Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/189657
FOUNDING arbitrary teacher hiring practices and evaluation regimes. Teachers could be fired for virtually any reason or for no reason at all and worked under one-year contracts: Literally, all teachers were dismissed and re-hired annually through local school board examinations, a process fraught with abuse, caprice, and intrigue. After much hard lobbying, Moulder was able to convene the first state-funded professional meeting for educators, the State Teachers Institute, in May of 1861 – just days after the Civil War had begun at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. About 100 teachers attended, and agreed to look into publishing their own educational journal, but little of substance was accomplished. Californians – like most Americans – were preoccupied with other matters. Campaigns for all state offices, including the superintendency of public instruction, tended to be consumed by the divisive issues of slavery and secession. In 1862, the National Union Snapshots of early California school life: a late 1800s classroom filled with students; students from Placentia ride in a horse-drawn school bus to reach Fullerton High School in the early 1900s; the Lincoln School House in San Francisco, pictured in 1866; and the oneroom, rural Highland School near San Jose pictured in 1876. (Republican) Party nominated John Swett, a San Francisco schoolteacher, as its candidate. The man known today as "the father of the California public school system" and the "Horace Mann of the Pacific Coast," John Swett was a New Hampshire native who was lured to Gold Rush California in 1852, at the age of 22, to seek his fortune. After a few profitless jobs in mines and on farms, he took a teaching position in San Francisco, and it was there he found the excitement and adventure he'd been looking for. His career blossomed as he overhauled the curriculum at his Rincon Point grammar school and extended learning opportunities to adults. He became a highly regarded community leader, and his experience led him to develop a passionate regard for the profession – and the professionalization – of teaching. In his 1862 campaign for the state superintendency, Swett emphasized two main issues: the establishment of professional standards for OCTOBER 201 3 Educator 10 Oct 2013 v2.1 int.indd 55 www.cta.org 55 10/7/13 9:39 PM