This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com - CR LIBRARY, SCHOOL OF EDUCATION RD UNIV STANFO UNI ERS/7 REPORT AU G 11 of the 19 21 Better Schools Service of the American Federation of Teachers JANUARY 1, 1921 STANFORD LIBRARY W. T. McCOY, G. W. TANNER, Director Assistant Director Hi 28 371.16 7512 Additional copies may be had at the rate of 25c per copy. Address F. G. Stecker, Sec. A. F. T. , 1618 Lake St., Wilmette, Ill. 294789 c Report of Better Schools Service of The American Federation of Teachers HIS report had its origin in the recent campaign of T the Chicago High School teachers for better support of schools in their city. The rather wide publicity which they secured attracted the attention of teachers in many other cities whose problems were similar. Letters came in to the Chicago campaign committee from forty or fifty other places, asking for advice and information as to methods... So widespread and continuous a demand persuaded the Chicago committee, whose leaders were members of the American Federation of Teachers, that here was a practical service which someone should perform on a basis broad enough to be of general and direct assistance to teachers who felt the need of it. It seemed to be a field which naturally belonged to the Federation. This view was presented to the executive board of the Federation and they authorized the appointment of directors of a Better Schools Service and the beginning of the task. A questionnaire was sent out to the superintendents of about 400 cities and towns and, where correspondents could be secured, another questionnaire was directed to a teacher in each of the same school systems and in some instances to teachers in rural schools also. Replies came in slowly and in the press of other duties the work of tabulation and analysis was tardy and imper- fect. We are conscious of regrettable omissions in the framing of the questionnaires. All of our work upon this report has been done in fragments of time snatched from our work of teaching and our prior duty to the publicity committee of the Chicago campaign . Imperfect and hasty as our work necessarily has been, it is as nearly complete as we can hope to make it without 3 such delay as would rob the result of a great measure of its timeliness. We lay itbefore the American Federation of Teachers in the hope that the Federation and other teachers may find in it material which may be helpful in campaigns for better schools, and perhaps suggestive of the importance of a central organ- ized repository of similar information which may be the basis of more valuable investigations hereafter. The questionnaire addressed to superintendents was in- tended to give a general view of the teaching conditions in their systems. The more important matter, bearing directly on teacher activity in the movement for better schools, is to be found in the tabulation of the Teacher questionnaire by which may be checked the conclusions we have ventured to draw from the actual experience there recorded. * We especially regret that we did not include in our inves- tigation the matters of legislation affecting tenure and pro- tection of the salary fund for teachers. We omitted these matters largely because of our belief that there was little such protective legislation. Our knowledge of such legislation was limited to acquaintance with the New York and Iowa codes. We have some reason to believe that there has been considerable recent legislation in this direction in a number of other states. A study of this question would be well worth making, since among teachers the knowledge of the existence of improved legislation in behalf of teachers is a sharp spur to activity aimed at securing similar laws in their own states. The insert at page 18 of the report has two tables. The first tabulation shows the replies of teachers, the second those of superintendents . Cities are listed in five classes by population and also by population within each class . In order to avoid bulk in the report, we decided not to print the questionnaires themselves nor the letters which we sent out with them. SALARIES AND TEACHER SUPPLY It is perfectly evident that salaries of teachers have ad- vanced or are advancing generally throughout the country. It is just as evident that this advance has been compelled by economic necessity as a measure to keep the schools open, 4 that the amount of the advance leaves teachers more inade- quately paid than previous to 1914, that teachers are still at the bottom of the wage scale for skilled workers, and that the public has not yet been aroused to the necessity of paying two or three times as much for education as it has paid in the past. The measures recently taken to increase teachers' pay are palliative only. They may check, they will not arrest the disintegration of our public school system. This can be done only by fundamental changes in the policy of financing edu- cation. The people must be brought to face the necessity of putting educational expenditure on a new and liberal footing. Enrollment in normal schools and in the education de- partments of colleges and universities is the barometer of the educational system. The barometer now registers very low, boding storms. Eliot Wadsworth, president of the Harvard Alumni Asso- ciation, commenting on the educational situation says : “The population has grown by millions but the percentage of that population desiring education has increased out of all pro- portion and the standards have steadily been raised. The products of this industry (education) we must have. Civilized man is absolutely dependent today upon doctors, lawyers, electrical, civil, mechanical and mining engineers, dentists, chemists and other specialists. Not as spcialists alone but as intelligent leaders in citizenship, in law-making and law-keeping and sound business, we must look to our educated. We could no more get along without these products than we could with- out railroads. If our industry of education stops developing or slips backward, we as a nation will feel the effects in every walk of life. Every thinking man will realize how every sci- entific and technical activity of the country and every business and industry must ultimately be handicapped. " Mr. Wadsworth was thinking of the colleges but every word he says applies exactly to the system of public education on which the colleges rest. Registration in the colleges within thirty years has multiplied by five, but this would have been impossible if the registration in high schools had not multi- plied by eight within the same period.