Teachers' Salaries

The Toronto, Ont, Weekly Globe, very pertin ently says, in conimentinu upon the fact that the teuehers in Quebtf! are asking for a more liberal remuneration: it is a great mistake to suppose that the work of the teacher is easy and his lot pleasant, simply beeause he has to teach only six hours a day and five days a week. The amount of intellectual labor entailed on the conscientious teacher outside of the school-rooru in the preparation of lessons alone is very considerable. Dr. Arnold is said to have given as a reason for his habit of preparing on every subject, however familiar he might be with it, that he preferredto allow his pupils to drink of a living stream; and every teacher who tries honestly to do his duty can understand and assent to the oorrectuess of this Tiew of his function. But preparation of lessons for a class when the mind is in need of relaxation and the nervous systern is completely unstrung by a sustained effort to combine the imparting of instruotion with the maintenance of discipline is wearisome work, to say nothing of making out reports, correcting exercises, and performing the numerous other routine duties required of the teacher. Socially, his position is seldom what it shoulii bc, and it is not likely to improvo much until he is botter paid. So long as he nets no more in wages dui-ing the year than a good farm hand the farmer is not likely to set rnuch niore store by the tuan who teiches his clrildren than he does by the man who holds üis plough or drives his reaper. Salan and social standing are related to each other as cause and effect, and however much dispute thcre may be as to which is antecedent, aDd which consequent, there can be little doubt that those who pay the salary will to a certain extcnt gradúate the respect they feel by the amount they pay. It may be that teachers are themselves partly to blamo tor this state of aft'airs, and that by makinothemselves more of a social "power in their own localities they could better their positions financialïy. One diffioulty in the way of their doing so is the frequency with which they change their schools. The teacher has barelv time to make himself acquainted with his pupils, and has had no chance to learn the characteristics of the parents when he leaves to enter upon a new field of 'abor, and commence to make a nevvset of acquaintances. If rate-payers could only be induced to think so, it is poor policy to underpay their teacher. Apart altogether from the impossibility of getting a good man at a small salary, it wouldbo wise economy to pay him liberally if it were only for the greater intíuence a higher salary would enable him to exercise in both the school and the neighborhood. The smallnss of salary is due largele to over-competition amongst those ing employiuent. The only remedy for this is the raising of the standard of qualification. Much has been done in ttiis direofion in recent years in Ontario, and the result is a great 'mprovément in the status as well as the quality of the teachers. But in many places the supply still far exceeds the demand, and the best place to impose a check seems to be at the very gateway of the professioi:. Has the timenot arrived for lengthening the period devoted to the professional training of candidates for ihird-class certiiicates? Formerly a man could enter the profession without tny such training, and gain professionil expertness at the expense of nis employers and pupils, whnse money and ime were wasted in the process. Matters are in a bitter shupe now, but it is worth considering whether a longer probation than one County Model áchool term is not now expedient.