The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
49 
School  Problems 
Are  School  Teachers  Shirks? 
I  do  not  like  to  butt  in,  but  your  story 
of  the  overworked  school  teacher  on  page 
1472  makes  it  very  difficult  to  keep  quiet. 
Thirty  years  ago  I  would  probably  have 
agreed  with  you  in  every  particular,  but 
not  today ;  that  is,  on  this  particular 
subject. 
I  have  served  many  years  as  both  city 
and  country  doctor,  been  school  physician, 
both  chairman  and  secretary  of  a  school 
board,  numbered  many  school  teachers 
among  patients  and  more  as  friends,  be¬ 
sides  sharing  the  confidences  of  many 
families  where  there  are  school  children. 
1  am  in  entire  accord  with  you  in  the 
belief  that  the  school  teacher  has  vast 
importance  in  our  civic  *fe,  particularly 
in  making  citizens.  Also  that  a  good 
teacher  should  be  well  paid ;  in  fact, 
really  good  teachers  should  be  the  high¬ 
est  paid  among  our  town  and  city  em¬ 
ployes.  But  in  these  days  of  overcrowded 
schools,  and  the  scarcity  of  really  good 
teachers,  many  persons  we  are  obliged  to 
employ  as  teachers  are  unfit,  are  not 
overworked,  and  are  very  much  overpaid 
for  such  service  as  they  render. 
So  far  as  the  tradesmen  go,  few  paint¬ 
ers  get  $10  per  day.  Hereabouts  we  can 
get  plenty  of  painters  at  from  65c  to  $1 
per  hour  for  an  eight-hour  day.  Many 
of  them  do  not  average  over  1(>0  to  150 
days’  work  in  12  months.  If,  as  the 
labor  board  suggests,  $2,000  per  annum 
is  the  minimum  on  which  a  family  can 
live  up  to  decent  American  standards, 
then  the  painter  would  have  to  get  $10 
per  day  for  200  work  days  in  the  year, 
and  mighty  few  of  them  get  it.  Granted 
that  some  skilled  and  some  unskilled 
labor  does  not  give  full  value  for  wages 
received.  Yet  many  do  deliver  the  goods, 
and  all  have  to  contribute  toward  paying 
teachers’  salaries.  So  the  criticism  and 
comment  on  the  laborer’s  attitude  seems 
rather  unfair. 
Now  as  to  the  “overworked  teachers.” 
Those  I  know  have  more  leisure  and  are 
better  paid  fox  the  hours  they  do  work 
than  other  workers.  Under  present-day 
conditions  they  seem  to  be  as  much  af¬ 
fected  by  the  desire  to  do  as  little  as 
possible  for  wage  received  as  any  class. 
In  ‘be  old  days  it  was  the  custom  to 
mark  all  examination  papers  and  return 
same  to  the  children ;  also  to  take  up 
errors  on  the  part  of  the  pupil  and  ex¬ 
plain.  Today  it  is  very  different.  I 
have  it  on  excellent  authority  that  a 
large  part  of  test  papers  are  never  even 
looked  at.  Such  papers  are  seldom  if 
ever  turned  back  to  the  pupils.  Most  of 
the  papers  go  unread  into  the  furnace. 
It  is  stated  that  it  would  never  do  for 
pupils  to  know  this,  as  they  would  slight 
their  work  and  get  away  with  anything. 
Marking  the  pupils  on  their  daily  work 
is  largely  a  hit  or  miss  process,  and  much 
of  it  is  governed  by  personal  likes  and 
dislikes,  or  favoritism. 
Pupils  who  have  had  low  marks  all 
through  school,  or  who  have  left  school 
because  discouraged,  have  gone  to  private 
schools,  business  colleges,  etc.,  and  made 
wonderfully  fine  progress.  I  have  per¬ 
sonal  knowledge  of  bright,  able  children, 
who  were  good,  students,  good  in  attend¬ 
ance  and  knowing  their  lessons,  getting 
incredibly  low  marks,  being  refused  pro¬ 
motion  and  otherwise  discouraged,  when 
other  pupils  who  “cribbed”  continuously, 
received  much  higher  marks  and  were 
highly  commended. 
I  know  of  cases  where  pupils  have  been 
deliberately  held  back  and  refused  pro¬ 
motion,  chiefly  because  their  parents  were 
active  in  trying  to  better  school  condi¬ 
tions. 
Teachers  have  resented  and  worked 
against  hygienic  and  other  measures  de¬ 
sirable  in  promoting  health  of  the  pupils. 
