Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1882-08-10
nore of joke than the school-"keeper'

children. The one was bit of harmless
sport the other is a burning disgrace,
shameful fraud. There is as much diff
ference. between keeping school, and
teaching. as there is between watching
| for rats, and catching them.
Second in this negative list l would
name those who expect to get rich. Show
me man who has accumulated
wealth while teaching, and L will show
you ene who gave one-halt his time, and
three-fourths of his attention to some
thing else than his ostensible business,
or else one whose wealth came by inner
itance. Take the five leading profess
siens and you will find that while the
requirements for successful teaching
are among the most severe and certain
| ly the most constant, the remuneration
for similar talent, ability, and labor is
less than inekher of the other four.
Third and last in this list should be
named those who desire TO become dis
tinguished. Either of the other profess
sions affords better path to honor than
this. True, scboolmasters are abroad in
the land in great numbers, but they
are generally tolerated as a neeessi-
ty,eor at most merely respected for
their general respectability, rather than
honored and esteemed for their worth.
It is common saying, that if q man is
| ft for nothing else, he will become a
school-teacher. That If he could find any
other employment, he would never
choose that. There are of course many
exceptions, and especially of late years
are there more persons who esteem the
teacher and his work; but am sorry to
acknowledge that the popular dictum is
too true. Thousands of young men and
young women enter the work, with no
higher ambition than to pass the flint
mill of the county examination, and OBJ
tain some school that has not yet been
given: with no love for the work
that rises above the paltry sum they are
to receive, but cannot earn. Young man.
young woman, if you are to have ease as
one of the elements of your chosen life
work, if wealth is to be acquired by it, if
honor and distinction in the world are
to be attained in it, give the profession of
teaching a wide berth.
| But there are those before me who
have resolved to enter the ranks. Let me
propose few questions for your consid-
Grafton. 1 would not discourage any,
but what our schools now most need, is
intelligent, energetic, persistent teach
ers. Intelligent in the subjects to be
| taught, as well as in the natural require
ments of the youthful mind as to matter,
method and amount; energetic in the
discharge of every duty; persistent, so
persistent, that having chosen the pro-
fessiou it will be followed through evil,
as well as good report:
| FIrsr, then-Are you willing t. accept
salaries as they are, trusting to your
success for increased remuneration
Low salaries are complained OF, and
somewhat justly, In this State; but the
tprice paid Ohio teachers, while less
than in some States, is much great
Ter than in number of 9TH
ers, 80 that this complaint, in
stead of being a local one. is quite gen
eral; and as far as l knew, with of
/ course an occasional exception, is about
1 in proportion to the cost Of living, and
1.-THE amount of labor to be performed.
For example, a few years,since, aschool-
mate of mine was receiving 800 in gold
per month, for teaching a common school
in California. One hundred dollars IN
gold at that.ime would have been worth
S13O in greenbacks. To an Eastern,
teacher receiving S45 per month, this
looked like an immense sum but let us
see: he paid $40 per week for board, 81
per dozen for washing, for a physician
S5 per visit, for other necessities in pro-
portion, and always in gold, so his pre-
MUM amounted to nothing if he spent
his money where he earned it, and he was
so far from home that he was compelled
to remain there during vacations. Com
pairing these figures, you will find that
| the Eastern teacher at $45 per month.
and paying &2H per week for his board,
was able to save more money than his
Western friend. 1t is the misfortune of
both teachers and pupils that the schools
in this State are not maintained great
or number of months each year. The
annual salary at the same rate per month,
would then be materially Increased, and
the efficiency of the schools enhanced |;
but teachers must expect when speaking
of their meager annual salaries to re-
ceive the reply: "You work only one
/ fourth the hours in a day, two-thirds the
number of days in the week, and one
half the number of weeks in a year, in
reality only one-twelfth of the entile
time. You must not expect very
much for such work as that" This
is unjust, inconsiderate. and unkind; but
it is what you will frequently hear. The
same method of reasoning would of
course show, that the minister who labors
in public three hours each week re-
ceives $1,000 for 1900 of his time-that
is, he works at the rate of 100000 per
annum.
SECoND-Are you willing to work up
to the standard of scholarship required
We hear much nowadays of the great
facilities of the present day for obtain
ing an education,as compared with FORM
er times, and some seem to imagine that
every pupil in our public schools, Is or
| 16 years old, ought to be able to teach
school. But do we find the requirements
and labof of the teacher lighter now
than in former timesf On the contra
ry, much increased. To "the three Rs
have been added "the two G's," and as
some complaining one express it, "The
straw that is to break the school teach
er's back has been added recently in the
form of U. S. History" In addition to
these, higher branches are required In a
majority of the districts In this part OF
the State, 80 that our teachers must
stand examination in quite long list,
in order to be eligible to the best posi-
tions. But should we complain of this
i No, U. S. History has long been COM
mon branch in most of our neighboring
States. In many, the requirements for
teaching are far more severe. To obtain
q certificate In California, one must be
examined In fifteen branches; and to OBJ
tain evena primary position in either
the Quincy, Mass, or Denver, Colorado,
schools, the list of branches in which
one must be examined, is simply as
founding. I am sure not one in this
. room would obtain certificate at all
This being the case then, is our standard
: too high? On the contrary, the opinion
!, of those most competent to judge is,that
it is still too low. l verify believe that