individual tastes of your pupils.

4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week, if they go to church regularly.

5. After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.

6. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.

7. Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.

8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity, and honesty.

9. The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.

Obviously, the "rules" have changed in the past 130 years.  However, the challenge of providing the best possible education for our "pupils" has not.  The Laurel Highlands Math Alliance was founded to provide support for the present and future teachers and students of mathematics in our region.

I would like to thank those who have contributed over the years to LHMA.  In particular, a special thanks to past presidents Dr. Thomas Sigmund and Dr. Peter Skoner, and NCTM/PCTM representative Dr. Nina Girard. 

As the first decade of the new millennium comes to a close, we can use this organization to support each other as we continue to meet the challenges of the classroom.

Linda L. Tully