New-York tribune., 1912-04-21
Workers in This Field Said
To Be Most Manageable
of All Women.
BY Mary Marshall.
CHAPTER XIII.

"[indergarten teachers retain their
voutb IN looks and manner and feeling
longer than any other class OF women
workers.. So says q kindergarten expert
who ranks at the head of her profession.
Their enthusiasm and happiness are pro-
verbal, they enjoy more than the average
standard OF health. and their working
hours are shorter than in almost any other
profession. and here might be added a
statement made by leading masculine au-
thority OH the subject: kindergarten
teachers are the most marriaSeaole OF all
women, both because they are usually, Tor
some reason, attractive, and because the
woman who would naturally choose kinder
rortenIng-the most motherly and womanly
of all occupations-would be the one most
likely later TO choose TO marry and nave a
home OF her cwn."
II YOUR daughter wants to become
Hettv Green she would waste her time to
take up kindergartening, but II she wants
to earn enough money TO support herself
steadily and comfortably, with long va
cations and short working hours. II she
wants to engage in one of the most help
full lines Of work open to women, she
couldn't do better than At herself to he
kindergarten teacher.
When you were young-that Is. II you
are old enough to have daughter think
ing about her vocation-people thought
that any woman, providing she was patient
and gentle and wasn't positively ingram
natical. could teach little children. Then
about the time your daughter was learn
ing her A 3 Cs trained kindergarten
teachers were usually employed to start
children off in the paths OF learning but
70 be a kind srgartner didn't require much
training Almost any sort of schooling,
topred off by a season at the kindergarten
training school, was about all that was re-
auired But nowadays kindergartening has
grown 10 be one of the specialties In edu-
cation. and practically all the kindergarten
training schools. including the free city ana
state normal colleges and such technical
schools as Teachers College In New YORK
CITY (run in connection with Columbia
University. require a high school diploma
| for admission.
The course in the training schools is
usually two years. though In some cases
Il Is three, and in other cases where the
| student is a graduate OF normal scnool
| or OF university or college one year In
! the kindergarten school is all that is re-
! quired.
| The greatest number of graduate kinder
garten teachers are trained in the state and
city normal schools, where supplies. books
stationery. etc. as we'll as tuition, are sup
plied at the expense of the taxpayers. In a
special technical school the rate OF tuition
| is usually from 500 to $50 year. and mere
| the cost OF books and stationery could De
covered by about $50 year.
Before your daughter decides to become
a Kindergarten one thing she must make
| sure Of, and that is that she likes cn'-
dren-that she belongs TO what the men
who have studied the subject call the ma
ternal type of woman"
The very fact that your daughter Is a
woman, you may say. is sufficient evidence
! that she has maternal instincts WHICH, IN
the kindergarten training school, could De
! developed But as kindergarten trainers
will tell you, the maternal type, tnouSn
! the most normal type OF woman, is not 30
common as YOU think, and women not III
| frequently fail to hit the mark in Kinder
! gartening because they haven't enough Oh
| the inborn mother love in their makeup.
The successful kindergarten must love
children well enough not TO count 1t drudg-
erv 10 get down on the floor with the chill
dren she is teaching and help them on WIN
their hats and coats and rubbers. She must
even take the poorest and meanest Oh 'he
children who come into her care into her
arms and teach and train them with aS
much patience as she would her own chill
dren.
Granted that your daughter is attracted
TO children and has the necessary high
school diploma, there is one other require
ment that must be considered. She must
have at least an average musical ability
not a good singing voice of necessity. nor
skill on the piano. but enough musical aol-
fly TO be able TO sing and play children $
songs intelligently and with sympathy.
While no hard and fast musical eXamina-
ton is usually given for entrance In the
kindergarten training schools, fair knowl-
edge of music will greatly aid your daugn-
ter I'm the musical training that Is always
included in the kindergarten training
course.
The ideal kindergartner should also be
at home I'm the realms OF art and literature.
and should be free and graceful in her bod
fly movements. But II your daughter does
not already show signs Of such talents YOU
may rest assured that by the time she
leaves the training school she will have
made great progress in these directions
provided, OF course, that kindergarten
teaching appeals to sincerely to her.
The possibilities for employment for the
graduate kindergartner are every day IN
creasing. In the first place. she may, upon
satisfactorily passing an examination. go
into a public school where she will begin
in the large cities at from $500 TO $40 a
year and reach maximum of about NNO
or. under the new equal pay provisions In
New York City, Sl5OO u year. II she Is a
graduate OF college, besides holding a
kindergarten diploma, after three years
experience in the schools she will be ell
glble upon passing examinations, TO the
position Of director of kindergarten, with
a salary of from $500 to 5000 a year
The private schools. too, offer pleasant
occupation for kindergarten teachers. and.
though in this field there are the disad-
vantages Of slightly lower salary and less
chance of advancement than in the public
schools, there is the advantage of four
months vacation instead OF two months
vacation, as in the public schools A fair
salary in a private school would range
from $500 TO 5000 year.