New-York tribune., 1908-02-17

hay, to be a college graduate TO be allowed TO try
but the same license will do for the grammar
schools as we'll Then registered our telephone
number in all the schools in the borough That
lets you answer hurry call, and the chief use
fI1ness Of a substitute depends her coming when
she wanted It is because of failure in this req
uisite that the thousand substitutes on the
Board of Education's list are not sufficient They
would be enough If they attended 10 their jobs
but they don't.
There is not need enough of substitutes in any
school TO keep girl busy all the time but
with two hundred schools in the city we are
constantly IN demand In fact. we frequently nave
two or three calls for the same morning The high
schools pay s. 80 day, and, as there are from
twenty twenty-five teaching days in the month
we can reasonably count SO apiece from the
high schools
Then there are the private schools. That was
the next step in our system, and that really
accidental, for was kept quite busy as II was
NV sister teacher In a private schooi mere
Just as the fall opened she caught scarlet
fever and naturally the school had 10 I'll her place
Rv the time she was strong enough to work It was
long past the season for hiring teachers She
began taking of my extra substituting work
That gave the idea. 50 she went round Z" the
various private schools and registered there That
made another big field with practically no coupe
rition She found only one private school that had
any other substitute registered
The most astonishing part OF IT is. the pTofes-
sionaI substitute continued, that you make
position because IL gives you more free time. No
matter whether you substituting IN high
school or a private school. when your teaching
hours are over your work Is finished You have
no papers to correct and responsibility The
rest OF the day Is your Own. The private schools
finish work at ! o'clock and the high schools at
go That leaves easily four hours for other work
This is where the substitute makes her big profit
by using those four hours for tutoring The resu-
lar teacher hasn't time for this. Also being around
in all the different schools, she meets the children
who need extra help When you remember that
a tutor receives as much 50 hour for soTe
subjects you can see why 1 don't want any reg
ular position I make enough substituting
TO pay all expenses and the tutoring is SO much
clear gain AS far as l know. my sister and
are the only professional substitutes in all New
York"
The question naturally follows, If this work is
free from the grind Of teaching and pays better
and isn't crowded Why hasn't IL been done before!
The professional substitute explained:
Most girls haven't got the nerve This takes
nerve besides a college diploma To be sue
cessfu substitute you must be able 10 teach almost
anything. I licensed by the Board Of Edued-
ton in chemistry. So far I've taught English,
Latin, algebra. German and geometry My sister
has her license in English. The first day she sub
stituted she walked into the classroom and asked
what was the lesson for the day The pupils all
yelled Simultaneous quadratics.' She nearly had
Simultaneous commissions, for her speciality is Ian
guages and she didn't know beans about algebra
She had even nunked mathematics al college But
pulled her wits together and taught algebra
for the Of the week.
To substitute successfully you must De fresh
on as many studies possible. and have nerve
besides It's art, when you are caught with
something you absolutely can't teach, TO say You
may take study period with such dignity that
the class doesn't catch on