Keuka College - Kiondaga Yearbook (Keuka Park, NY)

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28 THE COLLEGE RECORD. their backwardness will not be so noticeable there as it would be in a public school. Probably the greater freedom from arbitrary grades is also an inducement. In a majority of cases such students are desirable ones. They are apt to be studious, and often prove to have great ability. They are more serious, and think more clearly on questions of school discipline and administration. Thus they often come to be a positive source of strength in the school, as their influence is usually on the side of good order, and their sense of responsibility makes them willing to be of use. The influence of some such students would seem to be necessary in private schools to overcome a certain tendency to snobbishness which often exists. This fault is apt to crop out, especially in private schools which draw from the well-to-do classes exclusively, and it strengthens a class feeling which is generally felt to be undesirable. Probably it results, in some measure, from the school's being so much set aside by itself. The whole life is a unit, and tends to absorb the attention of its component parts. Where the students are uniformly from one rank in life this fact would be the foundation for the feeling, and the school would probably at least fail to destroy it, if it did not strengthen it. Certain schools which are largely attended by students of limited means are almost entirely free from this fault. An attempt was made before writing this article to secure some data that would make possible a comparison between the standards for teachers in the two classes of schools. Not enough information was secured, however, to admit the drawing of definite conclusions. Some tendencies are shown. Nine out of eleven private schools chosen at ran- dom from tlu.se of established reputation required all tea hers to have had a college education, one allowed nor- ui.il training, and one reported no special requirement. Of eight public schools chosen in the same manner, four required the college education, two the normal diploma, one ate teachers' certificate, and one generally required a college education. This proportion of college teachers is higher than the proportion for the whole State.

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THE COLLEGE RECORD. 27 desirable students, the danger from them is less because their relations with the other students are less close. Public school principals often remark that it is their poorest students who leave them to go to private schools. There is in the minds of many, also, an idea that all private schools are, in a sense, either reformatories or schools for children who are backward, or lacking in some respects. There are many schools of these kinds, but they are gener- ally schools which advertise to do just this work, and can hardly be considered in this discussion, except as a special case. It is true, however, that some work of the kind indi- cated is put upon all private schools, whether by their con- sent or not. Many schools require the fullest recommenda- tions for a student before admitting him, but others are not independent enough in the matter of attendance to do this. Even when good credentials are demanded students will slip in who are no help to the school, but all honest schools will dismiss these as soon as they are detected. The boy who is backward, or who is dull even, presents a different case. The dull boy often goes to the private scool, and often he responds to the ordinary methods in such a way that he is saved educationally. He stands in a better position to get help in the average private school than he would in the average public school, for few private schools are so large that they cannot give plenty of individual at- tention. The close relation between teacher and student before referred to leads to a keener interest on the part of the teacher ; in a sense every pupil that enters a private school is looked upon as a case to be studied and treated if it presents any unusual difficulties. The fact that the pri- vate school is called on to save many students who have been considered dull, whether it wishes this work or not, would seem to indicate that it has a somewhat higher capacity than the public school, at least in cases of peculiar necessity. Somewhat allied to the class just referred to are those who are not, perhaps, dull, but who have had little early opportunity for study, and are backward for their ages. These pupils often turn to the private schools, feeling that

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THE COLLEGE RECORD. 29 An inquiry as to the salaries of teachers and as to the proportion of men to women teachers showed that there is considerable difference in the latter respect, but not very much in the former. Reports covering the schools referred to in the preceding paragraph showed 33 men and 87 wo- men in the public schools, while there are 82 men and 42 women in the private schools. Although the number of schools considered is small, it is not probable that the pro- portion would be greatly changed if the number were ex- tended. Nearly all the schools considered were co-educa- tional, but the fact that two or three were not would affect conclusions drawn from the above figures. There can be no doubt, however, that the proportion of women to men teachers is much greater in the public schools than in the private schools. The average salary for women in the public schools con- sidered was $709, and for men, $1276. In private schools the salaries were, for women $875, and for men, $1386. This difference is probably not large enough to affect to any great extent the quality of teachers employed. About one- fourth of the men reported for the public schools were principals, whose salary is large in proportion to that of the other teachers, while the private school principals num- ber only about one-seventh of the teachers reported. Tak- ing this into consideration, the salaries for men teachers in private schools seem to be be considerably larger than for men in public schools. In the matter of teachers the private schools are believed to have an advantage in a point which is not generally con- sidered. The private school, being more like a home, hav- ing generally a more definite personality, and depending more on its own efforts for attendance and consequent pros- perity, takes hold of the imagination and sympathies of those that work for it much more strongly than can the public school, except in very rare instances. The private school to those that have long served it becomes more like a living thing than an institution. It comes to be loved. In this respect it approaches the college, and commands the devotion of all its members. Teachers stay longer than in