In  case  of  a  certain  Parent-Teachers’ 
Association,  the  jealousy  and  antagonism 
of  the  teachers,  and  refusal  to  co-operate 
on  the  part  of  a  majority  of  the  teachers, 
because  of  what  they  consider  unwar¬ 
ranted  interference  on  the  part  of  parents 
in  what  the  teachers  consider  their  par¬ 
ticular  domain,  is  a  positive  drawback 
to  progress  of  educational  methods  in  the 
community.  The  service  of  school  lunches 
is  a  constant  bone  of  contention.  There 
i^  too  much  attempt  -to  push  propaganda 
1  r  'party  politics  in  the  schools.  Pace 
hatred  and  agitation  of  the  “hyphen”  is 
carried  to  such  an  extreme  that  it  inter¬ 
feres  with  the  making  of  better  Amer¬ 
icans  out  of  the  children  of  our  foreign- 
born  parents — a  place  where  it  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  the  welfare  of  our 
country  that  we  give  the  best  possible 
service. 
We  pay  our  teachers  from  $25  to  $35  a 
week  and  more  for  a  minimum  of  40 
•vveeks,  for  just  ordinary  teachers.  Many 
of  them  are  unfitted  by  both  education 
and  temperament  to  be  teachers.  We 
are  forced  to  do  this  because  of  the  dif- 
ficultv  in  getting  desirable  teachers.  Now 
and  then  we  find  teachers  who  work  after 
school  hours,  and  some  who  use  their 
long  vacations  better  to  fit  them  for  their 
work,  but  these  are  few  and  far  between. 
A  very  large  proportion  of  these  appli¬ 
cants  for  the  job  of  teaching  future 
American  citizens  are  looking  for  an  easy 
mb  at  good  pay  and  ample  time  for  en- 
ioyment  outside  of  work  hours. 
Physicians  meet  a  good  many  teachers 
suffering  from  alleged  overwork  and  ner¬ 
vous  troubles,  and  know  that  these  ner¬ 
vous  troubles  are  often  due  to  irregular 
habits  of  living,  to  loss  of  temper  and 
beating  up  of  pupils,  and  other  causes, 
but  not  due  to  excess  of  zeal  in  their 
calling  or  to  overwork. 
All  honor  to  the  better  class  of  teach¬ 
ers  ;  we  have  too  few  of  them  and  need 
many  more.  Such  are  not  seeking  sym¬ 
pathy  on  account  of  overwork.  They 
find  work  a  pleasure.  They  should  be 
better  paid.  But  let’s  remember  that 
there  is  abundant  room  for  improvement. 
A  COUNTRY  DOCTOR. 
A  School  Tax  Collector  Talks 
May  I  take  exception  u>  Mr.  Stuyve- 
sant  Fish,  on  page  1445,  in  reference  to 
the  school  tax  collector,  which  is  not  very 
clear  to  your  readers  if  thev  look  at  it 
from  Mr.  Fish’s  standpoint?  I  happen 
to  be  one  of  those  separate  school  col¬ 
lectors  who  went  out  of  office  when  the 
township  law  became  effective,  and  went 
back  in  office  when  that  law  got  out  of  the 
way  again.  The  article  in  question  states 
that  we  are  entitled  to  collect  and  apply 
to  our  own  use.  without  accounting  there¬ 
for,  one  per  cent  on  taxes  within  30  days 
after  the  uncertain,  and  to  taxpayers  un¬ 
knowable  day,  on  which  he  receives  the 
warrant,  and  live  per  cent  on  all  taxes 
collected  later.  The  article  further  states 
that  somewhere  between  one  and  five  per 
cent  there  must  be  a  heavy  burden  on 
taxpayers. 
Now  some  of  the  school  collectors’ 
compulsory  duties  are  as  follows :  lie 
must  post  three  notices  in  his  district, 
conveniently  distributed,  one  to  be  placed 
on  the  schoolhouse  door ;  these  notices 
must  be  dated  and  state  the  warrant  is 
now  in  the  hands  of  the  collector,  who 
will  collect  taxes  at  his  own  home  for  30 
days  at  one  per  cent,  after  which  five  per 
cent  will  be  charged.  The  collector  must 
within  10  days  from  receiving  this  war- 
rant  notify  ail  corporations  and  non-resi¬ 
dent  taxpayers  of  over  $1  tax,  stating 
amount  of  total  assessment  in  the  district, 
amount  raised  for  school  purposes,  ratio, 
etc.,  besides  the  taxpayer’s  own  assess¬ 
ment  and  tax  in  the  district. 
