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

by Harold Morse Dunphy

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.

In the teaching of mathematics in high schools, applications rather than pure theory are being more and more emphasized. Here men generally have a wider range of information and experience than women, so that the teaching of mathematics in high schools should offer increasing opportunities to returned service men.

The method of teaching history, too, is gradually changing, so that it is more attractive to men than formerly. Particularly attractive should it be to returned soldiers and sailors, who have had such an important part in making history during recent months.

The teaching of modern languages is tending to open up somewhat to men. There will be a growing demand for teachers of French and Spanish, and this demand can not readily be filled satisfactorily for some time to come. It should open up good opportunities, therefore, to returned soldiers and sailors. French has been neglected in American secondary schools, particularly in the central and far West. Spanish, until a very few years ago, was almost unknown in high-school courses. Recently it has been introduced rapidly. It is not certain, of course, yet that it will continue to develop under normal conditions, but it is certain that South American trade will grow faster after the war, and this fact should encourage the spread of the study of Spanish.

In the past we have made the mistake of leaving the teaching of foreign languages too much to teachers native to the countries whose language they teach. In the future we shall be careful not to make the mistake that we made in the teaching of German. We shall put the teaching of foreign languages more largely into the hands of American-born teachers. We can scarcely do better than to intrust such work to the care of returned soldiers and sailors who equip themselves for this task.

There has long been a great demand for well-prepared men teachers in sciences in the high schools. The chances for men in these subjects in the future are likely to be better than they have been in the past. Many men with scientific training will return from the war with disabilities unfitting them for their former occupation, and to such the field of science teaching may seem very promising. Opportunities will be especially good for men who have been trained in scientific or technical colleges, which include in their curricula the sciences usually taught in high schools.

For more advanced high-school work in industrial arts in the large high schools, men are needed who can teach one of the branches of industry intensively, giving their whole time to such subjects as wood-working, metal working, printing, or mechanical drawing. A man who is a journeyman workman in any industry already has most of the training necessary for this line of teaching. Men teachers are needed also to teach some of the regular school subjects from the industrial point of view. For instance, there is occasionally need for men to teach shop mathematics or the sciences concerned in the industry, but they should be familiar with shop work and shop problems in order to make their work fit into the needs of the shop courses.

There are opportunities also in the field of teaching vocations. Positions are rapidly opening up in public all-day, part-time, and evening vocational schools; also in apprentice schools conducted by business establishments.

Opportunities for teaching positions in this work range from permanent employment on the staff of a school or college to temporary employment in conducting evening courses for a number of weeks. Many institutions of all grades conduct full-time day courses, and also conduct special, part-time or evening courses, at certain times in the year. Thus opportunities are open either for full-time or part-time employment. In industrial cities where evening industrial and commercial courses are conducted there is often an opportunity for a man to secure a position as instructor. He can do this instructing and retain his day employment.

Usually there is more demand for agricultural training in the agricultural and thinly settled States, and for trade and industrial training in the cities of the industrial States, though both forms of training are carried on to some degree in practically all the States. In any part of the country a prospective trade instructor is more likely to find opportunity in the larger cities.