The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-09-16

Z
maximum IS reached II $40 for the largest
infant school il London, zoo for the lerg-
est girls scho7ls. Fifteen hundred dollars
Is the largest salary drawn by any woman
u3cer t6e London school board and the
largest which there Is any hope Of drawing.
Inc average salary received by heal mis-
tress is about $40, sum at which the mis-
t-essss OF girls grammar schools IN New
I ORR, with salaries running from $3.50 TO
200, would be inclined TO scof.
That men teachers are paid better than
women Is matter OF course. though the
difference Is no greater than in America
Here, however, il Is accepted on all hands as
a matter Of course, and | have not met
London teacher who dreamed Of making
protest. The discrimination begins in the
pupil leadership. wlere boy OF Il Is paid
shllhngs week to a girls 3. 1t Is carried
out IN every grade OF school, notwithstand-
ing the fact that boys schools and girls
schools are entirely separate, the masters
having no supervision over the girls school
Nbere woman's maximum as assistant IS
Gl25, the mans is S155. Where a woman's
maximum as mistress is $500, tie mans as
master IS 200 II is an instructive compar-
ison OF English wages and American 10 note
that 5000 is the highest salary paid TO
any man by the London school board.
There Is no difficulty IN getting teachers at
these prices. should judge that the mar
ket is less overcrowded than with US, but
this is not because Of the lowness Of the
salaries. On the contrary, so few are the
openings before women IN England that to
teach under the school board is by long odds
the most favorable lot possible 70 the aver
age woman wage worker, and II she does
not beslege the school board buildings on
the beautiful Victoria Embankme8t in
s@arms, It is because Of the long apprentice
ship required, preference being almost in
variably given to girls who have served ii,
the apprenticeship involving choice OF a
profession at an age when many English
girls hardly look forward, or t1elr parents
for them, to working for ages for self-sup-
port.
The London teacher works forty-six weeks
out OF the year, our long summer holidays
being unknown. She is 50 far from re-
pinin2 at her lot that when not an ex-pupn
teacher she is more likely than not to be a
Newman or Giton or st. Margaret's Hall
glrl, the proportion OF universit' bred men
and women, being greater in the London
schools than In ours. Ii wholly dependent
on herself the cha ces are that the teacher
belongs to the London Association of School
mistresses, or the Teachers Guild or the
Teachers Loan Committee, or one of the two
dozen other societies for the benefit OF the
craft.
Three women are members of the present
London. school board. At different ii mes
In the past as many as six have served to-
gsther. The la lies now in Office are Miss
Davenport-Hill for the city Of London,
Mrs. Webster for Chelsea and Mrs West
lake for Marylebone. | have talked with a
half dozen of their fellow-members, who
tell me that the work of the women is felt
in precisely the same directions as in New
York. They are interchangeable visitors of
schools, and keep their eyes open for defect
i've ventilation and sanitary arrangements
hau ialI " int cd N fha ind
trial classes, in cooking and sewing, for
girls. Some Of the women members have
worked for free schools. Keeping track of
the children's fees is one of the duties Of an
English teacher from which an American is
free.
What is the largest number of pupils
you ever have at one timep | asked a
bright young teacher in my visit to a large
girls school.
Sixty" was the reply. 81 have heard
of teachers having seventy but never more"
She could hardly believe the tales told her
of Brooklyn teachers who have controlled
200. None of these English girls will be-
lieve that American girls who do not serve
teaching apprentIceships can know how to
teach. The English system, as | have seen
it in tours from school to school, under the
guidance of district inspector, is free
from the worst 'cram" features of our sys-
TEN, but in other respects is stiff and I'M
wieldy giving far less of a general educa-
ton, especially to girls. The pupil teach
ers and candidates-there are just now l.
$50 of them-take much of the teachers
time to the exclusion of classes.
do you teachers marryp | asked the
inspector.
"They are rather more apt to do so than
women in general. We have no provision
against married women's teaching, however,
and it often happens that man and woman
teacher marry and keep rlght on with their
work About one-f1fth of the women teach
ers are married and living with their hus-
bands" ELIZA PUTNAM HEAToN.