* School standards have been raised and must be raised still higher. The effort to raise *High schools, 1890, 297,894; 1920, 1,909,180. Colleges , 1890, 65,800; 1920, 324,389. 5 standards while keeping teachers' pay at the bottom of the wage scale is hopeless. "The educational crisis," says Com- missioner Claxton, "consists in this: In the past we have been able, despite low salaries paid to teachers, to obtain for the schools a constant stream of men and women of more than usual native ability, many of them possessed of fine culture and fairly good general scholarship. Though these have not remained long and have had no definite knowledge of the processes of teaching and limited skill in applying them, still their personality and culture have been such that it has been good for boys andgirls to come incontact with them. Usually quite young, they have remained in teaching for two or three years while waiting for the maturity necessary for success or even for admission to other professions and vocations. Hun- dreds of thousands of them have become successful home- makers, leaders in society, engineers, lawyers, physicians, min- isters, captains of industry and statesmen. However, under changed conditions we may not expect many of this class in the future and unless salaries are raised and policies changed the teachers of the public schools in the future will be young men and women of very mediocre ability serving in schools for short terms or those of even less ability who will remain longer because they have not the energy, personality or ability to undertake anything else. This means deterioration and dis- integration of the public school system. The only salvation against it is to increase salaries to such an extent as will induce young men and women of superior ability and culture definitely to prepare themselves for teaching, and then adopt a policy by which they may be kept in the schools after they have proved their ability and gained power and skill by ex- perience. This means a large increase in the average pay of teachers . We shall need to spend two or three times as much for this purpose as we now spend in the country at large. The close relation between education and wealth producing power must be clearly shown so that the people will understand that this expenditure for education will not constitute a burden but rather an investment through which the nation may be the better able to bear the other burdens of taxation." DISCUSSION OF TEACHERS ' REPLIES RECENT CAMPAIGNS (Col. 2) Recent efforts to secure better pay reveal several facts 6 quite clearly. There is no hope that such campaigns will be made by citizens or by school boards and superintendents x The few honorable exceptions prove the rule. This is a task which teachers must undertake and carry through. The re- luctance with which superintendents and school boards ap- proach the question of increased pay for teachers is perfectly natural and intelligible. They are appointed by those who will hold them strictly responsible for their official actions. In many cases both superintendent and board are under the in- fluence or control of those elements of the community which pay a large proportion of the taxes and whose immediate material interest often seems to lie in keeping down tax ex- penditure. The great tax-paying interests must be educated to the point where they will see their profit in better schools before they can be expected to submit gladly to a doubled or tripled expenditure for education. Our recent study based upon a wide range of school com- munities shows that with the rarest exceptions efforts for better pay began among organized teachers and that success was proportioned to the degree of co-operation and organ- ization among teachers. In cases where there were no organizations there was no teacher leadership; and there was either no increase in pay or, if any, it was inconsiderable and reflected merely the effects of the general propaganda for which the organized teachers of other communities deserve the credit. It is notable also that in all cases the demands of teachers have been low. The cost of living in urban communities has more than doubled since 1914. At that date as a general rule teachers ' salaries allowed little surplus beyond a bare living. Yet instead of insisting upon the logical necessity of a doubling of their pay, we find that in general teachers' requests were limited to a maximum of fifty per cent. and that many cam- paigns were aimed at securing a much smaller per cent. in- crease or even a temporary bonus. This false modesty is due to the condition of poverty to which teachers have become habituated and to their realiza- tion of the exceeding difficulty and tardiness with which public taxation can be raised to meet an emergency. 