American Ce; cher Democracy in Education; Educatfon for D \ocracy OFFICIAL ORGAN, THE AMERICAN FED RATION "OF TEACHERS Vor. V No. 10 NEW YORK, DECEMBER, 1916 ~——~~s0 Cents a YEAR FOUND! In Attention to Community Needs-- An Insight into Human Problems In Affiliation with the Men of Toil-- A Sympathy for the Common Lot In Devotion to the Public’s Service-- A Voice Among Men In Co-operation for Common Ends-- A Power to Dare and to Do By Teachers in Progressive Unions; Will not be Given up by Finders:-- But Will Be Shared with All Who | Join Them | THE PENSION PROBLEM f Paut STUDENSKY Bureau of Municipal Research, New York City III. THE NON-CONTRIBUTORY (OR FREE) SYSTEM* A NON-CONTRIBUTORY (or free) sys- tem, as stated in a previous article, is a retirement system operated entirely at the expense of the government and free from contributions on the part of the employees. Many persons favor a non-contribu- tory retirement system. The older and the younger employees favor its estab- lishment for different reasons. The old employee is greatly interested in retirement benefits but he does not be- lieve in contributing. During the short period which remains for him to serve he could hardly contribute any consider- able share of the cost of his retirement benefit, unless exhorbitant contributions were extracted from him. He therefore minimizes the importance of the contrib- utory factor. Moreover, he usually con- siders his past service as exemplary and deserving a special reward. He feels therefore outraged to be asked to con- tribute anything towards the cost of the retirement benefit which he feels he de- serves so well. He claims a pension as a gratuity in recognition of long and faithful service. The young employee who prefers a non-contributory system is generally lit- tle interested in retirement benefits be- cause of their remoteness. He remains indifferent to the establishment of a re- tirement system as long as it costs him nothing. He wants his entire salary for *In the first article it was stated that re- tirement systems can be classified according to source of financial support (government or employee) into three types—wholly contribu- tory (supported entirely by the employees themselves); non-contributory (entirely at the expense of the government), and partly contributory (supported jointly by the em- ployees and by the government). The wholly contributory system was reviewed in the pre- vious article. 154 the satisfaction of his immediate wants and cares little to set aside anything for the contingencies of a future 20, 30 or 40 years distant. He even finds his sal- ary inadequate and claims, therefore, that if a retirement benefit is to be es- tablished for him it should be in form of a gratuity provided by the government in recognition of the smallness of salary it pays him and should be equivalent to an increase of compensation for services rendered. In organizing against a con- tributory system and putting forth the demand for a gratuity the younger em- ployees join hands with the older em- ployees altho their reasons for supporting this demand are not identical. The opponents of a non-contributory system are also numerous. They argue that it makes of the employee a greater slave. They say that the administrator of the government, who establishes a non-contributory system, is guided by the idea that the government pays for it. He believes it his duty, therefore, to exercise a considerable control over the system and he frames the retirement bill so that the employees are not represented in a retirement board and cannot control for their own benefit the expenditure of pub- lic money. He seeks to include under it only such benefits as he believes would increase the efficiency of service and are of primary importance to the govern- ment as an employer, and he is inclined to consider the desires of employees as of only secondary importance. This is one of the reasons why, for example, benefits at resignation or dismissal, which are essential to the freedom of employ- ees, are generally not included in non- contributory systems. The administra- tor holds over the heads of employees the constant threat that should they re- sign or be dismissed, they would forfeit all benefits. Because of the forfeitures at resigna- tion or dismissal attached to the grant of eo @. 6 te ot a Oe Cee Smo wom phe wo» hewn THE AMERICAN TEACHER “rewards for faithful services,” the more independent employees do not share the enthusiasm of the older men over their establishment. They fear that the bene- fits of this character may put them in the position defined more than 160 years ago by Dr. Johnson in his celebrated dictionary in the year 1755, as follows: “pensioner—a slave of state hired by a stipend to obey his master.” Of course the development of democracy in every field of life is bound to influence even a scheme autocratically conceived. After a fight of many years the British Civil Service employees forced upon their su- perannuation scheme, which was almost a hundred years’ old, a provision for the payment of some benefits at resignation altho they still forfeit a considerable part of their benefits. “It is therefore true that a non-contributory system,” say its opponents, “would create an impediment to the freedom of the employees and that it might take them many years of fight- ing before they would be able to over- come it. Altho it would be of little con- cern to the older generation of employ- ees who have but a few more years to serve, it would be of great concern to the younger generations who are at the be- ginning of their careers which on that account would be made long and pain- ful.” Another argument advanced against the establishment of a non-contributory system is that it is more adaptable to the viewpoint of the older employee and less open to consideration of contingencies which threaten the younger employee. The lack of interest which the younger employees are inclined to display toward retirement benefits is most manifest when a non-contributory system is proposed.