NEA A pattern for the PPSTA

Media

Part of The Philippine Educator

Title
NEA A pattern for the PPSTA
Language
English
Year
1947
Rights
In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Fulltext
N. E. A .-A PATTERN . FOR THE PPSTA A few of the achievements of the :N ationa! Education Association of the United States sound like the history of liberalism applied to teachers in America: 1. Desirous to improve the methods of teaching, Edwa·rd Sheldon of Oswego, New York, brought before the c~n­ vention of the members of the association in 1863, the purposes an<f principles of the procedure expounded by Pestalozzi known to educators as "object teaching." The following year favorable reports were made by the committee and object teaching was a matter of discussion at the NEA conventions for a decade. 2. In an attempt to provide the high school with a curriculum which would accommodate the grr.at uumher of pupils who might not attend college and at the same time a curriculum which would prepar-e any student to attend any particular college, the NEA decided to appoint a central ~xecutive committee of ten to study means of adjusting the curriculum to meet the demands of the time. On July 9, 1894, Dr. Eh<Yt, chakman, submitted a report: "T·he ninety-nine teachers who constituted the committee of ten and its conferences said unanimously that uniformity should apply to the metlwd of teaching and to the selection of the topics in each subject taught at <Lll in a secondary school, but not to the selection of subjects by the individual pupil or to the length of time that the individual pupil should pu1·sue each S1tbject. The programmes laid down by the committ.ee of ten provide the indispensable lilierty." The curriculum was, therefore, modified in accordance with 32 by MARIA SERN AL this report after teachers and administ-rators h·ad put their heads together and had concluded that the report was 'lc.ceptable. Thus confusion and chaos .~rave way to order. 3. In 1875, the NEA organized a department of Vocational Education. 4. The Committee on Economy of time in Education played an important role in making tests and measurements an accepterl part of the school program- As early as 1912 bureaus of re;;;earch be,~;an to be established. W o,rld W a·r I encoUl·age<1 thP. us~ ~! intelligent test~. Universities offered courses in statistical method and the NEA estaOlished a Division of Research in 1922, thus, putting research on a profeccional basis. 5. In 1912, the NEA created a commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education. Tne report of the committee on English "virtually set the pattern for the English course of study in high schools." The reviewing committee formulated the sev~· "cardinal principles" it. believed would be most helpful in directing seconJary education. Later these principles were thought to apply not only to high school but to all education. Adopted in ~927 by th,. National Congress of Parents and Teachers as its permanent platform, the principles were: health and safety; worthy home membership ; mastery of the tools, technic, and spirit of learning; citizenship and world goodwill, vocational and economic effectiveness; wise use of leisure; ethical character. 6. After three years of study, tha Commission published in 1944, Education for all American Youth, which ;., N.E.A.- A PATTERN FOR THE PPSTA 33 a serviceable guide to planning for secondary schools after the war. This was to be followed by a similar study for elementary education. 7. Since 1~21, the NEA has had a Department of Adult Education and in 1945 a Division of Adult Education .Service was created. In February, 1945 the Work Comerence on Educational ~rograms for Veterans was held at NEA headquarters to discuss and make plans about veteran's education with special emphasis on the noncollegiate. 8· In the spring of the same year (1945) a Division of Audio-Visual Instructional Service was established to lead and guide all audio-visual instruction aids-television, radar, radio, films, and movies. 9. To stop the alarming increase d accidental deaths due to. traffic hazards, NEA Research Division's publicatio!ls bibliographies, and units of work, tak~ the message of safety to all concerned -parents, teachers, and the general public. 10. Hand in hand with the campaigns launched by the NEA for higher salaries were efforts to raise the standards of qu-alification and certification of teachers in an effort to ·improve the quality of service they render. In 1920, it recommen-ded that teacher education "should consist of four years' carefu lly-planned preparation beyond graduation from a four-year high schooL" 11. To acquaint prospecth·e teachers with the two neglected phases of their three-fold citizenship - relationships: with their profession and with the public-the NEA established in 1937 the organization called Futu·re Teachers of America. It also arranges informal conferences where teachers attending summer school "meet with faculty members and representatives of professional ll l'ganizations in forums devoted to teacher-teacher and citizen-teacher rel-ationships." To help teachers grow professionally, committees were assigned to investigate and recommend in this field. Membership in educational associations, "vitalized faculty meetings;: leave of absence for study and travel, ana summer conierences were recommended as instruments of professional growth. To answer the much-felt need for teacher ethics, the NEA officially adopted in July 1929 a code of ethics for teachers . 