Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1891-01-29
WORTHY TEACHERS

ARE WORTHY OF FAIR, LIVING SALARIE
Quiet Observer, in Pittsburgh Com. Gazette
1t may be too much to say that scho'
teachers are poorly paid, as a class, bl
it can be said that their wages are f;
from being too high.
If you take into consideration the IT
sponsibilities of the position, and tn
onerous character of the duties you wi
be very likely to conclude that the faith
full, competent teacher earns every cen
she gets.
You send for competent physician
when your child is sick, and pay th,
bills without murmuring.
Is the mental and moral training o
your child of less Importance than it
physical health? Defective education
is far-reaching in it's results, and is {
more serious matter than you may think
Some may imagine that the duties OF
teachers are very light, but they are not
They do not require the expenditure OF
so much physical energy as washing and
scrubbing, but the expenditure of nerv-
Gus and mental energy is much greater
than in doing ordinary housework.
By paying generous salaries more
generous class of persons will enter the
business.
You may know from experience that
men and women do not work as freely,
nor as well, when they are being poorly
paid, or paid less than others, as when
they know they are being paid frst-class
wages.
You may also have reason to know
that those driven by necessity to work
for small wages are neither as careful
nor as cheerful as when they work of
their own free will.
1t is absurd to expect women to de-
vote their lives to profession that will
yield them bare sustenance. Many
of them have families to assist, and the
best of them can scarely save dollar to
pay expenses in case of sickness or to
provide home in which to spend their
declining years.
Of all our public servants none are
more deserving than school teachers, be-
cause they hold the destiny of the social
world in their hand. The boys and girls
lnder their care are to be the men and
women of the future, and the quality of
he influence they exert in society and
he world generally, will depend largely
IN the training they receive in public
schools.
To be niggardly with teachers is to
OBJ your own children.
1t is not the teacher who has the most |
political influence behind her, or is the
most in need of employment that will
,rove the most useful. The one feels |
hat she is slave and the other that her
'osition is contingent on either her
bility or her faithfulness.
1t would seem, therefore, that the true
'olicy would be to pay fair, living sala
les, so that those who have taste for
he business would be encouraged to
ngage in it.
Earnestness, contentment and cheer
illness are among the most desirable
ualities of teacher. 1t is true they
hould knowa good deal concerning the
ranches they teach; and yet it is equal
7 true that the best educated or school
d teachers are not always the most eff
cient, for there is something in the
mack of teaching. This particular
mack consists in the ability to interest
upils in their work.
We are beginning to realize that edu-
alton does not consist alone of hammer
lg book knowledge into the heads of
oys and girls, and the sooner our sys-
,ms and methods are made to conform
, more rational ideas the better.
Education consists in bringing out
Ither than forcing in. Only the few 2
It number of teachers seem to know +
lis, and it is not at all improbable that i
,me of the big toads in the school pud t
e are serenely Ignorant of it. {
The vifIainous system of memory 7
sts to determine the standing or grade
pupil ought TO be done away with. G
he boy or girl that has the best memo {
for dates, rules and phrases is sure to I
,wn those that think and reason for O
emselves. i
In the end, however, those who rely r
'ou the thinking and reasoning facul- t
es will take rank in the social and Q
lsiness world high above those who re- a
upon memory. T
WHY THIS DISCRIMINATION i,