There is a lack of permanency in the teaching force (due to lack of resident teachers—over 90 per cent are non-residents), and this has many disadvantages. Too many of the rural teachers are not in sympathy with the rural conditions in this county.
The teachers in the rural districts, especially in the backwoods places, impressed the writer as having little influence upon the surrounding community, particularly in cases where the community was composed solely of immigrants. The immigrants seem not to take the teacher seriously. A number of them said that they do not go for any practical advice to the school-teacher, believing that such a young girl knows little. In personal interviews the teachers said that they are doing some Americanization work by explaining to the children certain big historical events in the country's life, such as Washington's crossing of the Delaware, the battle of Bunker Hill, the liberation of the negroes. Their understanding of the difference between the American democracy and the European autocratic and aristocratic governments seemed to be vague. Even their knowledge of American history was mechanical rather than conscious or interpretative. In general, the writer was impressed that teachers of this type—young girls—themselves need further development before they can do effective educational work in the schools, not to speak of the community.
The teachers themselves complained of low salaries, difficulties in handling boys, especially immigrant boys who come from big cities. There are hardships in finding suitable living quarters and board, particularly in new immigrant colonies where the people live in shanty-like shelters and continue to eat pork and sauerkraut, sour milk, herring, onions, etc. One teacher, a girl about nineteen, told the writer that she could find an American farm only at a distance of five miles from the school and that she had a hard time to reach the school from her boarding place in the winter snows and blizzards.
Not one of the teachers interviewed expected to make teaching a lifetime profession. They all looked upon their present position as only a stepping-stone to a better life. They hoped either to continue study and go through college, or to take up skilled office work, such as that of a stenographer or bookkeeper.
The average salaries of rural teachers are given in the reports of various state superintendents as follows:
Average monthly salary of teachers in rural schools in
North Dakota: [39]
Year ended June 30, 1914$53.25
Year ended June 30, 1915 54.92
Average monthly wages of teachers in rural districts in
South Dakota: [40]
Year ended June 30, 1915$53.75
Year ended June 80, 1916 55.04
Average monthly salary of teachers in Nebraska, year ended
July, 1916: [41]
Males$73.21
Females 50.94
Average monthly wages of teachers in rural districts in
Minnesota, 1916: [42]
Men $62.00
Women 52.00
Teaching salaries of rural school-teachers in Wisconsin,
1914–15: [43]