The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-12-28

to look toward pull and intrigue ana
favoritism, but trust to the goodness
Of our records as teachers for our ad-
vancement When our own records are
clean we can give attention to the rec
ordS Of Others We should cease to
honor wire-pullers by election to office
in our associations We should go as
far as the demands of courtesy will
let us in refusing them the right hand
Of professional fellowship. We should
not vote for them when they are candi-
dates for our suffrages. There is as
much need Of q code Of honor in edu-
cation as in medicine. When either
teaching or medicine becomes profess
sion the code will be superfiuous, for no
one really competent and enlightened
will violate it's natural provisions. Most
teachers find positions through the
help Of other teachers. We should
cease to give such help to the
wire-puller, the schemer, the self-ad
vertiser, the man who blows his own
horn, whatever the key, whether basso.
or soprano or falsetto. Some of our col
leges refuse to recommend or even to
recognize their own alumni if these
have sought to rise in their profession
by irregular means. 1t would be well if
all colleges and normal schools should
adopt this rule: That those who have
sought or accepted a political pull
should never receive their commenda-
ton, personal or official. It is not al
ways easy to prove the truth in mat
tiers of this kind, but as such COM
mendation is not a right, it is proper to
withhold it in case Of doubt. The
teacher isaan accredited tribune of civ
ilization. He should represent in the
community intellectual soundness and
moral uprightness. In the minds of our
forefathers his place as moral and in
tellectual guide stood side by side with
that Of the spiritual guide, the minister.
1t either calling has fallen from it's first
estate of honor it is the fault of the
men who follow it. Clear handed, sim
ple-hearted, pure-souled teachers en-
noble the profession. Stupid, unframed,
tricky teachers degrade it. And of this
we may feel sure, our profession as
whole stands just about where the
outside world thinks it does. The cold
public hits the truth very exactly.
Teachers are, as a rule, over-worked
and underpaid. At least we say so
when we talk it over together among
ourselves. But I am sure that on the
whole, teachers get all that they are
worth. The fault is in the lack of dis
elimination between good ones and
poor ones. Some teachers certainly
are underpaid, grossly underpaid, when
we consider the rewards of equal sue
cess in almost any other profession.
But only real success of one sort or
another receives reward at all in most
professions. The worthy and the
worthless, the honest and the tricky,
the enterprising and the indolent, the
enlightened and the ignorant are not
paid on the same schedule in any other
profession. There are men in our pub
lie schools in California whose services
would be cheap to any town at $4,000
year or over $4,000. There are many
others who would be dearly bought at
80 month. And some of each class
are paid 81 1000 or $1,000 or $1,000 alike,
and all are Jumped together by the pol
itician and the public as school
teachers" Sooner or later our people
will see the difference and act accord
ingly. If we want better pay we must
bring in better men and women, better
personally and better professionally.
To this end we must so conduct our
profession that men and women can
not rise in it through unfair or corrupt
means, and we must give our help and
recognition to those who will not do so.
In the schools of to-day the history of
the next generation is written. If there
is corruption in the schools we shall
use it in the body polite The only
yrh iah T.
of political corruption, of misuse of
public funds and public trust for per-
sonal ends. Democracy has nothing to
rear from outside force Or domestic
tyranny. It's worst enemy is in the
dry rot of popular Indifference to ques-
lions of right and wrong, which brings
the wet rot of official imbecility and
corruption. Eternal vigilance is the
price of liberty, and the public school is
the watch-tower on the walls of de-
mocracy- If these sentinels sleep we
Shall waken to shame.
Eternal vigilance is another name for
civic devotion and moral awakening.
And because the next generation must
be intellectually and morally the reflex
Of the schools of to-day, reform in edu-
cation is the most vital of all reforms.
The paper was received with accla-
nations
WHAT WILL WE DO?
DR.. George c. Pardee of Oakland
spoke on What Are We Going to Do
About It?"
He said that the future prospects,
of the State depend on the boys and
girls of the schools. Any influence that
ha
in hand is dangerous to the State. AS
President Jordan has shown, the great
est menace to our schools is practical
politics, and those who use it in
order to reward friends or pay political
debts He could not believe, despite
the efforts Of the politicians, that they
had yet obtained control, or that the
people We're content to let them do so.
He did not think the people were so
blind as to allow it. He did believe
there were people who would use the
schools for their own ends, and it
should be the aim of every lover of
his country to thwart their object. 1t is
his duty to do it, and if he does not he
will fall short of his duty. We must
be vigilant in defense of the schools,
and do our utmost to root out the evil
before it gains a foothold, and save
the schools. Pupils should gain pro-
motion by fitness only. County Boards
of Education have control of matters
within their own jurisdiction, and each
one does SO for itself. without regard
to the others, making a lack of uni
formity
There is another danger. The county