Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 103, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1902 — SCARCITY OF TEACHERS. [ARTICLE]

SCARCITY OF TEACHERS.

Wages and More Rigid Examination Probably the Causes. “There is now,” says State Superintendent Jones, a disposition among teachers to seek employment in new lines of endeavor. Both men and women who a few years ago would have been satisfied to teach in the cobntry Schools now realize that they can do better in other employments and many of them are quitting the business of teaching. “It is true that the remuneration for teaching has not kept pace with the prosperity of the times. The legislature has fixed a minimum scale, but I do not believe that wages average any higher than they did a few years ago.” The superintendent also points out that since the law, making the terms of county superintendents four years, many of them are grading applicants for licenses more closely than formerly. This has had the effect he believes of cutting down the supply of teachers is some of the counties. Another fact to be considered he notes is that it is now almost impossible for a person to get a county license to teach unless he has been graduated from a high school. Formerly many of the county teachers received licenses after having passed through the county schools.