ifications, a certain
amount of wages has long been regarded as representing the sum which a
teacher ought to receive. For rural schools this is probably about fifty
dollars a month; in fact, in most states the average wage paid to rural
school teachers is below that amount. But let us say that fifty dollars
is the amount that has become established in the popular mind as a
reasonable salary. Here, as in the other cases, it is very difficult to
change ideas established by long custom. For many years people have been
accustomed to think of teachers receiving certain salaries, and they
refuse to consider any higher sums as appropriate. This, of course, is
an egregious blunder. The rural schools can never be lifted above their
present plane of efficiency until these three conceptions, (1) that of
personality, (2) that of standard, and, (3) that of wages, are revised
in the public mind. There will have to be a great revolution in the
thought of the people in regard to these inseparable things.

=The Inseparables.=--The fact is that, (1) strong personalities, (2) a
high standard of qualifications, (3) and a respectable salary go hand in
hand. They rise and fall together; they are reactive, one upon the
other. The strong personality implies the ability to meet a high
standard and demands reasonable compensation. The same is true of the
high standard--it selects the strong personality and this in turn cannot
be secured except at a good salary. It may be maintained that if school
boards really face the question in earnest, and are willing to offer
good salaries, strong personalities who are able to meet that high
standard can always be secured. Professor Hugo Muensterberg says: "Our
present civilization shows that in every country really decisive
achievement is found only in those fields which draw the strongest
minds, and that they are drawn only where the greatest premiums are
tempting them."[2]

[Footnote 2: Psychology and Social Sanity, p. 82.]

=Raise the Standard First.=--The best way, then, to attack the problem
is, first, to raise the standard. This will eliminate inferior teachers
and retain or attract those of superior qualifications. It is to be
regretted that we have not, in the United States, a more uniform
standard for teaching in the common schools. Each state has its own
laws, its own standard. It would not, we think, be asking too much to
provide that no person should teach in any grade of school, rural or
e