* *Experience shows that the young em- ployee becomes interested in benefits only as he is required to contribute. Then he wants to know what benefits are offered to him in return for his money. He frequently objects to the system, but nevertheless he discusses the benefits more or less intelligently. On the other hand when a non-contributory sys- 155 The younger employees who are in the majority? frequently allow older em- ployees who, in contrast to them, are deeply interested in gratuitous benefits because they would start to enjoy them immediately, to represent the viewpoint of all the employees before the admin- istrators and legislators of the govern- ment. They hardly realize how far their economic interests diverge. The contingencies which threaten the younger and the older employees are not identical. Disability thru accident or disease, may strike the young employee early in life; early death may take him away when young and unable to carry a large insurance on a small salary, leav- ing a widow with small children least able to provide for themselves; he may have to resign or be dismissed after hav- ing been in the service for several years; finally if he has escaped all these risks, he will face superannuation as his re- motest contingency. In the case of the older employee, on the other hand, su- perannuation is a more probable con- tingency than early disability, resigna- tion, dismissal or early death. His death risks are different for he has undoubted- ly made some insurance provision before and he needs less insurance since his children are grown up and are self-de- pendent. As he is the spokesman of the employees and his needs are thought to be most immediate, the administrators and legislators of the government are willing to embody his requests in legis- lation and to sacrifice other contingencies threatening its employees in order to in- crease the superannuation benefit. This again is another reason why so generally tem is proposed he is indifferent. He readily agrees to its establishment, but he knows not what benefits are provided and cares little to know. * The majority of New York City employ- ees have served eight years or less and are under 37 years of age.—Commission on Pen- sions, Report on the Pension Funds of the City of New York, Part II, p. 406. 156 in non-contributory systems the employ- ees who die, are dismissed, or resign early in their career, as most of them do, forfeit all benefits for themselves and for their families in order to permit in- creased benefits to the fortunate ones who remain in the service until old age. The .opponents of non-contributory systems further argue that a non-con- tributory system eventually becomes con- tributory with the difference, however, that the contributions are disguised and that their burden is shifted upon the younger generation of employees. As the years go by and the number of gra- tuities increase and become more bur- densome for the government to bear, they are no longer justified as “rewards” and “charitable grants.”* Economic forces tend to include them in the com- pensation and to depress wages. The government, as an employer, would jus- tify the expense as a means to obtain the best work for the cheapest remuneration and would say to its employees: “I am paying you not only your immediate wage, but also a retirement benefit. I would be justified to pay you less than the market wage because I am paying you huge amounts in benefits, which are of considerable value to you.” And in actual practice it would tend to keep the wages low and not to increase them as rapidly as they would have increased had there been no retirement system. The *Sir Robert Hamilton stated in his Memo- randum to the Royal Commission on Civil Establishments in 1887 that “Payment of su- perannuation cannot be defended on the ground of its being charitable contributions, for the State as the trustee of the people’s money would not be justified in making any such use of it. But it can be defended on the ground that it is a means of procuring cheaper service and keeping down the amount of the salaries which would otherwise be pay- able. In other words, it represents deferred pay, but if this be so it appears to me to be clearly inequitable to withhold from the rep- resentatives of a man who dies on full pay the deferred pay which he has earned.” THE AMERICAN TEACHER experience of the British Civil Service, which has a non-contributory system, is a marked illustration of this fact. The British employees have fought for many years, claiming that the government de- presses wages because of retirement benefits, that it deducts the cost of ben- efits in fixing wages, that the benefits are therefore not gratuities but parts of the compensation earned, and that the employees and their families have a right to a part of that compensation when they resign, are dismissed, or die. They have won their fight. The government ac- knowledged that it considered the cost of benefits in fixing wages, that the ben- efits were no longer gratuities but a “deferred pay,” and it introduced in 1909 a law providing for the payment of a part of that “deferred pay” at resigna- tion, dismissal and death. In considering the economic process by which the retirement benefits change from “gratuities” into a “deferred pay” the student of this subject asks: “What groups of employees would be benefited and what groups would lose in this long process of change?” To this question the opponents of non-contributory sys- tems give the following answer: The older generation of employees, retiring during the early period of the existence of the system, would be graciously grant- ed a free gift. Their benefits would be gratuitous in nature and they would con- tinue to receive them as such to the end of their lives. As the number and cost of these gratuities increase, the govern- ment would tend to shift the burden upon the salaries, and the younger gen- erations of employees would be made to pay the bill. Furthermore, as the bene- fits would be included in the compensa- tion, the younger employees would also be made to pay their own prospective benefits ; in course of time those of them who would remain in the service would draw benefits which would no longer be gratuitous in nature, but something they bought and paid for, whereas, those of them who resign or are dismissed, or the families of those who die would receive > - =? wm om oe oe ot et > = FF a eo cf eh™ (FF See SPO] Cl THE AMERICAN TEACHER 157 little or nothing in return for their sac- rifices. “These are some of the start- ling inequalities resulting from the es- tablishment of a non-contributory sys- tem,” say its opponents. “We are against a system which endangers the freedom of employees, which is inequitable as it benefits one group of employees at the expense of another and which is mislead- ing as it makes the employees think first that they receive gratuities and next that they are paying for them more than their cost, and on the other hand, makes the administrator think first that the govern- ment pays the entire cost and next that his duty is to shift the burden upon the employees.” Among the many arguments which the government advances against the estab- lishment of non-contributory benefits two arguments prevail: one refers to the cost being too great for the government alone to bear, and