HOW CARNEGIE BENEFITS TEACHERS.

Evening Star, Issue 12865, 14 July 1906, Page 2

HOW CARNEGIE BENEFITS TEACHERS.

Iw his address to the Senate of the New Zealand University at the meeting held in Dunedin in February last the Chancellor, Sir Robert Stout, while congratulating the Colony on the fact that an Act had been passed to grant superannuation allowanc.-s to teachers of primary and secondary schools, took occasion to refer to the need of similar provision for professors, lecturers, teachers, and officers in the various university colleges, pointing out that th ir salaries are only moderate, and that, considering the cost of living in the Colony, it cannot be expected that they will be able to make sufficient provision for their old age. without some assistance. In the course of his

remarks the Chancellor mentioned that in

America provision of this kind had been made for the university professors by the munificent benefactions of Mr Carnegie. Mr Carnegie's aim has b:cn clearly expressed in the Act of Incorporation passed by the Congress of the United States for the " Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching." That aim is stated to be " the foundation of an agency to provide " retiring allowances for teachers in the "universities, colleges, and technical schools "oK the throe English-speaking countries "of North America—i.e., United States, "Canada, and Newfoundland —and to serve " the cause of higher education by advanc"ing and dignifying the profession of the "teacher in these higher institutions of "learning." Under this Foundation rules for the granting of retiring allowances for each teachers have now been drawn up, and a brief account of these rules will not be without interest to us in New Zealand. The first difficulty was to d-fine in some •way the educational standard of the institutions to be recognised, for in Norih America the terms "college" and "university" are used for institutions differing widely in standards of instruction, entrance requirements, facilities for work. The following definition has been decided upon:— "An institution to be ranked as a college "must have at least six professors giving "their entire time to college and univer"sity work, a course of four full years in "liberal arts and sciences, and should re"quire for admission not less than the "usual four years of academic or high "school preparation or its equivalent, in "addition to the pre-academic or grammar "school studies." It is further laid down that to be ranked as a college an institution .. must have a productive endowment of not lcijs than 200,000d01~i.e., about £40,000. In the same way a technical school, to be eligible, most have entrance and graduatiro xswUxtmeota equivalent to tboae of

the college, and must offer courses in pure and applied science of an equivalent grade. By the Act of Incorporation sectarian institutions are excluded from the benefits of the Foundation, and consequently only those institutions will be recognised whose charters specially provide that no denominational or sectarian test shall be applied in the choice of officers and teachers and in the admission of teachers. Where this stipulation is not definitely laid down in the charter a certificate by resolution of the trustees of the institution to the same effect will be accepted instead. It is intended to issue shortly a list of the institutions recognised by the Carnegie Foundation, and to add to it from time to time as may be found necessary; and when this is done and the rules upon which rotiring allowances are do'finitely determined, the allowances will be automatically paid over to teachers becoming entitled to them by reason of old age or length of service as soon as the institution applies for them to the Foundation. Other cases that do not normally come within the rules laid down will, if recommended by the accepted institution, bo considered, and action taken upon the individual case. Tho case of individual professors or teachers of merit or distinguished service in institutions other than those that can be recognised has also been provided for, and retiring allowances may be granted to them also; but in such cases the Foundation will deal directly with the individual professor, and not with the institution for which he works.

It will bo seen that these regulations are exceedingly liberal, and that the trustees of the Foundation are given all possible liberty to deal with deserving cases wherever they may be found ; at the same time provision appears to have been made to prevent the funds being wrongly used, and it is specially stipulated that "no institution will be accepted which is so organ- " ised that stockholders may participate in "its benefits."

J he same liberality is shown in the regulations fixing the amonnt3 of the retirallowances and tho exact conditions under which they are granted. Professors and teachers may be eligible for retiring allowances on the grounds of (a) age or (b) length of service. In the first rase they must have reached the age of sixty-five years, and must have been occupied in teaching in a higher institution of learning for fifteen years. Whether the professor's connection with his college shall cease at an earlier or later date than the age of sixty-five years is a matter of arrangement between himself and the authorities of the institution under which he serves, and does not .affect the retiring allowance granted by the Carnegie Foundation, provided he fulfils the conditions laid down by its regulations. To qualify on the ground of length of service a teacher must have served for twenty-five years as a professor in a higher institution of learning, but it is not necessary that the whole of this time shall have been spent in institutions accepted by the Foundation. In no case will any allowance be given Co a teacher who continues to give any part of his time to the work of teaching, so that if an arrangement is made between tho authorities of any college and one of the professors for the latter to continue work beyond the age of sixty-five years any retiring allowance that he may be entitled to from the Foundation will be paid over only when he actually retires from active work.

In many of the American universities the professors are granted one year's leave of absence after six years' work so that they may have time, cot only for necessary rest and relaxation of work, but also to travel and make themselves acquainted with what is being done in their own subjects in other countries. In reckoning years of service, such years of absence, provided they do not exceed one year in seven, will bo counted as years of service. The term " professor," as used in these regulations, is understood to include presidents, deans, professors, associate professors, and assistant professors in the recognised institutions, and among those who qualify by length of service, librarians, registrars, and other executive officers whose salaries are similar to tbose oi professors and assistant professors are also eligible to the benefits of a retiring allowance.

In fixing the amount of the retiring allowance special consideration has been given to teachers receiving a low rate of salary, and a much higher percentage of salary is granted to them than in the case of those getting higher salaries; and the minimum pension ia fixed at a very reasonable amount, as will be seen from the following statement:—For the purpose of reckoning the amount of the retiring allowance, the average salary for the last five years of active service is taken and is known as the " active pay." In the case of a professor retiring on the ground of old age, the allowance is computed as follows: -—-For an active pay of 1,600d01, ok less, an allowance of l,ooodol —i.e., about £2oo—is granted, provided that no allowance exceeds 90 per cent, of the active pay. If the active pay exceeds 1,6C0d01, the allowance is increased by 50doi for each lOOdol of active pay in excess of the 1,600d0L

In the samo way in the case of those retiring on the ground of length of service—(i.e., not less than twenty-five years)— the allowance is: For a.a active pay of 1,600d01, on less, a retiring allowance of 800dol—i.e., about £l6o—provided that it does net exceed 80 per cent, of the active pay; and in the case of higher salaries this amount is increased by 40dol for each lOOdol of active pay in excess of the 1,600d01, while it is also increa,-sed by 1 per cent, of the active pay for each year of s?ervice above twenty-five. No retiring allowance, whether granted fOT ago or service, is to exceed 3,000d01. Even tho widows of the teachers have not been overlooked by the framere of this liberal scheme, and "any person who has been for ten years " the wife of a professor in Rctual service "may receive during her widowhood one- " half of the allowance to which her hus- " band would have been entitled."

Such, then, are the proposals made by the Carnegie Foundation, and the scheme appears so generous and free from all unnecessary restrictions and based on such «mnd principles that there is> little doubt that it will perform the object of the Foundation and "advanca and dignify the pro- " fession of the teacher in these higher "branches of learning." American nniversi. ties and colleges have profited most largely from funds supplied by her wealthy men. In some cases no doubt these, funds have been expended on buildings unneceemrily elaborate and ornate or in other unprofitable directions; but the money provided, by Mr Carnegie for granting retiring allowances to teachers is being wisely used purely for the excellent purpose that he himeeif indicated in his original letter to the trustees on April 16, 1905. It is to be hoped chat his example will induce our wealthy colonists to use some of the:r money for a similar purpose.