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The Close Relationship of the Community

to the Problem

HARVEY S. GRUVER.

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, WORCESTER, MASS.

T

HE community in relation to school affairs may be defined as the extent of territory under the jurisdiction of one school board. The aggregate of such school communities makes up the larger unitCounty, State and Nation. In school affairs there. may be but little relation between the various groups of units. This relation differs greatly in

fferent states. In some states each local unit is practically a law unto itself, while in other states there is definite control exercised by the county and by the state.

The result of this practice is inevitable, namely, that the educational standards in the various communities differ greatly. If our national life were differently constituted this might not be a very serious question, but under existing conditions it is one of great concern. People, according to their habit, migrate from place to place with the greatest facility. It is not common for a large percentage of adults to be living in communities other than those in which they were reared.

Local control of our public schools is a cherished privilege of American communities. This privilege should not be ruthlessly swept aside. Certain incentives, however, should be given local communities to encourage them to maintain higher educational standards. This is already being done to a marked degree and with excellent results in certain respects. Higher standards of a teacher's qualifications are required, a lengthened school year has been secured, better housing conditions exist and, in general, much progress has been made.

As long, however, as the school year may be as short as a hundred days or less in some states while in other states it must be approximately double this length, or a youth who can barely meet the requirements of graduation from the elementary schools may be legalized to teach in one section while in another section nearly double the amount of training is required, we cannot hope to enjoy the security which comes from universal education, the type that is necessary for a well established form of democracy. Different states have been accustomed to setting up minimum standards according to their conception of what the minimum requirements of public education should be. As pointed out above, these standards vary greatly in different states.

Is it not about time that we should have a national standard instead of forty-eight different standards as an ideal toward which to work. Different communities are too accustomed to regard their schools as the best in the country, regardless of how difficient they may be. In every community there are those who are sufficiently interested in public education and who are intelligent enough to present the facts in such a way that there would be no doubt as to where their schools would stand in the scale if a national standard were established. The extent to which the state and nation should go in providing incentives for a higher standard of public education cannot be discussed in this connection.

What is the relation or rather obligation of the community in reference to the supply of teachers? Is it too much to expect every community to furnish her full quota of teachers? Should any community be excused from this important phase of our national life? If education is neecssary for the perpetuity of our civilization and if the teacher is the chief factor in the education process, does it not become a patriotic necessity? Is there any more reason why any community should be excused from furnishing her full quota of teachers than that the community should have been excused during the war for not having furnished her full quota of soldiers and sailors? Our government did not hestitate to call on all communities alike to furnish their full strength of the fighting force

composing the American army in the recent war for precisely the same purpose, namely, for the preservation of our country, its homes, its laws and its institutions.

Our government did not stop at the mere drafting of soldiers saying to them "Your services are necessary in the United States Army. Six months hence be prepared to fight in the front line trenches in France." Every possible means which brains and money could provide were set in motion to train these raw recruits, while drawing a soldier's pay, to play the part of a soldier three, six or nine months hence.

If there is a shortage of trained teachers, and there is, there must certainly be a cause for it. Has any attempt ever been made to designate to the various communities the exact number of young people who should aspire to be teachers in order that the schools may be properly supplied. Has the patriotic necessity of having. the schools well equipped with properly trained teachers, both men and women, been as definitely and specifically pointed out as was the case in reference to enlistment in the army and navy? Have we been as zealous and as energetic in offering inducements as to conditions of training and subsequent service as was the case in our recent war experience? In other words, have we as carefully diagnosed the case and examined into the causes for the teacher shortage as the occasion requires?

There are two fundamental questions involved-first, the necessity for having enough teachers professionally trained has never been fully and adequately presented to the communities comprising our larger political units; second, sufficient inducements have not been offered to attract young people into this important life activity. It is true states have established normal training schools for teachers. It is also true that we have established training schools for our army and navy. For the latter any youth properly qualified may aspire to enter regardless of his economic condition. For the former this is not the case. Is there really any good reason why the state should not under proper regulations make it possible for any youth with the required qualifications, upon declara

tion of his intention to become a teacher, to begin his training at the expense of the state?

Under normal conditions with a sufficient number of the best youth of a community clamoring to enter the teaching profession this would be wholly unnecessary, but at no time in the past under the most favorable conditions has this been true.

The following quotation is taken from the report recently made by Professor Judd of Chicago University. "One million pupils in the rural schools of this country at the present time are taught by young girls who have themselves had no more than an eighth grade training. One hundred thousand of the rural' teachers of this country are sixteen, seventeen and eighteen years of age. More than half the rural teachers are less than twenty-one. It should be borne in mind that the rural teachers have to operate for the most part without supervision and that they teach about sixty per cent. of the pupils of the United States."

Conditions are but little better in the majority of the small towns and in many of the smaller cities of the country, nor will they become better until greater inducements are offered young people to enter the teaching profession. Communities. should willingly agree to whatever taxation is necessary to induce a sufficient number of youth to take the necessary years of training, at the expense of the state, to meet the demand in full. The present teaching staff of our secondary schools and colleges should be actively engaged in directing the youth best qualified by nature and training to enter the teaching profession. It is a well known fact that just the opposite prevails in many localities today. The teachers now in service recognizing their restricted economic conditions, their restricted outlook on life and the limited facilities for growth and advancement, with the best of intentions turn young people from the teaching profession, little realizing that if this policy were followed to its ultimate conclusion it would mean the wrecking of our nation.

The state must make the teaching profession sufficiently attrac

tive from the economic, social and political points of view to warrant those now in the profession to change their attitude in reference to encouraging their students to enter the profession.

Teachers do not aspire to large economic returns, but they do wish for sufficient remuneration to be relieved from economic constraint.

Socially, teachers do not expect undue adulation, but they do expect to be free from the mild form of derision with which they are too often regarded. They expect and are entitled to the same "man to man" treatment that is accorded to other deserving individuals in the community. This is too often withheld.

Politically, teachers do not desire to be agitators nor do they wish to be unduly active in the behalf of any candidate or cause. They do expect, however, to enjoy the same right and privilege of other free American citizens, namely, to express themselves freely and sanely on any political issue. This right again is too often denied or, if exercised, their position and professional security is apt to be jeopardized.

The mere physical conditions under which the teacher does her work must receive greater attention on the part of the state. Great progress has been made in recent years in regard to the conditions under which men and women work in our great industrial plants. Progressive industrial leaders are recognizing that it is good business to surround their employees with the most wholesome conditions. Every possible precaution is taken for the health and safety of the employee. Factory physicians and trained nurses are at the disposal of the employees for the slightest cause. Recreational and social features are considered a legitimate part of the budget.

It is a very doubtful question whether or not our schools have kept pace in these physical features so essential to the well-being of the children as well as of the teacher. Many teachers in our large cities are trying to do their work amidst unfavorable surroundings. School houses are located on noisy street corners or accompanied by other impossible conditions. I am not unmindful of the fact that in most progressive communities there is little to com

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