Show t U. U 5 S. School System Faces Greatest Crisis in History Selective Service Auxiliary Branches Make Heavy Draft on Teaching Personnel Higher Wages Necessary I. I 1 t t J By BAUKHAGE l News errs Analyst and Commentator J Service Union Trust Building Washington D. D C. C Recently the fate of the Churchill government hung on school teachers teachers' teachers teachers' teachers teachers' teach teach- ers' ers salaries The opposition threatened threatened threatened threat threat- ened to defeat a spon government measure because it didn't provide provide provide pro pro- vide for making women teachers' teachers salaries equal to mens The opposition opposition opposition tion finally yielded for the sake of harmony but the issue is not dead Today a report outlining what are described as revolutionary changes to raise the social status of teachers in Great Britain and make their profession attractive is before Par Par- A J h d H t Any UY informed En Enthat man a m that the American public school system system system tem offers far more to the general public than the British system Atthe Atthe At Atthe the same time our own school system faces one of the greatest crises in its history and likewise some of the greatest changes One simple reason for the crisis can be stated in a sentence American schools have lost competent well-prepared well teachers since Pearl Harbor Selective service and voluntary enlistment have made a heavy draft drafton on the men and you have no idea how many and WAVES MaI Marines Marines Ma Ma- I rines rives and SPARS stepped out of the schoolroom into their natty uni uni- forms Of course high wages in industry lured many a teacher from the three Rs too And why not The average average average aver aver- age teachers teacher's salary is only about 1550 a year This year teachers were paid less than a year That wouldn't buy slacks and old fash- fash for a new-fashioned new lady war Two hundred four fifty-four thousand teachers received under a hundred dollars a month My figures are from the Journal of the National Edu Education association Already many classrooms have been closed says this periodical and thousands of others are so overcrowded that effective teaching teaching teaching teach teach- ing is impossible If these trends continue much longer the magazine predicts education will be cut off at its source right at a time when it has a tremendous job ahead reeducating reeducating reeducating re re- re- re educating a generation which has been subjected to highly abnormal I Surroundings and educating another which will have to help recreate a normal if a somewhat altered world Higher Salaries Needed In this country as in England the first step in the solution of the problem is higher salaries the next is better working conditions the third is an active campaign to attract attract attract at at- tract young people to the sion But before these steps are accomplished accomplished accomplished an interim effort is necessary necessary necessary sary and it has already begun begun- an organized effort urging capable high school seniors to prepare for forThe The teaching profession Many state groups save have nave begun begun begun be be- gun campaigns of various kinds and the National Education association association association itself has appropriated f I th 1 H u. u d d f f th 1 LV or is purpose 1 un re w s o v. v u- u sands of pamphlets and leaflets have been prepared and distributed Realizing that those attractive posters posters posters post post- ers of girls in uniforms had a lot lotto lotto lotto to do with recruiting women for the armed services on one of the artists who helped lure private sergeant or lieutenant Smith out of the school schoolhouse schoolhouse schoolhouse house has been hired to dry ry to lure her back when the war is over or attract her young civilian sister I haven't seen one of these posters yet but I hope they do the job forthe for forthe forthe the task ahead for the he teacher and the opportunities that the profession profession profession sion will offer are both bound to expand tremendously due to the situation which will follow the war This will spring from two causes The first is a part of a universal demand which is already being heard abroad as well as at h home me when any group formal or informal gets together to talk over postwar conditions Plenty of ridicule is hurled burled by the so-called so headed hard-headed citizens at the postwar planners whose name is legion But congress has already learned that there is isone isone isone one tacks brass-tacks phase of war plan ning that cant can't be labelled as amiable dreaming day-dreaming and ignored That is exemplified in the so-called so GI bill of rights which includes include I Ithe the billion dollar program for education for returning veterans Educational Demands The bill will pass congress and will be signed The soldier far more vocal than he has ever been j before and representing the greatest great great- est group of voters with a singleness singleness single single- single single-I ness of purpose on the subject of GI rights that congress has ever faced is going to get what he wants I And the demand for greater educational educational educational edu edu- opportunities will not be Limited to the veteran Careful estimates indicate that to carry out the postwar education program for veterans veterans non and their children the present personnel personnel personnel per per- will have to be increased 50 per cent This of course includes besides teachers administrators li librarians librarians librarians li- li clerks nurses janitors and bus drivers nearly a million and a half persons These figures give you an indication of the number number number num num- ber of persons who will be drawn into the profession and its allied activities activities activities ac ac- ac- ac if the plans go through The second reason why we can expect a stimulation in the whole field of education is because there is a very strong feeling that the opportunities opportunities opportunities op op- op- op for learn learning ng must be greatly broadened As a result of the social changes preceding and during the war the strong voice of the common man has been raised demanding that cultural as well as economic benefits be more widely distributed The thoughtful educators educators educators tors realize that a wider background of knowledge must be furnished to A everyone that mat technical and ana professional courses must be grounded on ona ona ona a firmer base of general knowledge Already there is a feeling of reaction reaction reaction re re- re- re action against the emphasis which the war has placed on purely material material material mate mate- rial subjects on a purely technical technical technical cal or scientific education This is bound to call for a greater share of what might be called spiritual culture And at the other end of the spectrum also a demand for training training training train train- ing in health and physical develop develop- ment Educators themselves have their troubles from within as well as from without Of late there has been pressure by certain groups Like the National Association of Manufacturers Manufacturers Manufacturers anxious to see that nothing is taught that might endanger what they define as the free enterprise system although not all businessmen business business- men agree on what free enterprise is or that they like it too free There have also been many conflicts conflicts conflicts con con- within and among institutions of higher learning like the one in my own alma mater the University of Chicago where President Hutchins and his followers want to get back to first principles with an emphasis on the philosophers and others lean toward a more utilitarian utilitarian utilitarian training The so-called so experimental experimental experimental ex colleges like Antioch stressing individual development and social responsibility do not agree with Hutchins nor even among themselves But it would seem that the trend of the times agrees with the recent edict of a well well- known educator who luhn said niH th that t well well-I con tern cern with ith th the d development clop n of f fth th the individual and concern with society must be the twin goals of education I In any case it is clear that never before in our history have the school teacher and the professor been offered such a challenge ch N Never ever before has the proverb which says wisdom is the principle thing therefore get wisdom been more widely heeded never has the there re rest t of the abjuration of King Solomon Solomon Solomon Solo Solo- mon been more important and with all thy getting get under under- standing FORTY ACRES AND A JEEP It never rains but it pours With the sheep in the meadow the cows in the corn and even the scarecrow alone and forlorn for want of manpower to help out the department of agriculture now I sends out the warning that after the j war there wont won't be enough farms farms' in the country to hold all the people who will be crying for 40 acres and anda a jeep I Officials say that five million war- war I workers alone a lot of whom dont don't know a spade from a club may try to get their living from the soil when peace comes |