New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1903-08-05
Half of,the County Schools Still to
Be Supplied.

now are even more dlScOuraglng.
There are a number of reasons for
the reluctance which young people ex-
hibit toward taking up educational
work. Among the girls, upon whom
the country schools are largely de-
pendent, the increased demand for
stenographers provides employment
for many who would otherwise take up
school work. Other positions in com
mercial Offices and stores attract their
quota, some embrace actual business
opportunities and each year the ranks
of the female instructors aredecimated
by marriage. .
Then, too, the examinations are
more rigid than in the past and the
qualifications required more exacting.
The new state law governing the ex-
aninations has been extremely hard
on incompetents. A few years ago all
that was necessary for an applicant to
secure a school was that he or she
possess third grade certificate. Now,
however, this is greatly changed.
Third grade certificates are stillissued
but they are, in effect, conditional
upon the teacher improving his or her
education, for after teaching two years
under the classification a third certifi-
cate cannot be granted by the super
intendent, and it devolves upon the
teacher to pass a higher test or retire
from the field. #
With the men who follow school
teaching as means of gaining a
livelihood the same conditions obtain.
They generally drift into some other
line of endeavor and vacancies are
constantly created. All Of these things
combine to make the supply small and
Superintendent Cutting fears that this
fall there will be more schools than
teachers. Fully half of the schools in
Brown county are still to be supplied,
a state of affairs which is brought
about largely by the practice Of de-
ferring the task of engaging a teacher
until after the annual school meeting
on the third Saturday in July.
| Once the meeting is out of the way
there is general scramble for avail
able material and the district directors
keep sharp lookout for eligible
young men and women. In the i'm
mediate vicinity Of New Ulm five
teachers are wanted in Milford town.
ship, three in Sigel and two in Cotton
wood and the proportion will hold
good throughout the schools. He
calculates that about fifty persons will
take the examinations now being held
but a portion of these will not re-
ceived the required markings. Those
who do will have no trouble in finding
work and Brown county girls who are
attending the summer institutes will be
equally fortunate. Mr.. Cutting can
get few from adjoining counties but
in the end he believes that it will be
necessary to grant.a number of third
grade permits.
In the way of inducements offered to
teachers this county ranks very. well,
indeed. The average salary paid to
men is $40 per month while women re-
ceive s37, figures which are in access
of those paid in many of the counties
of the state and which annually in
duce many non-residents to apply for
permission to teach here. Another
gratifying feature Of Brown county,
educational system in that. under
Supt. Cuttings efficient supervision,
there is an increasing demand for first
grade teachers. Districts employing
teachers of the highest grade receive
1925 annually from the state school
fund and this aid is eagerly sought
for by such as desire to improve upon
! their condition. In 1902 nineteen
schools, irrespective Of the semi
graded institutions at Comfrey and
Hanska, received the aid and this year
more, will apply than ever before.
At the present time SSupt. Cutting
has under his charge a total of 10
school districts, in which thirty men
taught last year. q few of these
districts have terms Of only the five
months required by law but the
average length is eight months.
There is, however, a tendency to ex-
| tend to nine months and this system is
now in vogue in different parts Of the
county.
In the way Of a remedy for the
stringency in the supply of teachers,
Supt. Cutting expressed himself as
highly favoring the plan of high
schools adopting normal course.
During the last session Of the legis-
lature it was voted to appropriate
500 to any high school adopting the
course, which consists fan additional