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4

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School ‘economies’

a

hreaten your child

Macmvary persons disguis-

a 88 horses-have been on the

aes Payroll. But real live

 chers whose services are bad-
squeeded will be dropped from

“ol staffs if Mrs, Tillie Rol-

i Minister of education in the
te 1 “Credit government, has

RS Rene hk |
: arene with the teachers will go
iy, for improving school build-
“whi nae facilities and ‘courses
ee are necessary to prepare
ana tS for earning their living,
fo train them in citizenship.
nae the fact is that instead of
fun, i the education budget, more
existi, re needed to maintain. even
 alon 1 provincial standards, let
4, _° €XPansion and improvement
os et the needs of a growing
ol population,
feng long after the minority So-

lpr tt? Mrs. Ralston announced
Pi tam of “economy” through-
Urg, Me ducational system. She
os line» \ School: hoards to “hold the
Made  Thinly veiled threats. were
as “in Victoria that government
Rh ae Meet educational demands
Hd be Scarce, ©
egtendy many school boards,
gover to préssure from the
Salar Ment, are fighting teachers’
Hp emands for 1958.

Next

Ob Bye
eitizations concerned with de-
Adee. .the people’s living stand-
feat a Have to mobilize to de-
tight 9° Plans to cut down the
People gl children and young
@  ~ *0 the best in education,

{ a Bae Ye Pacific Tribune readers
tide Ure of the situation, this ar-
bth review the main “de-
em _ ot8” of the education’ sys-
and ’ uildings, salaries, courses:
“Dire, tth—to see what their re-
Ralstonia are and how Mrs.
tipple ae program would

We are: what about buildings? Can

foy ‘ford to cut down on money
Sige. Shoots?
When. 288wer should be plain

Stowe, € look at the tremendous

_80vernment took office last

school population during the past
10 years, to say nothing of the
expected growth in the next 10
years. From 1940 to 1950 the
number of school children increas-
ed, onthe average, by 5,400 a

year. In the past two years this
average figure has jumped to
8,300.

It is true that since 1946 many
new schools have been built. The
actual number of classrooms added

in the past seven years is close to

2,500. But these have barely serv-
ed to make up for the long period
of 17 years (1930-1946) when the
depression and the war prevented
any large-scale building program.
Even with all the new schools and
additions to old ones, we still have
much overcrowding to the point
where even very small children

_are forced to go on swing shifts

in many schools.

To halt or cut the building pro-
gram now, when an average of
8,300 new pupils are expected each
year for the next 10 years, would
condemn | children’ to physical
overcrowding and also to inade-
quate education. Authorities on
the subject agree that classes
should not have more than 25
pupils in the primary divisions
(Grades 1-3). Larger classes mean

that teachers cannot give the in- .

dividual attention needed by child-
ren in these important formative
years.

Yet even with all the new schools
and additions, actual classes in
B.C. often have 35 pupils or more,
and in urban areas classes of 40
to 48 are common. Certainly in
the City of Vancouver classes of
fewer than 30 are rare.

It is for these ‘reasons that Van-
couver school authorities have
very clearly stated that unless
more schools are built, the situa-
tion will become desperate by
1954. And the same goes for
many other parts of B.C.

e@ .
All parents will agree that their
children must receive a good all-
round education, in buildings that
afford every facility for physical
and mental development as well as
health. Can such care be given

of British Columbia’sin buildings which are old and”

out-of-date, and so crowded that
no spare rooms can be found for
instruction in such basic cultural
subjects as art and music.

Can it be said that gymnasiums
and auditoriums are frills and use-
less luxuries?

These are the places where the
children receive their physical edu-
cation, where they learn to work
and plan together in staging as-
semblies, plays, concerts, and the
many other activities which round
out mere “schooling” into an edu-
cation.

Many people think that we
should have cafeterias and lunch-
rooms in all schools. These would
be considered as “frills” by those
who look at schools only from the
viewpoint of spending as little as
possible. But progressive people,
who want to see children given an
education to prepare them for liy-
ing in today’s world, will not agree
that a full range of facilities, in
cluding cafeterias, gymnasiums
and auditoriums, and plenty of
classrooms, are luxuries or frills.
They will, instead, fight for ade-
quate school buildings. - For they
know . that without a _ proper
“plant” there can be no full edu-
cational program.

- :
Next, what about teachers’ sal-
aries? Are teachers overpaid?
Can cuts be made here?
‘Actually, the majority of teach-
ers earn less than many workers
in industry. Teachers, like * any
other wage earners, have had their
standard of living cut by inflation
and have consistently fought for
better pay.

The Social Credit “economy”
drive is creating almost unpreced-
ented unrest among the teachers.
“Hold the line” instructions to
local school boards have already
put an end to sensible collective
bargaining for 1953 salaries.

The B.C. Teachers’ Federation
recently charged that trustees are

deliberately dragging out negotia-°

tions and are failing to bargain
in, good faith. The fact is that
trustees are simply refusing to
examine the teachers’ claims for
increased salaries.

The attempt to show a reduction

in education costs may seem to be
“good politics.” But it flies in the
face of realities. As we have seen,
increasing thousands of pupils are
knocking at the school doors. Over
400 extra classrooms: must be
found every year until 1958 (at
least) even to hold the present
line with its overcrowded classes,
swing shifts and makeshift accom-
modation. And with those 400
extra classrooms must be 400 ex-
tra teachers every year.

Under these conditions “holding
the line” means salary cuts, and
fewer new teachers. Will cuts
attract qualified young men and
women to teaching? Will cuts en
able teacher shortages to be made
up so that the schools are fully
staffed?

