The art of securing better teaching positions

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Teaching Outlook 5

II. The Successful Teacher 17

Chapter I The Teaching Outlook

One morning the postman delivered the following letter:

Gentlemen :

I have been a professor of experience for twelve years. Will you kindly tell me what is the opportunity for professing in Porto Rico?

Little did I suppose when I opened this letter that it would ever be made the text of a book for teachers; but the thoughts which prompted the writing of the letter, viz., what is the opportunity for teaching, what chances are there for me, how can I succeed in securing a good position, are, indeed, in every teacher's mind, although they may not be expressed so uniquely. Whether the professor later embarked for the island, there to "profess" in the noble art of bootblacking or in the more humble duties of the schoolroom, as the case may be, and whether he there accumulated wealth and fame are matters which are shrouded in as much mystery as is the solution of the problem presented in the closing paragraph of Mr. Stockton's famous novel. 1

I do not claim to know much about school conditions in Porto Rico, but I have given considerable

study to those prevailing in the United States, especially in New England, and it is with the thought of helping teachers to secure positions in this more limited field that I have undertaken the preparation of this little volume, hoping that something of value will be found in it both to the new teacher and to those already holding positions but desiring better ones.

Now no profession in the world is more noble than that of teaching, none requires more earnest thought and training, and yet it is too often made merely an avocation, a stepping-stone, a means of earning money for the study of law or medicine, or, in the case of women teachers, a pleasant occupation until they get married. This does not mean that it is not perfectly right for a woman to become a teacher, even though she expects to remain in the schoolroom only a few years ; but in all fairness to her pupils she should as thoroughly prepare herself as though she were planning to make teaching her life work. Nor does the fact that a man expects later to enter another profession necessarily prevent him from making a good teacher; and certainly the experience gained in the schoolroom often proves of inestimable value in after life. But the fact still remains that one has no right to teach who does not feel the sacredness of the trust enough to make as adequate preparation as his or her time and means will allow.

The first thing to be considered in entering the profession of teaching is one's fitness for the work. In these days of scientific investigation of social problems it is becoming more generally recognized that failure is less often caused by lack of ability than by engaging in an occupation for which one is not fitted. Want of appreciation of what a particular business or profession demands from those who enter it is responsible for a deal of regret and discontent.

It is undoubtedly true that in the life of every one,, up to a certain point, chance seems to rule. But there comes a time when we begin to think for ourselves; and if this awakening is not delayed too long, it is possible to shape the after life in accordance with a fixed plan. 1

We are living in an age of progress. A few years ago only the city man had his telephone; now the country farmer has not only his 'phone but his auto, and next year he will have his aeroplane. The thrifty housewife no longer plies the broom, but pumps out the dust with a "vacuum cleaner"; and in all lines of business new methods are being inaugurated. Nor is the change confined to mercantile lines; in medicine and in surgery many cherished theories have been overturned.

So in the teaching field we find a marked change in conditions. Formerly in our country districts each little hamlet had its own school, where the teacher, receiving from four to six dollars a week, taught five

*A very suggestive and inspiring book on the subject of choosing one's life work has recently been published and should be on every teacher's desk. Not only will it help her to improve her own plan of life, but it will be of infinite help in assisting her to guide her pupils into the occupations for which Nature fitted them. "Choosing a Vocation," by Frank Parsons. $1.00. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.

or six pupils. Today, instead of maintaining innumerable petty schools, the pupils are transported to one central school, which makes it possible to pay the teacher more salary and consequently to get one better fitted for the work. Then, too, the employing of superintendents who are trained educators and to whom is given the selection of teachers tends to raise the standard of requirements, as insistence is more and more being placed upon special training. Nothing indicates this change more than the statistics of the departments of education of the several states. Take, for example, Massachusetts.

In 1888 the number of teachers required in the public schools of that state was 8,559, of which number only 2,677, or 3 1 P er cent, were normal graduates. In 1898 the number of teachers required was 11,678, of which 4,428, or about 38 per cent, were normal graduates. In 1908 the number required was 14,781, but of these 7,448, or over one-half, were normal graduates.

The same conditions prevail in Rhode Island. A letter just received from the Commissioner of Education of that state gives the following figures :

Year

Total number teachers

College training

Normal or special training

1894 1899 1904 1909

95 217 246 326

558 905

This value of special training for grade work is brought out most strongly in a communication from the Commissioner of Connecticut, who says :

"Some towns refuse to consider teachers unless they are normal graduates. I do not know of any towns that accept unconditionally college graduates for the schools below the high school. My opinion is that training is more and more becoming a condition of employment. College graduates without training are no better than high school graduates without training."

