The Teacher’s Home
It is well to say something about the teacher’s home, or if the teacher is boarding, something about his room. His immediate surroundings often reflect his personal tastes as clearly as does his attire. All eyes are on the teacher and his domestic policy cannot escape criticism. Not long ago in one of the foremost school communities of Ohio lived a principal of a high school whose home was little better than a hovel. A stranger called there one day and found the front yard very untidy, several calves were running loose there, while rubbish, such as barrels, broken dishes, tin cans and a profusion of coal ashes were in evidence. He was greeted by several children who, even to this lover of children, proved almost repulsive. Each child was dressed in filthy clothing, with face and hands unwashed and the hair matted with dirt. The father came next—a principal of a small high school—whose appearance was no better than that of the children. Instead of neat and cleanly attire, his clothing was ragged and soiled, not even put on properly. As the stranger spoke to the worthy principal he could look into a kind of shed room near the house, in which a woman, no doubt the mother of the children, was washing. She too, was unkempt and unclean. Her surroundings were so disorderly and unclean that health was in danger.
The stranger’s curiosity was aroused and by a clever investigation he learned that this particular high school was notorious, far and near, for its rude boys and girls. He learned that just about six weeks before his visit, thirteen of the high school boys had been before the Juvenile Court for various offenses, and that many more should have been summoned. This was an enormous percentage out of a possible enrollment of one hundred and twenty pupils. Could this principal’s untidy home and surroundings have played any part in this condition? Most certainly. Any teacher who will allow himself to live in such a home cannot without great injustice be retained as a teacher. Just as he allowed his surroundings to become so wretched he would allow those with whom he daily came in contact to become morally wrong. This man who cared nothing for the beauty of his home and its environment lacked those finer senses that make for useful lives. His influence was demoralizing. A teacher’s home surroundings and tastes are sure indices to his state of culture and refinement.