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Teaching a profession.-Low pay.-Its consequences.

CHAPTER XIII.

TEACHER'S RELATION TO HIS PROFESSION.

It has long been the opinion of the best minds in our country as well as in the most enlightened countries of Europe, that teaching should be a profession. It has been alleged, and with much justice, that this calling, which demands for its successful exercise the best of talents, the most, persevering energy, and the largest share of self-denial, has never attained an appreciation in the public mind at all commensurate with its imporLance. It has by no means received the emolument, either of money or honor, which strict justice would award in any other department to the talents and exertions required for this. This having been so long the condition of things, much of the best talent has been attracted at once to the other professions; or if exercised awhile in this, the temptation of more lucrative reward, or of more speedy, if not more lasting honor, has soon diverted it from teaching, where so little of either can be realized, to engage in some other department of higher promise. So true is this, that scarcely a man can be found, having attained to any considerable eminence as a teacher, who has not been several times solicited-and perhaps strongly tempted to engage in

Some noble souls.-Some small men.-Two evils.

some more lucrative employment; and while there have always been some strong men, who have preferred teaching to any other calling,-men who would do honor to any profession, and who, while exercising this, have found that highest of all rewards, the consciousness of being useful to others,--still it must be confessed that teachers have too often been of just that class which a knowledge of the circumstances might lead us to predict would engage in teaching; men of capacity too limited for the other professions, of a temperament too sluggish to engage in the labors of active employment, of manners too rude to be tolerated except in the society of children (!), and sometimes of a morality so pernicious as to make them the unfailing contaminators of the young whenever permitted-not to teach-but to "keep school." Thus two great evils have been mutually strengthening each other. The indifference of the employers to the importance of good teachers, and their parsimony in meting out the rewards of teaching, have called into the field large numbers, in the strictest sense, unworthy of all reward; while this very unworthiness of the teachers has been made the excuse for further indifference, and if possible for greater meanness on the part of employers. Such has been the state of the case for many years past, and such is, to a great extent, the fact at present.

It has been the ardent wish of many philanthropists that this deplorable state of affairs should be exchanged for a better. Hence they have urged that teaching should be constituted a profession; that none should

Educational millennium.-How ushered in?-Different views.

enter this profession but those who are thoroughly qualified to discharge the high trust; and, as a consequence, that the people should more liberally reward and honor those who are thus qualified and employed. This would indeed be a very desirable change; it would be the educational millennium of the world. For such a period we all may well devoutly pray.

But how shall this glorious age-not yet arrived-be ushered in? By whose agency, and by what happy instrumentality must its approach be hastened? Here, as in all great enterprises, there is some difference of opinion. Some have urged that the establishment of normal schools and other seminaries for the better education of teachers, and the institution of a more vigilant system of supervision, by which our schools should be effectually guarded against the intrusion of the ignorant and inefficient teacher, is all that is necessary to bring in this brighter day. Others have zealously urged that such preparation and such supervision are entirely superfluous and premature in the present state of the public mind. They say that the public must first become more liberal in its appropriations for schools; it must at once double the amount it has been accustomed to pay to teachers, and thus secure, without further trouble, the best talent to this vocation. To this the former class reply, that the public has seldom been known to raise its price, so long as its wants could be supplied at the present rates. They say that the last century has afforded ample opportunity for the exhibition of this voluntary generosity of the public, and yet

Truth between the extremes.-A mutual evil, and a mutual remedy.

we still wait to see this anomaly in human prudence, of offering in advance to pay double the price for the samething; for until better teachers are raised up, it must be an advance upon the present stock. So there is a division among them, "for some cry one thing and some

another."

Now, I believe, in this case as in most others, the truth lies between the extremes. As the evil complained of is a mutual one, as has already been shown, —that is, an illiberal public has tolerated incompetent teachers, and the incompetence of teachers has enhanced in turn the parsimony of the public,—so the remedy must be a mutual one; the public must be enlightened and teachers must be improved; the pay of teachers must be raised, but there must be also something to warrant the higher rate. Nor is it easy to determine which shall begin first. We can hardly expect the people to pay more till they find an article worth more; nor, on the other hand, can we expect the teachers to incur any considerable outlay to improve themselves, until better encouragement shall be held out to them by their employers. The two must generally proceed together. Just as in the descending scale, there was a mutual downward tendency, so here, better service will command better pay, and in turn, the liberality of employers will stimulate the employed to still higher attainments in knowledge and greater exertions in their labors.

In this condition of things, the question recurs, What is the duty of teachers in relation to their calling? I

Teacher's duty.-The encouragements.-Self-improvement.

answer, they are bound to do what they can to elevate it. Lord Bacon said, "Every man owes a debt to his profession." Teachers being supposed to be more intelligent than the mass of the community, may justly take the lead in the work of progress. They should, as a matter of duty, take hold of this work, a work of sacrifice and self-denial as it will be, at least for some time, -and heartily do what they can to magnify their office and make it honorable. In the mean time they may do what they can to arouse the people to a sense of their duty. The more enlightened are to some extent with them already. The press, the pulpit, the legislative assemblies, all proclaim that something must be done. All admit the faithful teacher has not been duly rewarded, and some are found who are willing to do something for the improvement both of the mind and condition of the teacher. This is encouraging; and while we rejoice at the few gleams of light that betoken our dawning, let us inquire, for a little space, how we can hasten the "coming in of the perfect day."

SECTION I.-SELF-CULTURE.

The teacher should labor diligently to improve himself. This is a duty incumbent on all persons, but particularly upon the teacher. The very nature of his employment demands that his mind should be frequently replenished from the storehouses of knowledge. To interest children in their studies, how necessary is it that the teacher's mind should be thoroughly furnished

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