European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 13, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse                              1j16 if in i Dili Deus Readi Nitin and unionism by Garven Hudgins a staff writer Ryphe image of a new kind of Ameri Al can teacher is emerging from the strikes and turbulence that disrupted this year s Back to school ritual. More militant younger and better trained than his professional forebears today s teacher is in urgent quest of cures for what he feels is an ailing profession. Higher pay is one of his goals. Buthe says he also wants to be Able to do More for his Stu dents. To be part of the social change he sees sweeping America. To be recognized As a productive member of his Community whose opinions about his own Field rate the Sam respect As a doctor s about Medicine or an attorney s about  be Able to use in his own profession the new techniques and equipment including Complex computers which modern american technology has mad available to other professions and Busi Nesses. This is the composite profile of to Day s new teacher and his goals drawn from an associated press sampling incites where teachers have taken to the picket lines and in other centers where schools have reopened normally. Even teachers who believe there is something an professional in teacher strikes support the motives behind the new Militancy. There has to be Public recognition of the necessity for Chang and improvement of education at the elementary and secondary school Levels they say. It s All a far cry from previous generations when school teachers seemed Placid symbols of unquestioning Public service and would never have contemplated marching up and Down on a picket line. A 35-year-old korean War Veteran who chose teaching for his career sums it up today s teacher is a highly trained professional not the Normal school certificate Holder of yesterday. He stored of being patted on the head by administrators who won t let him do an creative planning in the Field he knows  the sentiment is reflected in com ments from other teachers in Virginia new York Michigan Maryland and the District of Columbia. Typical of the new teacher emerging from All the current tumult is Domenic Calabro 36, a Field representative of the District of Columbia association of classroom  War service in Korea Calabro followed his lifelong ambition and went into teaching. As a married Man with a 2-year-Oldson, he fought to try to make ends meet on a teacher s income of $7,900annually. Calabro was graduated Magna cum aude from Providence College in Rhode Island took additional courses in educational administration at George Washington University in Washington and in his spare time now is working for his master s degree in that subject at the University of Maryland. He believes the wave of teacher Mili Tancy reflects the conviction of teachers that they can t get anywhere by jus talking to school boards. The time is past when teachers went before school boards with their hats i their hands to ask for whatever was practical for the boards to give Weare asking today for what we need to do the Job we re supposed to be doing Calabro says. In response to criticism from teach ers that their voice is no heard in school Board policy making a spokes Man for the National school Board association commented the school Board has a responsibility to the local citizens whom it represents. It Mustang does communicate with profession Al groups including teachers with an through school  the spokesman acknowledged that communications problem does exist be tween teachers and school boards when it comes to formulation of policies. We feel strongly however that itis the school Board which must make the final decision As the official representative of local citizens the spokesman  Calabro says if you go to a doctor and he says you need an opera Tion you Don t try to Tell him How to put the stitches in. Yet in education teachers opinions on the subject they know Best Are More often that not completely ignored by school boards and  Batcher a 36-year-old English teacher in Washington s Rabaut Junior High school Points out that the teacher of today has invested More time an Effort in learning his profession than his predecessor did yet he does not have an Opportunity to really know his pupils. When you teach a huge class of 41pupils, As Many of us do and you have no say in planning a creative cur today s teacher More militant younger and better trained than his.  Friday october 13, 1967 the stars and stripes up Ric ulum for them you re really Littlemore than a baby Sitter. A teacher has to be recognized As a human being who is capable of making the kind of contribution to education that is needed an that is expected by the  a fundamental part of any Pic Ture of the american teacher of today is his own expanded educational Back ground. . Office of education and National education association statistics show that most elementary and secondary school teachers today have Bachelor s  Survey of teachers across the nation discloses that about one out of 10elementary school teachers is working for a higher degree and that three out of 10 secondary school teachers already hold higher  specialists say that teach ers who Lack a Bachelor s degree soon will almost totally disappear from the . Educational  statistics Shew further that from 1956 to 1967 the percentage of teachers with no four year College de Grees dropped from 22.2 per cent to 7per cent. John Sasscer a 34-year-old former strategic air command b47 Pilot i working now for his doctorate in biology while teaching the subject at Wakefield High school in Arlington a. Sasscer notes that today s teacher shave spent More time getting educations specifically training them for careers i teaching but that teaching methods have not kept  re doing things pretty much the same Way we did them 10 years or eve longer ago he says. Yet we live in an age when the amount of Genera knowledge available to us doubles every eight  the Campaign for higher pay is Amajor part of the current Militancy in teacher  teacher income today also pre sents a far different picture than it did years ago. Some argument is heard that teacher salaries Are increasing by the highest percentage rate in All the professions with a $6,821 annual average for the nation As a  average annual income for teach ers still ranks below Many others. For example the average of a construction worker is $7,525 annually for a craftsman $6,945. Nea and office of education figure show that in 1930 average annual pay for teachers was $1,420, which had a equivalent 1965-66 purchasing Power of $2,864.in i960, teacher income had risen to an annual average of $5,449, which Hada 1965-66 equivalent purchasing Power of $5,885.salary prospects for teachers Are brightest in the far West where the annual average is $8,601. In comparison teachers in new England earn an aver age of $7,302, in Middle Atlantic states $7,847, in the South $5,963 and in the mid dle West $7,146. Most of today s teachers appear to believe that unionization either under continued on Page in Page 11