The Wilmington morning star., 1947-03-09
The Crisis
In Schools

THEnation's educational budget
i is around $780, 600, 900 "a
quarter of what it spends each
year on such luxuries as tobacco
and alcohol. Broken down, this
means the country's 861 ,845 teach
ers in the public school system receive
an average weekly salary of $37. 02. It
ranges from the $15.47 in Mississippi
to $59.96 in New York.
The lot of teachers, even in New
York where the state voted a $500
annual cost-of-living increase last
month, is not a happy one. Living
costs since 1889 have risen So percent.
Teachers in alarming numbers have
been leaving the profession for such
jobs as laborers, clerks and barten-
ders. In a score of places throughout
the country, teachers have gone ON
strike.
Biggest Strike in History
In Buffalo, N. Y, the city's Z 1000
public school students were back in
class after an unscheduled weeks
vacation caused by the largest teach
erS' strike in history. More than 2,400
teachers in the Buffalo Teachers Fed
Grafton Gan independent union) re-
jected a report by Gov. Dewey's spe-
clal education committee and demands
by the state educational commissioner
that they remember the children's
welfare and 60 back to their desks.
After n week, they voted to ac-
cept a pledge by Mayor Bernard ].
Dowd of pay increases of $500 to $625
for the 1947-48 school year, provided
the state legislature authorized addi-
tlonal taxes for the purpose.
Striking teachers originally de-
manded an immediate $1,O25 increase,
a $500 cost of living bonus and a
$4,000 minimum for beginners. The
existing scale ranges from $2,175 to
$3.50 In elementary schools and
from s2,175 to $2,975 in high schools.
Teacher Migration
Many New England teachers are
reported gravitating to the west for
more money and freedom to marry
while teaching if they desire. Many
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women teachers to resign if they
marry.
DR.. Willard B. Spalding, superin-
tendent of Portland, Ore, schools,
said 20 percent of the eastern e1e-
mentary teachers he has contracted
for next year were from Boston and
environs. He cited as typical the Ease
OF one Boston elementary teacher now
earning $1,400 a year, hired to teach
in Portland next fall at $500 and
guaranteed a $500 a year increase.
Delinquency Problem
Money, however, is not the root of
all teacher problems. Educators discuss
at almost every association meeting
the rising problem Of juvenile delin-
quency and the difficulty of trying. to
teach and keep order.
In C%learview, Ohio, the faculty Of
26 arrived at one solution.
School superintendent T. c. Simp-
. son called an assembly to try and
straighten out student-teacher differ
ences after 300 pupils walked out Of
classrooms. The walkout occurred
after the high school principal re-
portedly slapped a students face after
a bean-shooting incident. Students
presented a list of demands, including
Cd better teaching, (2) better coach
ing, CD more dances.
Superintendent Simpson started to
talk amid loud boos and hooting. He
kept on but the c~atcalls increased
until he couldn't be heard.
Mass Resignation
Simpson stopped, walked across the
platform to Chandler Thompson, pres
ident of the Clearview School Board.
"The teachers can't take any more"
he said. Were resigning in a body"
The designations left more than 400
elementary and high school pupils
without teachers. Said one of the
student strike leaders the day after
teachers had quit: eve wouldn't have
started this if we had known it would
go this far"