Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1921-11-26
Chambers Fourteen Points

II perintendent of Public Schools in
Richmond and now president OF William
and Mary College, has outlined the -four
teen points" around which will center what
it is purposed to make the greatest edu
cational campaign that ever has been con-
Quoted in Virginia. The State is ripe for
such a campaign. 1t has been hearing
much about the low level of its schools,
about its illiteracy, and it has been shamed
before the world by having its alleged edu-
cational shortcomings bruited abroad, even
If much Of il has been calamitous and spread
for political purposes. The facts are, as
those who have made n study OF conditions
know them, that educational conditions are
far from perfect; that, while rapid strides
have been made along the path OF ednca-
tional progress in the last few years, we
still have long distance to go before we
achieve the ideal system. But il is equally
true that we are not so far down the edu-
cational scale has been so repeatedly
charged and the State now is building on
solid foundation which in few years
should support as splendid an educational
edifce as any other State can boast
Each Of Mr.. Chambers fourteen points"
is pertinent to educational conditions here
but 1t would seem that above all Others that
of adequate financing should be stressed.
compulsory school laws, modern buildings,
county unit administration, and all the other
desirable -reforms which he would bring
about In the coming campaign are desirable
and necessary to the most effectively func-
tioning school system, but they all fall short
of the ends to which they are designed IL
the teaching force is inadequate in number
or lacking in preparation. And virgnia's
teaching force never will be what IL should
be until its individual units are paid salaries
NDYp ,nrO -,
OF preparation and mental energy would
bring in other vocations 1t sounds we'll to
talk about the glory of the profession that
trains the boys and girls to be good citizens,
and to pirate OF the deyotedness of the men
and women in that profession in Virginia
today, but even school teachers cannot pay
their bills In the coin of devotion or love or
seil-sacrihce. That 1t requires real money
tc live. and to continue study courses ncces-
sary to the progressive teacher to attend
normals and summer schools and meet all
the other expenses that n teacher must meet
should be evident to Virginia in the hun
dreds, even thousands, OF capable teachers
who have deserted the country schools in
virginia with their 'beggarly pittances mis-
called salaries in the last few years and
gone to other States which have backed up
their professions OF educational ideals with
a Willingness to dig down deep and come
forth with the money without which they
cannot be made real
Virginia is undergoing reawakening in
this respect. II is fast approaching the
realization. If it has not already arrived at
That goal, that miserable one-room schools
and wages from which the humblest artisan
would turn in scorn, do not tend toward
the upbuilding OF an educational system
such as it desires. II Virginia has reached
such realization and It is reflected in tie
incoming General Assembly, then the teach
ing profession will be put on a plane where
seif-respecting students and teachers can
engage IN 1t and still live decently. If that
realiZation has not been reached and the
needed financing is withheld then We will
deserve no better than what we can Inv
with our niggardly Offering in n market
where the scale is ascending and where
other States are bending their energies TO
OBTAIN the best at whatever price Vir
H'hia can no longer plead poverty. but u
VIII be compelled to plead criminal negu
gehce II II does not give its children the
best there is in the way of educa tional adj
vantagcs.