The teacher

Chapter I Why Does One Teach?

The influences that have obtained in recruiting the vast army of teachers are infinite in variety. Some have taken up the work with definite purpose, some are teachers by accident. A large number, especially among the women, have drifted into the ranks with no very definite idea as to how or why they are there or how long they may remain.

But no matter whence these teachers come, no matter why, they should, being committed to the profession, consider carefully what it has to offer either as an occupation for a few years or for a life work. To the man, the situation presents one problem ; to the woman, a different one entirely.

There was a time when teaching offered to the young man a natural stepping-stone to a wider or, at least, a different career. If he expected eventually to be a minister, doctor, lawyer, or a business man, two or J^^r^*fyJen° three years in the school-room was considered excellent preparation, and not a waste of time. Today it is necessary for a young man to select his chosen profession early and to enter upon it as soon as possible. All time spent in any other direction is deemed worse than thrown away. Competition is too great to admit of any but the direct road.

This condition of affairs cuts off from the number of school men many naturally brilliant and well equipped, who, in former times, did excellent work in the school-room for short periods.

Now and then today there is a young man who still finds teaching the first open door to wider activity and broader culture. He teaches a year or two, saves a little money, growing a little bigger each month, until he sees other and more profitable opportunity for his increasing powers opening before him. This young man does not have much knowledge of pedagogy, often has no experience at all, but he brings something vital, virile, to the school-room which more than balances lack in technical requirements. What he brings counts for more than normal school training, a teacher's diploma from college, or than a head full of books on psychology, pedagogy, child study, and methods of discipline, good as they may be in their place.

For him who would make teaching his life work, there are many things to consider. Small salaries, and the condition of school management which makes tenure of position uncertain and not always dependent upon character of service, have turned a large and ever increasing number toward the new and varied openings for men of force and ability. These conditions inevitably tend toward lowering the percentage of excellence among the lessening number of men teachers.

So long as engineering schools cannot supply the demands made upon them, so long as the business world is eager to offer bright, educated young men a price far above anything school boards have ever considered market value for such material, so long will there be a dearth in the teaching ranks of such men as are absolutely necessary for the highest success of the schools.

How potent these influences have been, let the few schools whose administrations are willing and able to pay worthy salaries testify. In this stampede away from teaching, they find it difficult to fill satisfactorily even the few positions which they have to offer.

The pendulum is bound eventually to swing the other way. This army of fine young men now rushing madly into business will find positions overcrowded, and some will turn from the shattered bubbles marked with dollar signs to the real issues of life.

Toward the same end, school boards are waking to the fact that their cities cannot afford to have the teaching turned over almost entirely to women, with just a scattering of men, too few of whom carry into the school-room that wide view of life which every teacher should possess. They are learning that they must make it worth the while of the finest type of young men to enter upon teaching as a life profession.

Now and then there is still a young man stirred by deeper motives than the piling up of dollars, or the winning of political or other fame, who sees the richness of life, the fullness of experience, the breadth of vision possible to the man who deals with human souls. Such a man gladly relinquishes the opportunities of so-called world success and deliberately selects the quiet days of a worthy teacher.

Some man who has lived this life in recent years should write out the story of his experiences, should present in its true light the fullness of such a career. Thomas Arnold does not stand alone as the one teacher who has proved the greatness of the profession.

For women the question is markedly different. Not many years ago, if it became necessary for a woman to earn her own living, teaching was about the 7o^r^ w'omen only genteel way in which it could be done. Today this is all changed. Every profession is practically open to her if she can demonstrate her fitness for the occupation. She is not yet always allowed to compete on equal footing with men, and she is rarely paid an equal amount for the same labor, but these conditions are inevitable upon the newness of things, and these the natural law of evolution and the better equipment of women will remedy.

Thanks to this change in conditions, a woman need no longer teach to live, for other ways are open to her, but, for the chosen few, there still remains the privilege of living to teach.

It should be an axiom that no one ought to remain a day in the school-room unless possessed by an absorbing interest in teaching and in life with young people. That Teachfng'" ^^^^ ^^^^ imply any mawkish sentimentality, but a vigorous, wholesome, natural interest, — the same kind of interest that a business man takes in his work, an artist in his own creations, a good housekeeper in the perfection of domestic appointments, with always the deeper absorption that close human relationships inspire.

