At seventeen and a half, Ella Kelly stood in front of her first classroom—teaching first, second, and third grade simultaneously in a two-teacher school. She made $50 a month, swept her own floors, built her own fires, and had a student older than herself. It was the beginning of a 28-year teaching career.
Ella describes her early years as a teenage teacher
The Transcript
[11:30] And I taught three years there in that little school. I started when I was 17 and a half. I had a boy older than me in school. Mrs. Partington came out, you know, to see about him. And he needed to go to school and learn to read. And so he was older than me.
And in this two-teacher school, you had to be the janitor. We had an outhouse. We had a well. You had to sweep your own coal. Build your own fires. 17 and a half.
And the first year, we had an exhibit. And we built an Indian village. We didn't have 17 children. So in the back of the room, we put pine trees on—little things like Christmas trees—and put pine straw on and made costumes for the Indians out of crocus sacks and put some fringe around the bottoms.
I made $50 a month and couldn't go to work until October. And so I worked eight months that year and made—wait a minute—eight months—$400 for the year.
I paid $6 to get over there, to board. $9 to board. And I had $35. And I needed to pay Uncle Ulis back.
Well, somehow in two years Uncle Ulis was paid back, and I always had enough money saved to go back to GSCW because you had to go every year.
A Teacher's Budget in 1933
In 2026 dollars: $50/month ≈ $1,100/month. Ella was paying back a loan to Uncle Ulis while also saving for summer courses at GSCW.
Duties of a Rural School Teacher (1933)
- Teach first, second, AND third grade simultaneously
- Sweep the classroom (no janitor)
- Build fires in the wood stove each morning
- Maintain the outhouse
- Draw water from the well
- Create all teaching materials by hand
- Handle students older than yourself
Working Through College
[13:00] So I went to GSCW in the summer. And I went to Georgia State at night and taught school and worked at Comfort Zone Saturday to buy cloth to make dresses and things for the kids.
And I taught there three years. I went to Salem on the other side of town and taught three years.
And then we consolidated with Rockland and Klondike and Belmont—well, no, Philadelphia—I mean Klondike. Three schools consolidated and we had a great school with a great principal. And I just had a heyday there.
I taught third grade one year. I wanted fourth. So they didn't give me the third grade the first year—but they gave me—I mean I wanted fourth grade and they gave me third. So the next year I got the fourth grade. So I taught one class two years. And they just were smart and it was just so much fun.
Historical Context: Teaching in the Depression Era
In 1933, over 30% of Georgia's teachers had no college training at all. Emergency teaching certificates allowed young people like Ella to teach while pursuing their degrees during summers and evenings.
Two-teacher schools were common in rural Georgia. One teacher would handle the younger grades (1-3), another the older grades (4-7). With no janitors, secretaries, or support staff, teachers did everything.
GSCW (Georgia State College for Women, now Georgia College) in Milledgeville offered summer programs specifically designed for working teachers. Ella attended summers for years while teaching during the school year.
It would take Ella 27 years—from 1933 to 1960—to complete her college degree, finishing at age 46 while raising three children. This was the normal path for teachers of her generation.
People Mentioned
Mrs. Partington Uncle Ulis (Yulis)
Places Mentioned
GSCW (Georgia State College for Women) Georgia State University Salem School Comfort Zone (Store)