Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/54552
ern and updated texts. The topic was so signifi- cant that Pima County teachers also attended the meeting, forming a territorial organizing issue. It was at this meeting that a recommendation was made to create a territorial association for teachers. A constitution and mission of this new association was created: For the purpose of fur- thering the educational interests of the Territory, of giving efficiency to our school system, of furnishing a practicable basis for united action among those devoted to the cause in which we are engaged, and of securing and maintaining the office of the teacher its true rank among professions. The Association and Arizona looked very different at the turn of the 19th century com- pared to 2012. To join the Association, teachers simply signed the constitution and paid their $1 dues. Arizona was still a territory and living through the last days of the Old West seeing the end of the Indian wars and gunfights at high noon. It took four days to travel from Tucson to Phoenix by stagecoach, although most took the train on the newly built railway. What's most surprising is how many things haven't changed. At the time, about 50 per- cent of school children spoke Spanish, and there was a great need for bilingual teach- ers. In 1899 a law was passed stating that all schools had to be taught in the English lan- guage, which prompted many districts to seek to establish separate schools for Spanish- speaking students. Teacher salaries were also an issue with the average salary being $100 per month. Competition from higher paying jobs increased the turnover rate for teachers. According to Alleen Pace Nilsen in Dust in Our Desks: Territory Days to the Present in Arizona Schools, "The mines also hired away the teachers giving them better salaries and even better working conditions." In the 1880s, there was rising anti-govern- ment, anti-tax, and anti-waste-and-corruption sentiment among citizens. Some associated their anger at the new government with the new public school system and called for the AEA Advocate x Spring 2012 19 Continued on next page Strawberry Schoolhouse photos by Alan English