the other refers to the obligation of the employees to save some- thing from their salaries. Even should a non-contributory system be actually es- tablished, the government would not be satisfied with disguised deductions from salary and would again and again ad- vance the two arguments until legislators would incorporate in the law a provision for actual deductions from salary and change the system to a contributory basis. This would result in new read- justments and possibly in new inequali- ties as between the employees, covered by the old non-contributory and those covered by the new contributory system. Among the advocates of non-contrib- utory systems there is a group of sci- entists who recognize the inequalities arising in a non-contributory system. But they contend that the difficulties may be insurmountable only in the case of those employees who are in the service at the time of establishment of the system. They propose to restrict its application to future entrants, where they say, all difficulties would be overcome and the system would show its distinct merits, and they propose to combine it with an elaborate device for reducing the wages. The government would offer new en- trants a compensation consisting of two payments: the payment of a smaller im- mediate wage and the payment of the cost of their retirement benefit actuarily determined and set aside annually into a reserve fund and refundable upon res- ignation, dismissal or death. Since, however, there are no precedents for non-contributory systems so devised, the question whether this plan would be practical or not and whether it would or would not lead to new complications can hardly be ascertained. A careful examination of the pension movement abroad and in this country shows that the arguments against non- contributory benefits are constantly gain- ing in weight and that the government, the employees and the public at large are looking with increasing disfavor upon non-contributory systems. The tendency of the entire movement leads towards its gradual abandonment. In the next article we will consider the arguments for and against retirement systems sup~ ported jointly by the government and by the employees. (To be concluded) A FAR-SEEING PRINCIPAL To the Treasurer of the Teachers Union: My principal would like to know whether the Teachers Union would at times accept voluntary contributions from him. He sym- pathizes fully with the good cause and in- tention of the Teachers Union, and regrets the fact that our Constitution prevents his being one of us. I sincerely hope you will grant him this privilege, as I can assure you he is indeed a sincere sympathizer. P S — Brooklyn. Notre:—The Executive Board has recommended to the Union the adoption of a Voluntary Contribution Fund, since requests of a similar nature have been made by friends outside the profession altogether.—Eb. 158 THE AMERICAN TEACHER BED ROCK THAT ONE-SIXTH of England’s 6,000,- 000 school children are “so physically or mentally defective or diseased as to be incapable of deriving reasonable benefit from the education which the state pro- vides” is stated in a report just issued by the chief medical officer of the Board of Education. The report has aroused great interest and has come as a shock to the public generally. England, it seems, has suddenly awakened to the fact that poverty, unemployment, disease, and starvation are not particularly conducive to the development of a strong and virile race. The war has forced her to com- pare her muddling methods with the policy of her thro going rival, as Sir George Newman’s report goes on to show. Eight years’ work has brought to light a large mass of physical defect and disease, varied in character and widespread, most of it preventable. In regard to the data thus provided we can form two general conclu- sions. First, not less than a quarter of a million children are seriously crippled, in- valid, or disabled; not less than a million school children are so physically or mentally defective or diseased as to be unable to derive reasonable benefit from the educa- tion which the state provides. If this figure be considered merely from a financial point of view and quite apart from the disease, suffering and premature death entailed, it will be seen that the state is not getting adequate returns, on physical grounds alone, for a substantial part of its expenditure on elementary education. Altho this waste is being lessened by better housing, better labor conditions, and purer and theaper food, together with ampler medical facilities and sound- er ideals in education and hygiene, “the nation moves with incredible slowness,” says Sir George. Consideration of the situation seems to indicate that the physical welfare, and in part the education, of the child of school age is dependent upon ante-school condi- tions; and dependent also upon post-school conditions. In other words, if we are de- termined to rear a healthy and virile race of high capacity we must, from a physical standpoint, begin earlier and continue later than the hitherto accepted period of educa- tion. What is needed, indeed, is an effective supervision and a sound and practical train- ing of the body from the end of infancy to adolescence. It is said sometimes that in the interest of economy the state cannot afford such a complete scheme. My sub- mission is that in the interest of economy the state cannot afford to neglect a com- plete scheme. It is interesting to find that in spite of this startling revelation of neglect and stupidity it was necessary for the Na- tional Association of Head Teachers, meeting recently at Nottingham to de- clare that “it would be false economy to reduce the existing national or local ex- penditure on education, and to protest against any proposals tending to impair the efficiency of the education of the working classes.” An English exchange quotes the fol- lowing from Der Tag: We Germans can proudly point to the fact that our expenditure on the education of our children has been fully maintained dur- ing the war at its former level. In Prussia and elsewhere it has even, for certain ob- jects, been increased. But the money-mak- ing, so-called democratic England finds it necessary to cut down her education bill to the lowest limit. We rejoice in the fact that our enemies are discouraging the edu- cation and instruction of the masses. By the mere fact that British children are being deprived of education we have a great vic- tory over England, for after the war, more than ever before, will knowledge and edu- cation, organization and adaptability on the part of all classes of the population bring victory in the economic struggle. Whether England will take