The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1920-01-31
RURAL SCHOOLS NOW
IN SERIOUS PLIGHT
Teacher Shortage Hits Them
Hardest and Thousands Are
Forced to Close.

BY A. J.. eLENNIE,
Former. President of New Jersey State
Teachers Association.
Rural schools all oyer the country
are being forced to close for lack OF
teachers, and thousands of country
children are now deprived of the edu-
c%ational advantages so long regarded
as the birthright of every American
child.
Official reports from many states,
New Jersey included, show that the
rural school has been the first to feel
the teacher shortage, which became
acute last year when a%pproxima, ely
$4,000 teachers in the United States
abandoned their profession. And as
the exodus Of teachers into better pay
ing occupations still continues, the
plight of the. rural schools is becom-
ing ever more serious.
Recently Frank 2. Gilbert, Deputy
Superintendent of Education of New
York, reported the closing this year of
1000 rural schools in that state. The
New York department also reports
5000 vacancies in the states teaching
force, chiefly in the country districts.
Authorities of other states have issued
similar warnings.
Few Teachers Left.
Inadequate salaries have driven so
many teachers out of the profession
that the number left is far below the
country's needs. The low salaries have
also diverted to other occupations
many young men and women who
would now be preparing to become
teachers if the teaching profession
had held out to them a living wage.
The dearth of good teacher material
Is the o alarming feature of the
present educational crisis.
In a warning sent officially to the
secretaries and district clerks of
Boards of Education In New Jersey,
Commissioner Kendall says the city
of Trenton proposes a minimum salary
of SLIGO and a maximum of $1,000
for primary teachers, while East Or
ange proposes to pay a minimum sal
airy of $1,000 for its women teachers
and a maximum of $500.
Urging that 1.-The country child
should besgiven a square deal In New
Jersey the commissioners says
There Is d very serious teacher
shortage in New Jersey at present and
this shortage will be much more acute
next year unless salaries are material
ly raised.
disaster threatens many of the
schools in New Jersey unless salaries
are made attractive to young women
"The average salary of teachers in
New Jersey has increased In six years
27.3 per cent. The cost of living has
increased 70 to ITO per cent during the
same time.
Salaries Inadequate.
"These two sentences explain why
young women are not going into teach
ing.
when. | speak of raising teachers
salaries / also recommend substantial
increases in the salaries of superin-
tendents and principals. The cost of
living has borne heavily upon these Of
f1cers, and scores of good men and wO-
men have withdrawn from teaching
because they have felt that they could
no longer remain In it.
"a good superintendent or principal
is worth his >or her weight in gold in
the efficiency of a good school system,
and a board of education does well TO
recognize that fact.
"Our young women who would 9TH
erwise go into the reaching profession
are now going into offices and other
employments in very large numbers,
where both the pay and the work are
more attractive in the estimation of
these young women than the pay and
work of the schoolroom."
When teachers were plentiful the
rural schools Jared well and maintain
ed their standards despite the higher
salaries and greater opportunities for
professional and financial advance,
ment in the cities. But they have been
hit hard by the teacher shortage.
Committees to Blame.
OF the 100000 inadequately trained,
immature teachers who have been
called into the schools of the United
States in recent months by far the
greater number have gone to rural
districts. The inevitable result has
been a lowering of educational stand
ards. Now that the low salaries fail
to attract even those without training,
and educational bankruptcy is threat
ening the country, the rural schools
are the first to be put out of business.
And the business of the public school
is to mould the mind and inspire the