The Penn's Grove record., 1919-12-26
Monogram Theories A Failure

Unless the incomingi Legislature
provides money for additional salaries
for the so-called "helping teachers" in
the rural school districts of the State,
the continuation of this branch of the
State school teaching force may have
to be abandoned. This is the decla-
ration of State Commissioner of Edu-
cation Calvin N. Kendall. There are
now twenty-four of these teachers
and they should be increased to fifty,
he says. The law fixes their salary
at $1,000, out of which the helping
teacher must pay all her own expenses
and most of them must have an auto
mobile in order to get from one coun-
Try school to another quickly. DR..
Kendall is also pounding on the argu-
ment that there must be more COM
~pensation for school teachers gener-
ally. He also recommends that the
school law be amended SO that the
schools may be kept open on election
day, except where the buildings are
used as polling places. He says it
costs $4,000 a day to operate the
New Jersey schools, and a day means
a loss of $4,000 to the State.
The above has been put out by the
head educational authorities of the
State as a propaganda. We endorse
abolishing election day as a holiday
for schools, also labor day, Columbus
day, Lincoln's birthday, Washington's
birthday, New Years day, Good Friday
and Memorial day, because the teach
ers have too many holidays on Satur-
days and the. children lose too much
valuable time thereby. 1t would be
well to have special exercises on those
days relating thereto but no holidays
to be paid for by the taxpayers, who
pay $40, 900 for each day for which
they get nothing and the children run
wild.
The Teachers Institutes should be
held on Saturdays for which teachers
get pay, while the taxpayers and
children get nothing. The Institutes
give mostly an opportunity for good
pay to exploit some hair brain fad or
theory, mostly detrimental to solid,
sound, fundamental, technical educa-
tional values.
Why should there be helper teach
ers at such big pay ? Is it because
many teachers are failures Would
putting more money in their pockets
put more brains In their heads !
Would raising the salaries of teachers
to $500 a year make all as compe-
tent as teachers helpers 2 Why are
so many incompetent Z
Our answer is this:
In the last ten years New Jerseys
school system has been raised from a
County unit system set by tine County
Superintendent formerly founded on
uniformity of text books to a State
system founded on scatter brain mon
ogram theories.
Calvin Kendall, the State School
Commissioner, now howis that the
schools are failures, and the teachers
are failures, because they are not get
ting as much salary as he isy $4,000
a year.
AS an old citizen, taxpayer and
parent of children who have gone thru
public schools and Colleges, we fail to
see where raising the State Commits
sioner's salary has put more brains
and good Judgment in the head of the
school system of the State.
In fact, New Jersey has no system,
DuC IueOTleS do AdAy dilu
May as the milky way. Conse-
quently each teacher does not know
where they are at. Formerly the
County Superintendent said, eff you
learn what was in certain books, two
or three on a subject, you should be
able to teach that subject" Formerly
County Superintendents superintendent
education and were teachers helpers.
Now they are statistical tools, sup
piled with a clerk to do that work, and
figure heads to look wise and whip up
the taxpayers for bigger school houses
and higher salaries.
Do not misunderstood us that we
are opposed to education. 1T is only
the method which the State Commits
sioner, after ten years experience, is
bowling has become a failure. Mark
Hopkins sitting on a log was a uni
versity, but Calvin Kendall admits his
public school system is a failure by
bowling for more money. Money
never gave brains, but brains acquir-
ed wealth, industry and education.
AS to systems and methods we may
speak another time.