Sir George Newman’s report seriously remains to be seen. What are the conditions in your city? Or must we wait for a war to come to reveal the facts to us? —" i an Le ae IN RE PROFESSIONAL ETHICS Hy ScHoo. SupposE: A number of teachers, your colleagues and peers, .were to visit your class-room for the avowed purpose of observing and learning ; Suppose: Those teachers, having come and gone, were to draw up a report con- taining criticism of your work, favorable and unfavorable; Suppose: Those teachers were then to submit this report to your superior; Suppose: Your superior, after read- ing this report, were to lay it before you with all the evidence of having given it his official consideration ; Suppose: After thinking on these matters, you were impressed with the manifest danger, the pernicious absurd- ity, of permitting your peers to act as your irresponsible and gratuitous super- visOrs ; Suppose, now, that all these things were to happen, Would you, then, have courage enough to sign and forward the following epistle to your superior: Dear Mr. Principal: The report sent to you of the recent visit to our school of a number of outside teach- ers which you were kind enough to lay be- fore us, and which contained criticism made by those teachers of our class-room work, has given rise among us to certain views which we consider it our duty respectfully to communicate to you. We consider it especially proper to do this in view of the likelihood that those visits and reports may become a regular annual practice. We desire, first of all, to recall in this connection a principle which is fundamen- tal to the teaching profession, and the jus- tice and necessity of which cannot be open to question, viz: that the only criticism of the teacher’s work which can be considered legitimate and proper, is that which pro- ceeds from inspection by his authorized and official superiors. We cannot admit that it is proper for a superior to receive the criticism, favorable or unfavorable, made by a teacher on the work of one of his peers. Such a practise would not only jeopardize the standing of the individual teacher, but, what is even more serious, must give rise among teachers to mutual distrust and sus- picion. Such a practise constitutes a spe- cies of supervision which is insidious, ir- responsible and gratuitous. Such a prac- tise must be declared unprofessional and intolerable. We do not for a moment believe that the teachers whose criticisms of our work were contained in the report in question, were de- liberately guilty of this breach of profes- sional ethics. We believe, rather, that they can only be charged with insufficient knowl- edge of the principle above set forth. We desire to express the hope, however, that in the interest, primarily, of the dignity of our profession, a means will be found for bringing this principle to their notice, so that, in their subsequent visits, it will not again be violated. The suppositions above set forth are not hypothetical, but the epistle, after having been duly drawn up, was never sent to the addressee. Is it possible that the teachers lacked the courage? DEMOCRACY IN EDUCATION The September number of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and So- cial Science is given over to an excellent sym- posium on New Possibilities in Education. In this the social and democratic viewpoint is seen to dominate the aspirations of the con- structive leaders of educational thought. The symposium deals exclusively with opportuni- ties and subject matter and extension of school services. It will perhaps take another volume to bring out the solemn absurdity of trying to administer democratic education thru teachers organized into rigid batallions of servile routineers. The collection is edited by Dr. Ambrose L. Suhrie, of the University of Pennsylvania. 159 160 THE AMERICAN TEACHER THE END OF THE FIFTH YEAR At THE end of each year since the es- tablishment of THE AMERICAN TEACHER we have stated our view of what has been accomplished by the paper in the year. This custom we excuse on the ground of professional conceit. But we find the process useful in deciding what is best to do next, whether to push a particular move further, or to develop an idea that is a necessary but neglected portion of the philosophy of life and education from which we derive our spiritual sustenance. Early in the year 1916 the campaign of information and education which the paper has been carrying on resulted in the transformation of the Teachers’ League of New York City into the Teach- ers’ Union. At a great meeting held on March 10 the organization of The Teach- ers’ Union of the City of New York was completed. Many of the former members of the Teachers’ League would not go with the new organization for the reason that alliance with labor unions was considered ill-advised and unpro- fessional. But the Teachers’ Union bound into a vital organization those who feel that the need of fundamental changes in the educational system are paramount to personal dislikes of labor unions and labor leaders. Furthermore, teachers are coming to understand that the workingmen constitute the only group in the community from which teachers may expect anything but ex- ploitation. THE AMERICAN TEACHER soon be- came the official organ of the Teachers’ Union. With this support and with timely giving of funds by many friends of the paper, a small but real financial crisis was met, and is now almost for- gotten. In September THE AMERICAN TEACH- ER began its career as the official organ of The American Federation of Teach- ers. This body is the national organi- zation of teachers’ unions. The Fed- eration unites the eight local unions of teachers in the country, and is affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. Thru this official connection with teach- ers in Chicago and other cities we are bringing to the minds of our readers in the profession of teaching a sense of social obligation to their fellowworkers. We are earnestly trying to make teach- ers everywhere feel that the schools and the children in them suffer when teach- ers in the City of Chicago are dropped from the service simply and solely be- cause they have joined an organization, the American Federation of Labor, of which the unscrupulous commercial poli- ticians controlling education in Chicago happen to disapprove. We want teach- ers elsewhere to have a deeper sense of their obligations than has the one who said to the present writer, “Well, it’s all right for the Chicago teachers to kick, but why should I worry about it?’ We might even wish that such short-visioned teachers could see their own danger, since evil ideas like good ones make their way readily thru the ether. As a valuable by-product of the affilia- tion between teachers and workingmen it has already developed that teachers may profit immensely in a social way from learning at first hand the economic forces that bring the workingmen to- gether. The understanding of these forces carries with it a great and moving sympathy which we think has never been expressed so well as in the leading ar- ticle in the October number written by Mrs. Ida L. M. Fursman, Vice-Presi- dent of The American Federation of Teachers. This understanding with its attendant sympathy is one of the best of this year’s contributions of THE AMERICAN TEACHER. The special evil that afflicts the educa- tional system of New York City is what we have designated as “wasteful, un- fair, incompetent and inhuman super- vision.” The teachers of New York have submitted to this evil in its numer- ous forms until the ability to realize the conditions under which it affects every (Continued on page 162) Be not Marg -——— The American Teacher Education for Democracy Democracy in Education: Published monthly, yy ig and August, by THE AMERICAN TEACHER COMPANY, IN 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City ALEXANDER Ss: =e nian .+-President CHARLOTTE E. LEE........... Vice-President JAS. D. LESTER. .......ccccccccccee Treasurer ” Edited by HENRY R. LINVILLE Editor-in-Chief BENJAMIN C. GRUENBERG Managing Editor Benjamin Glassber; Gabriel R. Mason J. . VARD peAYM AN ness Manag SAM "“SCHMALHAUSEN Circulation Manager At the time of expiration, a bill will be found in the copy. Subscribers are requested to give prompt notice of changes in address. Remittances should be made in postal money- order, express order, draft, stamps or check (New York exchange). SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, 50 CENTS FOR THE YEAR—FOREIGN, 60 CENTS. Entered as second-class matter, February 21, 1912, at the Post Office, at New York, N. Y.; under the Act of March 3, 1879. VOL. V. DECEMBER, 1916 No. 10 Officers of the American Federation of ' ‘Teachers (Affiliated with American Federation of Labor) Cuas B Srit_man, President 1620 Lake Ave., Wilmette, III. Ina L M FursMan, Vice-President 4465 N. Kildare Ave., Chicago. Mary F Dwyer, Rec. Secretary 2817 Cambridge Ave., Chicago Marcaret Snoporass, Corr. Sec. 1061 Dakin St., Chicago F G Srecxer, Financial Sec. 1618 Lake Ave., Wilmette, IIl. James A Meape, Treasurer 2628 Sayre Ave., Chicago Marcaret A Hatey, Nat'l Organizer 844 Unity Building, Chicago Trustees R D Chadwick. Ida M Halpin Margaret A. Haley Hedwig Hochbaum Amelia M Prendergast 161 PROFESSIONAL ETHICS A COMMUNICATION entitled “Jn Re Professional Ethics” appearing in anoth- er column of this number expresses re- sentment at a practise that has developed cut of the “Visiting Day” system in New York City. Teachers are permitted to take three days a year for visiting class- es in other schools than their own. They are supposed to make observations and to report to the superintendent what they have seen. Our correspondent main- tains that the system opens the way for judgment of professional work being made by peers, which is objectionable in view cf the fact that superiors only should judge, for they alone are re- sponsible. We may readily admit a just cause for complaint on the part of teachers who have been visited by irresponsible observers that have reported unfavora- bly on what they have seen. The prac- tise may readily develop into a disturb- ing element in the daily life of teachers who happen to be teaching in a school that is convenient for the visiting teach- ers. There are definite reasons why this is likely to be true. In the first place, the average visiting teacher gets his ideas of criticism from the practise of his own superiors. Su- periors being busy men have little time to stay long enough in a class they are inspecting to settle themselves into the spirit of the class, if many of them ever could at all, and they have less time to think over a plan for giving constructive aid to the teacher. But they do have time to apply certain formal standards to what they see going on, with the re- sult that they find things being done wrong. By long custom in school su- pervision criticism comes to mean find- ing fault. And so when the teacher goes a-visiting she finds fault, too, like the little girl playing school who stamps and scolds because her own teacher has set the example. Undoubtedly, many visit- ing teachers feel under obligations to find fault in order to justify in their minds the beneficent act of a superior in grant- ing a day afield. 162 THE AMERICAN TEACHER Another source of irritation between the observed and the observer may often be a difference in ideals both as to meth- ods of instruction and as to relative im- portance of elements in the subject mat- ter. A teacher who is likely to be visit- ed often by teachers or by superin- tendents takes not a little risk if he is inclined to experiment in methods of presentation and in the selection of sub- ject matter. These experiments some- times fail, and those are the days when visitors are most likely to come. A teacher who is sensitive to his environ- ment, part of which may be a particu- larly oppressive and cumbersome-minded person of adult years, is liable to appear at a serious disadvantage when an ex- periment in teaching results unfavora- bly. Thus there is an obvious premium on sticking to the last that is handed down, or at least on having in readiness for the consumption of visitors a peren- nial “show” lesson. The differences in ideals between the observed and the ob- server might become the subject of calm and reasonable discussion, if both had the time and the inclination. We cannot be sure that our cor- respondent would oppose visiting among teachers, provided our system of super- vision with all its infamous pettiness and bad psychology could be destroyed. But we believe he would not. The members of other professions visit one another. Artists of all kinds, painters, musicians, actors, visit their fellowworkers with en- thusiasm and evident profit. Ministers hear one another preach. Lawyers ob- serve one another conduct cases in court, and are glad of the opportunity. And surgeons, whose most delicate work re- quires absolute self-control are not dis- turbed if the room is full of sharp-eyed specialists. Why then should teachers object to other teachers observing them at their common professional work? Perhaps our correspondent came near- er the answer than he realized. The visitors are irresponsible. But they are irresponsible in a more, significant sense than in not being mere superiors. They are irresponsible to any set of ideals which both the observed and the