Page Twv
THE TAR HEEL
Friday, July 13, 195
Education The Criterion Of Our Age
Education is now undergoing one of the ' war, in a nation which is looked to by the
most extensive examinations in modern world for some degree of leadership, we are
times. The magazines are hot on the scent, in danger of muffing the ball. Historians, if
The politicians are snooping, hoping to find ever they have the opportunity, will un-
a Commie here or there. The professional doubtedly see in the current period a crisis
educators go on manufacturing vocabulary which the American people brought upon
at an increased rate. More buildings are themselves. The historians will probably
built. More students are born. More teach- see with clarity the thing which we apparent-
ers are hired. ly see with such great difficulty: Tney will
Yet, the people who are doing the talk- see that we failed to educate the young,
ing are not satisfied. The teachers are not It isn't too difficult to see it today. Don't
satisfied. And worst of all, the students are we spend two billion on education and nine
not educated. It would seem that everyone billion on alcohol?
rhi u-nClat student newspaper of the University of North Carolina t
SPvl J e ,,l ls P.ublished by the Summer School every Tuesday and
and Thursday. Printing m done by Colonial Press. Inc.. Chanel Hill. N. C
Editor..
Business Manager
Managing Editor
Apom ditor..
Bob Hennesses
..Oliveh Watkins
Society Editor
Associate News Editor
Aduerusing Manager
Circulation Manager
.David Buckner
iJUCCV NORTHART
Mary Nell Boddie
...Tommy Sumneb
...Marie Cosiello
...Neil Cadieu
assistant sports ictttor ken Barton
Staff: Bob Cunningham. Sara Thurston. Bill Grimes, Fred Thompson.
Kit Crittenden.
1951-Another Riddle
is trying to get into the act. Everybody from
the artist to the Rotarian, from the Super
visor to the philosopher. The person with the
least-loud voice is the teacher, the forgotten
man.
And, unfortunately, the teacher should be
doing the talking. But that 'is a difficult
process, for the teacher is sick. He is finan
cially anemic. The salary scale for the so
called "profession" is the biggest horse-laugh
since Man O'War. Then, there are the local
politicians to appease, , there are the educa
tors to appease, there is the family to support.
All in all, the teacher has little enough time
to teach, let alone to talk about it.
Besides, who would cousult a teacher, any
how? Is it not true that people teach because
they cannot do anything else? Why, of
course. This is, common knowledge, and any
, man on the street can cite five examples of
incompetent teachers in his home town. Thus,
teachers are the last ones to be consulted . . .
about anything.
Other professions, such as medicine and
law, have a high standing in the community.
Does anyone doubt where the emphasis
now lies?
BUT SEE FOR YOURSELF
A little man hastily brought his car to a stop, mopped
his forehead, got out and walked across the street to the
schoolgrauncL The lawn was an acre square and a foot
thick. A whiskey bottle poked its label out of the grass.
You drop a penny postcard into the mail. "Give it another year," he thought, "and we could sell tim-
You wait live days, and you get the inf orma- ber.. I'll have to get the lawn mowed this week."
tion. That is what we did. The North Caro- He climbed the steps, eroded by generations of feet, to
lina Department of Education in Raleigh the pseuda-neo-Spanisri-American structure. The brick
obliged us with material on the educational walls of the building looked reasonably imposing . . . from
system in this state and how it compares the outside. They didn't show their twenty-live years. Grass
with other states. The figures are for 1945, was growing between the, cement steps. "Have to have that
but the relative standings have not changed cut. Can't have the place looking like part of a ghost town."
much since then. Ten steps and he was on the concrete piazza at the end of
We are amazed, hurt, and angry.. But see the building,
for yourself: Eight families of wasps and their first cousins, the dirt
1. We have a large school-age population daubers, had moved in during the three-months sleeping
in comparison to the total population in. the period of the schoolhouse. They buzzed warningly in the
state. Our rank is 6.5 in the nation. hot August sun. Two gargoylish water fountains started
2. Our income per school-age child is $3,395. rustily at him from their concrete anchorage. He pressed
ON THIS WE RANK 43rd. a pedal of one with his foot, and the water system clanked
3. We allot an estimated 2.6" percent of our throughout the building. He heard sympathetic noises from
state and local revenue to schools. On this, the fountains at the other end of the structure. He hastily
WE RANK, 14th. went to the door, hauled out of his pocket a bunch of keys
. 4. We spend $115.00 on each pupil. WE which weighed a pound and began to try them in the lock.
