SIR,—May I express my gratitude to Sir Compton Mackenzie for
his wise comments on the present position of teachers, and par- ticularly for his emphasis on the unity of the profession.
On the other hand I can only deplore the ill-considered statements of Mr. Henschel in your correspondence column recently and in a speech made by him during the Christmas holidays.
After twenty-nine years' teaching experience in secondary (including grammar) and primary schools I have no hes'tation in saying that primary school teachers are the backbone of our profession. In their large classes of un- selected children (forties and fifties. Sir Comp- ton—nut thirty), with little or no marking time during school hours, these devoted men and women educate ninety per cent. of our people during their most iinpressionable years. What experience has Mr. Henschel of their work that he can speak so confidently of their 'lighter duties ' ? How does he propose to assess their professional skill in cash terms ? Presumably he regards the primary school teacher as a creature of lesser calibre than himself, incapable of reaching the dizzy heights of intellectual attainment required for grammar school teaching. To lengthen the salary scale still further would inevitably impoverish our educational system since the strength of a ladder is the strength of its weakest rung; primary schools too need ' good men' and has Mr. Henschel never heard of the ' chronic shortage' of women teachers ?
I am glad Mr. Henschel points out that " we shall not help our case by being snobbish'.' but this makes it even more per- plexing that he should advocate a narrow and sectarian policy in discussing financial rewards in schools. The shortage of science and mathematics masters in grammar schools is only one aspect of the shortage of suitably qualified teachers in all branches of secondary education. In secondary modern schools too the standard is lower than it should be for this exacting and vitally important work. Since Mr. Henschel is evidently completely ignorant of this work with its urgent and complex problems and harassing conditions I shall not attempt to deal with it here, but I should like to beg my colleague to consider very carefully, before adopting, the non- Christian and undemocratic shibboleth ' an aristocracy of intellect,' and to commend to him the words of St. Paul, " Walk worthy of the vocation where ye be called," because " there is one body, and one spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling."— Yours faithfully,
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