7 In most of our states any considerable increase in expen- diture for any public purpose requires legislation and, with legislatures meeting biennially, relief seems remote and prob- lematic. Teachers must show a higher appreciation of their own value if they expect to impress that value on their com- munities. By such appreciation they fulfill a duty to the schools into which able new teachers must be attracted by better pay than present teachers have ever thought attainable. SUCCESS OF EFFORT (Col. 3) It is remarkable in how many cases in our tabulation reports show that teachers were given all they asked for. This makes it the more apparent that their requests were far within the limits of reason and that school authorities are conscious that teachers' pay is too low. The educational record of the past two years has clinched the argument in favor of state and national organizations of teachers. The tendency toward a larger participation of the national and state governments in the support of public education is evident and should be en- couraged. The only effective way in which teachers can encourage this tendency is through national and state organ- izations. It is clear, too, that in most states the support of educa- tion is badly distributed and causes enormous inequalities in local taxation and in educational opportunity. It seems to be indicated that state organizations of teachers should work for a tripartite division of educational expense, perhaps one- third to the state, one-third to the county and one-third to the local district. PUBLIC ATTITUDE TOWARD CAMPAIGNS CITIZEN SUPPORT OF TEACHERS' EFFORTS (Cols. 4-10) Our report shows that in an overwhelming majority of cases where teachers made a campaign appealing to the people for the schools, popular support was readily given; that the labor group was everywhere ready to give strong backing ; that where opposition developed, it was from wealthy indi- viduals and big business corporations. We would found on these facts certain conclusions : that labor and the people as a whole want to support good schools whatever the cost, that some men of wealth and some organ- izations of business men need education about the value to 8 them of popular education. Their opposition to better support of schools is in part due to their failure to discriminate in favor of education in their general desire and purpose to keep taxes down. Here is an important field for publicity in which organized teachers must be the workers. Intelligent men of wealth can be converted. Their power makes the effort to convert them of high importance. ATTITUDE OF THE PRESS (Col. 11) Answers to this question indicate: first, that the press on the whole is favorable to better schools and to better pay for teachers ; second, that in many communities the papers or some of them are under control of individuals or organizations which cause them to oppose higher taxation for education. Wherever we find powerful business organizations oppos- ing such higher taxation, the local press, or an influential part of it, is usually to be found opposing a program for better pay for teachers . This again calls for a continuous campaign by teachers to bring about a better understanding of the value of better schools to big business and to social stability and progress . Such a campaign is needed not only to convert opponents but also to keep the general public and the independent papers fully informed about educational progress and the program of the schools. It pays for teachers' organizations to keep in touch and on friendly relations with the editors of their local papers . Such a campaign should not, in the larger communities, be limited to the press. A publicity committee of teachers, well informed upon the local situation, able to discuss intelli- gently matters of school revenue and expenditure, with full knowledge of the work being done in the schools, their needs, their deficiencies, should seek opportunities to address clubs and all sorts of organizations among citizens upon these topics. Teachers must recognize the publicity value of the cine- mas . It is entirely possible to secure their co-operation for propaganda on schools. Films of school activities can be made and displayed in the local movies. Subtitles can be made to carry a variety of appeals which will reach the people and rouse popular support for the cause of the schools. The pulpit is often at the command of any appeal for 9 educational improvement and reaches an influential and lib- eralbody of citizens. Placards and other display advertising may be used at times with advantage. ARE YOUR TEACHERS' ORGANIZATIONS "PROFESSIONAL" OR PRACTICAL? (Col. 12) In asking this question the directors of the Better Schools Service had no intention of depreciating the value of profes- sional organizations. It was rather intended to bring out the fact that no teachers' organization can safely neglect the field of the financial welfare of its membership. The American Federation of Teachers has been accused of being an organ- ization devoted to this purpose. We admit it and we glory in it while firmly asserting our equal devotion to the objects claimed for the so-called professional organizations, i. e., the whole field of educational progress. Replies to this question. clearly show that teachers' organ- izations, regardless of the purpose for which they may have been formed, have all been forced to face the necessity for better financial support, if public schools are to do their work effectively. Those organizations which replied that they were "pro- fessional" nevertheless admitted that their principal interest of late has been an effort to better the schools by securing such increases of pay as might keep able teachers from leav- ing the service. WHAT PART HAVE TEACHERS' ORGANIZATIONS TAKEN IN THE EFFORT FOR BETTER PAY ? (Col. 13) The discussion of replies in column two has partially covered this question. To that discussion should be added that where teachers were only partially organized the organizations initiated any effort that was made and carried on all the effective work. This is pertinent testimony to the importance of organization. Whether teacher organizations should be merely local or na- tional, admits of further discussion. The movement toward the formation of county and state associations which busy themselves with the problems of improved schools and better teachers, shows the feeling of a need for exchange of experi 10 ence and ideas and for the development of the co-operative influence of teachers. The formation and the change in organ- ization of the National Education Association proves the desire for an extension of the power and influence acquired by co- operation. The establishment and rapid growth of the American Federation of Teachers, with its appeal to the rising spirit of democracy and its limitation to class-room teachers, is a further sign of the spread of the consciousness among teachers that there must be a closer bond among teachers than has hitherto