3 APRIL 1920, Page 3

Unless teachers are well paid their ranks will not be

filled by the best types of men and women. The teaching profession in the elementary schools must be made much more attractive, just as the position of schoolmasters in the great Public Schools has already been made much more desirable than it was. As it is, we fear that among the teachers of the elementary schools there is a spirit abroad that is restless, defiant, and anti-social. It does not of course by any means affect all, but it is prevalent enough to be dangerous. We have read reports of speeches delivered from time to time of meetings of the National Union of Teachers which made us feel that the speakers were unfitted to train the minds of children. At all events, we know one of the prime causes of this unsatisfactory state of affairs, and it is a cause which can be removed. Even though the expense be con- siderable, it would not be uneconomic expenditure.