RANK 42nd. Now which one is it? I can't remember from year to year."
brick. Then down the hall, the long hall which ran the
length of the building boards creaking, dirty, oil-covered
to lay the dust that had been ground into impalpable grit.
The walls had been calcimined 'when was that? Several
years ago. Have to keep a light burning here, even during
fallen plaster lay in the exact center of the hall, as if it had
been aimed precisely. He flipped a switch. Nothing hap
pened. He flipped it back, Went on. He wandered into the
Ninth grade Home Foom. A table, devoid of even debris,
gave evidence of the thoroughness of the departing teacher.
TheV are SO sit.1iat.prf. WP hplimro rioialhr
1 because they have set up standards which 5- Value of scho1 property per student, 0n the fiftb try, he got the right one. .He opened the door
are substantially hieh and rather difficult $225.00 RANK 42nd. ' which scraped on the concrete, and he anchored it with a
oi attainment. They, in short, have estab- - auo 01 nign-scnooi enrollment total
lished examinations which require a degree enrollment, 19 percent. RANK 41st
of ability in order that they might be passed. 7 Average annual salary of teacher, prin-
The layman, when he considers the fact cipal and supt.,. $2125. RANK 34th.
that he could not nass thp pvaminatinn Viae So often we hear the phrase at banauets
4. J i l 1 i . ' o-l mink vvlnn uiuwH. m i: tlna mirfrflo nf tTici rlmr "
a leiiueuey iu respect ine man wno nas passed yi.av.es mat mum uuimi ,j.eacis "-
the test. . the South," in this, or that, or the other. That A Picture on the wall, behind a dusty, broken glass,
The teacher, on the other hand, has only statement is equivalent to a man's saying depicted George Washington crossing the Delaware. "Hasn't
' to get out of college, with a dibble of "edu- that he can lick anybody who does not weigh been cleaned in five years." A picture of some American
cation" courses, and he is "certified" Well more than filtY pounds. Or that Chapel Hill Indians and early settlers in North Carolina was hanging
' the average man reasons, anvbodv can do 1S tne largest town in the township. In . a ' aS16 wnicn it naa neia lor many moons. A piece oi
that. The millions, of veterans who have . short, such a statement is meaningless,
come to- college have somewhat watered- seems to us, therefore, that we should
down the sanctified atmosphere with which keeP our eves on the nation. We should re
college per se has previously been covered. member that but for such states as Missis
Anyone can do it It's simnle. Thprp arp no sippi, Alabama, and South Carolina. , we
entrance exams. Just go to classes for four would be on the bottom of the heap in manv 1'ne table had served as a desk. . Thirty-two seats, of five
years ana they'll give you a Bachelor s de- 0A Lne national ratings. uisunci types, maue uneven rows in me room, tneir tops
gree with all the rights and privileges there- 0ne otner statistic which might be of in- . preserving many generations of laboriously carved initials,
unto appertaining. .Whatever they are. Take terest: In 1947-48, the White school property .He looked at the greenish blackboards, full of infiltra-
the Education courses and you get a certifi- totaled $142,868,760 or $240.00 per pupil. The tions by thumbtacks. The putty was falling from the win-
cate too. Then, if you get into a pinch, take Negro school property totaled $23,198,447 or dows. One pane was broken. Another missing. The pencil
a teaching -job. ' Everybody is doing it! $89.00 per pupil. Thus in the "equal but sep- sharpener hung to the window frame by one screw. "Must
There are young ladies who are waiting arate" facilities, the value of the property ave the County man come up and go through this place,"
for the right man to come along. They teach Per White student is about 275 percent of bethought.