existed, and that leadership and initiative must be de- veloped. Such organizations lend themselves to an inter- change of ideas and convictions that cannot fail to bring a solidarity and a potency to the teaching group that it has never experienced before. The publications of these organizations, reaching great numbers of individual teachers throughout the nation, are one medium for such exchange. Another is the paid officers or field- secretaries whose work is constantly expanding the membership and disseminating the ideas of the organizations. Frequent bulletins in addition to the regular organ supplement the other media of communica- tion. One must recognize that it is a fault of teachers that they do not more generally connect themselves with these organiza- tions . From the narrowest view of self-interest to the broadest of professional ideals, there is not a reasonable excuse for failure to unite with some wide teacher organization. The teachers of America should be 100 per cent organized. These developments are all healthful and encouraging. Their defect is that for the most part their appeal and influ- ence reach the public not at all or indirectly. The next development indicated is a way of reaching the whole public so as to keep them informed and interested about their own great concern in the welfare and progress of the schools. Whether this function can be developed effectively by existing organizations is merely a problem of ways and means. The value of it admits of no question. It offers a field in- definitely wide and rich in possibilities. 11 INFORMATIVE MATERIAL (Col. 14) We are disappointed in our failure to receive detailed histories of many campaigns and copies of news matter, ad- vertisements and other publicity material. It was our desire and purpose to secure a mass of such matter for comparative study so that we might have for reference a variety of methods and suggestive copy. We secured rather full data from Kansas City, Missouri, and from Memphis, Tennessee, but with these exceptions the response to our request for informative material was almost negligible. Our request for suggestions also bore little fruit. PLANS FOR FURTHER CAMPAIGNS (Col. 16) No analysis of replies to this query is needed. It may be said that a large proportion of the replies indicates that salary increases are inadequate but that there is little hope for further increases in the near future. This reiterates the prevailing attitude among teachers. Their organizations are purely local and generally ineffective in reaching or rousing the public. When they confront the need of securing state- wide support of legislation to improve the schools they are almost hopeless, while the idea of an organized nation-wide attack on popular indifference is entirely beyond their concep- tion of what is possible for teachers to undertake. WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN A PROPOSITION BY WHICH YOU MIGHT MAKE USE OF THE BETTER SCHOOLS SERVICE ? (Col. 17) The answer to this is almost without exception "yes." The directors of the Service have planned to put at the disposal of all who asked it the results of this investigation, believing that it wouldbe of value as a guide to organized groups of teachers without experience in campaigns. Our further hope is that if the service continues it may be able to add valuable matter for publicity in the way of articles on the general school situation for the local press, cartoons, movie films and advice as to procedure after receiving detailed in- formation as to local conditions. 12 The development of these latter plans would depend on the possibility of making some financial arrangement with teachers' organizations by which the cost of the service could be paid by those who use it . SCHOOL REVENUE AND TAX REFORM There is no question that teachers must take up the ques- tions of finance for education. Tax-reform is perhaps the most fundamental of the great questions now before the Amer- ican public. In most states, if not in all, the provisions classi- fying property for taxation and distributing the tax-burden upon taxpayers are obsolete and inequitable. Vast sources of revenue are exempt and others are heavily overburdened. These constitute abuses which have grown with our growth until even in normal conditions they seemed unbearable. The enormous increase in taxation, national, state and local, have recently accentuated discontent with outgrown tax systems . The people are becoming insistent on reform. Replies from our correspondents show that teachers are aware of the necessity of tax-reform and in some quarters are attacking the problem in a vigorous, constructive way. This can best be accomplished through State Associations. The Illinois State Teachers' Association has presented to the State Constitutional convention a program for tax-reform which has attracted much attention in the state. The reason why teachers should be leaders in this matter is that they constitute the largest intelligent tax-supported group. They are demanding better support for the schools, which means increased revenue. Increased revenue requires a higher tax-rate, unless secured by fundamental changes in revenue law by which the 65 per cent of untaxed property may be placed upon the tax-books . The movement for tax-reform could be hastened and made general and more nearly uniform through action of national organizations of teachers . This work would at first need to be indirect, informative and aimed at education of teachers . Later it would be direct, militant and directed at public opinion and legislative bodies in the various states. There is a growing sentiment among teachers that to equalize educational opportunity there should be an increased recognition of the interest of the state and nation in public education, shown by increased financial contributions to the 13 support of the schools. There is a decided movement toward enlarging the local unit of taxation to the county or, if that is impracticable in any state, toward making the state, the county and the local district share equally in the support of schools . THE QUESTION OF EQUAL PAY