Montclair State College - La Campana Yearbook (Upper Montclair, NJ)

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Progress of Education in California Thirty-three years ago I came to Cahfornia as city superintendent of schools at Pasa- dena. The state at that time had one of the best elementary school systems in America. Ample provision had been made when the system was established for state school funds w ith which to pay teachers ' salaries and rather high requirements for the certification of ele- mentary teachers. In matters of secondary education, however, provisions were less ample, and the higher institutions of learning at that time did not equal similar institutions in the East, or even in the Middle West. I find, however, that California has made very marked progress in a third of a century, particularly in matters of secondary and higher education. Her high schools seem excellent and they are highly differentiated. Instead of one or two big general high schools in a city, there are a number of smaller specialized secondary schools. Los Angeles, for example, has sixteen senior high schools, to say nothing of her junior high schools and they are along rather varied lines — commerce, technology, agriculture, horticulture, teachers ' colleges, general colleges and the like. And the California high schools are full to overflowing. The colleges and universities of the state last September had to refuse students by the hun- dreds — some of them by the thousands — because of lack of room. California has abolished her State Normal Schools, or, rather, she has converted them into State Teacher colleges with four-year courses. The elementary teacher of the future must have the A. B. degree to be certificated and the secondary school teacher the A. M. degree. Both must have pursued rather extended courses in Education and Psychology. The present minimum salary of elementary teachers, fixed by state law, is $1,200 a year; and an educational leader recently told me that they hoped to bring it up to $2,000. The California pension system, for at least the men teachers and the higher paid women, is not as favorable as our New Jersey system. But it is easier to obtain and the monetary contributions of the teachers are slight. Any teacher with thirty years ' expe- rience, ten of which must be in the state of California, is entitled to an annual pension of $500. California now has an excellent State University at Berkeley, with a branch at Los Angeles. These provide free instruction to students who have resided one year in the State. Stanford University, Pomona College, and other private higher institutions of learn- ing are doing excellent work and have long waiting lists. I am told that parents make application for their children at Stanford University when they are born. But even then they are not always able to enter when they have acquired the required training and age. Taken altogether the young state of California is setting a pace and establishing norms that the older school systems of the East may find worthy of emulation. WILL S. MONROE. A PAUSE What is this thing I seek to do, — I read, I play, I write, I sing; I rush headlong, unthinking, through. What is this thing? May God forgive my reckless haste And cause some worthy deed to live. The days I lose, the hours I waste May God forgive. EDITH M. LUFBURROW. 12

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TKe Alumni We are working thank you. All alumni should work. It ' s the thing that ' s being done by those who know. Even our most intelligent citizens are being influenced by the philosophy of work not toil or labor, but just everyday old-fashioned w ork. The glam- our of war time has passed and now: the job ' s the thing. The world is a pretty big place after all and just now it needs w illing workers; people who do a job, not hold a position. And would you believe it? Work makes you happy. If you could have been present at the last meeting of the alumni, the biggest and best ever, you would agree. Everybody there had a job. True some had been promoted from the classroom to the home and have been entrusted with the greatest job of all; bringing up their own children. Every- body looked happy, so happy that I ' m sure that any Chautauqua lecturer, had he been present, would have begun his talk with, As I look into your smiling young faces, etc. You ' d have to travel many a mile to see a finer looking crowd. And best of all, that look didn ' t come from superficial things. It was the result of the consciousness of work well done and ideals held intact. Do you realize that it means something to be a Montclair graduate? Montclair graduates and good teaching are synon- ymous in the minds of most schoolmen of the State of New Jersey., You who are ready to enter the profession have a reputation to uphold. An ideal is like the family silver. It stays bright and untarnished only if you use it. Use yours and in so doing you wilt become one of a large body who are standing for the best things that Montclair gives us. The teaching profession today needs well-trained workers. Never before in mod- ern times has the importance of the teacher as a factor in national growrth been so empha- sized. The public is keenly conscious of and responsive to the proposition that a nation is as strong as its schools. This is particularly true in a democracy. The teacher is gaining a place in the sun. He is receiving a larger salary, better schools and more opportunities for professional advancement. But there is an inexorable law of compensation which ia always operating in this old world of ours. When the public gives its money, it demands something in return. People are more intelligently critical today of the teaching profession than ever before; and justly so. Professional standards are being raised and the inefficient teacher is being looked upon with increasing disfavor. Two weeks ago 1 heard one of our ow n state legislators say that he believed in increasing the salaries of teachers and had consistently voted for such increases, but that he felt that he would be just as consistent in hiring the best he could get, and eliminating the inefficient. Many of our alumni are real- izing their responsibility to the public and are furthering their professional training by attend- ing extension courses in New York or other conveniently located centers. Include some- thing of the sort in your program when you begin to teach. Education today is a live, vibrating thing. It ts changing and developing from week to v eek. To follow its course is intensely interesting; to feel that you are a small factor in its development is inspiring. I can think of no field of endeavor, at this time, in which there are more opportunities for national service, individual growth and adequate financial re- turns, than in the teaching profession. And so for the Alumni of the Montclair State Normal School I extend to you a hearty welcome into our ranks. May you always be true to the spirit of Montclair, always con- scious of the high place you hold in the hearts of the nation and always full of the happiness that a life of service alone can bring you. Class of 1922 we greet you! The Alumni of M. S. N. S. WALLACE M. BROADBENT, President. 14