The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-11-02


 ary of S4OO. It has been the plan to pay these college graduates $1OO more than is paid Normal school graduates, based on two years more work at $50 each, so that hereafter the initial sal ary for inexperienced college graduates, under the schedule recently adopted, will be s45O.
 It will be noted that it is provided in the teachers schedule that men and women teaching manual work should receive lower salaries, both minimum and maximum, than teacher of aca- demic subjects. At the present time, 1t cannot be questioned that it is more difficult to obtain competent teachers of manual training than 1t is to obtain teachers of the ordinary high school branches. The supply of such teach CTS is comparatively small. while everywhere the demand for men and women who have received technical training is large. On the other hand, whenever vacancy occurs among the
 teachers of academic branches, a
 large number of candidates, as a rule,
 apply for the position, whatever the
 salary. Many of them are excellent
 teachers worthy of consideration for work in our schools. It seems to me, II therefore, absurd, that a proposal | should be made to provide minimum and maximum salaries for teachers of
 manual work below that of other high
 school teachers,
 As expressing my views on this sub ject, I quote from the report of the |
 committee on schools submitted to the {
 board In June last:
 "The committee has made no at- | 2 tempt to establish a schedule of sal- [ aries for the high school It regards such a schedule as unnecessary and, ] in many ways, impracticable. The varying degrees of ability which will
 always be found among the teachers
 of high school like ours, the differ , ence in the importance of. many of , the departments of the school, the va n rying responsibilities placed upon many of the teachers the much larger supply of teachers in some subjects <: than in others-all these things must ' be taken into account in adjusting the : salaries of high school teachers. Un- r der these circumstances the committee 7 believes that high school salaries should be determined mainly by the value of individual teachers to the D school and by the ease or difficulty Q with which their places can be filled ?. should they retire. Length of service, l., while a factor, should not be deter n mining influence"
 e In the Hartford high school, one of
 the largest and best high schools in |, New England, there is no salary sched- 't ule, and the same general plan of ad- T. justing the salaries to the usefulness Ia of the individual teachers and to the l responsibilities of the positions they f. hold is followed there as here. <, It is only fair to add that in the e regular estimate for teachers salaries ,, already submitted to the board of ,e finance the board of education has in- ,l cluded the sum of $3,00O for the in- /" crease of salaries in the high school next year. The committee believes ~ that with this amount, such increases lo and readjustments can be made in " high school salaries as will make the " compensation of high school teachers III & fair and equitable return for services LII rendered.
 h. When he had finished reading, MT ry Wheeler was the first to speak. He de ge clared that he thought it mistake tC ms change the schedule so lately adopted on and that Mir. Morans argument seemed Iia to him an excellent and convincing on, to for not making any change.
 CT MT. Jackson said that he was strong p- ly against making any change. Fl gh said that MT. Wheeler had voiced hi -or sentiments very exactly. The increase su' he said, which was made in June, wa ny fair and proper one in his mind, nei HIS ther too much nor too little. We ar lu appointed here,' he continued, Ito eXer se else our best judgment and not to b o| carried along by public agitation or pc oe litical exlgences. The schedule mad 'A last spring was not made on the basi ol of supply and demand which woul eur have allowed us to make a still lowe tai schedule. If in the future board al should see that some change. should lns made they might make change, bl my it is not for us who made the increas D,io which seemed adequate in the spring -n change it now"
 ea t Colonel Ullman agreed with M .li9 Jackson. He said that it appeare M 4,. that the era of high prices of Twin sn had reached the summit and tn; e e while the claim of increased cost .n living had been good reason in u spring there was nothing in it to baS
 further increase over what was ,%S' that time considered adequate. H ene said the schedule as adopted scene "iS to him to have some flaws and SUI
 gested that the second year teach 'sed should be raised to $500 instead loy- $45o.
 ex- Dr. Spang was speaker for the i S75O crease. He spoke of the number I,-,, teachers who are resigning becau aiS they were getting higher salaries els loy- where, and stated that MT, Beede h. This lsmented to him that good teache ths r, were going away, and that he did n Ohe like it, as it was difficult task wo- find others qualified to take thu our places. He thought that this present the increase ts matter of supply a demand.
 MT, Whitney stated that he was mu bas impressed with the argument of N Moran. The schedule adopted in en- spring he said, was a tentative Q um- with the understanding that if impro'