New Britain herald., 1927-11-12
EDUCATION PAYS,
 VII. DAY CONTENDS
School Committeeman Reduces Problem to Dollars and Gents

In talk before members of the Parents and Teachers association of the Valentine E. Chamberlain school last night, School Committeeman William II, Day brought forth sev- eral arguments favorable to an edu- cation from the ninth grade through to high school education.
 Speaking on "The May or Must Of Education,' Mir. Day said the must is the education up to the sixth grade and the may is the edu- cation received in the years in high school. He explained that according to law a pupil is obliged to receive an education in the elementary grades but education above that is optional.
 Mir. Dat spoke as follows:
 "ThGre arc 19,5o1 children in the city of New Britain for whom the law compels us to provide educa- tion;H facilities so that they may eventually receive high school education. The law also stlpulates that every child shall attend school until he is IS years of age or has reached the sixth grade, in which case he can leave school after his l4th birthday. They may have a high school education; they must have common school education. It is the intermediate stage between ninth grade Gunior high schooD and high school graduation-tho period between the legal may at tcnd' and shall attend that l want to discuss this evening.
 '"The compulsory education law Is on the books to stay and there can be little fault found with it. Of course there will always be some 10 oppose any expenditure of public money for even so vital necessity as elementary education. Fortunate ly the tribe is on the decrease and wn shall waste no time in arguing with them.
 the sum of S1G0 per pupil per year : to provide facilities 10 enable the children to continue their education { beyond the point of compulsion. S This means a total cost of s4S0 per pupil for the part of his education acquired after be may legally go 10 work. Now let us see if it is worth the cost.
 "It we were convinced hy the arguments Of some Of those who are opposed to spending the citys funds your hard earned tax money-we would think that it was money wasted. But after listening 10 com |. plaints-most of them ridiculous for a year or so. a member Of the school committee becomes (shall l fay?) hard boiled.' For instance t man came to me with complaint about a waste of taxpayers money that he had discovered. He had found in one school building a room that vas not being used and vet was ! Sheated I told him that considering { the present oVercrowdcd condition Eof our schools, he was to bc con- !. graduated on having found an un- occupied room, and suggested that we extract it and transfer it-heat and a,I-to the Senior high school where it was so badly needed. His look of disgust was eloquent.
 Do not misunderstood me. I do not countenance needless waste, but twill make every effort to save money where the saving is worth the time and costs. But two things l do not believe in. The first is q penny pinching policy of hectoring school administrators into wasting valuable time over trivialilies. I do not agree .with the thrifty Yankee school com .mittc>man who wanted to save the shayings from lead pencils to use for l>indling and insisted on having the teachers instruct the youngsters to make small letters in order to sava ink. The second of my antip- athies is any economy which will result in depriving the youth of any educational advantage.
 Having stated my platform you can probably guess at my attitude toward, and my answer to, the qucs- tion 1 propoundcd short while ago, Is this additional education which the youth may have worth the cost? The question can be answered with two points of view in mind, the economic and the cultural, and in both cases the answer is 'les'-a positive and emphatic Yes.
 "hIost of the opposition to eXtend- ing the higher educational privilege is purely mercenary. AS taxpayers, some people object to spending the money; as parents, some think their children should be working and helping out the family income. Let us then answer them along finan- cial lines.
 we learned that it costs the city the sum of S4S0 to educate each purSl above the ninth garde. If he leaves scLool after his Junior high school graduation he will start work at about s14 per week. If he con- 1inues school for three years more his initial salary will be but slightly largev. say s15 per week. But with inc advances that will come on ac- count of his additional education thcrc will be marked difference in the relative positions at the end or douI, Vp9rS
 q do not want to bore you with figures and eAdless statistics but will summarize the comparative financial merits In this way: For the first ten years of his employment the average excess of wages of the high school graduate over those or inc junior high school boy will be about S4,5o per week, total of s2@t pot year.
 'ro put a cash value on any in tangible asset which contributes to our income we usually use ten ,.,o,. ho cic That means hat he high