The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1884-01-25

the highest type of teacher this couh-
try ever produced, was only too proud
to sign his name Alexander Agassiz,
toac6erp" It Is the man that ennobles
his profession. and not he profession
the man. The main reason, after all,
1t seems to US. why teaching Is outrank-
ed by the other professions Is, that the
tenure OF Office Is so uncertain and in
secure. Our teachers are too often ap-
pointed by personal favoritism or in
huence, too often retained in their po-
sitions long after their inability or USE
lessness is apparent, and too often
ousted from their places to make room
for the friends of prominent politicians.
In other words, there Is too much poll
tics In our public school system.
We candidly admit that the worst
phase of this policy is not witnessed in
the New England states. In these states
the tenure OF a teachers position is not
so much affected by every change in
local politics as In other sections of the
country. But, In the country as
whole. the conditions are such that the
natural result Is that men of ordinary
prudence and energy prefer to take
their chances for e(rning a living in
other branches of industry. Such men
regard teaching simply as q convenient
stepping-stone to professional or bust
ness career. For this reason it is that
hundreds Of college graduates take up
teaching for a few years after leaving
school, save few hundred dollars,
study little at odd hours, doing their
duty in the school-room meantime pas
SADLY well, and then drop out of the
ranks into the professions. The few
who stick to teaching and make it a
tife-work are soon forced to bend their
sails to the popular breezes and to en-
ploy more of their energies to retain
their places than in the legitimate work
of teaching. Our ablest teachers in the
public schools rarely feel themselves SO
secure in their positions as TO feel war
ranted in buying or building houses
and making for themselves permanent
homes.
All this, we say, rather than made
quate salaries and lack Of time for cul-
ture, tends to make useful and high
minded men and women narrow. To
be sure. rs the speaker intimated,
teachers are brought constantly into
contact with inferior minds. True, but
if the teacher is living up to his best
opportunities, this need make no differ
ence. His mental fibre is nourishcd
and made strong and vigorous by his
own private study and meditation.
Arnold of Rugby fame. DIR. Taylor of
AndOver. and Agassiz, in their profess
Sional labors, were constantly brought
into contact with inferior intellects.
out this did not prevent their minds
from becoming like fountains from
which poured forth the waters of living
truths. rather than the stagnant pools
Of IA cistern. After all. great advances
have been made ia public sentiment in
this matter of q teachers tenure of Of
lice during the last ten years. There
is less demand for expensive and snowy
schoOl-buildings. and more for skilled
labor in the schOOl-roOm. An honest
Woodworking teacher. if he attends
strictly to business. finds it less difficult
10 rise above the bancful influence of
local politics. Snch a man is always
in demand, even If he finds it impossi-
bic TO settle permanently In any one
place. There is no reason why teach
ing should not become in due time a
profession on equal footing with that
Of law. theology, or engineering. That
its claim as such will become generally
recognized, we have no doubt. Even
now the drift of public opinion is in
this direction. +. Blaistiel, n. D.,
IN journal of Education.