The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1908-09-16

Beggarly Salaries for Teachers. The
services OF bank cashier. OF {; book
keeper. 0; u carpenter, and 4 school
teacher have I, market value. The
market value OF these services is
based upon what the employer feels
;hat the employed is worth 10 the
business. What value have the peo-
pie of South Carolina put upon the
services OF white school teacher?
Last year the State paid an average
salary OF s261. year. or Sass? a
mouth for a Eytle less than six school
months IL the year. This salary is
lower even by The month than the
wages OF ar experienced dry goods
salesman. o. a competent stenosra-
pher. By the year, the salary OF the
,eacher does not compare with that
OF the unskilleG carpenter. or
Dlasterer. or brickiayer. Almost
every Town Of 1000 people in the
State pays, by the month. higher Was-
es to its policemen than TO its women
school teachers. Men teachers are
paid a little better, but 3eggarlE
salaries have run almost ell the men
out cf the schoolroona.
,.As vii! be seen by the various
figures have given. either men or
women working in the cotton mills
and exercising less patience are
readily making more money than the
average pubic school teacher. -
August kohn, IN The Cotton MliiS
Of S. c.
IS it reasonable TO expect the se:-
vices OF competent men at $50 and
$40 a month. and competent women
At So and $40 a mouth. for q few
months in the gear? The answer IN
vo!ves q very simple question III
economics. It has cost either per-
son from four to six years II time.
and from $500 TO $500 in money,
tc D-epare himself to teach. And II
either is fitted to teach. his p:epara-
tior fits him for something decidedly
better pecuniariiy. If neither # tt-
ted to make more than S26l a year
II some other vocation, he is on the
high way to penury.
Why do our people pay no more
for teaching? Is it due to poverty
There was a time when that explain
lion could have been given, but not
so now. We have on every hand toe
MANY evidences Of plenty and even
luxury to accept any such excuses
now. The real explanation is hard tc
admit. These salaries represent the
vlsuation our people place upon edu'
cation. BY their fruits ye sinai
know them. Our people rate the
education Of their children whe1
they employ teachers. somewhat as
they rate their land when they visit
the tax lister. Our people are vel
able 10 pay better salaries. and they
viii pay better alaries only afte.
they have come to appreciate the
value OF better teachers and bettei
schools. Many OF the praises OF 5000
schools are mere lip-service.
incompetent Teachers. To dis
discuss this feature Of our hools ::
very disrsstefui. but it must be done
and done fearlessly. Every well-in
formed person knows that ou7
schools are burcened with a host O.
incompetent teachers. persons httee
neither by nature nor by training
srch teachers waste the money Of the
children, ruin the children themselv
es, and discredit teaching itself. The!
know nothing about what to teach
and even less about how 10 teach
.l.ae ana again I nave sat N schoo.
rooms watching the blind b1under
;nss Of teachers plo6diDg through
recitations without ever getting holc
Of a teaching fact or teaching prln
ciple, until my very heart ached II
sympathy for the children who hac
TO endure IT all. Yet have gone ou1
from just such scenes TO be told With
IN three hours by some patron that
SSLlCOI lucy 1lcNN e~ AAAiS S>S'%AN
er. The travesty of such teaching Is
bad enough, but when the patrons
are pleased With it. it becomes pathe'
TIC. can put my finger on the nam
es= OF dozens Of white school teachers
who could not to-day pass an eN-
animation in the eighth grade in the
Columbia. city schools. Yet to these
inconpetents are entrusted the edu-
carion of children. and the people are
satiGed, ard are paying to them the
children's money.
| know teachers by name who so
to their scbooirooms day after day
: without having studied a single les
sou they are supposed to teach. Some
OF them 60 not own a single book
that they are attempting TO teach.
How eau such teacher succeed? :?
i he has n him nothing OF the stu
dent. how can he expect TO inspire a
pupil with the zeal Of the student?
Tc s:3ch d teacher the name Of Spen-
Ger and Arnold and Mann are but
sounding brass and tinkiing cymbals.
Some teachers and some patrons
barll largely or the teachers eXper-
ieGce. Experience is an excellent
thing when coupled with other
qualifications, but when divorced
from them. experience is to teach
ing precisely what Ii is TO the practice
Of edicine-it kills as often SIS it
cares.
Scholarship, studioUsness. train
ing, and energy are all necessary TO
the nishes: success in teaching, hu.
there is another qualification which
far outwaigas ali these combined
manhood: The personality of the
teacher is the first consideration. Is
the teacher able 10 take hold OF the
life OF child and guide him upward
&c the limit CT tae chiId.s capacity?
* trc tp:cIpr'S life wGrihv Of being