Show rl p 3 t Y i Nation Suffers Scarcity Of f Competent Teachers r BAUKHAGE 4 News By Analyst and Commentator Service 1616 Eye Street NW M Washington D D. D C. C WASHINGTON D. D C. C Less C.-Less Less than thana f I a a year car and ond a a halt half after the question of or which would triumph J z f i or democracy a f was settled the I A. A 1 United States is 1 tj being forced to h I fI f- f r. r meet a crisis in inh r h I 1 its com competitive p e ti t i e er r r t te s struggle ug le to main main- maintain 1 1 tam lain its wa way of rt c life liCe I Two years cars ago w wY Y a t the prediction based on trends I. p of that moment 1 7 made d th that a t l was ma e 4 our school tern tem faces one of the greatest crises in its history history American American schools have lost competent well- well I. I prepared teachers since Pearl lIar Har- r t r bor That was in June 1944 1949 r At that time only one out of a hun- hun r rl r I dred school teachers held emer K fv gency certificates certificates certificates issued is is- i sued to persons admittedly not in inV inthe V the thc competent well prepared class it r frk 11 Today according to an estimate made in an article in the October Issue of Coronet magazine one outa out j a J of every eight hold such certificates and out of the teachers lost to war industries the draft and oth oth- I kl I. I er wartime activities Coronet finds at least of those teachers lost for good Stuart Chase economist econ econ- f sets as the number r needed before belore the present teaching t staff of the nation is brought up toi to i t what he calls adequate Ralph McDonald executive secretary sec see It rotary of National Educational association as- as xa 51 i in Washington who has r been busy trying tring to wake the educational edu- edu t t- world to its danger quotes reports that Russia today is spending spend spend- ing log 20 per cent of her comparatively T low national income on education wh while il e we spen spend d on only 1 y two per cent 0 of r ours for the same purpose i And not satisfied with what is now nowa a 4 being done the Soviets are demanding demanding demand demand- ing still higher standards of ideological ideo ideo- ideological I I logical and political knowledge for forr r to their teachers The party paper 11 announced in a recent article arti- arti t v. v cle that students from Bulgaria Czechoslovakia and other Slav countries coun coun- f tries were being brought into the institutions in in- r of higher learning In Moscow Mos Mos- cow Lenin Leningrad rad and other cities P The office of education of the 1 United States government is fully t t aware of the danger facing our pub pub- lie lic schools Its functions are strictly strictly strictly strict- strict ly limited however to the acquisition r tion and distribution of information Actual promotional activities are l' l forbidden and improvement of conditions conditions cont con con- t rests fundamentally with the thet t t y states and local communities The x Office of Education is doing all i it t t. t can Full operation co-operation In the gath gath- f l 1 f ering of data is provided and for the last six weeks or so special efforts ef A forts have been made to brin bring information Ino in information In- In form formation tio o on this subject up t to date o iL for distribution Actual statistics of oft t the varying needs of various communities com corn y 1 now v are being compiled tl 1 v Y National Education association which began an intensive campaign two years ago to assist in the recruitment recruitment recruitment re re- of teachers improvement of working conditions and higher salaries has renewed its efforts as asa a result of action taken at the organizations organization's organizations organization's or or- convention this July A k slogan which they have adopted runs We must have federal aid before before be be- f. fore we can have equalization of op 1 But federal interference j ence in Americas America's school system OJ has always been a bogey L' L t Cheat Pupils Out Jo J Of Proper Education Meanwhile as Charles Harris P. P says in the previously quoted Coronet Coronet Coronet Coro Coro- net article we are cheating our boys and girls of their right to the kind of an education they desire t by permitting this teacher shortage shorty short short- y age which has closed more than t class rooms and over-expanded over classes classes so that i individual 1 attention to pupils has virtually vanished f Many vital subjects have been r dropped The worst phase of the situation Is r the turnover As is evidenced by bythe bythe the number of at emergency certificates certificates certificates cates issued the standard has fallen fallen fall fall- en sharply Harris mentions one school which permitted a convict to be released from jail because no noone noone one else