Evening star., 1921-10-19
|AVERSU.S
EDUCATIONAL CRISIS
President Speaks at William
and Mary on Need of
More Teachers.
BY the Associa ted Press

| WILLIAMSBURG, Va. October 19.-
| Declaring the nation confronts an
| educational crisis" through lack of
| teachers and public school facilities.
| address here today for patriotic sup
port Of an educational system COM
\ mensurate with national resources.
Must Have More Teachers.
| II wish it were possible" said the
President. "to drive home to the
| whole American people the cohvic-
| ton of needed concern for our edu-
cational necessities. We must have
more and better teachers. and to get
| them the profession must be COM
pensated as it deserves
Mr.. Harding spoke before a gath
ering of students and alumni of the
college of William and Mary, as part
| of a ceremony which inducted DR..
]. A. C. Chandler into the presidency
of the institution. An honorary de-
gree was conferred on the chief ex-
ltinguished group of government Of
ficials after delivering an address
during the morning at Yorktown.
'It is no exaggeration." said
President Harding. Ito say that the
nation confronts an educational
crisis. From every corner of the
land. from country. town and city,
i
| ing capacity for our public schools Is
Inadequate; that tens of thousands of
pupils have no place for their studies;
| that teachers cannot be listed In suf-
| ficient numbers, and that school rev,
enues are insufficient 1t may be said
have been drawing on our capital. in
| stead of spending the annual incre- :
ment only; we have been taking the
| teachers away from the schools. and and
leaving a constantly increasing deficit
| in our capacity to turn out that PROD
uct of disciplined minds which only
can be insured through ever-expand-
ing facilities.
Glad 1t IL So.
LET me hasten to add that this is
not a condition which leads US to pes
simism or misgivings. 1 would not
wish it to be otherwise. No people
ever approached the lavishness with
which, from public revenue and pri-
vate purse. Americans have given to
support education. yet, the more gem
jerously we provide today the greater
is the deficiency tomorrow: and I am
glad it is thus So long as the eager
nets for education outruns our most
generou provision Of facilities there
will be assurance that we are going
ahead. not backward. So long as
find that the proportion OF public rev.
enue properly devoted to education is
l desire to be counted
among those in public life ready ana
anxious to struggle with the prob
lem Of raising the necessary revenues.
II wish it were possible for US to
drive home to the whole American
people the conviction of needed con-
Germ for our educational necessiti
We must have more and better teach
ers, and to get them the profession
must be compensated as it deserves.
1 would lift up a Macedonian call in
behalf of our schools and colleges to
men, and women who feel the urge to
public usefulness. More even than
money and endowments. our educa-
tional establishment needs the de-
vout, unselfish sustaining support of
people moved by instincts OF patriot
ism and service.
Colleges Reflect Unrest.
T am not sure that our young
people are living up to that full
estimate of an education's worth. l
doubt II there is as much of plain
living and high thinking in academic
shades as there was once or well
might be now. I can not prescribe
| the cure, but much Of the unrest OF
! the world today is chargeable to our
living too rapidly and too extrava-
gantly. and colleges have seen the
reflex of it.
"Along with all this there is the
| obligation to maintain and encourage
| the smaller colleges, among which
zone is entitled to claim SO romantic
! and appealing a history as the instl !
| tuition whose guests we are today. 1t
| is the small college that democratizes
| the higher education. that brings 1t
within the vision and means of the
average young man and woman. We
hear much of the traditions of famous
universities. but II we look into them
we commonly find that they concern
men, men who have stamped their
personalities, who have given Of their
generous natures. who have colored
the intellectual atmosphere about
| them. And men who are big and
strong enough to do that are as likely
to be found in the modest as in the
impressive environment"