Why Should Teacher Be Paid Half of What Barber or Milk Wagon Driver Makes? June 3, 1919

Editorial from The Commonwealth, Scotland Neck, N.C., Tuesday, June 3, 1919

Teachers $16; Barbers $30

Two advertisements appeared lately in a New York newspaper—one of them calling for a teacher of mathematics, history and psychology, at a salary of $65 a month. The other one called for a colored barber at $30 a week.

There is no particular reason why the barber should not get $30 a week. Milk wagon drivers are getting $35, and they do not need to know more about driving than any farm boy knows. A quick, light-fingered barber needs as much dexterity as a milk wagon driver, and deserves as good a salary.

But we are sorry for the teacher of mathematics and history. $65 each calendar months means $15 a week. The barber who gets $30 for pruning whiskers may be glad he knows nothing about mathematics or history. In Washington a teacher has to work 25 years before qualifying for a wage of $1,300 a year. In Chicago, a teacher cannot get $1,000 a year before putting in 17 years in the profession. In 23 states the teachers average less than $400 a year.

And in Illinois a high school teacher who tried to persuade one of his pupils to stay and finish his education was met with the irrefutable argument. “I have a job in a mine,” said the boy, “I am making more money without an education than you are making with one.”

We are told that sometimes teachers deserve no more than they get. If this is true, it does not improve the situation; it only makes it worse. If the type of education that a young American is getting is worth more than is paid for it, so much the better for young America. We may sympathize with the teachers, but we may rejoice that young America is receiving a high standard of educational opportunity. If, however, the education received is worthless, why not offer a price that will buy an education worth having?

At the present moment, the development of the rising generation marks America’s greatest crisis. Unrestricted immigration has made this country an ethnological freak show. By offering salaries which will attract teachers whose personally (personality?) and attainments will be a really uplifting force, we may guarantee to the America of the immediate future the perpetuation of the ideals and standards which are at present in danger of passing to the discard.