observer have had a part in developing. Neither one nor the other has had a word to say about the methods of work, nor about the course of study under which they are working, nor about the number of years they will continue to slave at do- ing the scores of things that neither per- haps approves. Thus there is little pride in the profession on the part of either. But there is no lack of sullen resentment when one puts himself in the position where he may point out the faults of the other. We are not yet a profession, but we shall be when we break down artificial standards and put up our own, thus be- coming responsible to ourselves and to society for a workable body of ideals. THE END OF THE FIFTH YEAR (Continued from page 160) teacher have become well-nigh rudi- mentary. There is widespread dissatis- faction among the teachers in that city, but it has not been clear just how we were to begin on the gigantic undertak- ing of creating livable conditions free from inhuman supervision. One thing that has always operated to hinder im- provement is the fear of the teachers to say or do anything that would give us a good start. Fear is the weapon by which the oppressors keep their power. It thus appears that a successful cam- paign against the forces that are re- sponsible for oppressive supervision (and certain forces embodied in human beings are certainly responsible for its maintenance) must be inaugurated either indirectly with the slow-moving aid of the oppressed, or directly by some method that will undermine the credit and standing of the oppressors more quickly. The latter method has already been inaugurated, and the experiment is being observed by us closely. If our readers will watch the “Fluoroscope” series they will be interested in our new attempt to “get under the skin” of the “System.” oOo Vi ee Ww sa wos OO — % ig THE AMERICAN TEACHER 163 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCHOOLS, ILLINOIS STATE FEDER- ATION OF LABOR, QUINCY, OCT. 16-20, 1916 Pursuant to the action of the Thirty- third Annual Convention of the Illinois State Federation of Labor, held at Al- ton, Illinois, October 18 to 22, 1915, a permanent committee on schools was ap- pointed “to safeguard the children of the workers, to secure for all students the right to mental freedom in education, and to secure the expression in the edu- cational system of the ideals of organ- ized labor.” The committee believes that the most important questions confronting the Trade Unionists of the State at this time are, the attack made upon the rights of the teachers of Chicago to organize, the need in this state for free textbooks, the conditions in the rural schools and the possibility of another effort being made at the next session of the legislature to separate the vocational and general edu- cational systems under what has been known as the “dual” system. The committee first recounts the sys- tematic efforts of the Chicago School Board to disrupt the Chicago Teachers’ Federation beginning with the Baldwin Senate Commission and continuing with the adoption of the “Loeb Rule No. 1.” The report quotes part of the decision of Judge McSurely granting an injunc- tion against the enforcement of this rule. It may be conceded that the Board has power to pass rules regulating its teaching force but the board has no power to pass an unreasonable rule in violation of the statute or constitution. * * * * oa ” Is the rule in question discrimination be- tween different classes of citizens, conferr- ing special privileges upon a class or group less than all? A majority of this Court holds that it is. The Court said further: It is unquestionable that if the Legisla- ture should enact a statute containing the same provision as this contract in regard to any work to be done for Boards of Educa- tion . . . the provision would be abso- lutely null and void as in conflict with the constitution of the State. If such a restric- tion were sought to be enforced by any laws of the State it would constitute an infringement upon the constitutional rights of citizens. There is no more reason or justification for such a contract as this than there would be for a provision that no one should be employed except members of some particular party or church. The Board of Education may stipulate for the quality of material to be furnished and the degree of skill required in workman- ship, but a provision that the work shall be done only by certain persons or classes of persons, members of certain societies nec- essarily creates a monopoly in their favor. It follows logically that a rule which restricts employment to non-members of such societies as unions is also void. Then, as «readers of Tue AMERI- CAN TEACHER knows came Loeb Rule No. 2, whereby 68 teachers were dropped, 38 of them Union members rated “good” or better by Superintendent Shoop. This was to all intents and pur- poses a violation of the injunction previously secured. The Committee therefore urges organized labor to assist in obtaining the following legislation: 1st. A law that will guarantee to public school teachers the right to organize and affiliate with organized labor. 2nd. A law that will guarantee perma- nency of position during efficiency and will make it impossible for the Board of Educa- tion to dismiss without notice and without hearing. 3rd. For Chicago an elected Board of Ed- ucation whose members are paid. Free Textbooks To have a real democracy in our edu- cational system free textbooks should be furnished to all the children attend- ing our public schools. Illinois is far behind other states in this matter. Children here still have to 164 THE AMERICAN TEACHER provide their own books except in cities where they have what is known as “fund books” but children using these books know they are provided as a mat- ter of charity and naturally shrink from asking for them. Rural Schools The State of Illinois has no reason to pride itself on the conditions that pre- vail in the rural schools, but there is cause for rejoicing in the fact that at the last session of the Legislature the school law was so amended as to ac- quire the heating, ventilation, lighting, seating, water supply, toilets and safety against fire to be such as to conserve the health and safety of the children attend- ing the public schools. The Committee recommended that Labor should demand the best educa- tional equipment for the rural schools, but that none of it should be at the ex- pense of the already underpaid teachers in those schools. Vocational Education Bill As regards this bill it reports that all efforts of the Commercial interests of Chicago at the last session of the Legis- lature failed to have enacted a “dual” vocational education