Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-01-03
cal to Teachers to Capt.
laIize Educational POSSIBLE
tiles Of Present Stirring
Events
BY JESSE w. ARM1sTEAD

In stirring appeal to his teach
CTS at the beginning of the school
term last September, DR.. w. l.. Eft
finger. superintendent of public
schools of New York City, pointed
out the changing conceptions as to
the value and function of education
in our new national life, and the
new dignity and worth Of the teach
ers' work, and at the same time urg-
ing the Importance of the contribu-
ton the schools should make to
the Americanization movement He
says:
LAS we begin the arduous work
of the new school year, 1 deem it
my duty and also my privilege to
direct your attention to educational
factory solution, your broadcast vi
sion, your keenest intelligence, and
your resolute application"
He says that as a partial COM
pensation for the dreadful carnage
and the appalling devastation which
the war has wrought there has been
spiritual awakening in which the
scales of ignorance, bigotry and
mammon worship have dropped from
the eyes of the people, leaving them
with a clearer insight into the fun
damentals of individual and of ma
tlOndl lie.
LAS our schools are the nations
most potent instrument in the devel-
Opment of national IDEALS" DR.. Et-
finger says, cit would be strange in
deed if the world crisis did not COM
pei changes in our conceptions as to
the value and the function of educa-
ton as a phrase of our institutional
life. We are called upon to scru-
tinize anew our work in terms of
our underlying theories, our meth
DDS of instruction, and our discipline
in order that through reflection we
may acquire that freshness of vi
sion, that truthfulness of aim and
sary to insure the salvation of our
democracy through the proper train
ing of our future citizens"
What is the truth concerning the
value Of the work in which we are
engaged?' he asks, and answers the
question by stating that the results
are apparently intangible, difficult Of
measurement, and often at seeming
variance with the immediate de-
mands of commerce and industry
selves and our allies have demon
strated one fact above all others, it
is that the moral fiber, the morale
of the nation, is more vitality signifi-
cant than any degree of material
prosperity, and, moreover, that it's
qudllIy IS lIlS lIu1ldSS O1 d proper
educational system. Not the last
line, but rather the first line of de-
Tense, is the public school system of
our land, and it is no eXaggeration
to say that the battles of tomorrow
are won by the schools of today
should lend an increased dignity,
a deeper seriousness, and an enhanc-
ed value to the work of the public
school teachers, and should Undue
them with a proper conception of
their responsibilities and capabili-
ties for molding the lives of the flu
ture citizens of our great country.
Should not cynicism, negligence and
give way to the same
degree of optimism, reSourcefulneSs
and proWess that was expected Of
General Persh1ng and his staff when
ger asks. He says the teachers who
were the soldiers behind the far
flung battle line, and into whose
hands is intrusted the training of
our country's most precious heritage,
should SO saturate themselves with
the needs of the vital present and
the demands of promising and urg-
ent future, that our professional at
titude, our methods of instruction
and our means of discipline will be
a reflex of our matured point of
view"
AeAp LII A1lSTICGT1ZaCIOn
1t has been generally assumed on
the part of teachers, that teaching
of AmericaniSm rests mainly with
evening schools continuation classes,
parents associations or community
While it is true that these
organizations should enter whole
heartedly in the characterization
duty of the teacher to in
culcate this great principle. "Effec-
tive as these agencies are" says DR..
Ettinger, "it is the beneficent null
tiple Influence of the day school
teacher, exerted throughout the
the pupils that insures the transfer
nation of the alien home and the
foreign neighbOrhoOd. Do all you
can to promote the success of this
work among adults,
but do not forget that the children in
your schools are the treasure bearers
to the foreign home of that language
equipment, that generous enthusiasm
for institutional life, and those hab-
it's of orderly living which constitute
the essence of American ideals"
higher Rewards for Teaching
TO maintain our school organiza-
lions at a high level of efficiency,
1t is necessary to have an adequate
supply of competent teachers. The
draft rules of war took from the
schools sens many good teachers, and the
high wages offered clerks in govern
mental departments and necessary
industries, and the patriotic desire
to render service to their country,
made a still greater drain upon the
women teachers. The teaching stats
became so depleted throughout the
country that it became necessary to
ask the government to make the
work of teachers an essential indus
try, and to grant deferred classical
ton to those coming under the draft
rules, in order to insure the proper
of the schools Now
that this patriotic service has been
rendered and peace is assured, it be-