The result is that he thinks more about
salary than anything else, and is always looking about for the chance of
a higher salary. This becomes his chief desire. While the teacher is no
doubt partly to blame for this, it is the system which is mostly in
fault, for the teacher needs enough to support himself and his family,
and this is a right and natural wish on his part. It is the duty of the
nation to see that he is not placed in a position in which he is obliged
to be always desiring increase of salary, or must take private tuition
in order to earn enough to live. Only when this has been done will the
teacher feel contented and happy in the position he occupies, and feel
the dignity of his office as a teacher, whatever may be his position
among other teachers--which is, I fear, now marked chiefly by the amount
of his salary. Only the man who is really contented and happy can have
his mind free to teach well.
The teacher should not desire to gain credit for himself by forcing a
boy along his own line, but should consider the special talent of each
boy, and the way in which _he_ can gain most success. Too often the
teacher, thinking only of his own subject, forgets that the boy has to
learn many subjects. The one on which most stress should be laid is the
one most suited to the boy's capacity. Unless the teachers co-operate
with each other, the boy is too much pressed, for each teacher urges him
on in his own subject, and gives him home-lessons in this.
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