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i . s. i t * Page Twcf . J "BACK TO SCHOOL i ( c I I i t Thursday, August 19, 1965 KEEN INTEREST IN PROJECT, as evident above, is n most rewarding aspect of his career as teacher gets these youngsters in* volved. Photo from INEA. RAPPORT BETWEEN TEACHER AND STUDENT is a crucial element in the learning process. This brief encounter during a study period reflects interestingly how youthful today's teacher (right in picture above from National Education Association) can be. Teaching Becoming Nation's Biggest Job Opportunity Field Wide Open for Those Seeking Challenging Career of Service By BEATRICE M. CUDRIDCE National Education Association Almost every American home including the one at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., has somebody going back to school this fall. Roughly one American of every two will head for some kind of class -- 53 million youngsters f to elementary and high school; five million to college; and more than 28 million to adult education courses. Education has become the nation's biggest business -- and Is recognized by everybody from President Johnson down as the backbone of the "Great Society." In terms of people involved -- students, teachers, other employees and employees in industries serving school needs -- education is bigger than the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force combined. And it's getting bigger. Public school enrollments will increase about one million each year for the rest of this decade. College enrollments will double, reaching a total of 9 million by 1975. And there is no end In sight for the mushrooming field of adult education. Then there are the new Imperatives in education -- the need to dip down and get the culturally differerk child into school as early as age 3 or 4 ... and at the other ejid, the need to stop the tragic waste of talents of one million school dropouts per year. The President, who demonstrated in the recent session of Congress his determination to make education the number one legislative priority, has commented; "I would not be proud to be President of the world's richest nation where millions Of children cannot read and write." It all adds up to the fact that teaching will become the biggest "job opening" ever offered America's young men and women. The field is wide open and the sky's the limit for those Who seek a career of challenge, significance, and service. * * * Nearly Two Million Now Employed; Tens of Thousands More Needed ALERT, INTERESTED, ATTRACTIVE GROUP above, quite representative of today's teachers, was raug'i! by the camera as staff members assembled for a Fountain Valley School District Faculty meeting in Orange County, Cal. -- Photo from Wollensack. "Teaching is becoming a profession of prestige," says Mrs. Beatrice M. Cudridge of the National Education Association, who wrote the accompanying article specially for this section. "The time when teachers were thought of only as twittering spinsters or absent-minded professors is long gone. "Teachers today are a new breed, broadly (educated, with a new sense of competence and a new feeling of confidence." At the present time, there are nearly 2 million men and women teachers. But 800,000 more teachers will need to be prepared by 1970. In the elementary teaching field wiiere the greatest current shortage exists, ftie annual demand for additional teachers is expected to be 75,000-100,000. At the high school level, the present serious shortages of teachers of science and mathematics will become more acute, and the demand will Increase for teachers in fields Sbch as English, foreign languages, home economics, and girls' physical education. The need for qualified col- * * * Average Age of Teachers Dropping, More Men are Entering the Field In the short period of little olor's degree. more than a decade, the teachers of the United States have lege teachers Is currently acute at least until 1970 at a rate of 30,000 to 35,000 new positions per year. Another promising field Is adult education. It used to be that many educators worked in this field on a part-time basis. But now with the growing realization that all of us may need re-education perhaps three times in a lifetime to keep in competitive positions for jobs, there will be great demand for fulltime adult education teachers. So jobs are opening up all around for those who would prepare to teach. portion of men is increasing. In fact, a recent Crossley Poll revealed that teaching has extensive appeal to young men. One fourth of a. sampling of all male college students polled in 123 colleges and universities throughout the country had decided to go into teaching after graduation. This was twice the number of men preparing to enter law and three times the number heading for the medical profession. Currently about 30 percent of teachers in public schools are men. Most of them are teaching in high schools where they outnumber women; but more and more, men are entering the elementary teaching field. In 1963, more than 12 percent of the 800,(fOO elementary school teachers were men. The young person considering teaching as a career will also want to consider financial returns and other rewards. Teaching salaries are going up. Teachers' Salaries are Going Up; Improve by 65% in Past Decade drastically stepped up their preparation for the job. Just about a decade ago, fully 25 percent of our total teaching staff were without college degrees. Today the percentage Is about 10 percent; and some 26 percent have preparation beyond the bach- The preparation of the high school teacher is now reaching towards the master's degree. And the giant gap that existed a decade ago between the preparation levels of elementary and secondary school teachers has almost been closed. The average age of teachers is dropping and the proDuring the last decade the national average annual salary of all public school instructional staff increased by more than 65 percent. While the salaries paid in teaching are still lower than average salaries in other professions, the picture is getting brighter every day, with experienced teachers in some communities earning $10,500 or more and college instructional staff members in some places making $15,000 or more a year. Another satisfaction teachers find in their jobs is mobility. They are able to move to locations any place in the country--or the world--which offer greater incentives or have greater personal appeal. Even after they reach retirement age, many teachers find ways to be of service to their schools and communities. Many a teacher will tell you he stays in the field because he likes working with young people . . . and being healthy, curious, intellectually-minded people themselves, teachers welcome the opportunities teaching gives them to be lifelong students. More and more opportunities for enriching his personal and professional life are opening daily for the teacher through exchange grants for travel abroad, institutes sponsored by the National Defense Education Act and the National Science Foundation to increase teaching competence in his chosen subject, and such agencies as the Economic Opportunity Act and the Peace Corps. Schools Also NeedBack-Up Specialists Even for those who do not plan to spend their lives in actual teaching, the education field offers a wide variety at "back-up" or administrative posts. There are opportunities at all levels for counselors, librarians, psychologists, social workers, dietitians, speech and sight therapists in the schools. There are exciting openings for specialists in programmed learning, educational television (there are now more than 100 ETV stations on the air), language laboratories and other new teaching media. There is the big field of administration for those who aspire to become principal, dean, department head, curriculum director, research or personnel chief, superintendent of schools. Teaching -- and its offshoot careers -- has become the nation's number one job. And judging from the testimony of those in teaching today, it is a wonderful one. Listen to what a teacher said when her son decided to go into teaching: "I am glad my son wants to become a teacher. He is going into the most wonderful profession in the world. It will not make him rich. "But I feel sure he will be happy, and it is possible that he will drink of the fountain of youth. "For when you grow old sharing the thoughts and dreams of young people, you assume some of their optimism, their charity, their wonder at the unseen treasure! always waiting to TE XOUXML