Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

Page 25 text:

Massachusetts. This money was spent in productive channels laying a foundation for future prosperity, and given not only to teachers, but also to printers, masons, carpenters, coal dealers, paper manufacturers, and countless others. Towns having new schools attract new residents who contribute to local prosperity. Largely because America spends most generously for education she has the largest income and wealth of any nation. Free public educa- tion builds prosperity. A somewhat popular pastime with certain people has been that of ridiculing the “frills” of modern public education. In most cases they do not specify particular subjects, being content with generalities. “Frills” commonly mentioned are art, manual training, music, house- hold arts, and health work. Obvi- ously, with a greater percentage of our children entering our schools, especially the high schools, it is nec- essary to provide a broader pro- gram than in the old days when on- ly those destined for college spent a long time in school. English, his- tory. geography, and science were “frills” once. More money will have to be spent on education and more subjects will have to be taught as the decades roll on if society is to progress. Taxation in the United States is simply a payment for services de- manded and received, and there should be no different attitude toward paying taxes from that toward paying for any service or commodity. The average tax bur- den is smaller in the United States than in any other leading country. So long as we demand more and more service from the government, we must expect rising taxes. The problem is going to be one of devis- ing means of raising the necessary funds equitably and with as little discomfort as possible. The time has long since gone when tangible property was the chief from of personal wealth and the chief source of personal income. Yet, the Massachusetts land owner is bearing about 51% of the total burden of local and state expendi- tures and is paying about 70% of the direct taxes, while the people with larger incomes or with more wealth in the form of intangible property are bearing little of the burden. The future will have to bring a just, easily-administered, searching program of taxation which will bring it about so that every citizen shall contribute in pro- portion to his ability to pay. The best we can do is to insist on effi- ciency and on just distribution of the tax load. During the year 1930-31 the sum of $84,468,319 was spent by the lo- cal and state government .on gener- al public schools below college lev- el. The average number of school days throughout the state was 182. The number of pupils in average membership in public elementary and secondary day schools was 719.675. Thus the average cost per pupil in 1930-31 was $117.37 for the year or 64c a day. Though school costs have been steadily rising, it should be borne in mind that the same is true of other governmental departments and also of our personal expendi-

Page 24 text:

Education in a Time of Crisis By Lazrus Lazaropoulos :n • H OW to save the tax payers’ money in these days when ev- erybody has less of it than he used to, appears to be the chief interest of the average citizen just now. The demand for economy is a natural outgrowth of general distress and righteous indignation against waste and corruption. Every newspaper and magazine is loud with outcries against any extravagance of the federal, state, and local govern- ments. But its usual target is that which is most needed by the people during a depression — the educa- tional institutions. They have chos- en the wrong remedy, and I shall strive to prove that they have chos- en the wrong department to attack. One of the most unfortunate fea- tures of our preesnt economic situa- tion is the effect on education. I have read of several hundred dis- trict schools being closed altogether in one region of what, usually is a prosperous state. In other places I have been informed that the school year has been shortened from eight months or nine months to seven or even six months. Some boards of education have reduced salaries so drastically that the really good teachers have gone elsewhere, leav- ing only the inexperienced and the incompetent. In certain cities teach- ers have gone without pay for months at a time, so that their mo- rale has been greatly lowered. The result of all these things is, to put it plainly and bluntly, that our boys and girls are not being as well ed- ucated as they were, that they are not being prepared for every day work as they ought to be, and that they are not being trained as effec- tively as is necessary for the trying days that are bound to come in the future. In the greatest crisis in the na- tion’s history the people of the Unit- ed States need education more than all else. The young people of Amer- ica must be taught to understand the economic system which has de- veloped in the past century. Espec- ially must they understand that democratic government can succeed only by the “consent” of those who are goverend. But “consent” can- not be given by the people to the acts of their representatives unless they themselves understand the po- litical and economic problems that face them. There is only one sure way to guarantee that the nation may be governed by the “consent” of the people and that is by educa- tion. Furthermore education is the bas- is of prosperity. The fact that pub- lic education takes a large portion (about 28%) of the public expen- ditures of Massachusetts causes some people to think of education as an expense rather than as a prof- itable investment. Prosperity is based upon the earning and spend- ing of the masses, not of the few. Rather than being a drain upon bus- iness, our school system is one of the finest aids to business, a supporting- bulwark in our e conomic structure. During the year 1930-31, $84,468,- 319 was spent for public schools in 22

Page 26 text:

tures. Compare the percentage of increase in school costs with the percentage of increase in cost of other local departments over a peri- od of years and you usually see that school costs have not increased out of proportion to costs of other de- partments of local government. Massachusetts schools are giving a dollar’s Worth of service for |each dollar they cost. A favorite line of attack by those who wish to slash educational offer- ings and appropriations is to direct attention to the great increase in the cost of free public education, disre- garding the conditions which ex- plain this increase. Schools cost more to-day for many reasons. First, there has been a nation-wide increase in the number of students in school. Second, children are stay- ing in school longer than ever be- fore. Third, more teachers are need- ed today. Fourth, the subject taught in school to-day are greater in va- rietv. The people of Massachusetts expect more of their government in general and of their school depart- ments in particular and must expect to pay the increased cost. Increas- ing cost must in ordinary times be accepted as inevitable and must be considered always in relation to re- sults. As in many enterprises in school work the amount paid for wages is the major factor in expenditure. There can be no doubt that the im- portant element in the school en- vironment is the teacher, for with- out her the school is merely a pile of bricks. What the state of Massa- chusetts needs is good teachers. Good teachers never have been and probably never will be overpaid. If possible, every community should in times like these adopt the wjisest form of economy, which meants em- ploying the best available teachers at usual salaries rather than reduc- ing salaries and thereby tending to eliminate superior teachers. It is economy to pay the salaries which good teachers earn. The fundamental laws relating to public schools are state laws. By state law every community must provide schooling for boys and girls between the ages of seven and fif- teen inclusive and must elect a school committee which sha ll have general charge of all the public schools. In brief, communities must furnish free education, must see that children attend the schools provid- ed, and must elect a committee with a broad power of general manage- ment. Surelv the child has the in- alienable right to demand of society that it shall provide the conditions and environments which will enable him to have a fair and adequate start toward making the most of himself. School is one of the most important factors in the child’s life. The free public school is the one place where all children get the same environment, the same guid- ance, the same opportunity to un- fold. the same stimulation to suc- ceed, and the same chance to ex- perience and experiment. The slashings of school appropriations involve not only dollars and cents but also the rights and the futures of boys and girls. Therefore all friends of free pub- lic education should oppose de- mands which will deprive the youth 24