Mangonui County Times AND NORTHERN REPRESENTATIVE. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1904. Our Underpaid Pedagogues.

Northland Age, Volume 1, Issue 13, 8 November 1904, Page 2

Mangonui County Times AND NORTHERN REPRESENTATIVE.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1904. Our Underpaid Pedagogues.

“What right, what true, what fit we justly call, Let tliis he all my care—for this is all.” —Pope.

It is generally understood that, Maoriland’s schoolteachers are miserably underpaid, the salaries amounting to a mere pittance in the case of some country schools. There is now before the House a Salaries Bill, which will better the position of a class of teachers who have hitherto not received a just remuneration. We refer to the smijjll country schoolteacher. The Bill provides that all grades from the first to the fourth will have either a house or house

allowance. In schools with an average of 15 the salary is raised from £BO to £BS ; in schools averaging 25 to 30 the increase is from £ll7 10/- to £l3O ; in schools averaging from 41 to 49 the increase is from £156 to £l6O 10/; Although the increase in salary is not large, yet with the addition of the house allowance the country teacher will feel that in the new hill his interests have not altogether been overlooked. As showing the number of teachers who throw up the profession after spending the best years of their life thereat, w r e reprint an article by Mr. Hugh Godfrey Wake, 8.A., Rector of the High School, Hqkitiki, and which appeared in' the “ West Coast Times ” recently :

The Westland Educational Institute recently addressed a number of queries to the several district Institutes as follows: (1) Do the headmasters in your district feel they can conscientiously advise clever hoys to enter the teaching profession? (2) How many boys have entered the profession during the last live years ? (3) How many sons of licad-teachers have entered the profession in the last five years ? It is of interest to note the answers to these queries. The number of clever men who have left the profession is astounding, and we mean nothing derogatory to the teaching profession when we say that the old proverb of rats deserting a sinking ship inevitably arises to one’s mind in connection with the answers. As to the men who have left the profession, the answers to the foregoing queries only give an indication of what has occurred throughout the colony. Here are some of the answers:—From Timaru School numbering over 900 pupils, the following have left within recent years: The headmaster (who was a B.A. at the age of 33 years) to enter the legal profession; an assistant master, who took tip farming after having been teaching some twenty years; another assistant, who left to take up fruit-growing; two pupil teachers, both clever men, who could see no future and consequently left and went in for other professions. The past headmasters of Kaiapoi and Willoughby schools with a long experience, were obliged to tlirow up their work from overstrain and ill-health in their later years, and take to outdoor occupations. Two prominent accountants in Dunedin left the profession within the last three years, also a headmaster in one of the large Dunedin schools. The Rector of the Waimate High School who had been appointed to the Principalship of the Christchurch Normal School, resigned owing to signs of break-down, though he was only in his prime. The late assistant teacher at Kumar a has decided to study for law, foreseeing no outlook in the teaching profession. Furtherm eyre we have the headmaster of the Ngairc School (N. 1.) leaving the profession as unsatisfactory to him from the point of view of the future.

Now for some of the answers categorically : - South Canterbury said in answer : (No. 1) Could headmasters conscientiously advise clover boys to enter the profession ? No. (No. 2) llow many, hoys have entered the profession in the last five years? About eight. (No. 3) How many sons of headmasters have entered the profession in the last five ye-ars ? Answer, none old enough. Taranaki said in reply to the queries : (1) Yes, if a boy showed an aptitude for teaching. (2) Four boys have entered the profession during the last five years. (3) The son of a headmaster should never he a teacher in his father’s school. Southland answered as follows:—“Few if any of our headmasters could or would con-” soientiously advise smart lads to enter the teaching profession. Indeed, not a few headmasters endeavoured to dissuade clever hoys who desire to obtain pupilteacherships, urging thorn to enter some other profession. During the last five years about nine boys have been appointed pupil teachers, very much fewer than the Board has been desirous of appointing. Of these hoys only one has been the son of a teacher.” Auckland replied: (1) Majority say no. Very few; majority not likely to make good teachers. (3) One or two. Marlborough replied : (1) Most of the headteachers at once said that they could not con-cien-tiously advise any clever hoys to enter the profession. Some of the teachers, however, were of the opinion that if a boy had a private income it was a very honourable profession to adopt. (2) One hoy has entered the profession during the past five years. Nelson answered as follows: (1) No; (2) One; (3) None. In answer to the queries Otago said the headmasters who were questioned asserted without hesitation that they could not honestly recommend a clever boy to enter the teaching profession because he could very, readily find employment in any other profession. The Vice-Principal of the Training College said that very few young men were coming forward, and some of their best teachers were seeking employment in other walks of life. The Secretary of the Otago Institute did not know of a single instance where the son had taken to his father’s profession, though, he added, it was possible their sons might all be daughters. The New Plymouth Institute replied: (If We Would be sorry to advise any boy to enter the teaching profession ; (2) Only one boy has entered the profession in this school in eighteen years; (3) None. The answers received from ■ other districts were also adverse, and the general effect of the replies shows that the members of the teaching profession are not enamoured with the prospects for the future. The founding of a superannuation scheme is a step that might compensate for some of the drawbacks of the teacher’s career, and it is to be hoped ere long the Department will take definite steps in this direction.