United labor bulletin., 1914-08-15
SCHOOL TEACHERS
VIEW WITHALARM
Condemn Rockefeller and Car
negie Foundation Agencies
Pass Drastic Resolutions at Annual
AConvention Of National Educational
q Association: Comment on Action

ave view with alarm the activity Of
the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundation
agencies, not in any way responsible to
the people, in their efforts to control the
policies of our state educational institu-
tions; to fashion them after their own
conception and to standardize our
courses of study and to surround the
institutions with conditions which men,
ace true academic freedom and defeat
the primary purpose of democracy, as
heretofore preserved inviolate in our
common schools, normals and univer-
sites"
This was resolution adopted at n
conference of the National Educational
Association held in st. Paul last week.
A little message from the educators Of
the country to the owners of the coun-
try. telling them in a polite way that
they didn't think their conception OF
things was the proper thing to teach
the children, says the Minneapolis Labor
Press.
Is the Foe of Despotism.
The little red school house ON the hill
has always been the stumbling block in
the path of despotism. Carnegie ana
Rockefeller. crowned with millions OF
loot. now find even the school teachers
of the country rising in rebellion against
them. These two men. made famous by
the killings and murders Mt Homestead
and Ludlow. have in the past found it
an easy matter to tell professors what
they ought to teach by slipping substan-
tial sums into their pay envelopes. But
the common school, the bulwark of the
nation-the school that knows no creed
and knows no class. reserves the right TO
teach its people that Rockefeller and
Carnegie are not benefactors; reserves
the right to show them in their true
light as tyrants and oppressors.
Long live the public schools and may
the number of teachers who voice re-
bellion against the use OF tainted money
in our public schools and control OF OUT
public schools by those who own tainted
money increase as the years go by
The teachers have been taking an in
ventory. They have been finding out
just where they stand. how well off they
are in this worlds goods a. compared
with other people. and they find that in
many instances they receive less pay
than II costs to board prisoners They
find that carpenters and other artisans
earn more money than school teachers
do. II has started them thinking.
Begin to See the Light.
The school teachers have begun TO see
the light, and they are the light.of the
world. When they begin teaching little
Johnnie Jones and willie Brown. whose
fathers work hard every day for $3.50
per day. and are just as good and just
ss necessary in this life ss the man who
\kcnsns the factory they work in, the PEN
\iulum pretty soon starts TO swing the
right way. When Johnnie Jones and
Willie Brown begin to realize at the age
of 10 and l2 instead of the age OF 2s
and 70 that he who produces the wealth
Of the world is entitled TO n larger
share of IL than the producers now re-
oeive. II Is going to make the world
trcmble.
What the school teachers need Is what
all the workers need-organization.
When Johnnie Jones and Willie Brown
begin to learn at the age Of l2 years
instead Of 2s and 30 that II will be 10
their advantage TO have organization
and belong to a union, we call Marion
ID. Shutters attention TO the fact that
"the world will then b. moved exceed
ingly" And all this is going to happen
in the very near future. because the
teachers see the light and the teachers
are the light of the world.