Show NEWS BY PAUL MALLON 7 beleas released e d by western newspaper union LOW S SALARIES OF TEACHERS endangering EDUCATION washington A teacher leacher makes on an average about 1900 a year in a the elementary and high schools A c common 0 laborer makes 2400 without overtime in the building trades new york high to 1250 san antonio low of course the unskilled earns nore more than these figures suggest be because calise ol of his overtime pay so a teacher earns less than a and far less than a bricklayer who learns his skilled i trade in a few months while a teacher should complete 16 years ol of schooling the average income of a bricklayer ranges from 0 new york high to charlotte low without computing th the e overtime or other pay privileges common to the trade the roosevelt revolution accomplished complis hed the disparagement of the i teaching profession removed the respect for learning and let the pay for it depreciate while the advantages for the untutored were raised GO TO OTHER JOBS so men and women are leaving the nations teaching desks some tela teachers chers jobs have not been filled this year at least have switched to other employment for their livelihood since 1939 some i may have gone into industry and married but many properly read the S signs ig ns of the times and have gone into government employment in one single division of government a bureaucratic reau cratic agency more than half of the employees above the ra rank ot of stenographer are today ex teach ers more than a third of this number are young men in their early doing advanced clerical work who draw down government salaries from to a year an income they could hope to obtain by teaching only after 30 years of service in most small colleges there you are 11 here ere Is the problem undeniably present I 1 in n statistics which are verifiable the e problem is even worse than the figures disclose more children are coming to school age every ery year today we have 19 million kids in elementary schools owing to wartime birthrate increases the number will jump each year until it hits an expected peak of in 1954 so we need more teachers but will have fewer not only is the profession being de populated but also about 40 per cent fewer persons are entering teachers schools than in normal times fewer teachers can be developed ve loped similarly the men and women remaining at teachers desks necessarily are growing less and less competent on the whole one out of every nine teachers today holds only an emergency certificate which means he is not qualified according to the standards of his own state STRIKES GET RESULTS to get more money a teachers revolution has been staged in various forms at norwalk the teachers remained home until they could get better contracts and finally the city politicians agreed in california the they y propagandize changes in the state constitution in a michigan referendum they forced increase of state funds for or education A 50 per cent increase was obtained in georgia in st paul they walked out in their largest and longest strike involving 1160 teachers and pupils through an artisans union of th the e whose professional negotiator apparently acted tor for them in general the teachers have taken this short way out it th loose running arbitrary cont control rolp 0 of f unions are leveled down by national legislation to necessities in the public interest no doubt the teachers will be sorry they joined the hand hardworking working union instead of forming their own separate organization grounded in the intellect unions already have ceased to generate much public sympathy the move was a mistake anyway because teachers funds must come directly from taxation and their strikes must be directed against constituted authorities of government ov ern ment A popular campaign to gain their ends might serve their heir purposes much better however great these mistakes the country now is confronted with the problem of buying education tor for its young and paying tor for it the public is approaching the rim of disaster in education RUSSIA STALLS re PEACE ACE russia is inwardly justifying her ancient reputation as a colossus of brass on a pedestal of clay on the loftiest loft iest diplomatic level stalin is more securely winning friends for anyone but russia and he Is influencing people the wrong way or as talk runs in state departments who could like uncle joe the coming march 10 meeting of the big four in moscow lor for instance is being run down by russian circumstance to where it may become an ignored minor confab |