Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-10-17
STATISTICS WILL
 TELL CONDITIONS
 IN ]. 5, SCHOOL 5
Chamber of Commerce Re. ports Received Yesterday
 for Compilation

New York, Oct 1e.-Chambers of Commerce in 359 cities of the Unit ed States with a population of s,G0O or more will receive today from their national committee for cooperation with the public schools the results of nationwide survey rela. ling to salaries, training and experience Of teachers in which it is declared that Tn point of salary the average school teachersis is 'worse off than before the war" The report, the first or four Interpretive inpuiries," will enable these cities, it is said, to learn for ,<the first time the truth about their own schools and to compare them with the schools of other cities throughout the country.
 This survey, which was undertak- CT by the American City Bureau af- ter conference of superintendents of schools with Chamber of Com last February 24. has been in pro- gress more than six months. The questions to which answers were sought and obtained in the 359 cities were: How much training do your teachers have? and How well do you pay your school employees 2"
 One half of the men elementary teachers in all cities reporting, it was shown have had less than the median of 8.10 years of experience. One fourth have had less than 371 years experience. Of 6s,291 teachers, 3, 493 have had only one years ex- perience and of this number 758 are men and women high school teach CTS and 2,735 are men and women elementary grad teachers. More than 10000 women and 300 men in cities surveyed, however, have been teaching 20 years and over.
 Alarming Conditions. -
 Emergency teachers lacking proper training for their work are said to compose ian alarming large propor- tion' of those now in the classrooms It is commonly accepted standard among city Board of Educations, the report points out, that the teachers in the elementary schools should be
  maj schools, which means two-year professional course above graduation from a four-year high school. "It is very signifieient to note in this connection" the report says, "that more than one-third of the teachers of American cities have less training than this low standard and that there are thousands of teachers in the elementary schools of our American cities who have even less preparation than graduation from four-year high school course"
 Declaring that national problems of illiteracy, Americanization, racial controversies, equalization of educa tional opportunity, health, industrial organization, require that the product of our schools be thinking Ameri- cans, provided with the knowledge and habits which will make them contributing members of a democrat ic society,"" the report says that teaching needs to be made real pro- fessIon" and that "adequate salaries are an absolute essential for the real ization of this ideal"
 The returns disclose what are de- scribed as many surprising facts concerning teachers salaries" The average increase the country over since 1913-1914 has been 50 per cent. The increase in the cost of living, meanwhile, it is shown, has been more than 100 per cent. 'In view of the decreased purchasing power of the dollar the average school teacher in the United States is, therefore, worse off than she was before the war;" the report states.
 The method of calculation used in the report is based on a median, or mid-point, in the scale Of salaries which divides it exactly in half, one- half the cases falling below the me dian and the other half apove it.
 The following cities, respectively, paid the highest and lowest median salaries during the school year 19l9-