Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-07-24


" few days ago, speaking of his
school, person said, "Our school
has been total failure this term, as
far as teaching is concerned. The
teacher no doubt understands the
branches to be taught, but seemingly
does not know how to impart knowl-
edge, how to reach and arouse the
mind. The term before this, taught
by another teacher, was failure
from the same cause. My boy is
now fourteen, and rather backward
in his studies; every failure Of a teach
er is loss of time which cannot be
redeemed. My case is the case Of
others in our district. We will have
teacher next term, be. the price
what it may"
sOur wages are low; will it pay to
incur the expense of attending the
institute?" Whatever will increase
the effectiveness of the teacher will
pay. It is skill that commands
wages in any calling; money seeks
the skillful. But, aside from this
view Of the case-the money-the
teacher is morally bound to use eve
ry means, and avail himself Of every
opportunity to render himself eff
cient. Duty and happiness lie i'll
one and the same straight line. The
person who assumes to teach, and
weighs money against sclfimprove-
ment, attending institutes, buying
books, taking educational journals,
etc, is person who is not happy in
his work, becauce he is not doing his
duty. He is in dull, tread-mill bu-
siness, grinding out a few dollars at
the expense Of the intellectual and
moral powers of his pupils. Suffer a
depression while on this point of
wages. The following lines are ia
ken from the Illinois Scho0insaste,' :
"The practice in frontier settlements
i'm western and southern States, of
counting teachers salaries by days
wages has been noticed in some of
the more enlightened communities.
** = A doctor, called from his
Office to attend a patient, attends to
that duty, and on returning to his
Office finds he has been out an hour.
The fee is two dollars. The patient
pays it gladly, as he ought to do;
the DOCTORS services are worth the
two dollars for the hour. Now, there
are ten hours in day. by the same
law that counts teachers wages by
the day, the doctors pay is, allowing
ten working hours day, twenty dol
lars, or one hundred and twenty dol
lars per week. The clergyman of
average ability is paid in country
parishes, one thousand dollars a year.
If he breaches fifty sermons in the
time, he works, according to the no.
tons of some of our economists, fif-
ty hours, or he received twenty dol
lars per hour for his services. But
the Clergyman and the doctor have
spent time and money in preparing
for the work, and are spending all
their time for the benefit Of these en-
ployers. Not one of them receives
more than he earns, and but few even
that. The teachers time is worthless
to him in the way Of income during
the hours of vacation. If he had the
ability to work he could find no re-
numerative employment. The doc
tor who has but one call a week has
two dollars week pay, or a yearly
income of one hundred and four dol
lars, and he can earn no more. No
one thinks Of calling his pay twenty
dollars a day because it is at that
rate for one hour. The teacher,
whose pay is five hundred dollars a
year of tlirty-six weeks, just as sure
ly receives only five hundred dollars
for the year of tifty-two weeks, for
she can earn nothing during the
weeks of vacation. = = As
the public school is nearest the peo-
pie, it must expect to first feel the eff
fects Of the blow of economy, and
too, it must suffer from its effects.
Many will leave the profession, but
most of them may drift back again
when the normal condition of things
is restored. This year towns are re-
solving to do without supervision,
hence dismissing superintendent;
are advertising for sealed proposals
from teachers, stating that the school
will be given to the lowest bidder,
just as they used to do with the pau
pcrs in Mass; are demanding re-
trenchment to an extreme, in the
common school management. 1t
needs no prophet to forctell the re-
suit. Ability and brains have a mar
kct value just as surely as wheat and
corn. The buyer will get what he
pays for. The great mass of the peo-
pie are in favor of the best system
of public schools in the world, and
experience in New England has
shown that nothing less will satisfy.
Wages will be placed too low to sup
ply the required ability; trashy teach
crs will try their hand, till after Bit
ter and costly experience, our own
good State will retrace the extreme
measures Of these days Of misnamed
economists"
This condition of school affairs in
Illinois cannot be our condition.; in
Illinois, wages have been higher than
here. Whether or not the salaries
of teachers are too high in Illinois, is
yet to be established.
! Says a young man teacher, !" have
been through the common branches;
the Institute cannot, benefit me"
There is quite a difference between
merely understanding subject, and
being able to present it to the mind
of the young pupil, $50 that he shall
apprel,cnd clearly, think quickly and
correctly, reason justly, and open his
mind freely to the reception of all
knowledge" The laws ofmind gov
erning the reception of knowledge
aud mental discipline are definite and
unyielding. If in the instruction Of
the young, teachers adapt their man.
ncrs and methods to these laws of
mind, the progress of their pupils
will be rapid measured by the true
standard, not by SO many pages or