TEACHERS' SALARIES.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17320, 5 December 1921, Page 2

TEACHERS' SALARIES.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST REDUCTION. The si .iff of the Wellington G:rV College lias sent the following lot tor to members of Parliament and lea,lor? of the various parties: — "As members of the stuff of :i>o Wrilington Girls" Collegp, the gnl*' secondary school in the Dominion, u»■ ask you to your influence t.> prevent any reduction ra the salaries of wcomlary teachers. We would bring the lowing facts to your notice:—(l) Other countries, ever, more badly hit than our own by tin: present world depre-vsit n, have realised that economy in educational matters is false economy. I'jinland introduced the Jhirnham scale, involving large increases to the salaries of secondary teachers on Ist iSeptemiier. 1920. Natal teachers were likewise granted largo increases only last vc.u .-lusiralia lias proposed no reduction ;n teachers' salaries. (2) Last year's increase was not a cost-of-living br>mr<. It was given with the idea ol raising the service in secondary schools to the status it merits, that of a profession. Any reduction in salaries will, in the first place, discourage our most promising university students from entering the profession ; and, secondly, will make many present secondary-school teachers regard leaching as merely a steppingstone to other and better paid professions, audi aa law and accountancy. "We would suggest that there are other means of economising in education than by lowering the salaries of. teachers. For example, over AGO.OGO in' spent annually on manual instruction in primary schools, over £82,000 on travelling expenses. The expenditure on educational bursaries and domestieseienee bursaries also necd9 invotigotion. We would further point out that the expenditure on teconapry education is only 0 per cent, of the total expenditure. (Tne total cost of secondary education i 6 £365,000, £56,000 of wfiich w met by reserves of Boards of Governors.) The increase per head on secondary education is, according to the report of tbo Minister, of Education, only n very slight one. "To sum up: There are only four hundred secondary teachers, and the small amount that would bo saved by a 10 per cent, reduction in fheir salaries wonid be more than counterbalanced by the unrest and dissatisfaction that such a reduction would encourage. We trust, therefore, that you will ns" every endeavour to pieref what would be an obvious injustice to a hard-work-ing and oven now inadequacy paid body of men and women."