These facts indicate the condition which is becoming more and more general, viz., that special preparation is as necessary for a teacher as for a physician or surgeon, and while it will undoubtedly always be true that school positions can be secured without the teacher's having special training, and even in some cases where she is not as well posted as some of her older pupils, yet to neglect to provide herself with this special training is deliberately to close the door of opportunity to the best places. The fact that one's grandmother was a successful teacher without ever seeing a normal school does not prove that her descendants are likely to attain success with only a high school training, for much is required of a teacher today which was never thought of in her time.

After due consideration has been given to the subject of choosing a vocation, and the young high school graduate has decided that she is by nature fitted for the profession of teaching, that it is the one thing above all others which she prefers to do, not because she thinks the hours are easy, a steady income assured, the actual working year short and the vacation season long, but because she really loves the work and means to give it her best efforts and highest ideals, two important questions present themselves: how best to fit herself properly for her work, and how to secure a good school. Both questions call for careful consideration on the part of any one thinking of becoming a teacher. Nor are they separate and distinct questions, for they are closely allied one to the other, the matter of training determining in great measure the kind of school for which one will afterwards be eligible.

In his report, the Commissioner of Education of the United States points out the fact of the constantly decreasing number of men teachers in our schools. In 1880, in the schools of this country, 42.8 per cent of the teachers were men. In 1890 this was reduced to 34.5 per cent, in 1900 to 29.9 per cent; while the 1909 report states that of 495,463 teachers only 104,495, or 2I - 1 P er cent, were men. This means that, taken as a whole, there are less than half as many men teachers today as there were thirty years ago. But if we take some of the individual states we shall find the ratio of men to women still smaller. New Hampshire reports 95 per cent of her teaching force to be women. There is, therefore, no question of the fact that in the teaching profession women are in the great majority; and since in our good land it is the majority which rules, "vox populi, vox Dei," we shall in the following chapters use the feminine per-

SECURING BETTER TEACHING POSITIONS II

sonal pronouns, with the understanding that, according to the orthography of a certain college graduate, they will also include the "masculine sect."

It is pleasing to note that the salaries of teachers are increasing. In Massachusetts the average salary in 1888 was $119.34 for men and $44.88 for women. In 1898 this had increased to $137.41 for men and $51.44 for women. In 1908 the average salary for men was $155.95, while the salary for women teachers had increased to $59.58; and taking the country as a whole, the increase during this period has been from $42.43 to $62.35 for men, and from $34.27 to $51.61 for women. A table, compiled from the 1909 report of the Commissioner of Education of the United States, giving the number of men and women teachers and the average salaries in the different states, will be found on following pages.

Another cause of congratulation is the broadening of the teaching field, and the indications are that during the next decade it will be still further extended.

The growth of Correspondence Schools, the methods of which have been demonstrated as pedagogically sound when rightly conducted, not only offers an opportunity to earnest men and women to supplement lack of training without the necessity of giving up positions to attend school, but also offers employment outside of their school duties to a limited number of teachers, to whom is intrusted the task of correcting the papers which the students send in.

The kindergarten movement, another phase of what our forefathers would call our "new-fangled"

State

Number of male teachers

Number of female teachers

Average monthly salary of male

Average monthly salary of female

Alabama ....

2,740

#44-65

#38.49

Arizona ....

99-5°

75.06

Arkansas . . .

3>963

4.334

California . . .

1.376

8,846

114.48

77.02

Colorado ....

4.495

80.65

60.03

Connecticut . .

3 2 9

4,696

115.07

50.50

Delaware . . .

72.82

34.70

Dist. of Columbia

1.387

92.27

92.27

Florida ....

2,762

58.95

40.35

Georgia ....

2,860

8,036

• •

• •

Idaho.

1,581

85-59

60.89

Illinois ....

23,113

82.12

60.76

Indiana ....

6,147

10,524

62.60

55.80

Iowa

3.009

24,941

66.01

44.20

Kansas ....

2,465

10,520

45-17

Kentucky . . .

6,190

• •

Louisiana . . .

1,521

5.445

66.13

45.81

Maine

6,179

39-84

30.68

Maryland . . .

4.477

• •

• •

Massachusetts .

1,281

13,497

155-95

59.58

State

Number of male teachers

Number of female teachers

Average monthly salary of male

Average monthly salary of female

Michigan ....

2,433

14,974

£48.58

Minnesota . . .

12,853

74-30

45-23

Mississippi . . .