To the individual who really loves his work, it goes without saying that this interest inheres. It is not necessary always to be advertising your devotion to the high calling nor does it demand an unwillingness on your part to be interested in other things. It is no disgrace to be glad of vacations or to welcome Friday nights, a time blessed even to the faithful.

Occasionally, though, there is a teacher who takes a different attitude, whose devotion amounts to an obsession. One Friday night a group of teachers had gathered in the cloak-room preparatory to the home going. They were wholesomely glad of the release, and plans for spending the free time were under discussion, when another teacher entering the room exclaimed, "How I dread Friday nights !

Saturdays and Sundays do break in upon the school work so."

A chorus of opposition, led by the strongest and best .teacher in the school, greeted her, and they were right in their disapproval.

These various breaks are what make it possible for anyone to continue long in the business. The fact that at intervals the work or a portion of it comes to a full stop and can be entirely put aside for a time, gives the needed relief from the otherwise too intense nervous strain. A heavy load can be carried up a long, steep hill if the burden may occasionally be lifted from the shoulder and a breathing time allowed the laborer. For this reason a teacher should put aside school work completely and, at intervals, seek a different atmosphere, different people, and different experiences. If she does this, she will return to the school with renewed interest and enthusiasm.

Be interested in your work, — one must be to succeed, — but let that interest be normal and sane, not hysterical, sentimental, or absorbing to the exclusion of everything else.

Those outside the pale are apt to look upon a position within it as a sinecure. The hours are short, usually from half -past eight or nine in the morning to half-past three in the afternoon, with an hour or J^f^^Pay an hour and a half at noon. Saturdays and Sundays are free da^^s. One or two weeks' vacation comes at Christmas, another week in the spring, with nine or more long ones all together in the summer, not to mention various holidays furnished by the government, and other special dispensations.

The compensation seems good in comparison with other salaried positions for women, especially when the short year and the short hours are considered. The pay is practically certain, for the occasions are exceptional when the checks of a school board are not honored.

Salaries are sufficient to allow teachers to be fairly well dressed, to live comfortably, and, with economy, to save a little money for summer travel. Wide reading, and the habit of constant alertness, help teachers to get out of travel more than the average individual discovers. They are, as a class, interested in literary and artistic matters and very little escapes their quick, trained vision.

To a person of scholarly tastes, the life is especially attractive, for its tendency is toward intellectual advancement. The teacher who succeeds must continue Ufe"^*^*"^' to be more or less a student. This is true, not only for those who teach in high schools but for grammar, intermediate, primary, and kindergarten grades. The study necessary is not only that which enables a teacher to keep pace with certain assigned classes, for the teacher who is content with this will soon drop behind in the race and then wonder at the cause of failure. The mind must be kept alert, — somewhat on a strain as it reaches out for new stimulus.

The intellectual training need not be, really should not be, always directly in line with the particular branch taught. There is no knowledge, no matter how far it may seem removed from any possible connection with school work, which may not, at any moment, unexpectedly become of use. Did you ever learn a new word that you were not surprised at your later frequent encounters with it? It is not likely that you are meeting it any oftener than before, but now you have a speaking acquaintance with it, while before you had passed it by unnoticed. In a similar manner, all knowledge immediately goes into the tool chest of a live workman.

This need for study, this interest in study, leads teachers into many pleasant hours. Books become to them close personal friends. The room of a good teacher without books is an anomaly; not books behind glass doors, but books on the table, in chairs, possibly on the floor, but always ready to hand. Sometimes they will be for serious study, sometimes a volume of poems, a new novel, a history, or an open magazine. The books in the room of a live teacher will not be identical from month to month; in a growing garden the same flowers do not blossom day after day. As the mind grows it keeps fairly good pace with the literary world.

In these days a teacher must have some knowledge of art. She will know where the great pictures of the world are, and who painted them. Inevitably pictures will find their way into her school-room cultu*re and into the room which she calls home. These may not be expensive ones, but her few pictures always have a meaning. They will be a reproduction of a great painting, an etching by an artist of repute, a photograph of historic value or possessed of a personal interest, a half-tone, or a wood-cut that carries back of it a definite thought for the owner, and is worth more in culture value, in real companionship, than any number of meaningless though costly pictures.

