There is one great change which we hope to see brought about in the near
future, because we think it ought to be brought about as a matter of
justice. It is this: the elevation of teachers above preachers.
Civilization, and all that this word stands for today, depends more upon
the school than upon the church. It is the teacher and not the preacher
that trains the growing minds of our children, that builds the structure
of character for future men and women, and gives to the young the sacred
touch that keeps them in right paths. The world does not half appreciate
the work done by the school teacher, while it exaggerates out of all
proportion to its worth, the work done by the preacher. The church may
fall, but if the school stands, liberty will remain; the paths of
knowledge will be free; the brow of civilization will still shine white
against the skies of life, and the glorious cup of learning be pressed to
the thirsting mouth of youth; but should the school fall, though the
church might stand, all this would be reversed;—liberty would be driven
from the earth, the highways of knowledge would be closed, civilization
would fade into the night of the "dark ages," and the thirsting lips of
life be fed with Bible scraps and the logic of dead creeds. The teacher is
the mighty power in this republic, the truest friend of our nation’s
institutions, the one person above all others that this country should
honor and reward. One teacher is worth a thousand priests; one school, a
thousand churches.
The person whose duty it is to direct the education of the young holds the
sceptre of a nation’s destiny, and the school teacher occupies the most
important station to which one can be elected. We fear that the profession
of teaching is not rightly prized by the American people, and we are sure
it is not justly rewarded. No class in the land are paid so poorly,
according to the service they perform, as our school teachers, while no
class should be paid so well. Far more valuable to our government is the
teacher than the preacher, and yet the salary of the latter exceeds the
former in every city and town in the land. This should be changed.
Preaching a superstition is no benefit but an injury to a people, while
training the mind to read, to think, to gather knowledge is the highest
service which one can perform.
We have the greatest respect for the men and women who have prepared
themselves for the high office of teacher, and we would see them rewarded
for their labor as it deserves. The hope of a country is in the right
education of its people, and the way to secure such education is to
encourage the teacher by showing a just appreciation of his or her labors.
So we say, put the school above the church, the teacher above the
preacher.