New Britain herald., 1925-04-04
SCHOOL ECONOMY
 REAPS ILLITERACY Such Is Argument Advanced for
 Higher Teachers Pay
BY GEORGE IT. MANNING

'
 Washington, D, C., April {. - Believing that the welfare of the children in American public schools depends primarily on the salaries offered to their teachers. the Ma tional Education association has just issued the most comprehensive report ever compiled on public school salaries. It covers the salary facts of over half a million ad- ministrators, teachers and other employees for the year 1924-25.
 The facts are plain,' says the report. They show that the sal aries which a community pays its teachers determine the quality of the teachers who draw them. Those which have sown economy in the past are today reaping illiteracy.' When a school hoard employs q teacher 1t is buying the future Of the children In the community 1t serves, and professional teachers with broad outlook can not be had at penny-wise salaries"
 In dollars paid the-report shows that schools In towns and cities are generally giving slightly higher sal aries now than In 1922-2S. High school supervisors and directors in the larger cities have received the greatest increases, and high school principals have also substantially benefited. The teachers in elemen- tary and high schools show a slow steady gain, but the greatest in any case. There is. moreover, q marked tendency for the salaries to decrease as the cities grow smaller.
 That brings us to the problem of country schools, and here the re- port shows a distinct decrease In salarie over 1922-23. The average salary for 112,1s1 teachers in one room little red schoolhouses' is only s755 a. year, s1O lower than for the same group in 1922-25. In the larger rural schools a similar de- crease persists.
 Salaries paid rural teachers" says the report, constitute one of the weakest spots in our American educational system"
 There Is another point which must be considered before deciding whether teachers are growing rich or or poorer the cost of living, the purchasing power of their ac- tual wages. Teaching has always been considered a rather sacred. self-eacriicing business, and mo true teacher" says the report, thinks primarily of salary"
 "But every teacher covets an in ! come which will make possible Q l life richer and full in order to he ! able to meet the challenging op- ! portunities Of the schoolroom. A teacher who has a standard of liv- ing which permits her to live in comfortable quarters, whose eve nings are not spent making over last years clothes, doing the weeks laundry. and nursing petty ills, brings 10 her classroom. vigor. en- { thusiasm. selt-respect and initia- | tive"
 The figures showing the purchas- ing power of teachers salaries go , back to 1913, the pro-war year usually taken as q fair, normal cost l of living basis.
 Although the average salary has increased 1SS per cent in dollars. | in purchasing power 1t has increased | but 10 per cent, and many teachers covered by the report are unable to purchase as much as they did in 1913.
 The National Education associa- ton makes no attempt at explana- tion in this report. It simply pre- sents facts. which suggest many things 10 the reader - the effect | of salaries. of increased opportuni- ties for the college graduate who has additionally become a teacher, the trek" of the pro- spective rural school teachers to the cities, the power Of organiza- ton in fighting the salary battles of the teachers.
 In this connection it is interest ing to note that President Green of the American Federation of Labor has just sent letters to his organ izers urging assistance in the union- izing of school teachers.
 We recognize" writes Mir. Green. that the teacher Is the key 10 pub lie school development and we, therefore, welcome an opportunity to help teachers in their voluntary to promote their vel fare as a condition preliminary to bettering teaching"