If ever the nation gets a chance to hear he voice of the U.S. public-school teacher, it seldom hears it so clearly as when the powerful (561,708 members) National Education Association holds its annual convention. Last week, as some 20,000 teachers and administrators wound up their N.E.A. convention business in Manhattan, they did so with the well-earned satisfaction of having given the country a piece of their mind.
In sessions at Madison Square Garden and in meetings at midtown hotels, they talked about everything from juvenile delinquency to audio-visual aids. They elected a sprightly new president—Miss Waurine Walker of the Texas Education Agency—heard such notables as Mayor Robert Wagner and U.N. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjoöld. But for the most part, the effect of the convention was to remind the public once again that it was far from performing its proper duty towards the public schools.
Increase Expected. The physical condition of U.S. schools, reported N.E.A.'s Executive Secretary William Carr, is "steadily worsening." There is a shortage of at least 125,000 new teachers a year, and the problem of overcrowding has reached such proportions that "a million children will be on half-day next year . . .
And the end," continued Carr, "is not yet.
We must expect an increase of about one and a quarter million children each year for the next decade. This calls for a new classroom every 15 minutes, day and night, for 365 days a year . . . Thousands of children go to school day after day in unsuitable and dangerous buildings, are taught by underpaid and undertrained teachers on half-time shifts." If all that were not enough, said Superintendent Martin Essex of Lakewood, Ohio, teachers are being frightened into a "sterile education." After questioning 522 other superintendents for a special report, Essex found a growing fear of such subjects as religion, sex education, Communism, "socialized" medicine and UNESCO. "The American teacher has voluntarily censored herself. This is out of fear of reprisals . . . It's not bad to be afraid, but to accept it as normal is dangerous."
Retreat Denied. Rightly or wrongly, a group of N.E.A.'s teachers also made it obvio that they had little patience with such critics as Historian Arthur (Educational Wastelands} Bestor and Albert (Quackery in the Public Schools} Lynd.
In one convention session, John K. Norton of Columbia's Teachers College apparently spoke for the majority when he lashed back at those who believe that the "new education" is leading the nation into an intellectual retreat. "I make no apology," said he, "for bringing interest into educational method ... I also offer no apology for the belief that modern education should have purposes which take account of social as well as individual needs." Having stated their complaints, the teachers proceeded to state some positions.
Among the convention's major resolutions: ¶ Federal aid to the various states to raise teachers' salaries.
¶A record salary scale of $4,000 for beginners with a bachelor's degree, at least $9,000 for experienced (over 15 years) teachers with a master's.
¶Support of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to outlaw segregation in the public schools.