FOR MEN AND WOMEN TEACHERS In some of the Atlantic States there is a difference in teacher's pay in favor of men where men and women are doing the same work. In some cases this difference is very great-30 per cent or more ; in others it is comparatively small. This condition probably reflects the economic period out of which we have passed in which the field of employment for women outside the home was very restricted so that there was little practical difficulty in securing cultured and brilliant women highly trained for their work at salaries far below those needed to attract men. However defensible this prac- tice was economically, it never was ethical, and the new ex- pansion of the field of employment for women has greatly weakened the economic argument. The situation through the great body of the nation has been one of equal recognition for teachers of both sexes. This probably has been the main cause of the decrease in the pro- portion of men teachers . The remedy, however, is not a dif- ferential between the sexes, but adequate pay for teaching regardless of sex. CONCLUSIONS BEARING DIRECTLY ON BETTER SCHOOL CAMPAIGNS Ist: Nothing adequate accomplished without effective organization of teachers-all groups co-operating. 2nd : Nothing much can be done without popular infor- mation and public support. This implies vigorous publicity however secured. An aggressive and able superintendent may enlist clubs, ministers, the press, etc. Usually teachers must do this . 3rd: The main points of attack are the state tax rate for education and the local levy. This indicates the need for co- operation of local and state teachers' organizations. 4th : The public is not much desolated over the flatness of the teacher's pocket book. It is much interested in the wel- fare of the children and the preservation of excellent school 14 opportunities for them. Conclusion: emphasize the welfare of children. 5th: No popular support can be gained for a selfish pro- gram . Boost your school system as a whole and in every part. Do not try for group advantage. 6th : A school board or even a superintendent cannot be expected to conduct a campaign for better pay for teachers. The teachers must take the initiative or little results will follow. 7th : A hurrah for more pay is not a scientific method of campaigning. A study must be made of the causes of low pay locally. Find out whether the failure to pay more is due to too low a tax rate, to inefficient use of funds, to too small a unit of taxation, to indifference of school authorities, to hostile corporate influence. It will be found that in many cases a settled habit of opposing tax-increases on the part of men of wealth and influence can be broken by a courteous, unwearied presentation of the importance of public education, of the real dangers to it of poorly paid teachers, of the values to the business man or corporation of efficient schools, of the loss of able teachers through economic pressure and change of occupation. 8th: The appeal for public support must be all-embrac- ing. It must not be directed to a small group, but must be as wide as the community. To attain this reach it must be made largely through the local press, and this implies frank and cordial relations with those in control of the papers. Make them understand that the school campaign is not a salary fight, but a fight for better schools . 9th : Expert service is needed in a publicity campaign . Teachers are not experts in preparing material of news value to editors . But in making use of experts or taking advantage of citizen support, caution must be used to keep the policies and purposes under control of the teachers. For this purpose the campaign should be put under the control of a representa- tive committee carefully selected. They must live on the job, keep close watch over hired service and maintain abso- lutely the control of action in the campaign. During the cam- paigns of the past year at least two large cities have met partial failure in their purpose because of failure to observe this precaution. They were "double crossed" by their citizens' committee in the one case, by their publicity man in the other. 15 Ioth: Tact and a decent consideration for superintendents and other school authorities are very important to success. Most superintendents and board members are open to consul- tation and may be brought to hearty co-operation by wise and considerate handling. Their support is too valuable in such a cause to lose through negligence or tactlessness. At the same time, the teacher leaders must be firm enough to convince them that they are going through with their campaign. Very often the sentiments of those school authorities will change radically with the first evidence of popular support of a teachers' cam- paign for better schools. Their support at any time is worth getting. Keep this door open. 11 11 : Teachers should all be asked to contribute to the cam- paign fund. In some cities a day's pay was asked and given. In others 12 day's pay was sufficient. If citizens or corpora- tions are asked to contribute, they should be approached by a committee of teachers with a clear statement of what the situa- tion is and what use will be made of contributions. No pledges of quid pro quo should be made, nor special understandings had with citizen contributors. They should be promised an audit of the funds at the end of the campaign. 12th : The teachers' committee will be under a heavy load if they do their work well. They deserve the support of all other teachers and whatever help they ask for. An effective organization of committees should exist for this purpose. The leaders will be at considerable personal expense in the course of a campaign. This should be repaid them from the teachers' fund. Money must be freely spent for advertising, publicity service, printing, postage, stationery, and many other items. In towns of 100,000 the fund should amount to several thou- sand dollars to be at all adequate. 