6,298

• •

• •

Missouri ....

4,840

13,158

57.78

51-45

Montana ....

1,086

Nebraska . . .

1,242

9,"3

69.51

49-33

Nevada ....

122.02

77.00

New Hampshire

2 55

2,744

New Jersey . .

1,106

9,173

• •

• •

New Mexico . .

52-05

51.58

New York . . .

4,996

37,592

• •

• •

North Carolina .

7,43!

• •

- •

North Dakota .

1,166

5,198

53-92

45.68

Ohio

8,267

18,688

67.00

52.50

Oklahoma . . .

1,237

7,499

57-83

49.22

Oregon ....

65.64

50.16

Pennsylvania . .

7,488

26,525

61.23

46.85

Rhode Island . .

2,119

126.09

59-54

South Carolina .

2,562

3,874

• •

• •

South Dakota .

4,605

67.71

47.27

State

Number of male teachers

Number of female teachers

Average monthly salary of male

Average monthly salary of female

Tennessee . . .

Texas

Utah

Vermont ....

Virginia ....

Washington . .

West Virginia .

Wisconsin . . .

Wyoming . . .

3,682 6,054

4,446

12,908

#59.60

77-3 2

43-40 45.70 75-65

95-33 85.26 education, offers opportunity for a good many teachers, but not so many as one might at first suppose, for there are a great many towns which do not have this grade at all. Probably no line of teaching is more attractive to a young woman who loves children, but hates to discipline, than the kindergarten grade. Little children are always attractive and are easier to handle than when they grow older. But too often the graduate from a kindergarten training school, being unable to secure a kindergarten school, finds she has not the right training for a position as a first grade teacher; so that about the only thing she can do is to go into an ungraded school and get some experience, after which she may develop into a good first or second grade teacher.

But the establishment of what are called vocational schools will be the feature in our educational system which will receive most attention during the next few years. When our high schools and academies were established in the early days of our country, they were designed to prepare boys for college, usually with the expectation that most of them would ultimately study for the ministry ; and it was long before educators began to recognize the fact that a college education is not the Ultima Thule, and that the province of our schools should be to prepare pupils for better self-support and citizenship rather than to force them to acquire a knowledge of the classics. But the tide has turned. Starting with the large high schools, commercial courses designed for those students who were not planning to go to college were introduced. These fitted for mercantile lines, the study of bookkeeping, stenography, and commercial geography taking the place of Latin and Greek. Then the smaller high schools took up the movement, which has kept on growing until today there is a splendid field for teachers of commercial subjects.

From the establishment of these commercial courses, designed to fit young men and women for employment in offices, the next logical step is to establish schools to fit them for other means of livelihood. Already there are some seventeen such schools in Massachusetts, some of them day schools, but the majority evening schools. Pupils enter these after leaving the grammar schools. The teachers in these l6 SECURING BETTER TEACHING POSITIONS

trade schools, besides giving instruction in the English branches, give special training in technical subjects, such training consisting of practical demonstration and bench practice, together with sufficient theory to enable the pupils to become good artisans or mechanics. This field is new. The other states have not begun to enter it yet, but sooner or later they will have to come to it. Here, then, is a new opportunity for teachers, for the vocational schools call for men who can do things and can tell others how to do them. But such men are hard to find, for as they are teachers they should be men of sterling character, with a good command of the English language, with patience and tact to instruct, as well as skill in working with their hands. The fact that such men are scarce means that the salaries will range about $200 a year more than is paid men in regular high school work; just the same as today commercial teachers command higher salaries than regular high school teachers.

No special mention need be made of teachers of music, drawing, cooking, physical culture, manual training, etc., except to point out the fact that inasmuch as one teacher of any of these special subjects can supervise a good many rooms, it follows that the openings in these lines can never be as numerous as those in regular grade work.

Thus in making a resume of the teaching field we find these significant facts: the number of teachers is increasing, the percentage of men teachers is decreasing, the average salaries are increasing, and new and promising fields of work are about to open up.

Chapter II The Successful Teacher

What is a successful teacher? If this question is asked a clergyman, he will tell you one thing; if asked a teachers' agency manager, he will give a different answer ; but the difference will be due entirely to the two viewpoints of those interrogated. Both definitions will be right. Just now it is the business side of a teacher's career that we are considering, so it is of this only that we shall speak.

