Fourth.--The rural teacher should be loyal to his pupils and patrons.
The teacher who feels himself an individual superior to the members of
the community whom he is serving and allows this feeling to express
itself in his attitude toward them, loses the greater part of his
influence through this action. The countryman likes to be met on equal
terms and does not enjoy a condescending attitude any more than does his
brother who lives in the town. The teacher should have in mind only the
benefits which he may bring to the community, and if he actually and
actively takes part in the social movements of the place he will come to
learn that human nature is the same in the country as in the town, and
he will be able to acquire a sincere liking for the people with whom he
works.
Fifth.--The teacher should so conduct himself outside of the school as
to win respect for himself and for his profession. The idea that a
teacher's duty to the school ends with the closing of the actual school
day is a mistaken one. Any action on the part of the teacher outside of
his school work which would tend to lower him in the estimation of his
pupils or their parents, inevitably tends to reduce the amount of
influence which he can exert. A teacher is on duty constantly and cannot
limit his working hours or his working habits to certain defined periods
of time.
Sixth.--The teacher should stay more than one year in a district,
unless a change means decided professional and financial advancement.
Short term teachers are often of more harm than benefit to the children
of a community. The advent of a new teacher means a change in plans and
usually a change in methods of work. These changes tend to upset the
minds of the children who naturally like to follow well-defined lines of
work. The constant change of teachers also means that none of them stays
sufficiently long to learn the needs of the community and the best
method of meeting these needs. School boards should offer inducements to
rural teachers in the way of increasing the salary for increased length
of service, and thus there would be less desire on the part of the
teacher to move from one district to another.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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