In a town or a small city a teacher is a definite part of the social life and is counted upon to be more or less a leader. This is especially true of the club life of the community, as well as of other public activities. He or she will be an important factor in most loslt'on social functions.

In a large city the situation is quite diff'erent. That teacher is doomed to disappointment who expects anything in the way of general social recognition. There will be no end of interesting people to know, friends to be made in your own or similar activities ; there are theatres, concerts, libraries, and all such places within reach. Occasionally you will be invited to dinner with the family of one of your pupils, but only occasionally, and then it will not be at the time of any social function. This is true, not because the social set consider themselves in any way superior, but because life turns naturally in circles, and those of society and the teaching profession do not intersect; rarely are they tangent.

There is, however, a less rosy view to be taken of the profession than the one thus far presented, and it behooves everyone to look the conditions fairly in the fhe^work ^J^' ^^ know what must be met of discouragement and discomfort.

Against the short hours must be set the strain, the intensity, the wear and tear of those few hours, — such strain as only the teacher who has worked well can understand at all.

To keep forty — or whatever the assignment may be — wriggling, twisting, restless, impulsive, eager, forceful children occupied to their final gain and advancement ; to keep them quiet enough so that the main business of the school may go on, and yet leave to them a modicum of individual freedom ; to watch the springing of each mind toward its own goal and to help it on its way; to deal justly, without impatience, without irritation, with the forty all together and with each one as a separate human being; to be conscious of the physical condition of every one ; to know that each little body is growing straight and true, each little mind speeding on its way to possible greatness, each little soul expanding in a free and inspiring atmosphere, — to endure all this strain willingly, even joyously; to keep sweet tempered through it all ; to hold one's faith and to be glad each morning to meet the task again, offers no small test to one's powers.

Knowing this demand, who would consider five hours of such labor for five daj^s in the week a sinecure?

The man who leisurely shovels sand in the city streets under a municipal contractor for eight hours a day is well paid in comparison with the amount doled out by the same municipality to the men and women who take the responsibility of the city's children. Your man in the ditch gets good pay for giving his muscles wholesome exercise; your teacher puts into a day's work, body, mind, and soul. Humbly following the greatest of teachers, she knows at the close of the day that virtue has gone out of her.

But even then the story is not all told. When the door closes upon the last child at night, to the casual observer, the day is at an end. But few teachers are able to lock their work within the school-room. They may go home empty-handed, no papers to look over, no lessons to prepare, no reports to make out, but the man or woman whose labor is with pulsing human life is never entirely away from that work.

Much is said of the greatness of a teacher's labor, of the wonderful satisfaction that comes from seeing the young people develop and come into their own under the wise care of a wise teacher. There is much ^Cm^PifpVis" talk of the devotion of these same pupils to such a teacher and of the high appreciation given to her efforts.

Let anyone who enters upon the teaching profession in the hope of these rewards pause before it is too late to turn aside, for nothing but disappointment awaits him.

Two things are as sure as death, and the honest teacher must face them with an attitude of grim acceptance of the inevitable : the thoughtlessness of youth and its supreme selfishness. Expect nothing from your young people in the way of thoughtful consideration, — nothing but a selfish seeking of their own ends, and you will save yourself much bitter disappointment. You will sometimes receive both consideration and prodigal generosity, but only occasionally, — just often enough to renew your courage.

And all this is as it should be. Youth is and ought to be egoistic. With a clearness of vision that grows dim with years, it sees the exalted purpose of its own life and, with eye upon the shining goal, it starts in a direct line toward it, looking neither to right nor left, unconsciously trampling upon the keenest feelings of those who are trying to clear for it the upward path. If this is selfishness, it is the unconscious selfishness that forgets everything in the pursuit of its own ideal. This ideal may change from day to day, may not always be worthy, but it is the expression of the forceful earnestness without which the world would stand still.

The teacher who makes of this egoism a personal matter, sees in it an intentional slight, will suffer more than one bad half hour. The child is much of the time utterly unconscious of the teacher. Like other things which Providence supplies, the teacher is there ready with help when needed, forgotten at other times.

Neither should any great appreciation be expected from parents. This does come occasionally, and when it does is very precious. But the rank and file of patrons of a school march on in unthinking indifference to what the body of earnest, devoted teachers is doing for their children.