A successful teacher is one who has advanced steadily from less to more responsible positions in a limited number of years until she has reached the maximum salary for teachers of that grade with similar training and teaching experience. This is, of course, a purely mercenary definition, and leaves out of sight the ethical phase of success in teaching, viz., the value of the teacher's influence for good, the awakening of ambition in the minds of her pupils, and the inculcation of higher standards in the community. So great, however, is the value of work along these lines that no teacher, however seemingly unsuccessful from a business standpoint, who has done this in even a small degree should count her work a failure.

But whether viewed from the ethical or business standpoint, success is dependent on the same fundamental principles. In all walks of life love is the l8 SECURING BETTER TEACHING POSITIONS

strongest incentive force in successful men and women. It may be the love of gain, of power, of overcoming obstacles, of accumulating wealth for those dear to them, or of making the world better because they have lived in it.

So with the teacher. She must love her work. More than this, she should enjoy it. A moment's thought will show that it is possible to love an occupation because of what it brings, while all the time we dislike the constraints which this same occupation entails. It makes little difference to one who employs an artisan whether he enjoys his work or not. It makes a world of difference to the scholars, however, whether their teacher, despite her high ideals and broader love for her work, enjoys the details of school administration. I would not emphasize this so strongly were there not other callings fully as lucrative as teaching to which a young woman with high ideals may devote her life.

In our definition of a successful teacher we spoke of her as "reaching the maximum salary in a limited number of years." This may seem like putting undue restriction on the definition of success until one realizes how much harder it is to adapt oneself to new conditions as one grows older. So that it is extremely unwise for any teacher after graduating from normal school or college to remain long in a small or out-ofthe-way school. It is not so much a matter of salary, for such schools sometimes pay good salaries, but because methods of discipline in small schools vary greatly from those in large schools ; so much so, in fact, that a teacher in changing from one of these small schools to a larger one often fails simply because she does not realize in season that the new situation calls for different methods. In her small school she knew each pupil intimately; in the large school she may be brought in contact with a hundred or more different pupils, only a few of whom come directly under her supervision except at recitation periods. Then, again, the fact that she is willing to stay in the small school, even though the net salary may be more than she would get in the city school, is likely to be construed by a superintendent as evidence of lack of ambition.

It is well, therefore, for every teacher to realize that in approximately five years after graduating from normal school, or eight or ten years after graduating from college, she will be as good a teacher as she is likely ever to be, and consequently that she should then be earning a good salary if she ever expects to have it.

Perhaps the best way of explaining what I mean is to outline the first few years of the teaching career of what might be considered an average teacher.

MEN TEACHERS

NORMAL GRADUATES

First Year Principal of small grammar school or

submaster in larger grammar school. Salary $600 to $900.

Second to Third Increase in salary or better school. Years

Fourth to Tenth Same kind of position. Salary $800 to

First Year

Second to Third Years

Fourth to Sixth Years

Seventh to Tenth Years

COLLEGE GRADUATES

Principal of small high school or assistant in larger high school. Salary $600 to $1,000.

Increase in salary or better school.

Better position either as submaster or principal. Salary $1,000 to $1,500.

Principalship at salary of from $1,200 upward.

WOMEN TEACHERS

COLLEGE GRADUATES IN HIGH SCHOOL WORK

First Year Assistant in small high school. Many

subjects to teach. Salary $400 to $500.

Second Year Increase in salary or better position.

Third to Fifth Larger school. One or two subjects.

Years Salary $500 to $700.

Sixth to Tenth Increase in salary or better school.

Years Salary from $800 to $1,200, according

to ability.

NORMAL OR TRAINING SCHOOL GRADUATES

First Year School of one, two, or three grades.

Second Year Increased salary or better school.

Third to Fourth One grade. Salary $500 to $600.

Years

Fifth to Seventh One grade. Salary $550 to $700 or more, Years according to ability.

TEACHERS WITH ONLY HIGH SCHOOL TRAINING

First Year Country or district school. From three

to eight or ten grades to teach. Weekly wages $6 to $8.

Second to Third Same kind of school, with better wages. Years

Fourth to Fifth Better or larger school of the same kind,

Years wages $10 to $12 a week; or graded

school, salary $400 to $500.

Fifth to Seventh Better graded school at better salary if Years exceptional ability is shown.

As these outlines are intended merely to be suggestive, there will be found many cases where teachers will be earning good salaries much sooner than is indicated on the above schedule; and there will be other cases where the reverse will be true. Also the fact that salaries in general are increasing means that the figures given will necessarily need revision in a few years; but they are sufficiently accurate at the present time to enable any one to see what the possibilities are in the way of promotion. Whether a teacher ultimately reaches the maximum salary is, however, dependent upon her natural ability and earning capacity.