The  trustees  make  out,  or  have  made 
out,  from  the  town  assessment  roll  this 
tax  list,  and  they  hold  the  collectors 
strictly  accountable  for  the  moneys  it 
calls  for.  If  perchance  the  collector 
should  try  to  get  some  extra  fees,  he  will 
soon  hear  about  it,  as  the  tax  list  is  avail¬ 
able  for  any  taxpayer  to  see  when  they 
so  desire;  the  town  assessment  roll  from 
which  it  is  taken  is  also  on  file  in  the 
town  clerk’e  office,  and,  further,  in  the 
small  rural  districts  the  least  ehenge  in 
taxes  is  quickly  noticed,  and  they  soon 
find  a  way  of  knowing  the  exact  truth. 
It  might  interest  some  of  your  readers 
to  know  just  how  profitable  a  school  col¬ 
lector's  position  is.  We  raise  $900  for 
school  purposes;  $575  of  this  was  col¬ 
lected  at  one  per  cent;  $300  from  one 
corporation,  which  seemed  to  be  on  the 
verge  of  failure,  was  returned  to  the 
county  treasurer  without  the  collector  re¬ 
ceiving  any  fee  ;  $25  was  collected  at  five 
per  cent.  The  writer,  therefore,  received 
just  $8  for  his  year’s  work  :  some  of  this 
might  be  deducted  for  necessary  postage. 
The  reader  will  notice  that  was  consid¬ 
erably  less  than  one  per  cent  on  the  whole 
amount  raised  in  my  district. 
And,  finally,  Mr.  Fish  stated  the  worst 
is  that  this  tax  for  commissions  nowhere 
appears  in  published  reports,  and  is  not 
accounted  for.  Well,  I  should  say  not ; 
we  do  not  like  to  mention  how  cheap  we 
work.  However,  each  taxpayer  is  given 
a  receipt  from  the  collector,  and  the  tax 
list  is  placed  on  file  with  the  town  clerk, 
where  comparisons  can  be  made  at  any 
time,  both  as  to  taxes  and  collector’s  fee 
for  same.  I  simply  take  this  stand  in 
defense  of  the  many  rural  school  col 
lectors,  who  are  doing  very  largely  a  vol¬ 
unteer  work  in  their  several  communities. 
It  is  not  intended  to  be  any  argument 
against  the  coming  consolidation  of 
schools,  for  personally  I  believe  they  must 
come  sooner  or  later,  but  in  what  form 
still  remains  in  doubt.  s. 
The  Light  and  Power  Plant  That 
the  Farmer’s  Been  Waiting  For 
A  Light  and  Power  Plant  that-  will  bring  all  the  advantages  of  electric 
lights,  electric  household  appliances  and  electric  power  to  the  farm,  and 
that  will  at  the  same  time  be  easy  for  anyone  to  operate  is  the  one  that  the 
farmer  has  been  looking  for. 
And  the  Westinghouse  Light  and  Power 
Plant  more  than  fills  these  requirements. 
It  is  so  simple  in  design  and  in  operating 
mechanism  that  anyone  with  a  very 
limited  knowledge  of  mechanics  can 
operate  it.  Its  engine-generator  starts 
at  the  mere  touch  of  the  starting  switch. 
The  battery  meter,  a  device  built  into  the 
engine,  stops  it  automatically  at  any  time 
you  want  it  stopped. 
The  battery  itself  is  large  and  substan¬ 
tial.  Its  capacity  is  great  enough  to  in¬ 
sure  against  over-charging  or  over-dis¬ 
charging.  Both  the  battery  and  engine- 
generator  are  rated  in  watt-hours  capacity 
so  that  you  may  estimate  the  amount  of 
current  you  are  using  at  any  time. 
One  of  the  things  that  makes  the  West¬ 
inghouse  Light  and  Power  Plant  even 
more  appealing  is  that  it  is  also  easy  to 
own.  The  Westinghouse  special  deferred 
payment  plan  permits  you  to  install  the 
plant  on  your  farm  for  a  small  percentage 
of  the  total  cost  of  the  installation.  You 
may  have  the  .advantage  of  the  use  of  the 
plant  while  you  finish  paying  for  it. 
It  will  be  interesting  for  you  to  learn 
more  of  this  plan.  Read  the  coupon, 
send  it  in  to  us,  we’ll  tell  you  how  it  can 
be  done. 
stmghouse 
Light 
and 
Power 
Plant 
Easy  to 
Operate 
Farming  Section,  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Co. 
East  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
Send  me  complete  information  about  the  Westinghouse  Light 
and  Power  Plant. 
Name . . . 
P.  O.  Address .  R.N.Y.-2S 