13th : Mistakes will be made, at best. Mistakes of method and of statement of plan are almost fatal. We have made this study of campaigns in order to find out the best methods and to detect common mistakes. One most commonly occurring is the tendency to emphasize the teachers needs. This has its place in the statement of the situation but only as a cause in the deterioration of public education. It requires constant vigilance to avoid over-emphasis on this point. Remember that the public is not much interested in the sad story of the teacher's wrongs. It is interested in them at all only because 16 these wrongs are driving able teachers out of the schools. Keep hammering on school betterment, rather than on comparisons of the wages of teachers with those of other trades and em- ployments. 14th : A publicity campaign is an artificial structure. It must conform to certain laws. The growth of the campaign must be by well-planned degrees to a climax. The foundation so far as the press is used is a series of news items, really newsy, directing attention to fundamental points in your argu- ment . These should increase in number and interest to a point where general interest is aroused. A series of "managed" interviews with prominent people of the community, or of carefully calculated paid advertisements setting forth the dan- ger or decline of the public schools may very well be the next degree. The finale should be a definite program proposing the solution of the difficulty. Here is the place where favorable editorials, pulpit comment, etc., will be most helpful. 15: No matter how intensive and successful your cam- paign may be, it must not be the end of the matter. The most interesting things, if they drop out of the papers too long, are forgotten. A publicity campaign of real value must run on until its object is achieved. There may well be several climactic periods in its development. The public must be kept interested in greater or less degree almost continuously. 16th : A publicity campaign is after all preparatory in nature. On the interest and public sympathy aroused, teachers must build up accomplishment. This involves bringing public pressure to bear where it is needed. The effect of your cam- paign must be directed against superintendent, school board, politicians, candidates,Big Business, or whatever influence you are attempting to direct or affect. This is the harvest of what has gone before. If it is not cared for, all that you have done before is largely wasted. This is where your School Committee must do hard and careful work. 17th : The committee directing the campaign should be small for quick decision, but capable of indefinite expansion for emergencies in the work. Having chosen the best com- mittee available there should be no interference on the part of others in matters which have been entrusted to the com- mittee. There are various phases of the campaign which should be worked out by several committees. But these should 17 not be independent, but strictly subordinate to the directing committee whose function it should be to co -ordinate the work of all sub- committees and direct all efforts to the most effective result. 18th : A definite plan of campaign should be charted with the various departments of work outlined and assigned to com- mittees such departments as Research, Canvass for Funds, Publicity, Propaganda, Speakers, Legislation, etc. 19th : It is very important to get the support of groups of citizens already organized in Parent-Teachers Associations, Associations of Commerce, Business Men's Clubs of various sorts, Churches, Lodges, Social Clubs, Civic Associations, Labor Unions, etc. These organizations are exceedingly valu- able, each forming a focus from which information and influ- ence may directly reach influential citizens. These organiza- tions can best be reached by thoroughly instructed teacher speakers who should be able to put the case for better schools clearly, strongly, dispassionately, with fairness . 20th : It is important to examine the publicity possibilities of your community with some care. The press is the greatest. Is it available for your purpose or can it be made available ? The clergy are nearly always to be counted on as the best friends of efficient schools. Can your local ministry be en- rolled in support of your campaign ? The movie theatres have the great majority of the public as patrons. In many cities four-minute speakers were allowed to present the case of the schools . Slides may be shown with brief catch words of the campaign. In cities of considerable size where the campaign fund is large enough to justify such expenditure, original 1,000- foot films may be made and displayed at the local movies. Placards for display in store windows, in street cars, etc., have a certain value. Cartoons (originals or copies) bearing on the school situation are of great value. Pulpit comment can be very valuable. Carefully prepared "interviews " for which well-known and well regarded citizens will stand are of con- siderable value. Every teacher in your system should be so instructed as to be able to state the case of the schools clearly and to give an outline of a program of improvement. Teachers are apt to forget that they themselves through their contact with nearly all the homes of the community, can wield tre- mendous influence or at least tremendous publicity. 