bill. No legislation on this subject was passed. The Illinois State Federation of Labor, together with the Chicago Teachers’ Federations and other organizations, was active in de- feating the “dual bill.” It failed to re- ceive sufficient support to be reported out of either the Senate or House Com- mittee. It re-affirms the declaration made by the Illinois State Federation of Labor Committee on Vocational Education which was adopted at the Peoria con- vention in 1914: We disapprove the setting up of any sep- arate state or district board of administra- tion to have charge of vocational educa- tion. We believe that the vocational school courses should at all times be under the guidance and control of the school authori- ties having direction of general education, as the system best adapted to educate prop- erly our children for their future activities, as workers, and as men and women capable of participating in all the benefits and en- joyments of higher civilization. The following is recommended to be included in the legislative program: First—Compulsory school attendance of all children between the ages of seven and sixteen. P Second—(a) Authorizing the Boards of Education of all school districts in the State to provide instruction in vocational subjects. (b) All courses in vocational education shall be administered in each school district by the same board of education or trustees that administers the general educational courses. (c) In school districts maintaining voca- tional teaching, there shall be appointed, by the board of education, or trustees, an ad- visory committee or committees on vocation- al education; each committee to consist of an equal number of employers of labor and persons directly associated and connected with bona fide labor organizations. (d) Vocational instruction shall include the teaching of the sciences underlying the various industries and industrial pursuits being taught and their historical, economic and social bearings. OUR FIRST DELEGATE Mrs. Ida Fursman, the first delegate of her calling in a convention of the American Federation of Labor, lost no opportunity to impress upon the trade- unionists gathered here the importance of the school-room as a moulder of the thought of the younger generation as to industrial issues. Her appeal on behalf of the Federation of Teachers says: It is our earnest conviction that organ- ized labor, on behalf of itself and all of the people, must closely watch our public schools, which are now determining the quality of the democracy of the next gen- eration. A radical reconstruction of our educational system to meet changing social and economic conditions is now in progress. The teacher is made the centre of attack, since it is logically recognized that the moulding of the child’s habits of thought re -~« moO OD OO ++ wt Se Se l- e ic 1e if al 3S. k, he ht THE AMERICAN TEACHER 165 and life results not from material equip- ment or texts, but from the living personal- ity of the teacher. Hence there has devel- oped a vicious country-wide attempt to abridge the freedom of the teacher—free- dom of speech, of organization, of citizen- ship. Henceforth the organizers for the American Federation of Labor will lend their aid to the organizers of the Teach- ers’ Federation to bring the school teach- ers into the union ranks. Not only will these efforts be exerted through personal solicitation of the instructors, but cen- tral labor bodies in industrial centres will be asked to use their influence also. Wherever trade-union organizations have officers who take an interest in this de- velopment, candidates for positions on school boards will be put forward, and such as are elected will inevitably lend encouragement to teachers in their re- spective towns to get into the union. All of these plans wait for their reali- zation upon the long-continued and earn- est efforts of a great number of people. There are so few of these educational en- gineers in the labor ranks to-day that the plan will remain little more than a plan for years to come. Nevertheless, the foundation has been laid for a very different structure of school control than the country has known.—L. T., Balti- more Correspondent N. Y. Post, No- vember 25, 1916. THE WAR BONUS THE TEACHERS of London, thru a representative committee of the London Teachers’ Association, have conferred with a committee of the London County Council on the subject of a War Bonus to the teachers, to meet the very large and rapid increases in the cost of living. The teachers have not pressed for a re- vision of salary schedules; in spite of the fact that it has become literally impossi- ble for many of them to meet the cost of the barest necessities on their incomes, they have chosen to request a bonus to meet the pressing emergency, and to postpone the revision of schedules that were inadequate before the war, until a more happy time. The Council had al- ready adopted the principle of the War Bonus for all of its employes earning £3 a week or less. The issue is there- fore, according to The London Teacher, the official organ of the Association, whether this rule should apply to all teachers whose salaries fall within the same limit, and whether the bonus should be that requested by the L. T. A., name- ly, £26 a year. In conclusion the edi- torial says: We have not the slightest doubt as to the reasonableness of both proposals. We have not the slightest doubt as to the force and determination of London teachers with re- gard to these questions. A refusal by the Council will not be accepted tamely. We do not attempt to anticipate the Council’s de- cision, but of this we have no doubt, there must not be this time any question of re- jecting the teachers’ petition. The teachers have been reasonable. The assurance that they will be treated reasonably lies, however, in the solidar- ity of their organization and in the defin- iteness of their purpose. WASHINGTON NOTES From the Report of the Executive Committee of the High School Teach- ers’ Union of Washington, D. C.: The Rating System The matter of the system of rating teachers was officially brought to the at- tention of the Executive Committee by members of the Union and non-members at its June meeting. It was decided that the Committee should not condemn the present system without offering a more satisfactory substitute. A special com- mittee was commissioned to make a care- ful study of the question and report back to the Executive Committee. The spe- cial committee, consisting of Miss Marsh, Mr. Devitt, and Mr. Claflin soon called upon the Superintendent of Schools, Mr. Thurston, who has charge 166 of the rating system. The Superin- tendent was most generous to the Com- mittee