THE APPOINTMENT OF TEACHERS.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10263, 4 February 1899, Page 9

THE APPOINTMENT OF TEACHERS.

TO TUE SUITOR OV THE I'RKS.S. Sir, —Has the time not yet arrivejlvfor our Education Board to toko upon itself more iMittiortty in the above matter? Take the c&so of the recent appointment at Saltwater creek. Four unmarried teachers are recommended by the Board; the local Committee overrides this, and insists upon a married teacher, whom the Board evidently did not recorutneud, being appointed; the* Board timidly yields. The question naturally arises, How long is tne Board to allow this injustice to be done unmarried teachers? Does it expect all its young teachers to get married upon the mere offchance of being appointed to such a sma.i school its Nilt'water week! Hie Board knows full well that it will not appoint any teacher to the charge ot a school where more .than.one teacher is employed, jinlees he -as "had previous experience in such small schools as the above. By its action the Board virtually disqualifies for appointment to country ■drools all unmarried teachers. And why Bhould these be thus debarred from making a start in their profession? Why should all positions, except assistant-masterships in city schools, be closed to them? Why exalt the marriage certificate so for above the on. for scholarship gained by years of patient, study and self-denial? The motive of our country school committees is not far to seek. These discriminating individuals, the fcutcher, baker, &c, know very well that, despite the old saying, two (and probably more) cannot live cheaper than one. Hhoc illte sentential The average school committeeman is, after all, only a human being, with a modest pride of his position, but from the members.of _ur Board surely more common sense might with safety be demanded. Why should a Board, which has trained up young people to a profession through long j\ars of continuous and hard toil and study, at length, when they have finished exacting almost gratuitous services, throw them on the tender mercies of the school committees? .For the first five years these teachers are paid a salary barely sufficient* to support them (certainly not adequate during the fifth year, when residence in the city is required), *nd yet such is their wisdom that the Board, after discharging them, expect these luckless creatures to marry, to await the whims of -fickle fortune, to fawn upon our intelligent committees, and humbly sue for appointtaeut. And then arises the question oi political "colour, religion, &c. Ban! such i« the inviting prospect. What is to be the solution of the problem? If the Education "Department will abolish all examinations ' and exact no certificates (bar marriage ones) from its teachers, then perhaps these harmless individuals—these bachelors so dreaded by the country—may manage from their hard-won earnings to save, and scrape together, a few pence to invest in the marriage lottery now sanctioned by the Board.— Yours, \fi., A.8.0.