Evening star., 1955-11-13

efforts to encourage capable young
people to consider teaching as q ca
reer, and to remove roadblocks in
their way. More high schools are
giving selected students a chance at
flrsthand experience in helping
classroom teachers. and more advice
on opportunities and satisfactions in
teaching despite the evident draw
backs. The economic barriers which
prevent able students from going
to college, perhaps to become teach
ers, are being attacked by ex-
panded scholarship and loan pro-
grams.
Apart from these handicaps are
definite numerical limits to each Of
the three main sources Of supply.
We cannot expect, for example, to
achieve more than q moderate re-
duction Of the high turnover rate
in teaching, as now stated and
organized. Better salaries would
help retain many good teachers.
but statistically the bulk who leave
are young women headed for mar
riage.
There are limits, also, to the
number Of young people emerging
from college who are suited for
teaching. Our greatest promise lies
in the fact that the number Of
highly endowed college students
could be greatly expanded II eco
nomic and other barriers were re-
moved. Recent studies show that
more than half Of the top quarter
i'm intelligence of our high school,
are youth never enter college.
Nothing could do more to improve
the basic supply Of high quality
Inanp0wer for teaching and every
other field than wholesale improve
ment In the opportunities afforded
our abIest young people at every
level of school and college to develop
their potential to the fullest.
Pool Ii Limited
There are limits also on the NUM-
Der Of college e-educated adults avail
able for teaching. The Department
Of Labor estimates that there are
approximately one-half million
women college graduates under SIS
years old who are not employed and
who have no children under 5 years
old. Recent efforts TO recruit such
women have netted some excellent
teachers. But several studies indi-
cate that only . small fraction Of
the total are available for teaching.
An even more severe restriction
on the potential supply Is the
qualitative factor, A recruitment
policy which makes quality and
not numbers the paramount con-
sideration must start with the
premise that it Is better to have
one excellent teacher than several
mediocre ones. In this frame Of
reference, it would be no victory
for quality II We succeeded IN re-
tanning every teacher We now have.
or IN boosting teachings share
from the present 20 per cent up TO
30 per cent of all new college grad
uates without regard to quality. or
in attracting every degree holding
housewife into teaching.
What teaching clearly needs, II
the quality Of education Is to rise.
Il mot some fixed percentage Of the
total but q greater share Of the
highest quality sector Of each main
source Of supply. This means that
the overriding aim on the side Of
teacher supply should be, first, to
hold the best of our present teach
ers: second, to secure new teachers
only from the top quality ranks OF
our young college graduates: and
third, to attract into teaching only
the most competent Of older college
graduates. People Of this quality,
needless to say, will be the most
difficult to recruit and to hold, for
their very ability commands high
rewards, and prestige elsewhere.
We doAnot know--wc can scarcely
magine- --how large share OF the
Nations abIest manpower could be
attracted TO teaching and what this
might do for the quality Of the Ma
tion's future, for We have never
really tried. TO try would require
drastic changes In the salary
structure for teaching.
The Problem Of Money
1t is often said that If all teach
ing salaries were raised enough.
y the supply problem would be auto
matically solved. It Is doubtful II
the answer Is this simple.
The weakness Of the typical sal
ary structure in teaching n mot
simply that II q In general too low
but that It ID too rigid--toO narrow
from bottom 10 top. too unrelated
to ability and performance, and too
prone TO treat all teachers and AL
teaching assignments as u they
were essentially identical.
In many areas starting salaries
In teaching for young women COLI
lege graduates are on q parity with
COAAtkSCbtAtS 4AItAA1t tAt0ABAA tAAAFy ~ ~
generally below parity for young
men. But o talented young person,
choosing career, is likely to give
greater weight to how far and fast
he can rise than to where he starts.
BY this test teaching is enormously
handicapped. In almost every other
field ability Is q major factor in pro-
motion and there are a few very
high rewards at the summit to
which every young person can
aspire. Such promotion is often
facilitated BY q hierarchy Of Job
classifications through which an
outstanding person can rise.
Teaching has essentially only one
Job classification. few II any arr
rangements for advancement by