President Eliot's Talk on Teaching

President Eliot spoke informally last evening before the Education Club on "Teaching as a Vocation."

From the pecuniary viewpoint, he said, teaching is not a highly satisfactory profession, and one who goes into it as a life work must be content to draw his recompense partly from other sources than money. These are the respect in which the teacher is always held in a community, the affection of his pupils, and, in the case of the college professor, the sense of mastery of a particular subject; for to be a successful college teacher today involves a high degree of specialization.

The status of the teacher, both in public and private schools, is improving throughout the country, and is manifest in increased pay and longer tenure of service. A man, who after due consideration resolves to engage in teaching, should also consider the question of whether he shall take up college or secondary school teaching. The college teacher needs extensive knowledge in a single field; the preparatory school teacher or principal needs greater personal magnetism and has more responsibility and power because he gets boys at the formative period of their lives.