Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1905-03-24
THE TEACHERS REWARD.
BY A. R. MccooK.
Elm the March Iowa Normal Monthly.

FIN the March Iowa Normal Monthly.
"Does school teaching pay?' A
writer in one of the popular magazines
recently addressed this question to
teachers. OF course it brought forth
a variety of answers. The following
are a few of the many subm1tted: "No,
it does not pay to be a school teacher.
Any man who has brains enough to
earn 81, 200 year teaching school can
earn $4,000 doing something else."
Another answer, "No, not because
salaries are small, hut for other reas-
ons." Still another said, Gas for me
l make money enough, in fact I IN not
at all certain that I would make as
much in factory or in a law office. I
find great deal of satisfacti IN In my
work. Itpays to be school teacher. !"
A business man recently said: ''Three
considerations of practically equal i'm
port,nce make up the value of po-
sttion. The pleasure one finds in the
work, the congeniality of the people
with whom one works and the salary
one receives. But the business man
overlooked one important considera-
tion, the reward other than the sala-
~. 1t is doubtful ii the average doc
tor, lawyer or business man finds as
much pleasure in his work as the
school teacher may find in his.
The doctor may point to lives he has
saved. The lawyer can point to cases
he has won. The business man or
farmer can furnish evidence OF his
contribution to progress. But the
truly successful teacher, not neces-
sarily the one who received the larg-
est salary, has an army OF witnesses
whose minds he has moulded, whose
impulses he has guided and whose
worthy ambition he encouraged. The
members of each new class are part OF
his legacy to the world and their sue
cess is, in part, his success. They
are his real reward and in after life
their memory comes to him to tighten
his heart and make him glad that he
lived and taught. After all, true re.
ward comes not to the pocket book
but to the heart.
The question Of teachers salaries is
being discussed at our teachers meet
tugs and through the educational press
And it is question that merits much
discussion for admittedly, teachers
are underpaid. But I mean the real
teacher, of course, for there are many
who are holding teachers positions
who are greatly overpaid.
The conscientious teacher is more
concerned with what he is giving than
what he is getting. The teacher who
is eternally dissatisfied with the size
of his monthly dollar remuneration
and habitlally satisfied with his work
as teacher belongs to the class of false
prophets who present to their pupils
tine Morgans, Rockefellers, and Ar
mours as characters to be emulated.
The influence Of such teaching is
largely responsible for the selfish and
pernicious spirit Of vampire commerc.
ialism which just now controls this
country but which, Judging from
many ssigns, is doomed to eventual II
not speedy determination.
| Teachers that send boys and girls
out into the world with the false idea
that success in life is measured by the
amount of money that they may &C.
cumulate, regardless of the methods
employed, are a positive injury tc
Isaciety.
| Our school system has been CRITICS,
ed for paying relatively too much at
tention to the mind and too little te
| ther heart. believe that this is q
A tV1c f;ofc &