One Thousand Ways to Make a Living; or, An Encyclopædia of Plans to Make Money

Chapter XLIII: Part II: Professional Commercial Service (2)

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PLAN No. 1101. TEACHING AS A VOCATION

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The Federal Board for Vocational Education is indebted to Teachers’ College, Columbia University, for contributing material that served as a basis for this monograph, which has been prepared by Dr. H. L. Smith, Superintendent for Co-operation for the Federal Board, under direction of Charles H. Winslow, Chief of the Division of Research. Acknowledgment is due to Dr. John Cummings, of the Research Division, for editorial assistance.

WHAT KINDS OF POSITIONS ARE OPEN TO MEN IN THE EDUCATIONAL FIELD?

The following types of positions are open to men in education:

(1) Teaching positions.

(2) Supervisory and executive positions on the strictly educational
side.

(3) Executive positions on the strictly business side.

(4) Miscellaneous positions, such as those held by attendance and
probation officers.

Teaching positions open to men may be classified as follows:

1. Positions in the eight grammar school grades--

(_a_) As teachers of the regular grade subjects (elementary school
subjects) in rural schools.

(_b_) As teachers of the regular grade subjects (elementary school
subjects) in fifth, sixth, and especially seventh and eighth grades in
the city schools.

(_c_) As teachers of special subjects in the grades, such as music,
mechanical drawing, manual training, agriculture, commercial subjects,
physical training and playground work, including coaching in
athletics.

2. Positions in high schools, as teachers of practically all high-school subjects, but especially in the sciences, such as geology, physics, zoology, botany, and chemistry; and in agriculture, commercial subjects, debating, history, mathematics, foreign languages, English, drafting, shop work of various kinds, and printing.

3. Positions in all-day, part-time, or evening vocational schools as teachers of vocational subjects.

4. Positions in normal schools, colleges, and universities.

The greater part of the teaching in the elementary schools is in the hands of women, and much of it should continue in their hands since they are better suited than men to teach the lower grades. But children, especially in the upper grades, should come in contact not only with women, but with some men as well. More teaching in these grades, therefore, will doubtless in the future be put into the hands of men.

In the rural schools, except where schools have been consolidated, a teacher usually teaches all subjects in all eight grades, or in a number of these grades. In city schools in the regular grade subjects, each teacher generally handles one group of children, all of whom are in the same grade. In the upper grades of the elementary schools in cities, particularly in grades 7 and 8, each teacher generally teaches one subject, and teaches that subject to different groups of children in different grades. Under these conditions the teacher has opportunity to specialize along the line of his choice. One may specialize in the regular old line school subjects, such as history, reading, arithmetic, writing, and geography, or in the newer subjects, such as music, art, and agriculture. Art teaching offers an attractive field. So do agriculture, woodwork, foundry, forging, sheet-metal work, concrete construction, simple electrical construction and wiring, printing, shoe repairing, and mechanical drawing. Except in the largest cities, the teachers of industrial art subjects are usually called upon to teach two or three such subjects. One’s preparation for the teaching of these industrial art subjects should include first, a knowledge of the shop side of these lines of work; second, some knowledge of the everyday problems of industrial production, distribution, and consumption; and third, some knowledge of the method of teaching.

PLAN No. 1102. MEN TEACHERS NEEDED

Men who have strong sympathies with children, who have seen life outside of their own town, State, or country, who, like our soldiers returning from the front, have faced death with as much bravery as they have faced life, such men know what it means to overcome difficulties, and the experience and ideals of such men are needed for the proper education of our youth. The influence of such characters should be felt before the close of the elementary school, which is the most important part of any educational system, the foundation on which higher education is based, and which, therefore, offers a field not unworthy the finest type of soldier.

There is a growing demand for men teachers in the best high schools and normal schools, and this demand is likely to increase as the result of the war, which has shown more clearly the need of the influence of men in our secondary schools and which has drawn many women into industrial occupations that were formerly closed to them.

This demand for men teachers is especially noticeable in the special subjects in high schools, and it is growing even in the regular subjects. Even in English, which has been taught pretty largely in the past by women, there is a growing feeling that more men should be employed. Heretofore, men fitted by nature and training for teaching English in the high schools have generally gone into journalism or magazine writing.

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One Thousand Ways to Make a Living; or, An Encyclopædia of Plans to Make MoneyChapter XLIII: Part II: Professional Commercial Service (2)

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