THE TEACHER
Two girls were playing a game of tennis together. One of the girls was a
skilful player, but the other knew little of the game. In a few minutes
the skilful player came to the side of the net where the other stood.
"See," she said, "this is the way to hold your racket. This is the way to
strike the ball." The unskilled player grasped the idea, and immediately
much pleasure was added to the game for them both.
A singer was giving a lesson to one of her pupils. She explained to her
carefully how to stand, how to breathe, and how to let her voice flow
easily and naturally from her throat. The pupil's voice became to her
thereafter something more than it had ever been before.
Two men in a business office were discussing whether or not they should
undertake a new enterprise. One of the men, seeing that the other man had
not yet perceived the principle underlying the business situation, drew a
sheet of paper in front of them on the desk and made on it a series of
calculations. "I understand now," the other man said, "I see the risk and
how you have made provision for meeting it."
The skilful tennis-player, the trained singer, the able business man were
sharing their knowledge with others, showing them how to make the best use
of their powers. That is to say, they were teaching others. Every person
is to some extent a born teacher, but some men and women make teaching
their life work.
Many girls teach for a few years before entering some other occupation.
Perhaps they earn money in this way to take a course at a college or
university, and afterwards they may either return to teaching or enter
some other profession. There are other girls who are what we call "born
teachers." They love more than anything else, guiding, training, and
helping children. It is no trouble to them, but rather a delight, to
show and direct, gently, repeatedly, untiringly, along the path of
knowledge. Girls who are born teachers should receive every encouragement
to devote themselves to teaching until they have homes to look after and
children of their own to teach. Many good teachers teach only for a few
years and do excellent work. But it is to the "born teachers" that we
must look for the happiness of the school and its highest development.
The girl who means to be a teacher should look forward to spending a number
of years in school. She will enjoy this, for the teacher must be a student
and must love studying. It may be that her family cannot afford to keep her
at school. Then she can do what so many other girls have done. She can go
to work to earn money for her own support, and while doing this she can
save part of her earnings so that later she may return to school. The
school vacation in summer offers opportunities for paid work, and every
girl of energy and determination can find work to do.
The girl who is to be a teacher should never be satisfied with a minimum
of learning. If this is her attitude toward school, then she should never
be a teacher; because no girl or woman can be a good teacher who does not
love to learn. The office of a teacher is a sacred trust, since she is
responsible for the future well-being and happiness of little children.
So if the girl does not love to learn, she should find some work other
than teaching.
Provincial Governments in Canada have charge of education, and each
Province has its own regulations, carefully framed, to provide good
teachers for the children of the Province. The girl who is to be a teacher
must pass a series of examinations, the first two of which are for teaching
in lower grades and higher grades of the public schools. The graduate of a
university has a standing which enables her to teach classes in high
schools and collegiate institutes.
The girl may continue her studies while she is teaching in a public school,
and she may either take her next examination without attending further
classes, or, when she has saved enough money, she may return to school for
a few sessions before trying her examination. The girl who has energy and
ability and who loves study is often able to obtain an excellent education
for the teaching profession in this way. It is necessary, however, to warn
girls who find study very difficult, that it is doubtful if they should
think of trying to pass this series of examinations. If they love teaching
and have a true gift for it, they will probably be able to take the first
examinations, which are comparatively easy. The higher examinations may be
beyond their reach. This fact should not depress them. Their work is with
the little children, and there is no better work in the world.
The most important qualities for a teacher are a sympathetic understanding
of human nature, a keen sense of justice, and a sense of humour. These are
great qualities, but the girl who means to teach should notice that they
may be both acquired and developed. Any one who gives all her energies and
gifts to teaching will find that the work is a strain. The teacher should
not allow her work to become set in a fixed routine. She should guard
against becoming autocratic and unprogressive. She should never cease to
be herself a student. Each day should add a little to the sum of her
knowledge. She may begin the study of new subjects, and thus keep a
certain freshness in her mental attitude. More important, however, than
the knowledge gained from books, is her interest in the life of the
community in which she is living.
The salary of the teacher varies according to the community in which she
lives and the grade of teaching in which she is occupied. It may be taken
as a general rule that teachers do not become wealthy. They are not highly
paid, considering the time spent in preparing to teach and the quality of
their work. Their salaries, however, almost invariably ensure them a fair
average of comfort in food, clothing, and shelter, an opportunity to save,
to continue their studies, to travel a little, and to enjoy their holidays,
which are longer than the holidays of the average worker. A teacher's
holidays are necessary for mental and nervous recuperation and should
include some study and improvement in aims and methods of work. The rewards
of the profession are not in money and leisure merely. Teachers have the
respect and affection of the community to a degree enjoyed by few other
workers.
If a girl begins to teach in the schools of a city, she will enter a
thoroughly systematized and complex organization. In the city the teacher's
salary is increased automatically year by year if her work is satisfactory.
In towns and villages salaries are lower, but living expenses are lower
also. In partly settled districts and districts where there is as yet
little appreciation of the value of good teaching, salaries are low.
Maximum salaries for women who have taught for a number of years in the
public schools and have unusual ability as teachers may be as high as nine
hundred or one thousand dollars. These women teachers, with their ability,
would probably make more money in other occupations, but their work would
hardly be of the same service to the community, nor would they have the
same feeling of satisfaction in doing it. The salaries of women in high
schools and collegiate institutes vary from seven or eight hundred dollars
to eighteen hundred, two thousand, or twenty-four hundred. Women who are
lecturers and professors in colleges and universities are paid amounts
similar to the higher salaries in collegiate institutes.
The average salaries of women teachers in the public schools of Ontario
for 1917 were as follows: Cities, $795; towns, $628; incorporated
villages, $573; rural schools, $580.
Besides the ordinary teaching of the class-room, girls may be attracted to
the teaching of special subjects. The girl who studies for kindergarten
work needs to have an active imagination, a sympathetic understanding of
child nature, a happy disposition, and both vocal and instrumental musical
training. There are also domestic science teachers, teachers of special
classes for handicapped children, teachers of manual training, sewing,
millinery, music, physical training, arts and handicrafts, and commercial
subjects. The girl of special opportunities and gifts may become a teacher
of languages. Other girls may teach privately in households. Others, if
they have capital and some business ability, may establish small private
schools of their own in neighbourhoods where such schools are required.
Recreation centres and playgrounds, settlements, the training of foreign
children, call for unusual or special gifts and energies from girls and
women who teach. There are also executive and administrative positions in
large schools and school systems which may be obtained by women teachers
of experience.
There are still discoveries and advances to be made before perfect training
and education can be secured for our children. Girls who teach may hope to
aid in making these discoveries. Patient work, constructive imagination,
and enthusiasm are required in the great enterprise of advancing education.
As an inspiration, the lives of great teachers invite young teachers of
this century to follow their examples of devotion and leadership. It is not
many years since a woman teacher in Montreal saved as many of her children
as she could and stayed to shepherd the other little ones who perished with
her in the burning school. The name of Sara Maxwell is an inspiration to
every Canadian child who hears her story. She gave her life to protect and
comfort her pupils and became one of that great number of teachers who have
proved that theirs is a high calling.