Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-11-10
SCHOOL COMMUNICATION.
EDITOR CITIZEN:

SCHUUL COMMUNICATION.
EDITOR CITIZEN:
The teachers of Virginia expect to
bring before the next Legislature n
bill to pension the teachers of the
State.
1t is hoped that in the present
general educational re-awakening ii
will not be forgotten that, after ali,
the teacher is the school, and that.
while beautiful buildings and fine
apparatus are necessary, the para
mount need of the school is the
teacher. A good teacher, like other
good things, costs money, aud the
State does not at present pay its
teachers anything like adeq date sal
aries. Many things have entered
into this question Of teachers saIa-
ries, notably public opinion, the law
of supply and demand, aud other
economic problems.
This being true, it seems but an
act OF justice that the Ssxte should
pension those who have worn out
their, lives in its service.
10 some instances teachers are re-
tanned in service because the public
admits the pitifulness of tnrniDg
adrlft worn-out but faithful ser
want who has not received during
the term of service sufficient remu-
neratioU to have rendered it possi-
Bile for even the most provident to
lay by enough to make her inde-
pendent in old age. Ia every such
case the irjustiee is two-fOld: to the
child, who is entitled to the best aud
nothing short of it; to the teacher,
who has right to feel that the
government will not cast off and
forsake her when she can work no
longer.
Again, the advantage to the State
from the greater efficiency of body
of teachers whose minds would to
some extent be relieved from exces-
sive anxiety for the. future can
scarcely be overestimated.
Further, a pension system, by
giving assurance of provision for old
age, would tend to elevate the pro-
fession of teaching by attracting
able men aud women and retaining
them during efficiency.
Many Of the higher institutions of
learning have felt the neel of free
ing the mind of the teacher from
the care as to his future and have
begun to pension their professors.
Mr.. Carnegie in his recent gift of
fund for pensioniug college pro-
fessors recognizes this need. Ger
many which, admittedly, has the
best schools in the world, has pen.
stoned her teachers for more than a
hundred years, and Mr.. Charles +.
Adams used to say: "The German
teachers are the schoolmasters of
the world"
la 1891 the National Educational
Association passed q resolution reo-
ommending "the enactment of a
law in the several States to permit
and regulate the retirement and pen
sioniog Of professional teachers.
Since many States and cities have
adopted a system of pensioning their
teachers, New Jersey having the
honor of being the first State in the
Union to pass such law. Cali
fornia and Maryland pension all
their veteran public school teachers.
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New
York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Della
ware, South Carolina, Ohio, Illinois
and the District of Columbia pen
sion the teachers of their large
cities.
We appeal to the friends of edu-
cation, and especially to the good
teachers in the State, not to let their
enthusiasm die with the inspiring
words of our prominent educators
who have 80 ably conducted the May
for education, but to let
IL take the practical form of urging
upon the candidates elected to the
State Legislature the need for the
passage of this bill. In no other
practicable way can so much be done
to advance the quality of teaching
and promote the efficiency of the |
profession, and in no. other way can
it be done with so small an outlay of |
money. -,
Endorsed by the Richmond Edu-
cational Association in May, 1905. |
and by the State Teachers Associa-
tion at Charlottesville in July, 1905, |
the measure is to be framed by the |
delegates, one from each Congress
sional District, these delegates to be |
by the President of the |
State Teachers Association. Provi-
sions of the measure will be that any
public school teacher who has taught
for twenty-five years in the public
schools of the State and is inca
pacitated shall become beneficiary
of this bill, receiving two hundred
dollars per annum, payment to be
made quarterly. ANON.
Richmond, Va.