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( 137 ).
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XVI.—OPEJST COUNCIL.
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The Profession of the Teacher.*
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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( 137 ).
( 137 ) .
Xvi.—Opejst Council.
XVI . _—OPEJST COUNCIL . [ As these pages are intended for general discussion , the Editors do not hold themselves responsible for the opinions expressed . ~|
The Profession Of The Teacher.*
The Profession of the Teacher . *
It would argue but a small amount of womanly feeling in any of the sexif the prospects of this important classas set forth in the article on which this ,
, paper would venture to offer a few remarks , should awaken no sympathy . The statements contained in the melancholy report of the Governesses' Benevolent
Institution are certainly sufficient to make one tremble for the future of any beloved child or sister who shall adopt the onerous profession of a teacher as .
the means of livelihood ; nor can nor ought such solicitude to be confined to the members of one ' s own family . The great question is , what should be done to
obviate the peril of destitution or dependence on charity when the energies fail , and the powers mental and physical sink under the weight of years .
The complaint of the article is that the market for Teachers is over-supplied , and that this state of things " has re-acted on the custom of the employers
who have set their ideas to a certain scale ; and if they educate their children , at home , refuse to pay beyond a certain percentage on the whole family income
for instruction . "—Page 8 . It may be here remarked that in the ' Waverly' it was a little while ago
complained that cheap schools were required for the daughters of the middle classes ; and if cheap schools be required , the doctrine of cheap governesses
will follow as a matter of course . It is almost certain that the families of middle-class tradesmen would be better educated at school than at home : there would be less interference with the teacher from the frequent deficiency
of judgment in the parents , and , provided the school is conducted in a Christian spirit , the excitement of a healthy emulation is more easy than
amongst the sisters of the same family . If two or three sisters or two or three friends can agree to keep together a respectable day-school in any neighbourhood , they would have a greater chance of _permanency , and of the
realization of a sufficient income , than if they each took a separate situation . In the organization of such schools the different talents of the two or three governesses might be beneflcally employed , and there would be less necessity
that one should know everything and teach everything , which is , generally speaking , a vain expectation . All indeed should be able to teach their own language well ; all should be able to instruct in the principles of religion ; but
all need not be required to teach German , French , or music . The division of labour would be beneficial every way , and would probably tend to _tinity of object , namely , that each should teach well what she professed to teach , as
having more opportunity for self-improvement in her particular branch of instruction . In large cities , where a great number of tradesmen of fair average means are to be found in one districtwould it be unreasonable to find as many
as forty who would be disposed to pl ace their children at school in their own * See article in the first number of the ' English Woman ' s Journal . '
VOL . J . L
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1858, page 137, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041858/page/65/
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