Having denned and explained what a successful teacher is from a business standpoint, it may be helpful to enumerate from this same standpoint some very common causes of failure to make good in one's first school. Of course nothing need be said when the failure is due to lack of proper training; but even with adequate training a teacher sometimes fails because she is unable to understand the feelings of the community and to adapt herself to a sphere of life differing from that in which she was brought up. Conditions in country society are often very different from those prevailing in the city; and a girl, coming to a country school and failing to get into the spirit of the place, may unconsciously do many things to engender ill will or jealousy. But when once she has obtained the good will of the little community in which she teaches, she will find the people as worthy of respect as any in her native city.

But lack of ability to discipline is the most potent cause of failure. Modes of discipline differ from those in vogue when our grandmothers taught school. More and more school boards are forbidding corporal punishment, which makes it harder for the teacher in many cases to obtain order. When this power to control without the use of the rod is gained, however, it proves that the teacher is an excellent disciplinarian. But can this power be acquired, and if so, how ? I do not wish to pose as an authority on the subject of discipline, nor is this book intended to do more than help teachers in securing positions ; but superintendents lay so much stress on the teacher's disciplinary power that I would like to state a few of the causes which, in my judgment, lead to poor discipline, because a little attention on the part of the teacher could easily remove them. The first cause is lack of ventilation in schoolrooms. No one can do his best work in a room where the air is bad. Time and again, however, I have visited schools where after coming in from the purer air of the street I could hardly breathe because of the closeness of the room. The teacher, however, intent on her work, seemed oblivious to the condition of the atmosphere, and wondered why the little ones were restless. Another cause of restlessness, and hence of poor discipline, is the fact that children cannot stand being kept in one position for any length of time; their muscles get cramped and they feel uncomfortable all over. Let a teacher from time to time open the windows and give the class a few simple physical exercises and discipline will run much smoother. A third cause of uneasiness is often not as apparent, but it is none the less real, namely, the fact that little ones coming to school from a distance, or from poor homes, get hungry. Now when even teachers at conventions find difficulty in listening to the speakers when they feel half starved, how can one expect good order and attention from a child who is faint or hungry? How this matter can be remedied, whether by encouraging the bringing of luncheons by the pupils or the furnishing of same by the teacher, is a matter for the teacher to decide; but if hunger is a cause of undermining discipline, the up-to-date teacher must find some way to remove it.

Chapter III The Equipment Of A Successful Teacher

Any woman expecting to teach should realize that the moment she applies for a school she becomes as it were a merchant. It is true that what she has to sell: training, experience, personality, etc., are intangible things, but they are none the less real; and as the successful merchant must study his market, choose and arrange his goods to suit the tastes of his customers, so the teacher must use judgment in reference to the kind of training, experience, and personality which she acquires if she would attain the highest measure of success.

In entering any line of business one of the first things is to ascertain the condition of the market. Take a simple illustration from the poultry business. In New York State the preference is for white-shelled eggs, while Bostonians prefer an egg with a brown shell. Therefore the shrewd poultryman would set aside his own personal preferences in catering to his trade and select those breeds which produce eggs popular in his locality. So a young woman, before preparing herself to teach, should ascertain if possible the kind of training which will give her the greatest chance of winning out in the competition she is bound to meet as soon as she enters the field as a candidate for a school.

In a previous chapter we have shown the increasing demand for normal and college trained men and women in the public schools, so we are right in assuming that it will be more and more difficult as time goes on for even a good teacher without normal training to secure the best positions. Already school boards, through efforts brought to bear by the superintendents, are refusing to elect to grade positions new teachers who are not normal or college graduates. Furthermore, there seems to be a growing tendency among superintendents to look for normal graduates who have also had college training.

Right here may be as good a place as any to suggest the possible lines of study which it would be well for one to consider who is planning to become a teacher.

College or University- Course.

College course followed by one year supplementary work at Normal School.

Full Normal Course.

Course at Training School.

Course at Business College.

Fits especially for High School work.

Gives a college degree and normal certificate, and fits for either High School or Grade work.

Fits for Grade work only.

Fits for Grade work, but is not considered as good preparation as a normal course.

Fits for teaching Commercial Subjects, but should be preceded by successful teaching experience, or by a college, normal, or training school course; preferably by both experience and college training.

After a woman has begun to teach it is harder and harder for her to go back to normal school, but there are courses which can be taken during the summer at many of the normal schools and colleges. Besides this, certain correspondence schools offer courses which will be found very helpful, although such courses cannot be considered equivalent to resident study at a normal school. 1