The Connecticut labor news., 1924-11-08
FORCES
 AHEAD AS LABOR
 RAISES STANDARDS

By International Labor News Service. made by the National Education Association reveal that in the period since 1880, which has seen the greatest progress of the modern labor move ment and a consequent general ad- vance in standards of living, decided progress has been made in reducing l ignorance and illiteracy.
 Educational tests taken by hundreds 1 of thousands of >men in the military services during the World War showed that there is a surprising amount of illiteracy in this country, which led to belief in some quarters that little or no progress is being made in educating the nation. Education is gaining, how ever, and has been making its greatest strides with the shortening of working hours, improvement in working con ditions, higher wages and wider diffusion of material well being. Fewer IlIiterates Now.
 "The pub1i cschools,' says the Ma tional Education Association, "have lifted the general level of education in the United States. In 1880 there were o,23oo58 i1literates-those who had no schooling whatever In 1920 there were 4,931,oO in this class. One person in every six in 1880 was without schooling At the present time, one in 17 has had no school training.
 Despite the fact that schools are still virtually non-existent in some communities and that millions of for eign-born illiterates have been admit ted since 1883, there has been some progress made in reducing the total number of illiterates. Each 10 years since 1890 has shown some decrease in the number of people in the United States who have bod no schooling whatever
 Charts made by research workers of the Education Association show wildly the educational progress of the nation and demonstrate that school attendance has increased more rapidly than general population
 Education Beats Population.
 One chart shows that if the popu- lation of the United States had in creased as rapidly as school attendance. the population in 1922 would have been 216,227, ,633 instea dof 10o,248, ,393 An even more astonishing comparison is made in regard to high school attend ance, chart pointing out graphically that if the population had increased as rapidly as its high school enrolment since 1890 the general population would now reach the tremendous total of o87, ,8o1, ,581l
 Another chart shows that any one of five states-Illinois, Ohio, Pennsyl- vania, California or New York-had more pupils enrolled in public high schools in 1920 than the whole nation had in 188O
 The education association says that part of the increase in school atten- dance is due to the enactment and bet ter enforcement of compulsory atten- dance laws, which have been strongly supported by organized labor.
 Schools Aid Workers.
 The importance of good education as a condition to success in ones work is stressed by the education association. Good schools means efficient workers in every walk of life, says the asso- citation, which adds:
 "The foundation for vocational eff cheney is laid i'll the public school. No question is more generally asked by employers than, How much schooling have you had?' It is recognized that the successful completion of public school course guarantees the basic general training and many of the spe- cific skills that are essential to quick aptitude in any line of work.
 "The workers in states have have maintained strong school systems dur ing the past generation are now earn ing nearly twice as much as those in states that have given less attention to public education"
 POPULAR GOVERNMENT
 oNI EDUT~ATUoN