New-York tribune., 1912-01-16

nearly all the complimentary adjectives in
The dictionary.
The woman teacher, he says. is brave.
vrtuous. loyal, charming, mot too dem'd
learned" and many other worthy things.
But oh, alas! The woman teacher is
tventy-eight years old, and she can't dis
guise that hideous fact. II is the root OF
1 the whole trouble, according TO G. w Bar
| deem, who, as head of teachers agency
| for thirty years, has had abundant oppor-
I tunity to study the subject.
| In the January number Of The Educa-
| tlonal Review" Of which Nicholas Murray
Butler, president OF Columbia University
4 Is editor, ne has an article on The Monop-
oNzing Woman Teacher" lie admits she Is
monopolizing. Soon there won't De any
men In the schools. and that will be disas-
trous, because women will grow 10 De wen
Weight years old, and after that then et-
neiency decreases. 0ou should hca'
them discuss Mr.. Bardeen's articie0 well
anyway, this is what says;
Woman reaches her zenith as a teacher
At twenty-eight. II she Is In the SCHOOLS
especially where there is tenure Of Once
she may stay on till she is an old woman
and usually not be got rid of then without
pensloning: but when she is getting in eN-
eept in a few heavily responsible positions
every year above twenty-eight counts
against her"
The reasons for this? First is that teach-
ing saps her life energy, owing 10 her
physical limitations 80 that after three or
four years she is due TO have nervous
Geakdown.
Another reason is also entirely one OF
tsxT the authority continues re"
Women six years in a public school nave
escaped indignity The young woman
tsacher soon learns that In dealing WIN
public men she is likely 10 be looked al
eoarsely and Is obliged 10 answer ques-
tons and listen 10 suggestions that are 20
her soul as losthsome as grimy hanc
Upon fresh muslin gown. It is the e%-
perience Of all unprotected women. and
comes perhaps oftenest TO the teacher be-
cause by her annual employment and her
frequent need Of equipment for her work
she Is oftenest obliged to ask favors OF
men. This often produces in the teacher
aooye twenty-eight pessimism, contempt
ior mankind that is not heaithful and that
kards of education shrink from"
Worse Than this is the influence of con
mmeo msidenhood. for after twenty r
hght women have lost the confidence
nat they will some time marry. This
epnsciousness Of failure is a weight upon
women who no longer hope They arc IN"
Sanhowers the passed lovers. Most OF them
could at some period OF their lives have
married somebody But II is wiser 10
marry nobody than a nobody. and the knfl
VI men they wanted chose other women
Usually with Cood reason.
ine proportion OF admirable women y
.Esster among those who have taught I'VE
sssp than among those who have taught
or twenty years or forty. II Is not Only
wst the more feminine have been selected
W but the tendency Of those who settie
sonn 70 teaching without hope Of rescue y
lose The desire 20 be attractive. Whef
woman becomes barrel-shsped she cares
more for comfort than for comeliness.
me other day I happened 10 be ~
WY classroom. the teacher Of which nae
mcen for thirty years When she besaf
p'sening she was charming girl hand
some, winsome. a delight 10 meet YET 81
tat thefe during tho change of cIaFse'
ns wofpan deliberately plunged her nt,l'
nhser INTO her left ear. dug with ". ana II
ssnt OF her class examined the wax Fn'
nAo satnered. and removed 81 upon hano
sershief LoathSorne to tell. you remsrN
enqsestionsbly; but what Yves Il for he
& 70 zee. boys and girls who LOOK upo'
thst nigh school teachers as models 0
dspcftmsnt7