The Icelandic Canadian - 01.08.2009, Side 27

Vol. 62 #3
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
117
Gimli shortly after their arrival:
“ In fact I have not entered a single hut
or cottage in the settlement which did not
contain, no matter how bare its wall, or
scanty its furniture, a library of twenty or
thirty volumes; and I am informed that
there is scarcely a child among you who
cannot read or write.” (Leggo, quoted in
Ruth, 1964, p. 20).
For Icelandic women to enter the field
of teaching would be a logical extension of
the Icelandic value of education.
Another reason that Icelandic women
pursued teaching was the fact that their
parents encouraged daughters and sons
equally in their education (Kinnear, 1998,
p. 48). The pioneer years in Manitoba were
a time of poor school attendance, yet the
Icelandic community was “one exception
to this general picture of poor schooling
among immigrant groups” (Kinnear, 1998,
p. 51). In Gimli, around 1900, the school
there “was always able to qualify for high
school grants” (Gimli Women’s Institute,
1973, p. 171) meaning that they consistent-
ly had a sufficient number of students who
intended to graduate from high school,
usually at the age of sixteen years.
The fact that the Icelandic pioneers
insisted on English as the language of
instruction in their schools meant that
young Icelandic women who graduated
from high school were fluent in English.
This allowed them to compete with the
English-speaking majority for teaching
positions throughout the province, and not
just in their own ethnic communities. By
1916, it was mandatory that English was
used as the language of instruction, but
well before then most Icelandic women
could read, write, speak and ultimately
teach in English. As more and more
Icelandic women became teachers, they
served as role models for their female stu-
dents, and this further perpetuated the
movement of Icelandic women into teach-
ing.
The Manitoba system of teacher
accreditation during the 1875- 1914 time
period had different levels. It was a system
that provided for the high demand in a
rapidly growing province, but also resulted
in many teachers being young, inexperi-
enced, and minimally trained. The
Manitoba system allowed students who
stayed in school until age 16 to write an
exam to receive a 3rd class teaching certifi-
cate. This certificate entitled them to teach
in Manitoba schools. This was referred to
as “teaching on permit”. If students
enrolled at The Normal School to take
teacher training, they were granted a 2nd
class teaching certificate (Kinnear, 1998, p.
51). Due to the high demand, the province
had many teachers “on permit” with 3rd
class certificates at this time, though it was
not uncommon for these teachers to con-
tinue on to The Normal School for the
increased training and higher pay that a 2nd
class certificate brought.
The first Icelandic pioneer woman to
teach in Manitoba was Lara Bjarnason,
who is profiled in the previous historical
narrative. She taught in the Gimli settle-
ment of New Iceland in 1877 and 1878,
before the 1882 provincial accreditation
system was in place. Shortly after the sys-
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