12. Reports of the activities of the different deoa-rtments of the NEA have been published in the Researr.h RuUe.tin. the journal of the N EA and in other periodicals published by the department~. New educational trends have become the object of attention of the NEA deoartments in one wav or ot,hP.r· Among tht->:e educational innovations are the socialized recitation, supervised activities, the child-centerAn schools, the community-centered school, menta! health. democratic supervision, and numerous other discoveries :mrl inventions in the field of education. 13. The NEA, while doin~ much good for educational service, has not Jteglected the teacher. It has done much to raise the average salaries of teachers throughout the country. The NEA compiled facts about salaries tht>~y ought. to get helped in effecting salary increases. As early as 1884 the association advocated "higher salaries and equal pay for equal training and expP.'rience." In 1903 the Chicago Teachers' Federation under the leadership of Margaret Haley sponsored a mass mt-eting in Boston and requested NEA attention to teachers' salaries and pensionc: 'inn asked the board of directors to appropriate funds for an in!Vestigatil)n to bring to light the economic conrlitioP of public-school teachers in the cnuntry. Results of investigations revealed that these were inadequate. These revelations resul ted in increases in salaries. After World War I when vrices r~'~" sky high and many of the best teachers left school for a higher paying job elsewhere, the NEA salary committee made fur ther study of the matter. A ques. tin!!nai·re on salaries was sent to school superintenden1s thruout the coun.try. A J I I j \ ! I I I 34 PHILIPPINE EDUCATOR report based on this questionnaire furnished valuable data and proposals for salary increases. Among other things, the committee raised and answered such questions as "How is the money to be obtained to pay adeauate salaries t.o: teachers?" "What constitute-a a minimum wage and a fair wage for teacher$!'"' To supplement data gained, ihe committee printed and broadcast messages to the nation such as "We must pay our teachers more money!" "We cannot hope to secure for service in our schools thP choicest of our young m~ and our young women until we are willing to pay teachers a living wage and to make it possible for ull to find in teachinl!' a worthy life career ... " 'l'he association attempted to seek federal ~id to increase salaries and even if the education bills did not become law, the campaigns enlightPned the people about th~> needs of the l'rhools. Since 1922 the Research Division of the NEA has conducted biennial su·rvey of facts about teachers' salaries. These surveys published in 1he Research Bulletin have had influence in effecting better salaries for teachers. In 1935, the Committee on Economic Status of the Teacher prepared a questionnaire which provided for twelve monthly reports to be submitted by teachers in which were to be shown in detail "the source and amount of their incomes; nature of expenditures; data on borrowfngs tmd savings; number of dependents· The:> data obtained wert> used to influenc.P influential individuals and organizations which might set to improve couditions for teachers. . . Between 19391944, in spite of steady increases m teachers' salaries. the rise i'n living costs made the actual purchasfng power of the average tPachers low. The NEA campaigned intensivP.Iy to make the allthorit.ies and the public Tealize the "urgent necessity for adjustments in tH\V fnr teachers." 14. Another phase of teacher welfare for which the association has worked is teacher retirement. It campaigned "th~t a profession would attract and hold those of intelligence, ability, and devotion only so far as they realized that the avenue of promotion was open to them and security afforded against th~> risks of life." . In 1919, a Teport on teacher pensions was widely recognized as valuable and became the basis for pension legislation. In 1924, the NEA committee published The Fundamental Principles of a T,_,ache1·s' Retirement System. This became the guide of subsequent retirement studies. The NEA believed that "The objectives of teacher retirement plan·s are to improve the service of the schools and to provide sufficient retil·ement income to enable the retired teacher to live in dignified comfort as befits a professional per so~." · • 1 • . · 15. Believing that the attempt to. stifle freedom of teaching was being crushed under dictatorship, the NEA -appointed a Committee on Academic Freedom in 1935. The association was conVL'lced of the fact "'.Chat schools shoulrl have full opportunity to prel:ient different points of view of controversial questions in order to aid students tu 11rt· just themselves to changing soci:ni cc.rditions." In 1943 t.he association rai&ca funds to support Miss Frank, a teacrwr of Muskogee, Oklahoma, during her fight for reinstatement. Miss Frank was dismissed from service because she dared make public professional and political activities against the wishes of a majority of the schoolboard· She W!I.S reappointed in 1945. Teachers all over America know that the NEA is not a cure-all for all ills and problems that confront them and that it does not possess a magic w~tntl, which can give them everythmg at .... ''~ve; but they do know that by working together thru united local, statl', and national associations they can 1111· prove thei;-. ~wn welfare, and in so deing strengthen the services of' the school.