Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1905-07-14
sRArrLEBoRo, FRIDAY, JULY "A, 1905.
Raise the Standard.

The publication of statistics relating
to the pay of public school teach
ers in connection with the recent re-
mort of the National Educational Assoc
citation committee, has been followed by
considerable discussion as to the pay
of Vermont teachers by the state press.
The report showed conclusively that
the teachers in the United States still
continue to be the most poorly paid
public servants and the state press
generally condemns the pay OF our
teachers as niggardly and unjust.
The Reformer does not quite agree
with its contemporaries in the stahu
they take on this subject. we ADMIT
that the wages paid in some OF our
schools. those which bring the general
average down so low. are much 100
low for good service, but In most cases
thew are all the service secured Is
worth In some communities the peo-
ple deliberately choose cheap service
and they get what they pay for. the
wages paid such teachers. generaiiy
Young girls of ordinary mental gifts
and educational requirements, are as
high as girls of similar capabilities re-
ceive in other callings. Three dollars
week in the country school, with ooaro
and lodging furnished is as good as
nine dollars week in large village
where, as bookkeeper, typewriter OF
sa,eswoman. board and lodging must pc
paid for; as well as many little items
in the care of the wardrobe, ETC., "nlch
the country schoolma am. with her
shorter hours of work and her Satur-
DAVIS to herself, can and does perform
for herself.
Rut while there is no injustice to the
three dollar teacher in the three-doiiar
salary, it is an injustice to the proles-
sion of the teacher, to the capapie
teacher. and to the communities where
II preyails. It is a foolish argument 10
cav that a town can not afford to pay
good wages when there are only
few scholars. Men who have only one
child apiece to send to school can
much better afford to pay for good
teacher than if each had famliy OF
dozen to support. And a man VINO mas
no children to feed and clothe ought 10
find it still easier to pay his school tax.
He ought to be unselfish and pubic
spirited enough. too, to do his part un-
grudgingly in providing good SCHOOLS
for the sake of the future of his coun-
trv even though no child bearing his
name is ever taught therein.
It will do no good to raise the stand
ard of teachers salaries unless we nrst
raise the standard of our own concep-
tion of qualification. And If we raise
the latter as high as it should be. there
will never thereafter be any salary sta-
tistics to be ashamed of-for the right
kind of teachers do not work FOR three
dollars a week.
The people of Vermont know well
what good teacher is. They have all
seen her, or him. the centre of interest
and authority in a school-room tuil Oh
admiring and respectful children. Good
teachers are not rare or unusual per-
.sonages, but they have themselves ana
the few simple principles of their busl-
ness well in hand, besides more or less
book learning in mind. And they are
worth their price.
No parent no community, no town,
no state, no country, can afford TO
employ a cheap teacher. One chlld
needs proper and judicious training
as much, and as vitality, as do one num-
dred children. Improper training is
worse than no school training. unless
it be for the mere textbook knowledge
acquired. which is only small part OF
what child learns at school. There
should be a strong, reliant, wholesome
dominating every school-
room. a character whose influence Will
shane the course of school-room man.
ners and morals in way that will be
felt when the children go out into the
world.
Let's stop bewailing the woes of the
three dollar teacher. She will make a
good waitress, seamstress or milliner;
and she will get married, anyway. in
wear or so. She is only teaching school
because she had to do something in the
interim.
Let's raise our standard in the choice
of teachers for our public schools-all
of them-large and small. urban and
rural. Then. when we have found the
nearest possible to our ideal, let us
pay. the price without grumbling.