in granting all the time they de- sired and in going into the minute de- tails of the rating system and the reason for the various features of it. It was evi- denced during the conference that one of the principal weaknesses of the pres- ent system (and Mr. Thurston frankly stated that the present rating system is not entirely satisfactory) is the lack of a uniform standard among the rating officials and the lack of a satisfactory method of determining the individual ratings. It is with a view of correcting these faults that the Superintendent in- troduced a new feature, the “I-2-3 Plan,” to which objection has been raised by rating officials and teachers generally. Mr. Thurston invited the co- operation of the High Schools Teachers’ Union in working out a satisfactory rat- ing system. The special subcommittee has not made its final report as its in- vestigation is not completed. At present they are communicating with school sys- tems of other cities ascertaining informa- tion of their rating systems. In a pre- liminary report the special committee ex- pressed its conviction: (1st) that a rat- ing system is a necessity to the proper conduct of the school organization and that; (2nd) a rating of “satisfactory or unsatisfactory” could not suffice for the purposes to which the record of ratings are put; (3rd) that there are objection- able features to the present system, and; (4th), that every effort is being put forth in working out a more satisfactory rat- ing system. Teachers’ Pensions In the matter of a teacher’s pension law we have not been idle. Information pertaining to teachers’ pensions has been gathered in readiness for a campaign to be waged with Congress this winter. Tho it will be a short session and a very busy one for Congress a vigorous and earnest attempt will be made by our Union to get a wedge in for an adequate and satisfactory teachers’ pension. law. In fact our campaign already has been THE AMERICAN TEACHER begun. Thru our representatives in the Central Labor Union of the District we have secured not only their indorsement of the principle of a teachers’ pension, but they have instructed their legislative committee to cooperate with us in secur- ing such a law. Furthermore the Cen- tral Labor Union instructed its delegate to the convention of the American Fed- eration of Labor which is to be held in Baltimore in November, to urge that body to indorse the proposition and in- struct its legislative agents to assist in securing a pension law for the District teachers. Our campaign is well defined and we believe our Union is in a posi- tion to do the most effective work in this movement that has ever been attempted. As in all our other undertakings for the good of the teaching profession and the promotion of efficiency in our school system we must have, as we will have, the united support and genuine interest of every member of our organization in this campaign. It is the earnest purpose of our Union to justify its existence and to merit the support of each individual member by the actual accomplishment of constructive things—things that are real- ly wanted, deserved, and needed by the school system from the teacher’s point of view. Cooperation Your president takes this opportunity of expressing his appreciation of the support and hearty cooperation mani- fested by every officer and member of the Union who has been called upon for service, and of the general interest evi- denced in the Union’s welfare. This spirit of pulling together is a happy con- dition in our organization and is itself a prediction of noteworthy achievements by our Union. Respectfully submitted, Roy C. CLarLin, President. To keep mercenary people out of the school, underpay the teachers. To keep mercenary thoughts out of the school, pay teachers adequately. Se fe a tnt cul he nt ity the his on- self nts THE HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS’ UNION, OF WASHINGTON, D. C. Whereas, The Chicago School. Board has recently discharged over fifty teach- ers who were rated as efficient, for no apparent reason except their member- ship in a teachers’ union, and Whereas, In the city of Washington, principals, superintendents, and school board members have uniformly encour- aged the formation of unions among the teachers of the capital city, and Whereas, In the city of Washington prominent citizens, leading newspaper men and high officials have shown no op- position to the union movement among teachers but have encouraged the same, Therefore be it Resolved, That the High School Teachers’ Union of Wash- ington in regular meeting assembled this tenth day of October, 1916, commends the attitude of the Washington Public to THE AMERICAN TEACHER 167 the Chicago School Board and condemns the action of the Chicago School Board in discharging union teachers as an un- warranted usurpation of authority, thoroly re-actionary and unjust, Be it Further Resolved, That copies of these resolutions be forwarded to the Chicago School Board, the Chicago Teachers’ Unions, the U. 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If our children during their most impressionable years are to have the benefit of daily contact with examples of up- standing American manhood and womanhood, and not to be exposed to an atmosphere of servility in the schoolroom, teachers must be given warning and a hearing before being separated from the service. 3. The teacher must be guaranteed the opportunity to make his due influence felt in the community, working thru the school chiefly, but free to work thru all the avenues of citizenship. 4. The control of the teaching staff should be removed from the Board of Education, and placed in the hands of the professional expert, the Superintendent of Schools. 5. If our democracy is not to be crippled at its source, democratic school administration must be secured by insur- ing to the teacher an effective voice in that administration. 6. The schools must be removed from politics by the ap- plication of the merit principle of civil service to the employ- ment, advancement, and dismissal of teachers, thus securing tenure during efficiency. 7. The work of the teacher, now notoriously ill-paid, de- termines the quality of our future citizenship, and should re- ceive financial recognition more nearly commensurate with its importance to the community. 8. Vocational education should be encouraged, but only under a ‘unit system.’ 9. The people should directly control educational policies thru the popular election of boards of education. 10. A system of free textbooks is an essential of genuinely free and democratic public schools. 11. Enlightened public policy demands adequate pension provisions for public school teachers. > -