Evening star., 1953-05-10
By SomueI EneIe Burr, Jr.
)enoytrn0nf az Edueotion AmaEicon univays;fV

!, American University
teacher to have q degree now"
I explained. Can you trans
fer your credits to us and do
two years of college work to
complete a degree program?"
"Oh, no! I wouldn't want to
do that. I'd just like to take a
Saturday morning class and
brush up on what's new. Then
I could start in a teaching po-
sition next September"
Getting Around the Low
A superintendent Of schools
from a border State told me a
few days ago he cannot secure
enough certified teachers to fill
his vacancies for next Septem-
ber. We'll hire some of our
high school graduates to take
care Of certain elementary
school classes" he said. These
young people aren't hired as
teachers. which would be IL
legal. They will be hired as
assistants" Eighty children
will be assigned to each GER
titled teacher and each teacher
will have one Of these "as-
sistants." They will have two
classrooms. next to one an
other. The teacher and the
assistant can trade places sew
eral times each day. OF course,
the teaching program will suf-
fer. But what eleSe can we
do?" the superintendent asks.
Recent increases in public
school enrollments are not
temporary but permanent
changes in school populations.
All Of our pertinent statistics
indicate that the public school
enrolment in the United States
will not decline in the forsee-
able future.
Some educators have predict
ed that movies, radio, televiSion,
tape recordings and other de-
velopmentS in the general field
of communication will make
it possible for any teacher to
direct the learning activities of
more and more students. No
practical results of this sort
have been reported in our
schools up to this present date.
Such methods can and should
be used in schools, but they
should be used by the class
room teachers.
If SemiproS are to barred,
however, several steps should
be taken. and the sooner the
better for our public school
children.
The most effective step would
be making the teaching pro-
fession more attractive. On a
comparative basis. teaching
now ranks rather low in tangi-
BILE rewards. Young people
soon learn that they can look
forward to higher pay, less re-
sponsibility and better work.
ing conditions in other occupa-
tions.
Glasses Too Large
The rate of pay is not the
only item to be taken into ac-
count when choosing a voca-
ton. In some schools, the
classes are too large. Not only
do the pupils suffer when the
teachers are overloaded with
pupils - the teachers suffer,
too. They have more papers to
mark, more records to keep,
more adjustments to make for
individual students, more par
ents to contact, more little odds
and ends of work to accom-
plish, day after day.
And class work is only a part
Of the modern teachers job.
The extra-curricular program
or co-curricular program of
the schools has grown and ex-
panded in all sorts of ways.
Club work. excursions, assem-
bly, programs, home-room pro-
grams. sports, games. dra-
matics. and a host of other
extras" have to be planned,
directed. guided and super
vised. This means that the
teachers job never comes to
an end-there always is some
lesson or some activity that
can profit by more time and
more attention.
In various communities,
feacharc fool fhot fho1, ava I'm -