THE WORK OF TEACHERS

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 152, 24 December 1921, Page 7

THE WORK OF TEACHERS

10 THE EDITOR,

Sir, There are just two things that I wish to say in reply to the second letter of "interested Onlooker," and after that if he wishes to continue the discussion he will have to give his name, as it is not the custom of the N.Z.E.I. to carry on discussion with anonymous correspondents. First, as to the members of the Publice Service. I repeat that no teacher has any jealousy or iU-will towards the members of the Public Service, but the salary question is a question of the market valuo of services rendered, and comparisons are inevitable. The proof that the teaching service is not so well remunerated as the Public Service consists in the fact, as I showed in my last, that while the Public Service has been over-staffed, the teaching service is understaffed to the,extent of nearly 1500. Next, as to the word "overworked, ( and the usual nonsense about teachers' holidays. All teachers are accustomed to hear on occasions of speech-making acknowledgment from those who are concerned iv educational matters of the enormous importance and significance of the work of the teacher in the moulding of the characters of the young people*, and, therefore, in the shaping of the destinies of the people of the future. All that is true—much more true than many people suppose, and ft was the recognition of its truth that made Mr. Fisher say in the House of Commons that a dissatisfied teacher is a social danger. Now, while it is true that the work is of the utmost importance and, demands the highest endowments of intellect and character for its due performance, it is also true that the work is excessively wearing and exacting in its demands on the physical stamina of the' teacHer. If "Interested Onlooker were acquainted with many teachers he ■would know how many of them depend upon the arrival of the term holidays to avoid having to "go on sick-leave," and he would know how many at the end of the year just manage to hold on till the "break-up" of school forestalls a breakdown of their own health*. It is only those who have tried the task of guiding, controlling, leading, restraining classes of forty to sixty young people who have any~real knowledge of the amount of nerve-strain involved. The proportion of teachers going on superannuation "medically" unfit--i.e., through breakdown is nearly twice as large as in the other services,' and that fact alone is sufficient evidence. The "five hours a day, five days a week" gag, is, of course, only true of a small proportion of the younger teachers, in the largo schools. Most teachers work in smaller schools in the country, and they have a •very different tale to tell. "Overworked" is much nearer the truth than "1.0." appears to be awaro of—though teachers havo never made that a complaint—thofio who do not like the work can get out of it. The important point is that (.ho scale of salaries is insufficient, to induce the right sorl. of young pnoplo to come into il. If that is so un■iloV Mie presfint scale, what will happen in the case ol a reduction?—! am, etc., tt, A. PABKINSON, B»e»eUry, N.2.E.1.