, 1880-05-02
UADERPAID SCHOOL-TEACNERS
The Facts, on Examination, Appear
to Be ALI the Other Way.
Our .Shoolma'a1ns Better Paid than Women in
Other Fields Of Labor,
Their Short Hours, Long Racesses, and
Wasted Machine Work.

teachers OF Chicago were underpaid Us com
pared With those Of other places. The infer
ence which the reader would perhaps draw frou
these figures, which came from the Board o
! Education, was that injustice had been done t
that class Of city employees, and that their wage
had been cut down from time to time, so tha
they were not receiving fair compensation fo
the work which they did as compared with othe
employees of the city, or people working In Other
| fields Of labor.
Amy, such inference, however. as that woult
be incorrect It is doubtless true, as the figure.
! show, that the wages Of the school-teuchers O1
| this city, tho Principals excepted, are lowe
than In other places. tt Is claimed that tht
teachers generally have been unjnstly discrim
mated against for the benefit of the Principal
and of tho Superintendent; that, while the pay
| of the higher-prced ones has been reduced bu
per cent or so, the remuneration Of tho tile ha:
been cut down to the starvation point. But the
| real question is not whether teachers are PAID
| less here than they are in New York or San
| Francisco, but whether they receive for the
| quality of work they, perform pay equal to o,
! greater than wages received by women
for these teachers are a1l women-engaged in
other employments There Is also anorhe.
qvesdon to be considered, and TINT Is whether
the work which the Chicago school-teachers do
Is PERFORMED AS 1T SHOULD DE.
There Is no doubt as to the responsible and on
erous duties OF II true school-teacher. It is her
business to take from fifty to 100 children in the
developing and forming era Of life to study the
individualities, peculinrities, and weaknesses Of
each one, to help each one where it Is weakest,
| and to treat all, not as machines to be managed
IN in. accordance dane. with certain printed rules.
but as living beings, each differing from the
ferent manner: Where this is done the pay
which the school teachers Of Chicago receive is
not excessive Where that is not done and
where school teaching becomes mere matter
of company drill where oil the scholars must
axs eana Tse Ghsd M are m
pay is not too low. The latter, unfortunately. is
the case In Chicago. The instruction given
general n4 i thing In the p pad sshGos
work. Under the operation Of system Of
routine, which has begun at the head and worked
downward. the schools of Chicago have be-
come institutions where child may possibly, if
strong minded enough to resist the influences,
learn something; but where those who need3the
special care and aid ct teacher can never By
any possibility learn anything. They have be-
come schools where
CHILDREN ABE NOT TAUGHT TO READ, WRITE,
SPELL,
CT cipher with any degree Of thoroughness. The
primary schools the ones in which the bulk OF
the children of this city get all the schooling
they ever get, have become little better than
soldiers barracks where drill sergeants ~ petit,
coats carry. out certain prescribed rules IN
mechanical, fnachinelike manner
The work being done in this way, is the pay
TOO S1nallI
The average pay Of the teachers, according to
the figuring OF the Board of Education, is $5i5
per year. There Aro in each year ou0 school days.
During each Of these the teacher Is necessarily
employed FIVE hours per duy,-from to T. and
from till 8. This makes n total Of about 1000
hours Of work per year. The teacher, then, IN
the Chicago public schools
RECEIVES FOR EACH OF HER WORKISG-DAIS
of five hours fs.s71z. Is there any other business
in this city where women are employed on
large scale where the wages are anything like as
ceek the reta tore
dve hours FER day for soo days, 6ut
SUI days in the year. Their wages are consid-
cred high if they exceed $50 year. The labor
which they perform is not Us high, is not as ex-
but 1t is higher and more laborious than the work
Of the average Chicago school-teacher. To be per-
petuA1lr on o1.e's feet from sunrise to sunset to
be teased and tadgered by customers. to be SELL
ing goods and making out the proper tickets, is
as burdensome as to run platoon. company.
Or regiment Of children after the fashion Of
the Chicago schools.
1t will be seen that cot merely do these teach
ers, large number Of whom are raw girls fresh
from the Normal or or from the htsh School ut
ccive neurly twice RS much year as their more
unfortunate sisters who work in Shops and Off
ces, and stores, but that
THEIR LABoRs ARE L1GHTESED AND SWEET
ESED
by long summer vacations, by intermissions at
Christmas, by holidays ut moving time, and by
various other let,ups and recesses which are IN
true that the Board Of Education has held that
1t has valid claim on the services Of the
b bns neTer and
such claim on its part, If made now, would be
rescindcd by the teachers with indignation.
ute themselves from toll, or in which to engnge
in other business II they please.
Asa mnttcr of fact, the average eschool-teaeher
in this city
DOES NOT LooK UPON TEACHING
as the end and aim OF her life. 1t is with her
simply makcshift- It is something which is
to provide her with a living until she eau get
married It is husband who h. is II the e. end d and
regards @ school teaching as mere
s to or and obe Is she f.'s9d wit
settle down as the head Of a household: There
are few who, when euenged In an employment
% & e{ and
people are apt to put into something which is To
be their life-work And i Is very natur,li there
themselves with great ense to sytem Of routine
which frees them from nfne-tcnths Of the work
Of teaehing; And, being thus freed w m from s the
must not erumhle If the wnges which they re-
ceive are lowered, especially when, even though
cut down, they are not reduced as low as those
Even If what they are get.
ling is compared with the pay Of men
1ay, it will be found that the women on the |
whole have the best of it, They are ut liberty
% grun1ble as much as they please Mt any par
tiality shown among reachers themselves
:cold because one gets far more than another, |
,r because the Superintendeut's pay Is not cut |
1oWl and theirs is,-but they have no right tn |
my that they are underpaid In comparison with |
The thousands OF tolers who work out Of doors
IT indoors, day in and day out from sunrise to
sunset, through the long wearytng year, for they
Ire not