18 21st : HAVE A DEFINITE PROGRAM TO SUBMIT TO THE PUBLIC. BE READY TO MEET SEARCH- ING QUESTIONS ABOUT IT. KNOW THE SOURCES OF YOUR SCHOOL REVENUE AND THE LARGER ITEMS OF EXPENDITURE. SUPERINTENDENTS' QUESTIONNAIRE (Cols. 2-3) In a comparison of the proportion of High School, Junior High School and Elementary teachers and their total with the population of the city, several interesting facts should become apparent. First, the ratio of teachers to total population ; second, the relative popularity of secondary, intermediate and elementary education in the community; third, as between dif- ferent cities, the inequality of ratio of teachers to population should afford some measure of the value each community puts upon a right proportion of pupils to teachers, although this is more accurately shown later in the questionnaire. If there are sectional differences in the appreciation and development of public education, these differences should be reflected in an analysis of these figures. One would expect that marked differences would appear between New England and the Far West, between the North Central and Southern States, between industrial and agricultural regions. SALARY RANGE (Col. 4) The tabulation of salary minima and maxima is especially instructive. An analysis of it will show wide and inexplicable differences . Only the consideration that education in America is a local matter will relieve the bewilderment one feels in finding within the same section, even within the same state, cities whose salary schedules for teachers are nearly $1,000 apart. Why should the schedule of Jersey City range from $1,400 to $2,336 for Elementary teachers while that of Pater- son is $1,200 to $1,800 ? In the same cities why should High School teachers have a range of from $1,500 to $4,100 in Jersey City and from $1,600 to $3,000 in Paterson ? Why should the range in Cleveland be: Elementary ...... $1,020-$1,980 High School .. 1,300-3,300 ..... 19 While in Dayton it is- Elementary ........... 1,100-1,400 High School ........ 1,450-2,050 ? SALARY AVERAGE (Col. 5) That these are not isolated or uncommon cases may best be shown by the following list of salary averages taking the first seven cities of over 100,000 population which reported : High School Elementary Cleveland $2,325 $1,417 Dayton 1,887 1,296 Grand Rapids. ... 1,908 1,404 Jersey City ...... 2,743 1,776 Los Angeles ... 1,800 1,350 New Orleans . 2,050 1,200 St. Louis . 2,663 1,735 Wilmington 1,795 1,393 Here is a difference of average High School salary be- tween Los Angeles and Jersey City of $943 and of average elementary salary between New Orleans and St. Louis of $535. Granting that some difference in living costs and educational standards may exist, the differences here shown are unreason- ably great and they by no means mark the extremes that might have been shown by further selection and comparison. ANNUAL INCREASE IN PAY (Col. 6) In the tabulation of annual increases one of the most dis- couraging factors in the teacher's service becomes evident. This is the slow degrees of progress toward the maximum. The average annual increase allowed the successful teacher in the cities which reported, is less than $100. This means a long schedule. If the minimum is $1,200 and the maximum $3,000, as it is in the High Schools of several large cities, it takes the teacher 18 years to reach the latter figure-far too long for him to reach the maximum of efficiency. We should like to point out to Boards of Education that here is one of the elements in teaching which prevent capable people from making a life work and a profession of teaching. The teacher who has been adequately prepared comes to the fulness of his powers within the first ten years of service. No schedule for teachers should extend over a longer period than that. 20 A notable feature in many so-called schedules is that pro- motion and annual increase depend on the arbitrary decision of a supervisor or supervisors. This brings in too great an element of human fallibility. Whatever may be the objection to fixed and general tests by examination or by requirement of advanced work, these are more likely to result in just deci- sions than the whim or personal bias of individuals. They will result also in a feeling of greater independence on the part of the teacher. Superintendents are prone to resent the exercise of "pull" for promotion by their subordinates . They ought also to resent being required to determine promotion and salary increase without fuller knowledge and acquaintance with the powers and qualities of teachers than can be afforded by any "marking system. " On the whole, if a teacher is fit to in- struct pupils during his period of probation and worth retain- ing in the schools thereafter, it may safely be assumed that the recurrent doing of his task is giving him greater value to the system through experience. If this assumption is correct, an automatic increase with one or more examination barriers at points in the schedule is the safest and fairest plan yet devised. ELIGIBILITY ( Col. 7) Under the tabulation "Eligibility Requirements" we find the old familiar requirements : for the High School College Graduation with a requirement in some cities of a year or more of experience ; for elementary teachers two years normal course with a year or more of experience. This standard, sometimes without experience, runs down through small cities and towns, but does not hold good for rural schools. There are plentiful indications that except in the larger cities these standards are just now subject to great relaxation. The requirement of experience has been given up in many schools . It is evident that this must be so since in several cities of the 3rd class and below, superintendents have been forced to take as elementary teachers under-graduates of nor- mal schools . In several branches of High School work the Collegiate graduation requirement is waived and no pretense is made of requiring experience. In the small town and rural schools the situation is far worse. Practically no standards of educa- tional fitness can be maintained if the schools are to be kept open. The whole impression produced by our tabulation under this heading is that the poorer and less populous regions are 21 entering an era in which their schools will be taught by poorer teachers than ever, and their standard has never been good. The only alternative is such an increase in the pay of teachers in these communities as may serve to attract and to hold able and trained teachers . PROBATION ( Col. 8) Under " Probation Period" there is little of interest. The variation is 'very wide-from 3 to 4 years to no probation. The former requirement is confined to a few cities whose salary schedu'e is relatively attractive. No probation is surprisingly common . PROMOTION ( Col. 9) The " Basis and Method of Promotion" table shows a gratifying increase in the number of schedules which provide automatic increases for teachers. The extension of this plan under the safeguard of barrier examinations or requirements