the New York Times, "is the question whether the United States is spending too much on its private necessities and enjoyments and, as a result, skimping the broad public needs and services that are vital to its very social and national existence."25 Petty factional strife, selfish interest, or stunted vision in thousands of our school elections has already hampered English instruction for many years to come, has thrust many students into the hands of incompetent teachers or of competent teachers who are teaching under appalling conditions.26 The fate of our democracy now rests on the way we develop our manpower. And English can, in transmitting the humanistic tradition, help vitalize democracy, and, in developing the art and skill of communication, help assure its lasting strength. "New York Times, May 8, 1960. 20The nature of these conditions is discussed on pages 43-104. PART III The Status of English Teaching Today THE NEED FOR MORE • THE NEED FOR BETTER A Standard of Preparation to Teach State Certification Regulations for The Preparation of the Elementary The English Language Preparation . THE NEED FOR BETTER The Conditions under Which English Is Taught The Inadequacy of School Library and Book Resources The Cost of Remedial Instruction at the College Level High Schools That Produce Superior . THE NEED FOR BETTER AND MORE BASIC RESEARCH IN III The Status of English Teaching Today What are the conditions under which English is taught in this country? Why is vigorous national leadership so urgently needed? A review of the known facts about the present conditions leads inescapably to four conclusions: We need more teachers of English. We need better teachers of English. We need better teaching conditions. We need better and more basic research in English Each of these imperative needs is discussed in this THE NEED FOR MORE TEACHERS OF ENGLISH Highlights The shortage of teachers has remained unchanged for One-fourth of all elementary teachers are not college The demand for secondary teachers of English is out- Only 40 to 60 per cent of the teachers of high school At the opening of the 1959 school year, an estimated 2,819,000 students in public schools-one in every 13-were being taught by teachers who did not meet the minimum certification standards established by the Shortages continue unabated various states. From 1958 to 1959 the number of substandard teachers in secondary schools increased by 19.1 per cent; the number of substandard elementary teachers, by 1.7 per cent. A total of 98,800 teachers-29,300 secondary and 69,500 elementary-did not meet even the minimum standards established as legal for teaching by various states. These are official figures reported in 1959 by state departments of education. The nation's schools opened in the fall of 1960 needing 135,000 qualified teachers, a figure which has remained unchanged for two years and shows no sign of decreasing! This is the appalling shortage which faces the public schools of the nation.1 1 The Supply of Elementary Teachers During the past decade, as the need for elementary teachers has been widely publicized, recruitment efforts have resulted in a progressive increase in the number of persons planning to teach at this level. Al 1Samuel Scholoss and Carol Joy Hobson, Enrollment, Teachers, and School Housing, Circular No. 604, U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1959, p. 4. Many substandard teachers though numbers have increased, the percentage of graduating seniors preparing to teach has not risen materially. Moreover, evidence presented subsequently in this report indicates that many credentialed elementary teachers lack genuine competence in the subjects they must teach. The high American birth rate continues; the result-swollen school enrollments and an acute, unabated shortage of elementary teachers. Any notion that this shortage has been reduced or “ironed out" is entirely spurious. The fact is that one-fourth of all elementary teachers are not yet college graduates and that as many as 200,000 have completed no more than two years of college.3 4 Crowded classes and part day sessions which reduce the effectiveness of each child's education result from the teacher shortage. Fully 83.3 per cent of all elementary children are now enrolled in classes containing more than 25 students, the size considered by most professional specialists in English to be desirable for effective teaching. If 95,000 qualified elementary and secondary teachers are needed to replace those permitted to teach with substandard credentials, at least 100,000 more must be found to reduce the oversize classes." 3 Taught by substandard teachers under substandard conditions, children almost inevitably receive a substandard education. Development of skill in reading and skill in the use of language, to mention only two areas, depends on a sound, rigorous elementary program. In view of the shockingly inadequate conditions in many elementary schools during the past decade, many children now entering high school are more adequately prepared in fundamentals than the nation has any reason to expect. The Supply of Secondary Teachers of English The need to recruit competent teachers of secondary English is also urgent. Despite a recent increase in the number of college graduates preparing to teach English-an increase which happily climbed to 15 per cent in 1960 over 1959-the demand for teachers of English far exceeds the supply. For example, last year a special sampling of 27 states indicated that only 3,612 secondary teachers of English were certified to meet a demand for 4,679 positions of English, the need here outrunning the supply by more than 27 per cent during a single year." *See pages 48-60. "Teacher Supply and Demand in Public Schools, 1960, Research Division, National Education "See pages 96-98 for evidence to support this assertion. Scholoss and Hobson, p. 4. All figures taken from Teacher Supply and Demand in Public Schools, 1960, Research Division, NEA, p. 10. 69660 0-61-41 |