Salem State University - Clipper Yearbook

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Tl-IE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE Recently there have come to my ollice at great many communications from military and naval sources soliciting candidates for the XY.X.'XL'S and the XXQXYICS. It is easy to understand why men in charge of recruitment for these services should want to tap every source of potential supply, hut it is not so easy to under- stand why they should include teachers colleges in their campaigns. l'ossihly the appeals were sent out indiscriminately without regard for the type of institution to which they were mailed, hut if this is not the case, ohviously the armed forces are attempting to raid the ranks of our women teachers. .Xgainst this practice l raise one small voice in vigorous protest. Yictory is the theme of your Yearhooli. Yictory is the slogan of a lighting .-Xmerica. But victory must he won in the classrooms of the nation as decisively as on the hattletields of the world. You cannot perpetuate the democratic way of life without correlated indoctrination of young people, any more than you can make it survive without superior reserves of guns, and planes, and ships. Two months ago the Commissioner of lfducation sent to suimerintendents and principals throughout the state a timely letter concerning the current teacher shortage. Ile quoted some pertinent statistics to show that the condition is alarm- ing even now, and will hecome progressively more so as this devastating war drags on. Surely it is not a time further to deplete instructional personnel hy such expedients as glamorizing a uniform or dangling an inflated pay check hefore the eyes of our graduates. There is an ahundance of good material for the auxiliary forces outside the walls of teacher-training institutions, hut-even in normal times-there can never he a saturation point in the production of good teachers, hecanse upon them depend so tremendously the welfare and progress of civilization. One great difficulty is that for years communities have failed to recognize the importance of our calling. This attitude has led to a general lack of aggressive- ness on our part. XYe have formed the hahit of self-effacement. llc have hidden away in the innocuous seclusion of the classroom, and our exertions have gone unheeded amid the strident clamour ahout us. If there were a more general ap- preciation of the worth and accomplishments of teachers, it would not he neces- sary to recruit them in this day of stress. Patriotism is one of the proudest heritages of American life. Once our people realize that teaching is a patriotic service and that the guardians of the classroom are in effect the co-defenders of democracy, the teacher shortage will disappear overnight. Nothing said here is intended to reliect in any way upon the work of the auxiliary branches. These splendid groups are contrihuting in no small measure to the cause of victory. I plead merely for a more widespread understanding of a profession which is as old as knowledge, as steadfast as truth, and as funda- mental as the freedom it was designed to preserve. QWJ4 W.

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