New-York tribune., 1920-02-18
Ettinger Resents Craig's
Plan to Cut School Classes
than approximate. 1t cannot be other
wise"
Women Principals
Called For In Plea

2'S~
Women Principals
Called For In Plea
A plea for more women principals is
made by the Teachers Interest Organi-
zation, in resolution which was passed
recently by that body. Copies of the
resolution have been sent to the cdu-
cational authorities.
There are twenty-five high school
principals in New York, the document
states and only one of them is wom-
an. Girls constitute majority of the
students, it is claimed, and they need
"the sympathetic guidance of woman"
Therefore the resolution asks for the
appoint of woman principal for the
new commercial high school for girls
in Brooklyn. The document concludes:
"And we further ask. in the interest
of the school and Of the city, that this
woman be one of such scholarship, Of
such wide experience and of such train
ing in the various commercial branches
that under her guidance the school may
take prominent place among the high
schools of the city"
A private school teacher, writing to
The Tribune, sees serious public
danger in the lack of qualified men
leadership for the boys of the new gen.
Grafton, unless adequate readjustment
of salary schedules is made.
"The public must wake up to the
straitened circumstances in which
men teachers find themselves to-day"
he says, "and that rousing must come
soon, or it will be too late. A man can
not be strong leader among young
people if he spends sleepless nights
trying to figure out how he can keep
his family fed, housed and respectfully
O1 1N$k MI ko I>
only a limited number Of times, normal
cost reduction systems are doomed to
break when present leases expire, and
patience nears the swapping state when
the renting agent, learning that the ap-
plicant has no dog but three children
instead, recommends that the children
be put into some charitable institution.
MANY men teachers have had to
dodge the 'fu,' make two suits last
three years, deprive their children of
music lessons. forget theaters, deny
themselves new books, and wear cour-
age to the quick in their attempts to
hold the teaching profession just high
enough for self-respect, to say nothing
of pride.
Men Instructors
Battle Poverty
"The strength of the men teachers
leadership may not have been noted by
the general run of taxpayers How
ever, it would seem safer for the well
fare of this city to keep that leader
ship calm, stalwart, and far-seeing
than to pinch it, exasperate it, and
drive it to proclaim the disregard and
contempt to which an unfeeling public
seems to have relegated it.
"The rolling ginwealth clothes manu-
facturer who cannot sign his own name
may escape paying some Of his income
tax by hastily employing the surplus
profit in building construction; but it
hurts college man Of some ideals to
have this same operator express his
pity for the poor dub of school
teacher who cannot pay him $125 a
month for fveroom clothespress
The men who nearly exhausted their
energies in the various war work &C
tivities on top of strenuous school work
in these restless years find service
weakly rewarded in abbreviated menus,
eliminated recreation, dire forebodings
about what the landlord will demand on
May l. and lace underwear once good
wool fabric that cannot hold patches
any longer, even though the winter is
severe.
I "How can such guides point aspiring
| youCn IN the way OF the teaching pro-
fession? The swirl of Sian hour snow
shovelers, $40 a week buttonhole
makers and fur-coated stenographer era
makes stiff current against higher
education ideals. Those teachers who
have stood at their posts in spite of
more attractive salaries in the COM
mercial field ought to get an immediate
vote of confidence from an apprecia-
tive public.
"An appreciative public will not wait
till the teacher is retired at the age of
seventy and then send him a testi-
monial that his fifty years of service
are duly acknowledged by the city. A
really appreciative public will make
that vote so substantial that the
teacher can provide for his family
without exasperating worry, and can
continue his work as if he had not lost
about all self-respect as we'll as all
hope for adequate compensation for
genuine service"