Economy and Education
The head of a spending department is always at some disadvantage when economy is the order of the day, and the President of t he Board of Education could naturally say no more to the National Union of Teachers' Conference on Saturday than that the present regrettable cuts in their salaries were only temporary. But it is well to have even that much emphasized. The educational curriculum in all classes of schools to-day tends to expand, and every new expansion throws some fresh
responsibility on the staff. The elementary school teacher, paid a salary which barely enables him to keep himself on a standard qualifying him for the work he has to do (the same applies to the woman teacher), gives freely of his spare time, and often of his scanty spare money, for the benefit of the children in his charge. An ill-advised threat by a few teachers, at the time the salary cuts were announced, to withdraw that voluntary service gained undue prominence, and Sir Donald Maclean did well to recall the repudiation by the great Mass of teachers of an attitude which did the profession no honour. The elementary school teachers of this country are carrying on the greatest of national services, and their claims must be among the first to be considered when easier financial conditions return.
* * * *
