The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-08-14
WOMAN'S VOTE AND THE EDUcA-
TIONAL CRISIS.

VOTE AND THE EDUcA-
TIoNAL CRISIS.
The public school system of the
United States lies on the highway of
progress as complete a wreck as the
shay" This fact is so OBJ
vious that the bald statement of it
may be deemed by some a bromide.
In studying the foundations of the
collapsed structure, it is plain that
the ruin beheld today might have &c
Cured any time during the past de-
cade. Wobbly and antiquated, the
economic strain of the past four years
proved the overload, writes M. B.
Downing in America. FOrty-tWO men
out of every hundred public school
teachers a the, percentage forty
years ago. From figures collected
through Congressional order in 1918,
the male teachers employed in the ma
tional schools was sixteen out of ev-
cry hundred and though no actual fig
ures, are Obtainable since that date,
there are indications that this slight
that the teachers in the public schools
of this current year are about ninety
five per CEN women. Ask any man
of affairs in any section of the cOun-
try why this condition exists and he
will answer, quite ~unabashed, because
women will teach for lower salaries
than men. That they are better pre-
pared for the work or because of
their sex and presumable love Of chill
dren, can grapple with the details
more efficiently, never enters into the
problem at all. They are cheaper or
were until three or four years ago.
Now things are different, and in this
is the crisis.
Woman's Rights.
The country is hearing much about
the right of women to vote. In some
States the question is still d%ebatable
while in others it has been imperious
ly denied that women are people
or have any privileges along with their
civic obligations. Other States, and
some of these are among the most
populous and progressive in the Union
have graciously admitted that woman
may be considered the equal of mar
and that if she wants to vote, she
should be granted that privilege
Wherever has a vote, surely
this educational crisis should make
an instant and insistent appeal. Il
is a duty which has been bestowed
with, the ballot, a problem to be set
tied, not as an eXpedient or a pOlitica
lever to turn a trick, but to be ad
justed calmly, justly, intelligently.
Purifying politics and elevating the
national mind are fine as battle cries
But this duty in the schools is a work
compelling. If women merging their
best efforts a bring even a limited
degree of order into the chaotic condi
tons which the nation faces when an
other school year opens, they will
have justified their demand to vote
even to the most .intolerant solon from
beyond the Mason and Dixon's line.
Salaries Are Low.
In this grand, opulent, forward-strid.
ing country, where billions may be
lent without interest to certain foreign
powers, the average salary paid in the
elementary grades of our schools is
$500; in the high schools, the average
is $1,O31: figures which proclaim elo
quently why men long ago gave w
teaching and permitted their sisters
to take over the honors. In detail
the salaries paid by States present
many surprises. For instance, a short
time back the Empire State gave its
teachers in the elementary grades al
average annual salary just 1924 in eX
cess of that paid by the sparsely set
tied and certainly much less prosper
Gus commonwealth of Arizona, New
York bestowing 1916 and Arizona
1852. The small State of Connection
makes $1,027 the annual average sal
airy, and California is a close SECOND
with $1,O22. The District of Columbia
has recently advanced it's average
from 1892 to $1,002, but the Distric'
schools were heavily hit by the ava
lanche of designations from it's mos
capable teachers, lured to the Govern
ment department by higher annua
ratings, less responsibility and a bet
ter chance of promotion under tn
civil service rules. Alarmed by tn.
present conditions, secondary grade
teachers are promised by the new law
$1,735 annually, whereas $1,000 to 81,
400 was all they could hope for befor'
the schools began to close at the ma
tional capital, n or two monthly dur
ing the first term, through lack o
teachers. West Virginia, quickened b!
the same condition, in her rural dis
tricts in particular, recently raiset
her annual average from $40S to 81,
057, thus securing first place in tn
average salary. But in the highe:
grades, a distinction was made be
tween the remuneration of women an
that of men, the former having a max
imum in high schools of $1,437, where
as those for men range into $3.50
to $1,000.
New .Iarsav oivnc an avaraoo n