Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1921-03-16
FOR BETTER SCHOOLS.
Boosters Club Urges Larger City
Appropriation.

III community Ilhc OURS, Ill
things wait on education-public
health, material wealth, civic right
eousness, political power, social puri-
ty, spiritual ideals and individual
happiness. The public schools, nom
partisan. non-sectarian, non-exclu-
sive, are, of all our organizations, the
| most important. The efficiency and
the effectiveness of the schools de-
pend almost wholly upon the teach
| ers-their education, their general
culture, their professional knowledge
and their technical skill. Teachers
| in our public schools are our most
important public servants. Upon
them, as upon no others, depends the
public veal in which the individual
welfare is bound up.
1t is generally agreed that the
minimum of preparation for teach
er in the cities of the State should
be not less than two years of edu-
cation beyond graduation from a
four-year high school. A careful es-
innate indicates that the proportion
of our teachers who have reached
this minimum is not more than one
in six. Only three teachers in ELS
worth, then, have any preparation
beyond the high school, and many
have not taught long enough to ac-
quire the skill which comes from ex-
Derience. Where can one find an
other city employing only three
teachers having normal school edu-
cation?
Remembering that the teacher
makes the school, and that the
school can never be better than the
teacher, what can we expect from
conditions such as these?
There are probably many causes
for this low standard of preparation
of teachers and short terms of ser
vice, but the most important is the
low pay. In the country at large
teachers have never been paid sala-
ries in keeping with the importance
of their work, and Ellsworth is pay
ing less than is paid in the country
at large The salaries paid in ELS
worth have never been sufficient to
attract and hold in the schools but
few MEN and women of the best
native ability, positive and agrees
sive in character, well educated, and
possessed of professional skill and
knowledge.
What" the average citizen ex-
claims, ARE we never to hear the
end of the starving teacher? Has
not her salary been raised? Did
not the city settle all this last
spring, when the board of aldermen
increased the teachers salaries?"
If you are one of those who be-
lieve that everything must have
been done to make the teacher a
happy and satisfied worker-shorn
of the fear that next month might
find her unable to pay her board
bill, let us quote for you few
figures. How can you expect the
experimenting school committee
and superintendent of schools to
hire skilled and experienced teach
ers for SIS a week, when other
towns and cities are paying $25 and
$50 per week? Do you not see
what they are up against when they
attempt to fill vacanies? 1t is our
duty to see that the schools have
sufficient funds to pay as much for
teachers as other cities, for our boys
and girls are as worthy as those in
these other towns and cities of the
State.
The following figures are self
explanatory:
Average salary of element
airy teachers for 1920-21 $4,000
Average salary of high
school teachers, men,
for 1920-21 1,776.OO
Average salary of high
school teachers, women,
1920-21 1,117.00
The following table shows the
average pay of teachers in Maine
counties: