Published each month of the school year, October through June. To order SCHOOL LIFE send your check, money order, or a dollar bill (no stamps) with your subscription request to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. SCHOOL LIFE service comes to you at a subscription price of $1.00. Yearly fee to countries in which the frank of the U. S. Government is not recognized is $1.50. A discount of 25 percent is allowed on orders for 100 copies or more sent to one address within the United States. Printing of SCHOOL LIFE has been approved by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget. OSCAR R. EWING...

Federal Security Administrator

EARL JAMES MCGRATH.... Commissioner of Education
RALPH C. M. FLYNT.

GEORGE KERRY SMITH....

JOHN H. LLOYD..

Director, Division of Special Educational
Services

Chief, Information and Publications Service
Assistant Chief, Information and Publications
Service

Address all SCHOOL LIFE inquiries to the Chief, Information and
Publications Service, Office of Education, Federal Security Agency,
Washington 25, D. C.

T

EACHER-WISE, the Nation is in relatively worse condition this year than it was in 1941. The situation today differs from conditions that prevailed before World War II in several respects:

1. The teaching profession suffered losses between 1940 and 1945 from which it has not fully recovered. Research studies of the Office of Education, National Education Association, and other groups estimate that over and above the usual turn-over approximately 300,000 teachers left the profession between 1939 and 1945. About 85,000 of these went to the armed forces. The others left the teaching field to go into war-related work or into business. Few of these have returned to the profession. This deficit has never been fully made up.

Only a trickle of teachers graduated from the Nation's colleges and universities the first year after World War II. By 1947 the normal supply had still not begun to flow. In 1948 the supply of teachers coming from institutions of higher education was, for the first time since 1941, equal to the 1941 supply. In spite of the great increase in college and university enrollment in the postwar period, not until 1949 and 1950 were our higher education institutions able to turn out more teachers than they prepared for the schools in 1941.

2. There is greater competition between teaching and other occupations today than there was before World War II. In the years before World War II teaching was something of a preferred occupation. It provided sure income, even though the salary was small. This was perhaps the major reason why the percentage of the total college enrollment preparing for teaching was much higher before than after World War II. There was a slight shift toward the teaching profession among college students in 1949 and 1950, but that gain will likely be wiped out quickly by the present military crisis. If the present emergency continues for any length of time, schools may find themselves in competition with the military for needed teachers. Instructors will be needed to fill demands of the highly developed education and information services which the armed services operate.

3. The increased birth rate, which began during World War II and has continued in postwar years, has already created a greater demand for teachers, one that will rise a great deal more during the next decade. The number of births climbed approximately 40 percent by 1948 over 1941. The high level has not yet subsided. It is conservatively estimated that the public and

private elementary schools will reach a peak enrollment of 29,500,000 by 1957, as compared with 20,300,000 in 1947. Public and private high schools are expected by 1957 to enroll 7,300,000, as compared with 6,500,000 in 1947.

Assuming that the 10,000,000 additional boys and girls in elementary and secondary schools by 1957 will be taught in classes of 30 pupils each, the need for teachers in 1957 will be greater than it was in 1947 by 330,000. This is about one-third of the present total number of elementary and secondary school teachers in the United States. These facts ignore the need for college teachers, which will increase unless college enrollments are reduced by military service induction.

4. There is a greater imbalance in the supply of teachers today than there was in 1941. In 1941, for example, there were approximately 35,000 elementary school teachers and 40,000 secondary school teachers prepared by colleges and universities. By 1950 the balance had shifted so that 36,000 elementary school teachers and 85,000 secondary school teachers were prepared by colleges and universities. Normally the demand is for about twice as many elementary as secondary school teachers.

5. It is doubtful whether there are as

many "reserves" available in 1950 as there were in 1941. No one knows the exact number of persons who are certificated to teach each year that never actually teach. The number is considerable. There are also many women who teach for 2 or 3 years and then drop out. These two groups constitute a potential teacher reserve. This reserve is believed to be smaller today than it was in 1941, for a number of reasons. In 1941 the Nation was emerging from a long depression. During the late 30's many persons who met minimum teacher certification requirements were unable to secure employment. They went into potential reserve. Scarcity of teachers since the close of World War II has prevented the building up of a similar reserve. Those prepared for teaching before 1941 and not actually employed were recruited between 1941 and 1948. Today there is no substantial backlog of fully qualified teachers available to the profession. Lack of such a reserve could be a greater shock to the profession than that felt during World War II when teachers. were so much in demand.

6. There is a very definite shortage of educational administrators and supervisors today. It takes longer to prepare administrators and supervisors than it does to prepare teachers. Thousands of young men who might ordinarily have been prepared in educational administration during the early 40's were in service or otherwise occupied during World War II. Furthermore, most graduate schools were closed during the war period. As a result, thousands of young men were lost to the profession. They are, therefore, not available to succeed to positions vacated by those who transfer or are retired. Larger numbers of children in school emphasize the need for additional numbers of supervisors and administrators today and in the years ahead.

7. Standards for beginning teachers are being raised in many States. Some States that previously required 2 years of college work for beginning teachers in the elementary school have raised their requirements to 3 years of college preparation. Others have moved from 3 to 4 years of college work as an elementary school teach

ing requirement. Nearly all States now require secondary school teachers to hold bachelor's degrees. As society places greater demands upon teachers, so the various States in turn require greater preparation to meet society's demands.

What Can Be Done About It?

The present threat to our national security may continue for several years. In view of this fact, it would seem wise to keep each level of the school system strong at all times. The national security demands it and the democratic principle of equal educational opportunity supports it. During this period it is necessary that schools and colleges not only be as good as usual but better than usual if they are to meet the special demands made upon them. To insure strong school and college programs to meet both civilian and military needs in a world of uncertainty, serious consideration could well be given the following:

1. The supplementing of teachers' salaries at all levels, by special appropriation or other provision, so as to make teaching positions sufficiently attractive financially to discourage teachers from shifting to higher-paying types of employment frequently considered more critical.

2. Establishing and extending present programs for the conversion of persons prepared for secondary school teaching into elementary school teachers.

3. Reexamining the curricula for the preparation of elementary and secondary school teachers for the purpose of identifying and incorporating the common elements in both. This might result in a curriculum which, with minor adjustments, would prepare a teacher for service at either the elementary or secondary school level.

4. Expanding the services of colleges and universities to include the provision of leadership for in-service teacher education programs in the schools within a reasonable service area.

APPEAR BEFORE this Commission as

Commissioner of Education in the Office of Education in the Federal Security Agency to encourage the safeguarding of the access of education to broadcasting opportunities in the television field.

In this matter, the Federal Communications Commission and the Office of Education have certain closely similar concerns and share a common purpose. Both the Commission and the Office of Education recognize that the Government has responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the public interest in our respective fields. I feel, therefore, that I do not appear before you under the necessity of pleading a cause. which is alien to your concerns.

In its January 16, 1945, report, the Commission guaranteed that the applications of educational institutions for television li. censes would be treated "on an equal basis with applications from noneducational applicants." At that time, the Commission felt unready to reserve a television band for educational use because there seemed to be insufficient evidence of an effective interest in the use of television by educational institutions and systems. My purpose in appearing today is to suggest that that conclusion should be reexamined.

The responsibility of Government to protect the public interest at all times is a clearly recognized principle, particularly so when a new frontier is being opened. The shameless exploitation of natural resources in the opening of the Great West has demonstrated the result of governmental failure to protect the public interest. Mountain ranges denuded of timber and the blank openings of abandoned mines are mute evidence leading us in a later day. to wish that governmental action had earlier exhibited more foresight.

Likewise, the concern of the National Government in protecting and furthering the cause of education goes back to our national beginnings. Even before the Constitution of the United States of America had been written, the precedent was set. In opening the Northwest Territory, the Congress of the Confederation adopted an

ordinance which reserved part of the public lands for educational purposes, thereby establishing a precedent which was followed without deviation in the subsequent

BECAUSE of the widespread interest in television and its potential use for educational purposes, SCHOOL LIFE presents in full Commissioner McGrath's testimony before the Federal Communications Commission on November 27, 1950. Presentation of this testimony by the Commissioner marked the opening of hearings before the FCC, during which many eduleaders cational organizations and urged the setting aside of frequency allocations for educational television use in the years ahead.

admission of every one of the States into the Union. There is, of course, a difference between setting aside capital assets such as land to endow education and reserving channels of communication for use by educational institutions and systems; but

both actions rest on the same fundamental notion that the public interest is best served when the need of the people for universal access to good education guides governmental action.

Assured of Access

The point can be sharpened further. Education depends upon communication. Thoughts and ideas, the material of education, have to be transmitted and disseminated. In an earlier day, when word-ofmouth communication to a visible audience

was the sole means of reaching a circle of listeners, the Bill of Rights forbade the Federal Government to abridge the freedom of assembly or of speech. With the broadcasting of sound, freedom of assembly became less important educationally and freedom of speech more important; freedom

of access to the radio became essential to the effective exercise of the right to freedom of speech. If the purpose of democracy, to secure the universal enlightenment of its members, is to be served, education must, at all times, be assured of access to

the means of mass communication. This principle must be recognized in the field of television.

The highly restricted number of channels available for television emphasizes the necessity of forehanded action. For example, it is unnecessary for the Government to reserve certain printing presses for educational use because more presses may always be put into operation. Education is assured of access to the use of the printed word because there is no limit to the number of presses which may operate. But if education's right of access to every means of communication is to be recognized and applied in the field of television, Government action must now reserve opportunity for education because there are only 12 channels in the very high frequency band. In the field of sound broadcasting, the Federal Communications Commission has already recognized the principle I am stressing here. It is my hope that the Commission will find some way of recognizing and safeguarding the need, and hence the right, of the public to have access to television broadcasting facilities for education.

The marked development in the field of audio-visual aids the past quarter century has witnessed is eloquent evidence that education does move. A steady stream of highly effective educational motion pictures is now being produced, and is being widely used at all instructional levels from kindergarten through the graduate school. Filmstrips, with and without accompanying recordings, offer a wide variety of instructional content. These devices combine

photographically accurate visual representation with animation to add living reality, plus verbal content, sound effects, and music. And since learning is closely dependent upon effort, which in turn is closely associated with interest, the use of audio-visual aids has become standard practice in our schools and colleges. Each successive advance in technology, from the lantern slide to sound-on-film, has won its way into the teaching process. I know of (Continued on page 58)

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