In the 20s and 30s of the 20th century, some hundred teachers were decorated with the Order of the Three Stars. The Order was given to directors of different teaching institutions and also to teachers for their long-term service to their institutions. Usually, the Order was given to the teachers who retired on a pension, or on the occasion of their 50th, 60th or 70th birthday anniversary, or on the occasion of the 25th or 35th anniversary of their pedagogic activities, etc. The decorations were proposed in different ways – by colleagues, relatives and other people who knew the teachers’ dutiful work and so very different descriptions of what their practical work was can be found in the archives. Only a small number of ordinary teachers were honored with the decoration, and, mostly, they were pleased to be awarded this honor. Still, there were cases when people were proposed for this honor, but the proposed persons refused to accept the Order. The teachers refused because, in some cases, they had to pay for the decoration; in other cases, there were other personal reasons – some were of the opinion that five classes of the Order were not necessary, some were convinced that not all who were given the Order had merited it, and those who would have really deserved it never got it. The first refusals started in the autumn of 1926, just after the first teachers were decorated with the Order. In the following years, the number of refusals decreased; though, the number of those teachers who accepted the Order, was still very small. The Order was given until May 1940, and the practice of giving it was renewed in 1994, after Latvia regained its independence. The article characterizes some of the teachers and why they refused the honor to be decorated with the Three Star Order.