Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-26

mined effort to succeed and yet fails. or a.
most does very inferior work in the school,
rooms is a surprisingly large one. This is due
to the fact that but few teachers, less than per
haps 20 per cent Of them. remain permanently
in our profession, or for a sufficient length o.
time to gain an experimental knowledge OF tht
work of teaching. The great majority Of oul
teachers belong to the transient class. They
leave it eventually to enter more remuneratlVt
callings.
The vacancies thus caused in our ranks must
be filed by new recruits These recruits aver
age perhaps one-sixth of our teaching force
and 1t is to be expected that many Of them
though faithful and honest in their efforts
must be claSSed as
WEAK AND INEFFICIENT
teachers. We have right to expect that the
results Of the work of these LIZ inexperienced
teachers. for instance, would be unsatisfactory
believe that Is per cent of the money
now paid to the teachers of Allegheny county
is wasted, not because of the carelessness or
extravagance Of the directors, but because
they are compelled to employ young and mex
perlenced teachers, who cannot and do not 40
the work for which they draw the pay.
am not afraid to trust the education OF the
young to intellectual cultured women Win
wei disciplined minds and mature judgments,
yet believe we are steadily drifting toward a
danger point by allowing this important work
TO be left in the hands of very young ladies OF
limited scholastic attainments and kot un-
matured minds-persons whose Judgment Dy
reason OF youth must be very defective, many
of these young teachers came from familles
where they had very meager advantages Tor
culture. Such persons can scarcely nave
proper conception of the great realities OF lie,
by which they are TO train the children. surely
they are not the best qualified persons to pre-
pare our boys for the responsibilities OF lie.
Not only have the men become
VERY SMALL MINORITY
in our profession, but many of those who re-
main are charged with being poorly qualified
for the work of the school room. This charge,
no doubt, has some truth in it. Yet, back Of
all these conditions, which have given this
work into the hands Of very young ladies and
poorly qualified men, there is a cause, and to
produce a more desirable effect we must change
the cause. This cause is found in the fact that
the earning power Of a man is greater in any
business than in the work of teaching. and
that the earning power of lady is greater in
our profession than in any other WORK In which
she can engage. For this reason alone many
young ladies who know they must earn their
own living seek to enter the profession as early
as possible, regardless of natural fitness or
special preparation for the work. 1t is more
question of the relative earning power Of the
sexes. Do not misunderstood me. l am not
opposed TO female teachers, or TO paying the
competent ones well for their work. l only
favor having more Of the competent and less
of the very young and inefficient This trouble
should be checked by Offering better induce
ments to the good teachers and thus retain in
the profession more good men.
A LIVING EXAMPLE.
The six-foot countryman, who drove me
out through Pine township INTERRUPTED my
meditations at this point, as we neared the
railroad station, on our homeward trip.
II was a school teacher myself once" be
said.
"Hsve YOU q bank account nov?" I
asked.
''Not from teaching, he laughed. "It was
ten years ago, and in Cambria county. Ny
school was in the woods of those mountains
not far from Ebensburg. was examined
and elected teacher in the same day. THe
laughed heartily at this, as though Della
mater tactics of the modern Cambria county
might have ruled in the county institutes
there years ago. I got $40 per month. 1
would have starved if had not had an
uncle up there who boarded me for 10 cents
a meal and threw the lodgings in for har-
vest time work. And would have died
had taught school another term. 1 guess
it was not In my line, stranger. I'd rather
school were the Giles BOYS. The township
they would COW me like they did
the dude who taught before me. But did
not use the switch on them once. Soon their
father told me they had learned to read
verse about with him Rt family worship.
But guess spared the rod too much, and
the school was too much for me at the end
of the term. Then went to farming, then
oil drilling"
"What do you do noW?"
"Mv brother and I have the store and
postofice down on the railroad in Butler
county. Our store is not like yours in the
city. We keep a little of everything
drugs, medicines and shoes, you know, and
lately we have added to our assortment a
prick yard, lumber yard. coal and limestone
lusrries-and, oh, 1 forgot, grist mill, too
Yes, got little bank account, but had
to stop teaching school"
T, r SToETrT