Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-03-19
TEACHERS WAGES.

But the school is small; there are but
five, ten or fifteen pupils and they are
young. Anything can teach SO few and
such young children. They want a
s.sheep" teacher, and they get one for
S15 to SIS per month. WHAT'S such
district doing for itself and it's children?
A child is to be taught and piloted to
manhood are not the same qualities
and capacity required for one as for
ten? The district reasons that if one
boy can walk a mile IN thirty minutes,
two boys can do it in fifteen Has not
each pupil, whether one or many, to 60
through the same process and receive
the same guidance? And this lick Of
comprehension of what teaching
means is the key to the door pay given
the profession, or perhaps occupation,
@ teaching. The real nature of the
work is not thought of. Teaching is
not like carrying fodder to herd Of
cattle, where the fewer the cattle, the
less the work
But how is it in the higher ranks OF,
teachers? There, are 238 teachers IN
the country districts receiving more
than $50 month, for eight to ten
months in the year; 238 out of 1O,2O2
get this magnificent pay! A captain
i'll the army, in charge Of 80 to 100 men,
gets $1,000 a year. A major, with three
companies or perhaps two, gets $1,000.
There men have permanent places,
pensions if they receive injury and
retire on good pay when they are unfit
by age or health to perform their du-
Gies. Compare this with the pay and
service of the teachers in our graded
school, who have the training of our
children, who carry the childs future
in their hands, and have from 300 to
800 to look after. Compare with the
pay for draughtsman, who works at
desk, by himself, with short hours
and no outside care who receives ST.
200 to $1,000 a year. The teacher
must work all day in the school, work
evening to keep even, suffer criticism
on every side, be part of large So
cial surrounding, be public spirited and
take part in all local movements, sup
port the church and charities, attend
educational gatherings, maintain a
library; in fact there is no end Of the
things he is called on for and then he
does not get the pay OF askilled me-
chanic, to say nothing of foremen or
managers in industrial enterprises
In the higher walks of teaching, great
and burdensOme demands are made,
demands very little understood of the
people, and the pay is a matter of
barter. The TRANCE thing about it all
is that so la body of earnest, capa-
BILE men and zen will unselfishly de-
vote themselve 20 this work for any
pay equivalent to what they could
command in other lines, to say nothing
about doing the work for wage SO far
inferior to tho demands made upon
them. The devotion of these teachers
is not to be questioned, whatever we
may think of their worldly wisdom.
The very few attain positions which
may, with a reserve, be called perma-
nent and paying. The many go on
awhile till their business sense and the
necessities of life compel them to seek
other use for their abilities. What of
the rest? The public takes their work,
shuffles them about according to it's
whims, pats them on the back for
while, then shoves them out paying
what it considers good wages for ordi-
nary labor, lets them off to old age
without thought and says teachers are
plenty because they can be picked up
anywhere at less than is paid lumber
jack in the pines. The reason is that
the public does not know teachers or
their work. There is not intelligent
discrimination between good and bad
teaching. And generally, schools will
not pay for good work.