The Washington times., 1906-02-27
Mrs. Gitterman Quotes
Old Saying Before
House Hearing.
Chairman Morrell Thinks
Committee Agrees on
Need of It.

Declaring that there is a conviction
among the District public school teach
ers that their promotions. like kiss
ing. come by favor" Mrs. a 5. Glitter
man, OF the Public Education Associa-
ti0n, today made 10 the House District
Committees school subcommittee an
exhaustive argument for better pay for
the teachers and for a system Of exam
nations that shall govern the admis-
sion and promotion Of the teachers.
She said she knows there is a feeling
OF unrest and a lack OF esprit dc
corps" among the teachers, owing 20
present conditions.
An important development at the
hearing today was the public state
ment Of Mr.. MorrelI, chairman Of the
subcommittee. that the subc0mmit-
tee agreed with Mrs. Gitterman
that the local teachers should have
more pay This means that the
subcommittee viii so recommend To
the fun District Of Columbia Commit
tee, and this body in turn, VIII report
such q measure to the House for pas
sage.
Mrs. Gitterman said she favored no
pending bill outright, but found many
good features ia the OlcOtt, GouIGen
and Foster bills.
For Goulden Bill.
The first speaker today was DR.. L.
| r. Klemm. Of the Bureau OF Education,
and he favored the GOulden bill
DR.. Klemm said there were several
| COmmendable features in the GOuIdeR
| bill, especially that one providing for
| larger pay for the teachers because il
was impossible to get good teachers on
/ starvation wages He contended that.
under the present conditions. many
! teachers are employed without being
/ specially adapted to the work
/ There are some teachers in the high
| schools he declared, whose scholarly
attainments are not what they should
! be"
/ He gave a table Of statistics showing
! the tendency, he said. Of children 10 60
( TO school a year or two and then 10
! cease their schooling This. he declared
I IS owing To the lack of q system OF
/ keeping the children in school for fixed
periods. and IS also caused by the habit
I Of many parents OF not regarding school
matters seriously
7 There are many teachers 80 he assert
I ed. who have no ambition because they
have gotten lust so far and see no
chance 20 go higher up- 4 shaking up
/ Of a teaching force often has a wonder
+ lie denied a published statement by
/ Commissioner MacfaTland that il would
not be well to include in the organic
I
which teachers shall be examined fer
! appointment or promotion. Mr.. Klemm
said such a section would be very gooo.
as il has had a beneficent effect In sew
/ eraI States in promoting high scholar
ship.
In Favor of Publicity.
Il also advocate" he said. publicity
! in all the details Of the management and
+ administration of the schools In this
3 Of er-aF .ag-arz-yE- -11nT-
! IL IS only we'll 10 see that the hands Of
the Board of Education are always
clean
! Mr.. KIemm then urged IN the strong
est terms that there should be "a developed
system Of night schools and lectures
/ here both for children and for adults.
/ This. he said would call for more teach
! ers.
! 1T seems TO me" he continued, that
here We have too many supervisors Of
sDecfal branches of study and these
/ s1lpervfsors are too important The eie-
/ mentary branches are far more lmpor-
/ tant. These special teachers, such as
! those Of physical culture, break into the
| regular school day too much
! What is your idea of the provision
! In the GouIdeu bill that the President
/ instead of the Commissioners. shall aP-
! point the Board Of Education asked
MI IT Gon'f think 1t makes much differ
ence." said Dr. tiemm. EXCEPT that
/ such change would dignity the board
/ and give It more importance.
Lacking in Unity.
| Mrs. A. :. Gitterman. of the Public
/ Fducatfon Association, said that al
though it is impossible 10 prove it in
black and white, she knows there -
L. a OF
unrest among the District teachers and
/ a conviction that promotion, like kissing.
goes by favor. They want the matter
/ Ct promotion fixed by law
! referring 10 other sources Of infor-
nation as TO dissatisfaction with the
present school system here. Mrs. Glitter
| man quoted from several editorials or
! The Washington Times, which declared
/ that the time has come for change
! in the District school system
She quoted Commissioner Macfarland
Is having once said at a citizens asso-
| citation dinner. Let us work for the
things we can agree on and defer the
] other matters She added that soon
after that W. @. Henderson cnaracJeI-
| lied people interested in the schools as
| i'The Times" she said, "sOon denied
this in an editorial,
Mentioning the movement TOT puo-
/ Iieitx in the Board of Education bust
I moss Mrs Gittarman said her assOcl-
| alton some years ago made an inves;i-
| cation showing that It was not the Gus
| tom in any large city for the board OF
I education 10 hold all its sessions closed.
| AT this point she paid a high tribute
| to the local teachers, saying IL would
be hard 10 find a better, more self-re-
spectiHg set OF men and women This
was in connection with a published
| statement made by some one that open
| sessions of the board might reflect on
! teachers occasionally. She said the
| teachers do not fear the open sessions.
The assertion was made here yester-