Rural School Leaflet 973 



2. The teacher's responsibility.— We are more and more impressed 

 with the responsibility borne by those who guide the developing years 

 of children. To be the means of helping a single individual to truly 

 find life in its all-round wholesome fullness is a privilege, which with 

 most teachers is multiplied many times. The child's mind is very imita- 

 tive and it is most surprising to see how much it is influenced by the 

 teacher whom he sees each day. Literally hundreds of children's letters 

 that have come to us during the past twelve months have contained 

 near the end one very significant sentence, always in the same few words — 

 " My teacher is very neat." What an opportunity to keep before the 

 pupils character and personal habits that are worthy of imitation ! 



3 . The community. — There come to us constantly two points of view, 

 as follows: the trustees and the community deplore the incompetency 

 of the teacher and the consequent lack of progress by the children; the 

 teachers complain against the low salaries and the lack of appreciation 

 of their efforts on the part of the community. It would seem that often 

 both are partly right, yet the burden in the task of improving conditions 

 lies with the teacher. First, he must be willing to give more service 

 than he is paid for. Then he must endeavor, by frequent contact and 

 absolute openness, to secure the confidence of trustees and parents. Too 

 often the latter are in the dark as to the purposes that the teacher has in 

 mind and are consequently quick to brand as a fad any departure from the 

 customary school work. But let the teacher meet the trustees informally 

 and outline his plans and talk things over, and let him meet the parents 

 collectively in a meeting at the schoolhouse and individually outside; 

 and if he is earnest in his desire and serious in his purpose to do his best, 

 confidence will not long be withheld. Entire frankness and a ready 

 spirit of cooperation and unselfishness will go a long way toward improv- 

 ing matters. It would follow also that the teacher's opportunity to do 

 effective work increases in proportion to the length of time during which 

 he has been associated with the children and the community. Thus, 

 a second year in the same school is more valuable in its results than the 

 first year and this is increasingly true with each succeeding year. We 

 realize that it is often difficult for the teacher to remain in the same school 

 owing to the necessity for earning more money, which the community 

 is unwilling to pay. It has been demonstrated, however, that if the 

 teacher who has first made it his business to give his best service will 

 then meet the community halfway, a compromise can be effected and 

 a gradually increasing salary established. Once such a tendency as this 

 is established, the nu"al community takes pride in its own progressiveness. 

 This is a desirable end toward which to strive. It is, however, quite 

 clear that the teacher must be the one to take the initial step, and that 