could be found to teach the pupils I was told of at a case where a teacher teaching sixth grade pu- pu pils pUs had never had more than a n fourth grade education herself hersel Low pay Is as It has always been one of the thc chief difficulties It is a strange paradox that the business and industrial groups who are arc most anxious that the principles of democracy de de- de and free enterprise be thoroughly taught arc are the greatest competitors of the schoolhouse Here in Washington the minimum wage of teachers is below that of lower grade clerical assistants and file filc clerks In the government In industrial industrial industrial in in- in- in centers the gap is wider In business there is more of a demand demand demand de de- de- de mand today for trained college per per- Many teachers both male and female who went into the services services servo ices held college degrees and when I discharged were eagerly snapped up by businesses requiring higher education Chambers of commerce disturbed disturbed dis dis- by the threat of untrained minds in their communities have appealed to the government to promote promote pro pro- mote special teachers' teachers programs as asa asa asa a part of the veterans' veterans training re-training programs but here again the federal fed fed- eral oral government would be treading on thin ice That isn't in the law Private institutions and the community community community com com- itself are arc responsible for this type of effort and congress always puts its foot down when there is anything any any- anything thing that even cven hints at nt federal activity activity ac ac- ac in connection with the public school system The office of education education edu edu- cation leans over backward to keep away from anything that might be label labeled d interference Not only poor pay but also lack lacko o of social life me drives many prospective prospective prospective tive teachers Into other fields That Thatis is something that only the community community can change If 11 the teachers teacher's position Is not changed for the better and the public pub lie lic school system is not restored to its normal place in our democracy we will have lost the one thing without without without with with- out which democracy cannot grow Democracy cannot renew itself it must be renewed in the hearts of each new generation Otherwise weeds aplenty will take its place Slips Over F Fast ast Ore Ohe on Censor One of the few joys left Idt to a newspaper newspaper news news- paper correspondent in one of the foreign cities where censorship still prevails is trying to beat the censor One of the most amusing beats of ot this kind was scored by Drew Middleton Middleton Middleton Mid- Mid writing from Moscow for the New York Times Perhaps it fooled many American readers too It reads Ilya Ehrenburg writing in tia continued his long series of articles articles arti arti- I cles Iles on the United States a group of articles which for depth and understanding understanding un un- un are superior to anything written on these lines since the works of Charles Dodgson The dispatch was passed by the censor who didn't know that Dodgson son was the real name of Lewis Carroll who wrote Alice in Wonderland Wonderland Wonderland Won Won- derland some of the most delight delight- delightful ful nonsense ever penned I do not know whether Ehrenburg's Ehrenburg's Ehren Ehren- burgs burg's articles as published in Moscow Moscow Mos Mos- cow differed from those which he published in the United States but butI I must say hat that some of them reflected re reo life me in America as truly as the scene at at the Mad Hatters Hatter's tea party followed the thc pattern of at an ordinary tea party in England You remember that there was a table set under a tree in front of the house and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it a Dormouse was v asleep and th the other other oth er two were using him as a cushion resting their elbows on it and talking talking talking talk talk- ing over its head Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse Dormouse Dormouse Dor Dor- mouse thought Alice only its it's asleep I suppose it doesn't mind The Hatter was the first to break the silence What day of the month is it he said turning to Alice He had taken ken his watch out of his pocket and was looking at it uneasily shaking it every now and then and putting it to his car ear Alice considered a little and said The Fourth Two days wrong sighed the Hatter I told you butter wouldn't suit the works angrily looking at atthe atthe atthe the March Hare It was the best of butter the March Hare meekly replied Although Middletons Middleton's comparison between Dodgson and Ehrenburg was probably well chosen I doubt if the censor would have passed the comment had he ever read Alice in Wonderland |