Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1908-09-23
OUR SCHOOLS ]
By PROF. WILLIAM b HAND, \
University of South Caro,ins.
Paper Number Two.
Observation-Disclosures;
Paper Number Two.


Il University OF South Caro,tns.
Paper Number Two
ssssssss-sss-s..s.-s.s..s.ss.
Beggarly Salaries for Teachers.
The services of bank cashier, of
a bookkeeper, of carpenter, and. of
q school teacher have market value.
Th.o market value of these services
4 is based upon what the employer
Sfeels that the employed is worth to
tine business. What value have the
people of South Carolina put upon
the services of a white school teach:
er? Last year the. State paid. an
average Of $267. year, or $45.S7
"a month for a little less than six
school months in the year. This sal
ary is lower ever by the month than
the wages Of an experienced dry
goods salesman, ,or a competent.
stehographer. yathe: year. the, sal
&ary Of the teacher does not. compare
with that of the unskilled carpenter,
aoc plasterer, OF brieklayer. Almost
every town Of 1900 people in the
4State pays, by the month, higher
wages to its policemen than to its.
awomen school teachers. Men teach
3ers are paid little better, but beg
3garly salaries ,haye run. almost all the
Smen out sof the schoolroon. As
Twill be seen by the various figures
which ] have given, either men or
women working in the cotton mills
and exercising less patience. are:
readily making more money. than the
average public school. ,teachers - =
August Kohn; ip The Cotton. Mills.
! of S. C.
Is it reasonable to expect the ser
vices sof competent men at $50 and,
$40 a month, and competent. wSsnen
at $35 and 40 8 month, = for a few:
months in the year2 The answer in
wolves very simple question in
economics. It has cost either per-
son from four to six years in time.
and from $500 to $1,000 In money,
to prepare himself to teach. And
if either is fitted to teach, his prepar-
alton fits him for something decided
" better pecuniarily. If neither is
fitted to make more than $267 g year
in some other vocation, he is on the
high way to penury. -
f Why do our people pay no more
for teaching? Is it due to poverty?
There was time when that expla-.
nation could have been given, but not
$50 now. We have on every hand too
many evidences of plenty and even
! luxury to accept any such excuse.
TIE real explanation is. hard to- ady
init: These salaries, represent the.
valuation our people place upon edu-
cation. by their fruits We shall
know them Our people rate the
education Of their children when they
employ teachers, somewhat as they.
rate their land when they visit The;
! fax lister Our people are well able.
to pay better salaries, and they Will
pay better salaries only after they.
have come to appreciate the value of
better teachers and better schools.
Many of the praises of good schools:
$are mere lip-service.
Incompetent Teachers.-To discuss
this feature of our schools is very
/ distasteful, but it must be done, and,
done fearlessly. Every well-inform-
ed person knows that our schools are
burdened with host of incompetent
teachers, persons fitted neither by
nature nor by training. Such teach
Sers waste the money of the: children,
ruin the children themselves, and
discredit teaching itself. They know
nothing about what to teach, and
even less about how to teach. Time
and again I have sat in schoolroems
watching the blind blunderings off
teachers ;plodding through recitations.
without lever getting hold of a teach
ing fact or a teaching principle, up-
til my very heart ached in sympathy
for the children who. had to endure
1T I'll. Yet I have gone out from
just snch scenes to be told within
three hours by 'seme patron that in
that school they had fine teacher:
The travesty Of such teaching-is bad
enough, but when the patrons are
pleased with it, it becomes pathetic.
/ can put my finger on the names. OF
dozens Of white school teachers who
could not today pass an examination
in the eighth grade in the Columbia
city schools. Yet to these incom-
petents are entrusted the education
of children, and the. people are salts
fled, and are paying to. them the
children's money.
I know teachers by name: who go
to their scloolrooms day after day
without having studied single les
son they are supposed to teach. Some
of them do not own a single book
that they are attempting to teach.
How can such teacher succeed7 If
he has in him nothing of the student,
how can he expect to inspire a pupil
with the zeal Of the student? To
such teacher the names Of Spencer
and Arnold and Mann are but sound
ing brass and tinkling cymbals.
Some teachers and some patrons
bank largely on the teachers ex-
perience. Experience is an excellent
thing when coupled with other quail
fications, but when divorced from
them, experience is to teaching pre-
eiseIy what it is to the practice Of
medicine-it kills as often as it
cures.
Scholarship, studiousness, training,
and energy are all necessary to the
highest success in teaching, but there
is another qualification which far
ontweiehs alr these combined-man-