WASTE IN EDUCATION 43 



our teachers. This will be seen most clearly by a comparison with the 

 situation in the German schools. Candidates for positions in German 

 secondary schools must hold certificates for a full course in one of the 

 secondary schools and must have done three years' work in a German 

 university. The doctor's degree is not required, but is held by a large 

 number. Searching examinations are required of all to determine both 

 the preparation for teaching special subjects and also the professional 

 fitness of the candidates. The latter examination includes psychology, 

 philosophy, the history of education and the principles of pedagogy. 

 Three grades of positions are recognized, each with its corresponding 

 examination. These examinations presuppose a more extensive training 

 in the specific subjects than is required of teachers in our high schools. 

 It is obvious that only those with professional as well as specialized 

 training may find a place among the teachers of the German secondary 

 school. But the passing of the examination is not all that is required 

 of a candidate for a gymnasial position. In most parts of Germany he 

 is required to spend two years in further preparation, the seminary year 

 (seminar Jahr), usually in connection with some gymnasium or uni- 

 versity, and a trial year (probe Jahr), during which he gives from eight 

 to ten hours of instruction weekly without pay, under the guidance of 

 the director and the department teacher. If he has met the exacting 

 standard required during these two preliminary years of special pro- 

 fessional training and experience, and has finally presented a satisfactory 

 thesis of a professional character, he is given a certificate authorizing 

 his appointment to teach in a secondary school. 



I have presented these detailed facts regarding the requirements for 

 teaching in the German secondary schools in order to indicate clearly one 

 cause of waste in our own school system. Some cities require of candi- 

 dates for high-school positions graduation from college and some pro- 

 fessional training; the state of California requires for a high-school 

 certificate a college training and one year of professional training. But 

 even the highest requirements do not equal those which are practically 

 universal in Germany, and in most parts of our country the scholastic 

 requirements are low and there is no professional requirement whatever. 

 A large number of our high-school teachers of both sexes enter upon 

 teaching not with the expectation of making it a life work, but because 

 it offers the most convenient means of earning a living until some more 

 attractive opening is offered into the fields of matrimony or business. 

 So long as the requirements for high-school positions are so low we must 

 expect our ranks to be filled by teachers of meager training, and often 

 without serious purpose. While there are a large number of teachers in 

 our schools well trained and professionally expert, it is apparent that the 

 results secured must be far short of what might be expected if our 

 schools were taught by uniformly well trained teachers. 



A third source of waste is found in the short tenure of position prev- 



