SUMMARY
Standards
The primary requirements for masters and mistresses, as determined by the yearly meeting, were (1) high morality, (2) membership with Friends, and (3) competency to teach the subjects for which employed. These standards were consciously striven for, as indicated by their reports on the subject.
Whence came teachers?
As a rule, the teachers selected for the lower schools were native to the place, though there were exceptions. A large number of the Latin masters, however, were secured through Friends in England. To supply the lack of teachers, in Philadelphia at any rate, recourse was occasionally had to the apprenticeship system, as instanced by the cases of Eldridge, and James Dickinson.
Tenure
No license system
Contracts
The yearly assembly recommended better accommodations for teachers, that they might be more easily retained in the same position. The cases mentioned indicate a very good length of tenure; Clift, two years; Taylor, perhaps five; Keith, about two; Makin, intermittently for about forty; and many others, similarly. These figures are undoubtedly not representative, the majority being taken from the city. Personal recommendation and certificates of removal served some of the purposes of the teacher license system. The contract was verbal only, so far as evidence appears and the term of it usually for one year.
Salaries
Attention is called to the seeming great increase in salaries during the century, and great variation in the amounts paid at any one time, especially between those of country and city masters. The salaries of women appear to have been very meager as compared with those of the men. No appreciable difference is found between the salaries or rates of Quaker masters and those of private masters in the city at the same time. Rates charged for poor children, schooled by the Board, were less than those fixed for others.
Women teachers considered
A few mistresses in the schools are mentioned. For the most part, the length of their service is not known. A large proportion of them were engaged in teaching poor children, though not limited to that. A large proportion, over half of the poor children taught by them, were members of various denominations. Their service was not limited to the schools for Whites, some being employed in the Negro School, near the end of the century.
Masters
Rank
Brief attention is given individual masters. As rated by the frequency of their mention in five standard authorities, Pastorius, Benezet, and Thompson lead the list; it is not believed that this measure is adequate, however. Concerning the qualifications of the masters, we find that all degrees of ability and training were represented. Pastorius may be taken as a type of the classically trained master of the Latin School. The other extreme might be represented by several of the ill-paid country masters. John Lacey describes such a master and his school in his memoirs.
Character
One definite case of drunkenness on the part of a master has come to light. Though not probable that the record is so clear, it does appear that excessive outlawries were not committed. The chief sources studied on this point were the newspapers of the period and minutes of various Quaker meetings.