of advanced university credits we believe is a most healthful thing. There are still too many important cities whose teachers are subject to the secret marking system by supervisors. The catchwords are " successful experience," " education and merit," " satisfactory character," "efficiency and desert." Others more frankly report "recommendation of superintendent." Осса- sionally to the superintendent's recommendation is added that of the principal or other supervisor. The whole effect of the "recommendation" plan is to make teachers unduly anxious to gratify those who mark them. This does not tend to evolve the highest type of character in teachers. Anything like disobedience or insubordination is rare enough and can be dealt with easily when it happens . WORKING CONDITIONS (Col. 10) Under working conditions our tabulation shows wide variations . In most cities the five-hour day is the rule. There is some variation . Chicago, alone among the larger cities, has a six-hour day in the High Schools ; but the value of the additional time to the pupil is problematical while its effect on teachers is undoubt- edlybad. In cities of the 1st, 2nd and 3d classes the five-hour day is the almost unbroken rule. Some small town and rural high schools show a considerably longer schedule of hours, but in most cases this is partially balanced by the small average of pupils per teacher. 22 In the hours ( of 60 minutes) of teaching per week, the variation is also very great. It ranges from 1834 to 272 and in a few rare cases to 30. The implications of a schedule of 272 or 30 hours of class-instruction per week do not need much discussion. The physical and nervous organization that can do effective teaching under such conditions for any con- siderable period is very rare. The 30-hour teacher must either loaf on his job or work himself to death. The alternative is to spread his energy and effort very thin over so long a stretch. The educational result must faithfully reflect one of these three attitudes. Another wide variation is revealed in the average of pupils per teacher. The extremes are 12-65. Between these lie almost every conceivable combination. We have not yet attempted either to find an average or to compare and con- trast different communities. There should be some rather useful material here, bearing upon comparative effectiveness as between systems with classes of moderate size and those with a very high class average. SALARY ALLOWANCE DURING Illness ( Col. 11 ) In nothing is the inequality of teaching conditions through the country more clearly shown than in the provisions for pay of teachers absent for sickness or on leave for professional improvement. In the matter of pay during illness the variation ranges from " no allowance" to "full pay for an indefinite time. " A great number of cities and towns report full pay for a week or two weeks and pay less substitute's for various periods up to 12 year. Some report full pay 10 days each year. New York allows 60 days' full pay for a teacher who has served 15 years, then by gradations the time of full pay is reduced to 20 days for teachers in the first three years of service. There is no room in this brief report for a statement of the great variety of provisions for sick pay. CONDITIONS OF ABSENCE FOR PROFESSIONAL IMPROVEMENT (Col. 12) The same diversity appears in the leave of absence for pro- fessional improvement. In the great majority of schools no provision at all is made. This means that leave may be granted but that no recognition is given by the school authorities to the effort of a teacher to improve. In a very few cases the teacher's position is not even held open for him. More intelli- gent usage appears in many systems in which the position is kept secure and even the automatic increase allowed. Then in rising degree we find cities in which a bonus of $200 to $500 is granted the returned teacher who has been absent for educa- tional improvement, cities which allow teachers half-pay during such absence, cities which allow the schedule increase and add the bonus. There is no need to detail the conclusions we have reached as to the wisdom and effectiveness of these better provisions. We need only express our hope that such provisions may in time become the rule rather than the exception . PENSIONS ( Col. 13) With regard to pensions our tabulation shows that in most of the New England and Central Atlantic States as well as several of the North Central group state pension systems for teachers are in operation. Most of these provide for contribu- tions from teachers to form an annuity reserve to which the state adds from public funds an amount sufficient to make the total annual retirement allowance to teachers ½ the average salary of the last 5 years of service. In some states this means a maximum of $1,000 or slightly more, in others it ranges from $500 to $800. In the greater part of the South and West and in several states of the North Central group pensions do not exist or are local and not state affairs . In conclusion we would point out the chaotic irregularity and inequality of conditions as they appear not only through- out the nation but within sections and within states . The levelling up of these inequalities so as to approach a reasonable regularity and uniformity seems to us a task as worthy as it is gigantic. Many indications show the necessity of undertaking and carrying it through. Many organizations and officials will engage in it before it can be achieved. What we hope for the American Federation of Teachers is that it may not only aid in ascertaining the conditions, but take its part in the great work of directing the nation's atten- tion to them and in applying the remedies. The general conclusions to which we are led by the facts we have gathered are, that education must become more largely a function of the state and in some degree of the nation and that, while the policies and welfare of public educa- tion must always be kept close to the hearts and minds of the local communities, the state and nation must have a larger part in supervision and finance than hitherto. W. T. McCOY. G. W. TANNER.