for a year, get married, and begin a family tne value 01 the property per Negro student! Tne Principal, for it was he, left the ninth grade room
Well, families are all right, but what about There is an old saying that there are liars, and went to his office. He stopped outside the door and
the continunity in. the teaching profession damned liars and statistics. Maybe so.- There looked at a crude drawing, done in 1925 by ah eighth grade
if people are more or less marking time is also a sayinS that ignorance and hyper- student, illustration Man and His Progress. From the draw
waiting for the right man? ' bole are brothers. We have heard, recently, in&. Jt appeared that man had progressed only in transpor-
And then, there are those who unfor- seYeral Srandiose claims made concerning the tation- A heavily riveted locomotive was puffing beside a
tunatejy, stay in the profession until thev ecluallty.of facilities for Negroes in secondary disconsolate Camel. The young artist had meticulously
die, after a very long life Thev run a farm schools- We feel that these claims, which C0Pied the pyramid off a cigarette label,
sell insurance, and operate a store on the rePresent hyperbole, are made by people Hls offlce was m chaos. Hundreds of textbooks, hasitly
side. They are at the school-house for a few wno are not "formed, and perhaps that ex- tied together by departing teachers, cluttered the floor,
hours per day. Actually the $250 oer month plains their fear of statistics.' Several piles were torn, mutilated, backless, frontless. . "Have
which is naid to thi? tvnp i tJace i . t 1L , to take these to the Superintendent in the morning and get
or art ldt0thlStyp e 13 wasted, in whole In any case, the state of North Carolina some replacements." He dropped into his chair, wrote his
' is to be congratluated on having expended initials in the dust on his desk, and began to think about
And then there are those few faithful ser- S a large Percentage of the recent bond a schedule for the new year. The fetid odor of the closed
vants who labor, unceasingly, for the educa- Pjfoney torTheu build"ig of schools for the building irritated his nose. He produced a cigarette, lit it,
tion of the children. They are the true mar- egriesV V the state is trying and the smoke hung motionless in the air. He opened a
tyrs of the modern education cause. But t0 lhe best of a bad situation. The only window and more dried putty fell. He slammed the window
they are few in number. , untortunate aspect about the matter is that and the putty showered. He crushed his cigarette in the
We mUSt dO better, miicll hptter ni- ura ol11 . il i.i j j l.ii u. u: -
vmv Miv.ii. oic i.cw guuu teacn- "vc swauuw lite pin oi unsegregation m
ers, many sloppy teachers, and many tran- the secondary schools.- That this would be
sient teachers? Why do people run an in- an unwise move is manifest. That such a
, surance firm and teach school too? The an- preposterous inequity as now exists will
swer is. to be found in the fact that the salary FORCE the issue soon is also manifest
cannot draw people of the aualitv neprfprf in
is low because (Jo a large extent) because Letter From An Editor
the layman has a rather unimpressive opin- -cyiit..
ion of the average teacher. In short the t
teacher is not thought to be reallv nrenkred . want to conSratulate yu on your verbal broadside at
J F aACU- big time football, and especially on your courage in ex-
We would propose, therefore, that merit posing the true picture. I have long been of the opinion
examinations be instituted for high school that the whole thing is just too big and as amateur sport,
teachers, tO be administered hv tpanViPre VJa an almost eomnletP hvnnrritiVnl fQrnQ T 1,
believe that only as teachers establish high come right out and say, "Here's our professional team hired
by us to play for us, it wouldn't make so much difference.
Then, at least, they'd be honest.
The ironical thing about it is that in many colleges and
universities where the situation is annrnvimato n tw ot
women who are needed if the educational UNC. they profess to teach honpstv. tnnrnlitv Christian
program is to succeed. principles and just the highest type of ethics, when all
loday, on the threshold of possible world the time they're getting away with anything (hey can to
"I'll work out the schedule at home," he thought. He got
into his car, mopped his wet face with a damp handkerchief,
and drove away.
In the ninth grade room, a cautious spider caught a dis
tracted fly. '
j .wmv, u toiauiuu Jixgii
standards will they ever be able to demand
high pay. And we feel sure that until high
pay exists in the profession, there will not
De attracted to it the high-caliber men and
help win football games. Offiicals get mighty indignant
over some boys throwing, a basketball game, forgetting
that with their under-the-table bonuses, convertibles, etc.,
they're teaching the boys by example to get away with
anything they can.
Anyway, you're making a good fight, and I admire you.
And don't let anybody scare you because nine times out
of ten whoever it is that's brow-beating you is a helluva
lot more afraid of you than you could ever be of them.
As long as you are right, there will be plenty who will
stand shoulder to shoulder with you.
Dave Clark
Edilor The Old Gold and Black
Wake Forest