Germaine to the issue

Abstract

When I first entered teaching one of my colleagues was a Miss Edith Knighton—an honours graduate in economics and a talented teacher. Certainly one deputy director of a polytechnic who, in his youth, had failed his 11‐plus will be witness to this, for Miss Knighton did much to help him in his 'teens. I too learnt a great deal from dear Edith. But there was one lesson in particular I still recall with vivid memory, It was: always avoid her first thing on Friday morning. For in those days women teachers received only four‐fifths of the salary paid to their male colleagues. In consequence, each Friday Miss Knighton would storm into the staff room, invariably corner me as the most junior male member of staff and thunder, as she slammed down the great pile of books she always appeared to carry, “You realise to‐day I am working for nothing”. And she had a fair point.

Citation

Jones MCP, L. (1974), "Germaine to the issue", Education + Training, Vol. 16 No. 10, pp. 251-255. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb001836