The fact is that B.C. schools
are already understaffed. Some
800 teachers (or about 10 per-
cent of the total) are under-quali-
fied for the positions they now
hold. The present’ attitude of
trustees and the provincial gov-
ernment will undoubtedly aggra-
vate the shortage. Even more
serious, it threatens to undermine
the morale of the profession’s bést
members.

The present government has
alarmed both teachers and trustees
with delays and uncertainties
which steny from election promises
to cut the budget by 10 percent.
Perhaps there may be some minor
economies to be made in educa-
tion—but it has yet to be shown
that there are horsés on school
payrolls.

The government’s wild and reck-
less gamble with the teachers must
be challenged before it is too late.
The teachers, while preparing, in

~ common with tens of thousands.

of industrial workers, to fight for
better standards, will look to the
labor movement for support in
their wage struggles of 1953.

@

Let us now examine the possi-
bilities of retrenchment by cutting
out so-called ‘frills’. from the
curriculum. First, it is pertinent,
to note that there is no general
-agreement as to just what con-
stitutes the frills.

In the field of secondary educa~’

tion the old basic program of
maths, English. history and geo-
graphy, plus physics or chemistry
(or a language, such as French)
are “frills” to those who want
the schools to act as mere -techni-
cal training centres.

To many others, the “frills” are
those courses which have grown
around ‘the basic courses—indus-
trial arts (metal and woodwork),
commercial] subjects (typing, short-
hand, bookkeeping, etc.), home
economics, physical education,
art, music, and guidance or effec-
tive living. Every single one “of
these courses has either been kept

on the curriculum, or added to it. -

as a-result of popular pressure.
And that pressure reflected need.
It was in an effort to meet the
demands of an enlightened and de-
mocratic electorate that past gov-
ernments have, through the years,
retained, added and enlarged the
courses now offered. The _ re-
moval of any one course, or group
of courses, without proof of tre-
mendous savings, would be a dif-
ficult task for any government
which rests on popular support.
What is the possibility of finan-
cial gain by cutting from either
one of the main types of course?
*. The older, more traditional, sub-
jects (maths, English, etc.), are
those which always were, and still
‘are, taught in the traditional class-
room. The equipment (other than
room, desks and teacher may
comprise a few maps, a reference
library (not necessarily large),
and some science equipment. These
items are not costly even when

provided at® one time, and once’

on hand they last for years.
Elimination of these courses
‘will bring “savings” only if the

whole school system as it now ex- .

ists is eliminated; for with these
courses gone, the students are
pushed into the other courses,
mainly commerce, ¢ndustrial arts

and: home economics—or out of
school altogether.

In these other courses, the space
required by the equipment and
the necessity for small classes for
purposes of safety to student and
equipment necessitates a big school
“plant.” - It is this somewhat
spectacular “plant” which engen--
ders the charge of “frills” from
supporters of the old program.

But are these spectacular indus-
drial arts, commercial and home
economics laboratories expensive
to us? There is no doubt that
considerable money is invested in,
them... But here is one of the few
educational. fields in which Ottawa
makes large grants. Here is
equipment which is donated by the
federal treasury if we make some
effort to show that we need it.

Moreover, these are the courses
which have the most direct dollar
and cents value to the student who
is not’ thinking of an academic
career—and many, the majority,
are not. These courses, too, are
those which have direct value in,
the eyes of many parents. And
the equipment used to teach these
courses provides popular and im-

portant instruction to adults
through the .medium of night
schools. .

“However, let us cut out these
“frills.” Let us sell the machinery
and equipment. Let us demolish
or sell the buildings. To the super-
ficial observer the source and
cause of great expense has dis-
appeared. He will forever praise
the far-sighted government which’
courageously “held the line.”

_Forever? Well, at least until

- he finds out that many teenagers

have neither the desire nor the
ability to take the academic
courses ‘left to them, and as a
result leave school early and flood
the labor market untrained and
unwanted.

e

Then there is the matter of
physical education in the schools.
No ‘responsible government can
seriously attack this program. ‘The
people’s health is of paramount
importance, and the schoo! pro-
gram of physical education is es-
sential to that health. Of course,
the gymnasium does loole expen-
sive. But it is used as an audi-)
torium also; and again the tax-
payers -use this piece of -school
equipment both for recreation and
public meetings. :

&

There is a. fourth field in which,
it is said, economics ean be made
—the field of health services in
the schools. At present these ser-
vices include dental care, tests for
hearing, a nursing’ service and
medical - examinations for high
school athletes.

The great importance and value
of these services can be shown by
the fact that in the Greater Van-
couver area a survey’of six-year-
olds disclosed 93 percent in need
of dental attention.

If dental inspection in the
schools is cut, a large proportion of
children are likely to grow: up with
defective teeth.

Similarly, the nursing service
checks all children for TB and is
able ‘to discover active or incipient
cases. :

Again, checks made on children
suspected of poor hearing have
revealed defects which, with proper
treatment, can be cured or allevi-
ated.

Many other instances could be
given. ‘ Here it is enough to stress
the need, not for cutting the
school medical services, but for

expanding them so as to give the :

best medical and dental care to.

_all children.

This article has attempted to
show some dangers of the govern-
ment’s policy of cutting education \
costs. The more positive ques-
tions, “What are the needs in
education?” and “How can they,
be financed” will be discussed in,
later articles now in preparation.

Editors of the Pacific Tribune
will welcome letters and comments
from readers.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JAINUARY 30, 1953 — PAGE 9

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