Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-02-19

THEPAY OF TEACHERS

the American school system Is IN
danger Of literally going to pieces.
II the pay of teachers ID not raised
substantially. and fmmediateiy. IS
the opinion Of the best educators
Ill over the country.
Teachers Is Q class are thorough
" disrusted with making over old
clothes. and living in third floor
ttll bedrooms, while they wait for
the country to wake up and show
appreciation Of their work. They
are too proud to strike. The only
vay out Of m impossible situation.
they find, is quietly to give up
their chosen profession, and that "a
what the best teachers IN the coun-
try are doing by thousands every
month.
In New York state over 1000
rural schools are closed for want
of teachers, and this condition is
repeated in other states. The ma
ticn's teaching army Of $4,000 lost
1.s 900 members last year, most OF
those who resigned being expert
enced teachers, the kind from which
mothers like their children to learn.
Some of their schools are closed.
In other cases the vacancies have
been filled by young girls with no
professional training-some with
out even high school diplomas.
1.-THE people of the United States
says Ernest L. Thurston. superin-
tendent of the public schools OF
Washington, do not understand
how vitality they are concerned in
this school problem. The other
night, when l was speaking before
a body of citizens, / asked them II
they realized that their children
will be taught less we'll next year
and the year after that, and II they
understood that fewer courses will
be offered in the high schools un-
less something is done to attract
competent men and women back to
the schools. Apparently they did
not. Before the meeting was over
however, they were alive to the
personal side Of the proposition
They began to see that adequate
nav for teachers was a desirable
thing from the standpoint of the
citizen and tax payer.
"The school teacher probably
sees more of the child during its
active waking hours than its mother
does, and she has nearly as grea'
an influence on its character and
ideals. So that il the children Of
today and tomorrow are to be
taught by young girls who care
lessly take up teaching until they
find something better, or because
they are not mentally equipped tt
do higher paid work, we can only
expect a lower class of citizens II
the next generation"
Mr.. Thurston believes congress:
can materially help the nationa
campaign for better paid teachers
Congress" said Mr.. Thurston
controls the pay Of teachers in thu
national capital, and when congress
fixes the wage scale for the teach
ers of the district in the bill nov
pending, it will show the entire
country just how it evaluates thu
teaching profession"
Where the legislators stand OF
tic matter of teachers pay, 1t il
not easy to prophesy. So far, NJ
great champion of the teachers ha'
arisen to defend their rights, in thu
present congress. The mind of con
gress is divided between a vague
understanding that something
ought to be done. and its we'll de
fined ideas of economy. The re
suit, probably, will be compro
mise between the $500 minimum
which the teachers ask, and tn,
present pay scale that is wreckin,
the morale Of the schools.
The action of congress on thi,
bill will set an example for thu
states, and will have somewhat tn,
effect of a supreme court decision
OF other bodies that consider ad
vances for teachers. II congress
does not meet the demands of tn,
Washington teachers. the shortage
will grow more and more acute
until in the end strenuous measure:
will be needed to bring the schools
back to any semblance of the oil
time efficiency.
It is no longer a matter Of offer
ing the teachers living wage, Mr.
Thurston believes, but the countr.
must at least give proper recogni
ton to a profession that is the yer.
foundation of national life. Raisin,
the teacher to the pay Of an ele
vator boy or a lunch room waitress
might have relieved the difficult,
once. Now the situation has gon,
so far that the best teachers SCI
no future in their work, and cal
be held in the service or callet
back to it only by much larger in
creases than have hitherto been of
fered. No one can blame tn,
teachers for giving up what ever,
one knows is a hard life and
ridiculously poorly paid one. TIL,
stories of teachers pay are equallet
in no other profession, unless, Per
haps, the ministry.