Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-03-04

Teachers Wages in District Schools,

1t is related once in a certain province
in a foreign land, a fat supervisor of
learning arose at a public meeting and
cried enthusiastically, "long live the
teachers of our public schools"
"What on?" sadly queried a
~cadaverous pedagogue, whom long SUBJ
%sistence on a starveling salary had con-
verified into a useful object lesson in
anatomy. .
Now, while I echo the sentiment and
say, "Long live the teachers of North Da-
kota," it is my purpose in this article to
show upon what they are required to
live.
The usual monthly salaries paid to
district school teachers in North d.
kota, are $50, $35 and $40 per month,
sometimes a little more, sometimes less.
From these muniicient sums, the
recipients must pay for board, washing
and transportation to and from their
homes, at the opening and closing of the
terms. These salaries are seldom paid
in cash. The teachers receive orders
on the school treasurer, which are good
when the treasurer has the money to pay
them, which he seldom has, and as few
teachers can afford to wait until he
has 1T, they are obliged to sell their
orders at a discount of 10 and Is per
cent. In addition teachers certificates
are taxed 81 to support the state insti-
tute conductors, and by a late law they
are required to purchase several books
each year, for use in the teachers read
ing circles, at a cost Of several dollars
more.
This state of affairs does not encour-
age experienced teachers to seek employ
ment in Out district schools, and the
young teachers who accept these schools
as a beginning in the profession, soon
leave it, the young men to seek more
remunerative employment, and the girls
often, to marry injudiciously.
No teacher in a great and wealthy
commonwealth like ours, should be
required to teach for less. than $50 per
month, and state aid should be given
to the districts unable to pay that sum.
The ]aborer is worthy of his hire, and
the school children of North Dakota are
deserving of the best talent that can be
secured as their instructors.
Now n word about teachers insti-
tutes. They are good in their place, but
of late years, in my humble opinion,
there has been a tendency to magnify
unduly their Importance. I say nothing
of the teachers who in some instances
are as we'll informed as their instructors,
and who are compe led twice a year to
leave their schools for a week at an OK
pense to them, which the half pay they
receive does not cover, but the breaking
into the terms Of the district schools is
a serious detriment to the pupils. Those
who know how hard it is for the children
on the farms, where there are only sum-
mer schools to attend regularly, with
the many demands upon them for duty
with the herd, in the harvest time and
in the hay field, will know how great a
deprivation is the loss of a week of
school at a time when they could at
tend.
Why should teachers be taxed to sup
port the institute conductors? The
state Is abundantly able to pay it's own
officers, and it is unworthy of a great
state to tax the most poorly paid of it's
servants to sustain supernumeraries.
Too much institute drill has likewise
the effect of destroying the individuality
of the teachers. It converts them into
machines, who seek to model all on one
pattern. The minds of their pupils-no
two children alike-the course of training
that will fit ones needs
will entirely fail with another.
The intelligent teacher will study the
characteristics of each young mind and
adopt the method most suited to it's de-
velopment-and these methods are as
various as the minds themselves. I
might pursue this subject'much further,
but my views would not be popular. T
am n Of the old fashioned teachers,
who, while recognizing and welcoming
the many new devices in instruction that
are an improvement over the old, are
not ready to welcome every new method
simply because it is new, so I hope some
of u younger teachers may have some
thing to say on this subject.
I advocate state aid to increase the
wages of that noble army of martyrs
the teachers of our common schools. T
intended to say more when I began
about the hardships that the necessity
of selling their school orders at a dis
count entails upon the teachers, but I
desist, from the fear that if I pursued
the subject the gloss might get rubbed
off my New Years promise. Here is a
little puzzle for u teachers to solve,
and I'll give a chrome to the one who
fret apauora r. oorrook11, +broroL IL.