--- title: World Teacher's Day: Life as a Teacher in 1950 description: On World Teachers Day, a look back at the story of an overworked, underpaid teacher in 1950. canonical: https://time.com/4056144/world-teachers-day/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-05T12:00:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:56.958Z og:title: These Photos Show How Hard Teachers Have Always Worked og:description: On World Teachers Day, a look back at the story of an overworked, underpaid teacher in 1950. og:url: https://time.com/4056144/world-teachers-day/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteeb2ff4a64dff534/698866495f570f3f83b1da74/150930-teacher-day-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1411 og:image:height: 794 og:image:alt: Kindergarten Photo Essay September 1950 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Photos Show How Hard Teachers Have Always Worked twitter:description: On World Teachers Day, a look back at the story of an overworked, underpaid teacher in 1950. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteeb2ff4a64dff534/698866495f570f3f83b1da74/150930-teacher-day-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Photos Show How Hard Teachers Have Always Worked > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Oct 5, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. Reverent eyes of Darryl Johns follow Miss Winter as she asks the kindergarten children if she may join their classroom tea party. Such consideration wins their adoration and makes control easy. Caption from LIFE. Reverent eyes of Darryl Johns follow Miss Winter as she asks the kindergarten children if she may join their classroom tea party. Such consideration wins their adoration and makes control easy. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Oct 5, 2015 12:00 PM UTC “Slimly paid and hard worked.” “Serves her classes much better than she serves herself.” “Absorbed in the future of others…and neglectful of her own.” A good many of today’s teachers might use phrases like these to describe themselves, as surveys of teacher satisfaction have [shown](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/02/21/u-s-teachers-job-satisfaction-craters-report/). But true as they may feel in 2015, they actually describe a 32-year-old kindergarten teacher from Missouri profiled in a 1950 issue of LIFE magazine. Lois James Winter, 12 years into teaching at the Avery School in Webster Groves, Mo., lived in a widow’s boarding house and dedicated her days—and many of her nights—to the kindergarten class she helmed. Though she was overworked, she felt a fierce devotion to her vocation, as LIFE described: --- > “” --- Winter’s salary, $32,880 when adjusted for inflation, would be just shy of the average U.S. teacher’s starting pay for the 2012-2013 school year, [$36,141](http://www.nea.org/home/2012-2013-average-starting-teacher-salary.html). Though LIFE dedicated an inordinate number of words, by today’s standards, to concern for her prospects for marriage—“She is not greatly interested in clothes, a trait encouraged by her modest income, and she seems quite unaware what a fetching hat can do for a pretty woman”—the commentary on her lack of leftover time and energy is where the story really gets to the point. And it’s a problem that still rings true 65 years later. According to a 2014 OECD [study](http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/education-at-a-glance-2014%5Feag-2014-en#page456) of nearly 40 countries, American teachers spend the third highest number of hours in the classroom but their salaries are the fifth lowest. As many as [half](http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/why-do-teachers-quit/280699/) quit within their first five years on the job, for [reasons](http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/why-do-teachers-quit/280699/) ranging from lack of respect to stress to low pay. As debates continue about how best to move American education forward, one argument continues to share popular support among teachers: Invest in the welfare of the people at the head of the class. It’s long overdue, many would argue—as urgent today as it was when Lois Winter graced the pages of LIFE. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Caption from LIFE. Reverent eyes of Darryl Johns follow Miss Winter as she asks the kindergarten children if she may join their classroom tea party. Such consideration wins their adoration and makes control easy. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Preventive medicine is practiced by Miss Winter. Here, having noticed Laurel Richmond rubbing an eye, she asks if she may inspect its symptoms. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Remedial medicine is occasionally necessary. Michael Scheck ran into a playground post. Miss Winter took care of Michael, then had post removed. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Safety education is a part of her job. Here she caught harum-scarum Jimmy Steiner about to run into street after a ball during recess, gently reminded him of responsibilities to himself and her. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Kindergarten teacher Lois Winter, meeting with one of her students' parents. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. The light of her life is the 1949 Chevy she scrimped together $1,200 to buy, and which she regularly washes hereself. The first $1,000 that she ever saved went to discharge a family indebtedness. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Bridge with other teachers takes up an infrequent evening for Lois, who plays a fair-to-middling game. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Movies are only an occasional diversion for Lois, shown with Mrs. Semple. Another: lawn-cutting. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. New hairdo for her natural wave is advised by Mrs. Semple, who wants attractive Lois to attract. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Candelight and wine of dinners at home with Mrs. Semple lends a mild luxury to Lois's quiet life. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Happily doing what she likes, Lois Winter supervises recess. 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