It’s common to say that everyone remembers a great teacher, although I’ve always found that the stupendously bad ones also stick in the memory. What is certainly true is that what happens in our school years does have lasting effects, for good or ill.
New research into rural schooling in 1930s and 1940s America makes the case for teachers as role models as well as educators. At a time when girls saw few women in professional roles, it found that those with disproportionately female teachers at primary school achieved better educational outcomes. Maybe that’s not surprising, but the researchers went on to show that the impact continued long after they had left the classroom. Women who had more female teachers earned more, and even lived longer, than those without.