. 1 1 ./» 1 Appreciation

You will be fortunate, indeed, if you always ij-orn

... n 1 / Parents

escape carping, unjust criticism from them, for

parents are selfish in the interest of their children. They are ready, at the first suggestion, to assume that some injustice, some slight has been offered their children, while others, seemingly less worthy, have received special consideration. These conclusions they reach from insufficient data. The instances are rare when parents come near enough either to school or teacher to get any information first hand. No matter how honest a child may intend to be, may think he is, the reports that he takes home are always more or less tinged with unconscious egoism. He sees his own side of a question to the exclusion of everything else.

One must accept the fact that, in comparison with the large number of different children that come under the influence of each teacher, the percentage of those who ever give any expression of appreciation of what has been done for them, or even feel appreciation, is pitifully small.

For two reasons, a teacher rarely comes into much realization of this lack of appreciation: in the first place, she is so unselfish that any thought of reward or personal consideration is usually far from her Qrati^'ude' mind; in the second place, when occasional recognitions of service do come, they are so precious that she hugs them tight. Like any other small object held close to the eye, they obscure everything else on the horizon, and she loses sight of the great army moving on, neglecting and forgetting her.

Almost never do children or young people realize at the time the value of the personal interest of their teachers.

Few of us are ever able to judge the present in right proportions. In later years pleasant echoes do come out of the past. Sometimes it is a book sent with the author's compliments and a note saying, "This is your book, not mine, for you made me what I am." Sometimes it is a gift that harks back to school days in remembrance of somf special taste of the teacher; sometimes, a card of greeting to show that memory still holds a little spot for you.

Is the teacher's life worth while even though the vast army surges by in utter f orgetf ulness ?

The true teacher knows that it is; even when she is disregarded and forgotten, she is sure that her work is vital and will produce results to the world's better- Pay, '* ment. These results are not immediately manifest but no teacher can measure the extent of daily influence. Often the feeling will come that her labor is vain, for she must work with hundreds and see them go out from the school-room in apparent forgetfulness of her and of all she has tried to do for them.

But the work of a good teacher is permanent, and some time, somewhere, in the world it will bear fruit, although she may never know it. After all, it is the work that counts and not the worker.

The demands made upon a worthy teacher are tremendous. When they are held up one by one and considered calmly, they are appalling. Yet there is some subtle charm in the occupation that keeps joyously and enthusiastically at the work those born to the calling.

The mere living with young people day after day is a great privilege. He who does this cannot grow morbid; interest in life cannot wane when their quick wit, their intense enthusiasm, their ready appreciation of humorous situations lighten the hours. Just as in a well constructed drama, the humorous situations are introduced to reheve the tension, so a teacher's days are lightened by the good spirits, the good fellowship of the young people.

The days are filled with mingled work, play, studj'', laughter, tears, joys, sorrows, victories, disappointments, heartaches, and happiness. One must be patient with the dull, appreciative of honest endeavor, sensitive to the needs of every individual, gentle, tender, sympathetic, and yet, when necessary, firm as the rock-ribbed hills.

Technically, the demands upon one adopting the profession are not great. But keeping school is one thing ; teaching school, another. It is possible to heep school and not lose your position. To hear classes and earn a living is a simple matter, but that is not entering upon the profession of teaching. ' In fact, the same thing is true here as in every other line of work ; if one is willing to be a time-server, he can get along, for the public is long-suffering, especially so in its endurance of poor teaching.

There is constant discussion going on as to the difficulty of obtaining positions, but there is also a constant search for competent persons for all kinds of positions. The market is overstocked with people who will "just do," but the men and women who fill positions absolutely full are few and far between. Become one of these and you will never have to make application to school boards or register in teachers' agencies. Good positions will seek you.

Chapter II The First Day

Whether a teacher stands for the first time before any school, or whetlier it is the first day in a new position, the situation is certainly a most critical one. The conditions are new, the children are strangers, and the teacher all untried in this different relation.

No audience is more critical than a new school on the

first day ; no eyes ever look w ith keener gaze than the forty

. or more pairs then focused upon the teacher.

Out a If there is a weak spot in the armor, brown or

Teacher -n i • -o i

blue or gray eyes will search it out; if the

teacher reveals but one quiver of hesitation, some one in the battalion w ill discover it and the victory that might have been won at first is either lost forever or delayed for settlement after many skirmishes.

