What's a Little Girl Like You Going To Do With All That Money?

About the Book

I started teaching in rural Indiana in 1949.  That part is true.  The name of my first town is fiction. I called it "Newly". The town was new to me. Teaching was new to me. I decided to be a teacher when I was  in the fourth grade. It did not occur to me that my small size would be such a big deal. Next, I wanted to write a book about this short teacher in the classroom. I have done both - teach and write.

    I saved notes and pictures and "stuff" for all 37 years. That's a lot of envelopes and folders. When I started writing this book I couldn't believe how much my students in 1949 and my students in 1986 were alike.

    Names of my students, faculty members, friends and other towns are fictitious. I'm sure that some of my last students will wonder why they are in the first chapters. And the first students may see themselves in the last chapters because it was easy to move situations around. Society has changed and young people react to the society around them. They aren't as different as some would like us to believe. We didn't have computers and drugs, but those farm boys liked to "drink and smoke" and drive Dad's car "real fast."  Unmarried girls got pregnant in 1949.  They dropped out of school by request - and they usually got married.

    I had to discuss my size with each new class. Children of all ages always seem surprised to have a short teacher. There are short mothers, but teachers are supposed to be taller than the students.  By the fourth grade, most of my students were taller than I. Once we established who was in control, the size thing was not a problem.

    Those first superintendents who interviewed me for teaching positions had a problem with my size. They wouldn't give me a chance. I was so upset with them - I threw away their correspondence. I don't remember their names. Oh well, they probably don't remember mine.

    To this day, I'm 72, people still feel it necessary to comment on my size. My first trustee had to comment too. When he handed me that first small pay check, he asked,

    "What's a little girl like you going to do with all that money?"

    I would laugh at him today. It made me very angry in 1949.

    My first two schools are no longer in existence. At one time, Indiana had a school - grades 1-12 - in every town or township.  An elected trustee handled the finances and hired or fired the teachers. My first year's salary was the Indiana minimum. We were expected to teach and serve the community. It was said that we were dedicated. Actually, most of us were just poor.

    Eventually, consolidation was necessary - Schools needed science labs and advanced classes.  Consolidation was a difficult process. As you drive through Indiana, you will see large schools in the middle of "no-where." Really, those schools are placed between towns who reluctantly gave up their local schools. Today, consolidation is an accepted school system.

    I was for consolidation, but I could not accept the way I was pushed out of the high school music department. That's when I moved north. It was a good move for me.

   I left high school for eight years to teach in an outstanding middle school.  

    I had planning periods and a salary increase. My new school district had a health insurance plan. My own high school might have been called "inner-city," but I had never taught in that situation. My new town was an ethnic melting pot or maybe we were a tossed salad. There were problems, but none that couldn't be solved. We, as a faculty worked hard to find solutions.

    I joined the American Federation of Teachers. This group was established in our school community. I could trust their method of negotiating for my career. I was aware of how hard a negotiation team must work. I was on a salary

About the Author

Velma Snyder, fourth grader decided that she would be a school teacher. She loved reading and singing and she liked being in charge. It never occurred to her that her lack of size could be a handicap. A tall high school music teacher developed Velma's love for choral music. She had to go to college. College was a financial strain on the Snyder family. Graduation from Anderson College was both a celebration and a relief. It should have been easy to get a teaching position in 1949. It wasn't for Velma. Superintendents thought she was too short. How would she handle "big boys?" She did get a job in rural Indiana and teaching was her life for the next 37 years - all four feet, six inches of her. And those "Big boys?" They just made beautiful music together.