Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-03-22
REMUNERATION OF TEACHERS.

Ihe following is a contribution to the
Wisconsin journal of Education, and
was written by A. h. Sage, of the Osh-
koSh normal school, We wish that
every tax payer in the county could
| read 1t and use his efforts to garry out
its suggestions. This is tbe' first of a
series of articles which the PrLoT will
publish relative to the subject of teach
ers wages, and any one who has any
thing to offer along this line win De
given space to air his or her thoughts.
Teachers would like to be better paid
They think they deserve better pay
They think the dignity and character
OF the work they perform demand it.
But this is just what every other class
OF earnest workers is saying So long
as teachers depend on wanting better
pay and thinking they deserve" it,
they will keep on wanting and, shall
we say, deserving it. Our public school
| system has become too vast an organ
lzation for the general citizen to follow
It's needs and its defects closely. The
fact of the matter is the average citizen
does not make any real consideration
OF the professional aspects of his own
local school, to say nothing of its re-
lations to the public school system.
! u hio 10 lOJ OCCduS0 VI any It1llSSDeSS
on the part of the citizen What else
is to be expected when teachers them.
selves find it difficult to master a work
| ing knowledge of these elements in the
school problem? These are the davs of
! division of labor and everybody is now
familiar with this industrial system,
but people are not yet ready to admit
that there is any type or class of expert
knowledge in educational fields that
| they are not fully competent to analyZe
and control at first hand
The idea and ideals of the days of the
citizen teacher are still upon us, and
more than k2lf of the schools of this
country ar@Nill in the hands of men
aud women who are first and foremost
prospective candidates for any and
every occupation under the sun except
ing teaching. The people know this.
but their query is, Why not ? Their
sons and daughters have made teach
ing a stepping stone to some other &C.
cupation such as the ministry or matri,
mony so long that it seems like a cur
tailment of the citizens natural pre-
negatives to suggest that these bumpti-
Gus aspirants to success in life are no
longer qualified to hll the bill in
modern school room. When will the
people understand these things? Knowl-
edge does not come without effort, and
knowledge of great sociological facts
ana factors comes to apoOple only after
long and intelligent agitation. If
teachers really see any clear riffs in the
cloud that now hangs over our public
schools and the teaching service, they
should come forward with their ideas.
A general campaign of public education
is the only thing that will arouse public
interest in these newer phases of our
educational problem When that in
tereSt is aroused, and the people have
measured the difficulties of providing
suitably trained and competent persons
in the school room, then and not till
then may teachers hope for better pay
Then they will receive better pay
whether they ask or not, because it
will then be clear that the best work
cannot be done in school presided
over by teacher who is yainly endeav-
oring to give life to Others when he or
she has not been supplied with life and
the means to live.
Ability to teach is not static thing
like the school building and the books |
The rirst requisite in a teacher is life, !
moral and intellectual life These |
qualities are exceedingly expensive to
procure in just that form and combiDa- !
ton needed for the successful teacher |
And even when once secured, they are |
like all other forms of vital energy |
they must be kept up by an endless |
chain of reiuvenation The time will !
come when teachers will be required |
by pubic demand to grow in moral and |
intellectual power and culture as long
as they remain in the school room, and I
every means to such growth will be |
encouraged and provided for at public
expense. The majority of people really I
think they can get something for moth /
ing out of school teachers. They are
willing to confess that il is unfortunate /
for the school teacher, but then if the |
teacher doesn't like II, let him do some /
thing else; there will be plenty more to |
take his place.
Here are a few facts which those who |
are.interested in the public schools will |
do well to consider
The qualifications of teachers in the I
different grades of schools have scarce |
ly increased lii this state for the past |!
quarter century. But during this period |
the whole face of our industrial and we |
may almost say our social life has |
charged There has been immense |
progress in everything excepting in the |
most vital, indeed the only vital thing |
in the school room, the teacher
The salaries of teachers have declined |
nearly ten per cent. in eight years. Is |
this decline an effort to get something |
for nothing2 Do our people think they /
are getting just as good service for nine /
ty cents as ttiafcy can for one dollarg If
so. why not cut another ten per cent?
During the same period ofeight years, |
the cost of living has increased nearly |
t..fsa klf. !
authorities varying in their deductions
from twenty-six to twenty-Dine per
cent The farmer and the business
man do not feel this because they at the
same time have found their business
and their produei increasingly valuable. |
10 the recent investigation concern
ing teachers wages in this state,
member Of a school board in one of our
cities refused to hand in his estimate
after preparing it because he said he
was ashamed TO do so when he saw
what insufficient compensation was
paid to the teachers in that city
Measured in terms of the purchasing
power OF money, teachers are receiving
less than two-thirds the salary they
were getting eight years ago. Those
who are IN position to do so find no
difficulty in measuring the effect of
this depression iD the conditions of our
teaching service on the public schools.
Our best teachers are leaving us in
large numbers. and Wisconsin is be-
coming the dumping ground Of incom-
petents from all qaarterS-
Every mother and father will tell you
that they in the stress and confinement
OF business have lost much of those
powers which would mske them COM
petent even after their old time stand
ards To teach school, but they expect
Mr. Brown and Miss Smith TO eonfine