The school has the advantage of the new teacher, for it is on familiar ground; it is a unit and while it may be in the attitude of submitting willingly to the one who shows herself master of the situation, the new teacher must prove her claim to that mastery.

It would be hard to say why this is so. The situation is an unconscious one on the part both of the school as a whole and the individuals composing it, but the fact remains that no matter how well disciplined the class may be, there will be some members of it who will put the new teacher to the test.

The outside armor which should offer invulnerable resistance is personal appearance. Never can this be disregarded or treated lightly. Like many other things in life, if right, it sinks immediately into f orgetf ulness ; if wrong, there is no estimating the extent of its Appfearance harmful influence.

If every detail of a teacher's dress and person is correct, then she can at once forget it all and give her attention to the more important matters ; if wrong, there is the constant, nagging irritation which she cannot escape, and ought not to escape, and which is bound to weaken her power in the school-room. So important is the matter that it demands discussion in detail.

There is a large class of teachers who have learned the power that lies in being well groomed, well put up, and, fortunately, this class is constantly increasing. There still remains, however, altogether too large a number who seem to have thrown themselves together almost any way, catching up whatever is within reach in the shape of clothes and tossing them on.

The care of the hair is also of great importance. It should be dressed consistently for the day's work. It is always good sense to keep near enough to the prevailing style not to appear eccentric, but the school-room is not the place to display the latest effects in elaborate use of puffs, braids, pompadours, and curls. The hair should be dressed compactly to endure for the day and as stylishly as may suit the individual without being extreme. Use such combs as are necessary to keep the hair in place, but never turn the head into a cushion for holding unnecessary celluloid combs, pins, or cheap, useless ornaments. Senseless so-called decorations are out of place in a business toilet.

The number of black-rimmed, ragged, unkempt index finger-nails that point the way of learning on reader, arithmetic, and geography makes it imperative to say a word about the care of the nails. It takes time to keep the nails in proper condition, but that time must be found even if it comes off the extra fort}^ morning winks.

One is almost ashamed to mention the care of the teeth, but observation proves that it is necessary. A teacher has to talk with the eyes of the children upon her. If any defect is visible, their keen vision will discover it and fasten their gaze and their memory upon it.

When it comes to clothes, a volume might be written on what to wear and what not to wear. In proof of this, look critically at the mass of women in attendance Clothes at any state association. Some strange appari-

tions will cross the vision of such an observer.

The greatest danger lies in the attempt to imitate in cheap material, prevailing styles that, when worked out by an artist in expensive material, are a success. The poor imitation is always a dismal failure.

Clothes do not have to be expensive to be appropriate or in good taste, but they must be fitted to the occasion and consistent with the position of the wearer. The woman who walks to her work or rides in crowded street cars could never be considered well dressed in the kind of clothes that are entirely appropriate for the woman who has her own automobile.

A toilet must be in keeping with itself, composed of garments that belong together. In defiance of this principle, a young woman appeared at a state meeting wearing with a blue skirt a green waist trimmed with soiled white lace. Her hat was very cheap black velvet, much bef eathered and jetted. To this was added a set of brown furs, a cheap imitation of something expensive, while over her arm she carried a gray coat, badly soiled, which evidently had not been pressed after frequent drenchings.

At the same meeting was a very large black hat with dingy white rim-lining. Piled on top were flowers, a big bow of red ribbon, bunches of cherries, and a large gilt buckle, badly tarnished. The combination might have been possible in the hands of a French milliner in return for the large sum that she would have charged, but, even then, it would have been so startling as to be appropriate only for occasional wear by the woman possessed of many hats and who sought unusual effects. It was utterly outside the power of any milliner whom a school teacher could afford to patronize.

These may sound like extreme cases, but they are two of many equally bad that graced the same occasion. Moreover, the description is not given from memory, but from notes actually taken with the original of the pictures in sight.

In contrast to these, at the same meeting, there walked up the aisle a young woman clad in a well-fitted tailored suit of rough brown cloth. She wore a plain brown hat in good style and with the simplest of trimming, and a set of marten furs that were what they pretended to be. The entire costume was simple in the extreme, but beyond criticism in every detail. Its very simplicity and the enduring quality of the material would leave the costume looking about as well when it was laid aside in the spring as it did in the middle of the winter, while the others described were tumbled and shabby with ver>^ little wear.