TEACHERS AND THE WHEELDON TRIAL.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
Sia,—Many people must be interested in your excellent article on elementary teaching in the Spectator of March 17th. Teachers as a body, and women teachers in particular, are an already sufficiently tried race, without having the sayings of an irrespon- sible woman considered as common to their profession. In any case, it is not the teachers who are to blame, but those who hare made the way of the teachers so hard that the gaps in their ranks must be filled by such undesirable recruits as the Wheeldon sisters. Bad pay, contempt and ignorance shown by members of the local governing bodies are not things which will attract the best class of men and women in the future, and the consequence is that even now the highways and hedges are being searched, instead of there being any competition, to fill the Training Colleges and the vacant posts. Those who train the country's citizens deserve the best treatment from the country, a recognized social status, and good pay, honour, and fair play that will attract to the profession such men and women who will uphold this social status. Against great odds, they have accomplished a great work, and a much needed reform ought to be speedily put in train before it is too late.—I am, Sir, Set., G. K. E.
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