isa-normaladvance-1903-00157

Description:	THE NORMAL ADVANCE.157gion beyond the peaks of stern reality the lids ofher psychology close with a bang the elucidationsof her literary light grow dim and school-teachingbecomes a matter of so many days at so many dollars (not many it may be said) each. Four oclockcomes with the welcome of a sedative to the sleepless victim of a raging fever, and she stands in thedoor of her dilapidated school house set down by adreary roadside, watching the retreating forms ofher pupils, happy because released, and wondersif after all, it is worth while.The trouble lies in the fact that with too many,teaching is not a profession, but a means. Probably nine-tenths of the teachers in Indiana enterthe ranks intending to remain but a short time.Law, medicine, business pursuits are looked uponas legitimate rewards for three or four years spentin the pedagogical service. Various reasons maybe given for this attitude on the part of teachers.Probably the most forcible one at present is thatbetter markets can be found for mental commodities than school-teaching. The present conditionsprove the statement to be true. A prominent educator of Indiana, in speaking of the difficulty inobtaining teachers, said that increased financialand industrial demands are drawing upon pedagogic circles for material, and that by superior advantages in salary and opportunity offered, theyhave been able to draw off a great many teachers,lie further said that as long as the present era ofprosperity continues, there will be a scarcity ofteachers unless the state hastens to meet thechanged conditions with counter advantages in theway of increased salaries. This last brings us toa consideration of a subject of vital interest to allteachers: Can I afford to remain in the teachingprofession ?Comfortable salaries and high ideals are not incompatible. One can have an ideal as high ontwo thousand dollars per year as on five hundred.In demanding more money for her services, theteacher does not sacrifice he self-respect, nor needshe neglect to sink Self for the sake of berpupils she can do a much more satisfactory jobof sinking when surrounded by the necessities and comforts suited to her high calling. Itis needful that she be surrounded by the best ofbooks, of social conditions, of all opportunities tobroaden and enlarge the life she has to give.Money has grown to be the sesame of opportunity,and if the State would have its teachers grow, itmust afford them the increased salaries that progress demands in other lines of action. ElbertHubbard, in speaking of the relative position ofthe teacher in society and of her primitive salary,says:I will never be quite willing to admit that thiscountry is enlightened until we cease the inaneand parsimonious policy of trying to drive all ofthe really strong men and women out of the teaching profession by putting them on a pay-roll atone-half the rate, or less, than what the same brainsand energy can command elsewhere. It is not amatter of economy that dictates our actions—wesimply are not enlightened.But this thing cannot always last,—I look forthe time, says Hubbard, when we shall set apartthe best and noblest men and women of earth forteachers, and their compensation will be so adequate that they will be free to give themselves forthe benefit of the race without the apprehensionof a yawning almshouse.It seems that these words from the distinguishedRoycrofter are prophetic. Necessity has more thanIntervention in her brood. Action is one of hermost robust children, and the present need ofschool-teachers in all grades must sooner or laterbear its fruit. Judging from the past, we are making giant strides, and in the near future we thinkwe discern an opening for the man or woman whofeels that he or she owes her life to the rising generation. The law of supply and demand appliesto brains and character as well as to flour andsugar, and the consumer (in this instance, theState) must meet the requirements or do withoutthem in her teachers, as she will never consent todo. As she rises to meet these requirements, shewill demand a high grade of talent and will have avast field from which to draw. As for the teacher,she can afford to wait the school-keeper must go.E. Gut Davisson.
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/33943
Collection:	Indiana State University Archives

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