Full Time Manners Teacher for School

Students were taught more than common courtesy — “What it all boils down to is attitude ... the right attitude ... more respect,” says Mrs. Hogan, the manners teacher. Because more mothers are working today and the lifestyle is faster paced, manners may not be getting as much attention as they once did, Mrs. Hogan said. The curriculum varied from class to class and ranges from table manners to how to react “if you come across a person with no legs,” Mrs. Hogan says. How should one react? “Physically, it makes him different,” Mrs. Hogan says to her students. “But, inside, he is just like you. He has feelings.”

Poor School has Full-Time Teacher of Good Manners

LIBERTY, Okla. (AP) This tiny community has one of the poorest schools in the whole state, but it has a full time teacher who does nothing but teach the children good manners. It was the idea of Leroy Taylor, the school principal for 18 years, who says there is “a national mood a national need for more respect.” The federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare put up $16,000, through the Oklahoma Department of Education, to hire a manners teacher this fall for Liberty's 210 school children and to buy the necessary supplies. If an evaluation to be made this spring shows the program is worthwhile, it could be funded for two more years. Taylor has no doubts that it will. 

“It, potentially, is the finest program we have ever had here,” he said in an interview this week. “It's not like a good calculus course. It can involve every child it just has to. From the most gifted to the one with the least ability, they all can prosper from it.” Most of the parents of Liberty's students work in nearby Fort Smith, Ark. In terms of taxable property, the school district is the second poorest in Oklahoma. So far, there has been no criticism from parents, educators said. Instead, there have been reports the program is working. For instance, first grader James Allsup surprised his mother by quietly pulling back a chair for his fifth-grade sister at a hamburger dinner. Noticing a bit of food at the corner of his sister's mouth, James twirled his napkin into a point, leaned over and deftly dabbed it away. 

“What it all boils down to is attitude ... the right attitude ... more respect,” says Ann Hogan, the manners teacher. Because more mothers are working today and the lifestyle is faster paced, manners may not be getting as much attention as they once did, Mrs. Hogan said. The Liberty curriculum varies from class to class and ranges from table manners to how to react “if you come across a person with no legs,” Mrs. Hogan says. How should one react? “Physically, it makes him different,” Mrs. Hogan says to her students. “But, inside, he is just like you. He has feelings.” The program deals with a variety of topics including how to accept compliments and criticism, bragging and boasting, introductions, and proper dress and conduct, whether on the playground, on a first date or at a funeral. — 1979

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia©️ Etiquette Encyclopedia

Morals and Manners in Schools

A series of recommendations for improvement of California’s school system will be presented to the next legislature. Among the recommendations were: Definite instruction should be given in “morals and manners.” There should be more health supervision in rural schools. 

A series of recommendations for improvement of California’s school system will be presented to the next legislature. The suggestions were made by the California Commission for the Study of Educational Problems. Among the recommendations were: Definite instruction should be given in “morals and manners.” There should be more health supervision in rural schools. Correspondence schools should be licensed by the federal government. There should be more emphasis on the fundamentals—reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, geography and the correct use of English. 

The law relating to instruction in the evil effects of narcotics and alcohol should be given more attention. State printing of basic elementary texts should be continued but a revised method of selecting high school texts should be adopted. The part time school law should be amended to provide for part time classes in every district where fifteen or more children between 16 and 18 years of age, who have not graduated frim high school, want to work. Part time education should be compulsory for those without the equivalent of a tenth grade education but optional for others. — Lompoc Journal, 1931

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia©️ Etiquette Encyclopedia 

The Etiquette Law for Turkish Girls

By 1939, etiquette classes were compulsory in all Turkish schools. Above, the Marmara Mansion in Ankara, Turkey, circa 1931 – photo source, Pinterest

“Go Western, Young Women!” 

is Turkish Urge Under New Law

ANKARA, Turkey, May 9. – A new law entitled “the Readjustment of Gestures” apparently amended by the Ministry of Education, makes courses in etiquette obligatory in all Turkish schools for girls. The Ministry points out that Turkish girls have Westernized their costumes, but still need to be taught how to converse, walk and smile in the Western way. – Associated Press, May 1931

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Field Trip Etiquette Plea

1930's school children — “The majority of students know how to conduct themselves, but the hopeless minority group can make or break the school's reputation when off-campus.”

Filed Under “Conduct”

Emily Post has written many books on etiquette but it remains for some enterprising person to write a book on how students should conduct themselves on field trips. When a student is on a field trip, he himself carries a part of the school's reputation and it behooves him to act like a gentleman. 

The majority of students know how to conduct themselves but the hopeless minority group can make or break the school's reputation when off-campus. Those few students who act like rowdies and respect the property of no one should remain at home when the class makes a field trip. — The Corsair, 1938

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Turkish Etiquette History Tidbit

Even pupils in the highest forms, “do not know how to greet people, shake hands, take off their hats, what kind of dinner table etiquette they must observe, or how to behave when paying calls.” 

According to a recent report from Istanbul, etiquette is now to be a compulsory subject in all Turkish schools. It appears that even pupils in the highest forms there “do not know how to greet people, shake hands, take off their hats, what kind of dinner table etiquette they must observe, or how to behave when paying calls.” 

Without suggesting that pupils of a similar standing in Western schools, who have the advantage of a long tradition behind them, are altogether young Turks in this respect, one cannot help feeling that they might benefit from an advanced course in etiquette. –Christian Science Monitor, 1939

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia