Milford chronicle., 1919-02-14

I
Actors-low annual salaries and In
adequate provisions for teacher train
ing. particularly for the training Of
Elementary teachers. The school term
is so brief thar annual salaries are
low, even though monthly salaries are
| fair. AS few schools in Incorporated
districts run more than nine months,
high school teachers receive an annu-
al salary Of approximately $S1O, ele-
mentary teachers an annual salary OF
about $685.. Rural teachers receive an
annual salary Of Approximately S42O.
The annual salary of cOlOred teachers
is approximately $315. These salaries
will not attract well trained and ex-
perienced teachers. '-.
As a matter of fact, while high
school teachers can he trained at Del
aware College and the WOmen's Col
lege Of Delaware, the state possesses
no facilities Whatsoever for training
elementary rural school teachers. Its
teaching corps is therefore largely un-
trained or ill-trained and distinctly
underpald The state cannot hope TO
have an adequate stan of good teach
ers in the elementary schools unless II
provides proper facilities for their
training and pays such salaries as
competent teachers require for their
support The report urges the i'm
portance OF adequate provision for
training teachers for both white and
colored schools
~ School Buildings.
The one room rural schoolhouses
throughout Delaware are with few ex-
ceptions OF a very old and convention
al type. One Of these exceptions is
the school in District "a, New Castle
county. There are practically no re-
cent buildings In Kent or New
Castle county; IN Sussex county,
where several schOOlhouses have
been built lately, attempts to intro
duce modern features into the build
iugs have mostly failed The situation
in villages having two and three room
schools is equally bad. The Du Pont
School and the Caesar Rodney School
are the only modern buildings TO be
found in small towns and villages.
There are a small number of older
buildings that answer fairly well.
Instruction.
Perhaps a fourth Of the rural schools
visited give a good type of old fash
toned instruction. The children are
vigorously held 20 their texts no use
is made Of the experiences gained at
home, on the farm, or in their environ
ment; nevertheless the pupils are in
fair way to master a substantial
body Of information and are receiving
what would formerly have been called !
"a good elementary schooling. .-e
The remaining rural schools are |
poor. The teachers, after one or two !
and occasionally three years In the
high school, merely 20 |
through the motions of school keeping. |
1t must be admitted thar war condi- /
lions, as well as Influenza, have this |
fall disorganized the schools TO an un-
usual degree Yet, so far as the work |
observed is concerned, very little diff
ference could be perceived In the
schools in question between the quality
of the instruction of teachers who had
lust entered the service or who had
returned after an absence of some
years and the instruction Of teachers
who had been continuously in service.
In respect 10 quality of instruction,
the situation in the larger villages and
towns is better. Yet, the best that can
he said of the elementary schools Of
the larger villages and towns is that
they do a fair type OF old fashioned,
formal, textbook work; the children
master the tools of learning-reading,
writing and arithmetie-and devote
some time 10 the study of physiology
and hygiene, geography and history.
But even in these schools the instruc-
tion is formal and bOokish 1t appeals
almost entirely to the memory, little
or nothing being done to train the
senses, cultivate observation, or to de-
velop the imagination. High school
is Of the same bOOkish type.
The situation Is complicated by irreg-
ularity of attendance. With attend
ance In Delaware us ii now is, it would
take children of the Incorporated dis
-ricts on the average about 10 years,
IF rural districts something over 10
years, and colored children about 20
years to complete standard ele- (
nentary course. In consequence, the
average child in Delaware actually
completes nothing like full elemen-
.ary course of study.
Expenditures Too Low.
The expenditures, state and local, on z
public education in Delaware are far {
90 low to secure good facilities or S
good teaching. Even the highest per t
.apita expenditure in any county or
district is, compared with what other
Jtates do, really low. Delaware buys :
low and cheap brand Of education.
not more than seven other
tates spend so little on education as :
delaware. ii is, hVwvvvr, sill truv 8
hat Delaware pays high for what il '
,ets. Indeed, II is difficult to see how a
state could get less for its money. b