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Show TURN FOR THE BETTER Teacher Crisis Eases in U.S. "The present school year marks 1 the beginning of a turn for the better bet-ter in education in the United States." That high note of optimism was sounded in a progress report issued by the citizens' federal committee on education through the U. S. office of education which asserted that a five-year downward trend in education educa-tion has been reversed. Titled "Citizens Look at Education," Educa-tion," the report is the. first pamphlet pam-phlet issued by the 27-member group formed in April, 1946, to carry the teacher crisis to the country. "There is abundant evidence that the ominous deterioration of our educational system has been arrested. arrest-ed. The drift of teachers to other fields has been slowed. The public has become aroused to the dangers threatening our schools," was the committee's conclusion. At the same time, however, the report warned that upward progress must continue, and that to consider the educational crisis as a thing of the past would be premature. Among the accomplishments listed list-ed for the past year were: IThe largest teachers' salary in- creases which evef have been granted in a 12-month period an average increase of about $300 or about 13 per cent. 2 An increase in maximum sal- ary scales in many centers, regarded re-garded as highly significant in mak ing the profession economically at tractive as a lifetime career. 3 A number of states have lib- eralized retirement allowances and sick-leave provisions and reduced re-duced the teaching load. But the committee did not minimize mini-mize the fact that there were problems prob-lems still to be solved. For one thing, the rise in cost of living has more than eaten up the advance in teachers' salaries, and workers in many fields still earn more, on the average, than teachers. Another obstacle to be overcome is the immense need for teachers, caused in part by the increased birth rate, which will exist for at least 6 to 10 years. |