The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1889-06-28
Our School System.

NIX. EDlTOR.-lOu our drticlc III WcOh 10
fore lasts TINES, on the school question,
comes at very Opportune moment. VIC
are about to vote money for the support OF
the school system for another year, and
am glad to see the matter of its relative
cost and benefits fully discussed.
1. Now Mr. Editor, while your argument;
may strike very MANY as good and conclu.
sive, as wage-earner and man having
family to educate and support cannot
agree with you. Our schools do cost toe
much. Salaries are too high from my
point of view. Why should girl who
teaches six hours a day be paid from three
to six hundred dollars year, and my girl
who works in store or shop from ten to four
teen hours day be paid from two to three
hundred dollars? Why should we pay a
superintendent twelve or fourteen hundred
dollars while our foreman only gets six to
eight hundred dollars; where is the justice
or necessity for this?
2. Why spend money teaching useless
branches? What good do we gain from
Latin, Greek, French, German, Algebra,
Geometry, Civil Government, Botany and
Chemistry? understand that Chemistry
alone costs the school two hundred dollars a
year-my share of that is about twenty
cents. / object to paying for non-essentials.
3. Why keep up an expensive system for
the sake of graduating half "a dozen pupils
(mostly girls) year, at cost of toenty
thousand dollars?
t. Why teach useless studies and pay the
expenses of university examiner to admit
our half dozen graduates to the university?
5. cannot-aiford to keep my children in
school after they are fourteen; my wages
won't support my family; the older ones
must work. Why tax me to educate other
peoples children
6. Give us, Mr.. Editor, the ungraded
school, the three RS; education enough to
fit our boys for the sphere of life they must
fall into and not make them feelahbove their
business, and save us from this fearful ex-
pense. Why, my school tax last year on
little home was about ten dollars, and my
five children i'm school are all below the
high school. We want justice, Mr.. Editor,
simply justice, and a fair show. Please
give us more light and oblige,
A DIsCoNTENTED TAXPAYER.
In reply to what Disseminated Taxpayer,
we have to say:
1. That i'm the course of his article dis
contented Taxpayer goes a long way to-
wards refuting his statement that ''our
school costs too much" He says in his clos
ing paragraph that his school tax last year
was $40. This would indicate that he has
about $3.50 worth of property at the assessed
valuation, and he says he has fpe children in
the public schools, all below the High
School. BY his showing the cost to him of
educating his five children in our public
schools, and there are none better any where,
is 81 each for forty weeks tuition. Is that
too much? Now ''DiscOntented TAXPAYER
we know you are unreasonable thinking man,
tell us frankly is 50 per annum each, more
ought to cost you? Why man do you not
think you ought to be very grateful that
such advantages as our school affords are
furnished your children at so exceedingly
small an expense? Again, do you not
know and appreciate the fact that If you did
not pay single dollar of taxes to support
sthe schools, your five children would enjoy
the same advantages they do now, and do
you not think the instruction they would
receive in these schools would be life long
blessing to each of them? And if so, we
believe it must be apparent to you that so
far as you are conceDed our schools do not
cost too much. In the same paragraph you
say: Salaries are too high from my point
of view." Just what your point of view
may be we cannot say, but it is fact never
theless that educated labor i'm the education
al department has never been paid fair
compensation for the work DONE The
writer was for long time a teacher, and
reputed successful one, yet he could not
afford at the salaries paid to make teaching
life profession. 1t did not pay well
enough for that, and yet we presume 'Dis-
contented Taxpayer" will admit that exper-
fence adds, as rule, to the value of the
teachers service, and that the pay ought to
be sufficient to call into the teachers desk
the best talent in the state and keep it there.
This as yet is not the result, and hence
without going at this time into statistics to-
prove that salaries are not too high, from
comparative stand point, we re-affirm that
the salaries paid are not even fair compen-
sation for the work done, as compared with
salaries in other departments of educated
labor. So far as the question of the con-
trast of prices paid for labor in the various
departments of business are concerned this
is the factI To qualify one to be teacher
costs much more in time and money than to
qualify one for position in a store or
for foreman in machine shop. Then
again, the question involves, ability, adapt
ability and competency. The more qualified
teachers from the b q clarian to the super-