Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 98, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 August 1909 — There Is a Big Surplus Of School Teachers. [ARTICLE]

There Is a Big Surplus Of School Teachers.

Indianapolis, Aug. 25. —Unless the number of schools in Indiana increases remarkably in the near future, or unless the number of eligible teachers without schools decreases, there is little likelihood of any easier examinations for licenses than those , given last month by the state board of education, according to a statement made yesterday in the office of the state superintendent of public instruction. Indiana is overstocked with teachers; schools are normal in number.

When' the question of the recent examinations became known through the state there was an outcry. Special criticism was turned on the questions in history, arithmetic and literature, which were declared to be unreasonably hard. The results of the examination are now being formulated in the office of the superintendent of public instruction. While the final results have not been determined, the number which passed is about onehalf of the number which took the examination. The average throughout the year of successful applicants is about 60 per cent. The failures were largely in the subjects complained of.

At the present time there are about one hundred applications from holders of teachers’ licenses for positions oh file in the office of Dr. R. J. Aley, the state superintendent, without a vestige of the unsupplied school. A local teachers’ agency has about ten applicants to one position, with college graduates searching unsuccessfully for places. There is room, however, for a few men, for the supply is almost entirely composed of women. The reason for the larger number of teachers is laid to the recent law which raised the standard of wages paid. Where formerly the township trustee was at liberty to pay what he could afford, the minimum allowed by law is $2.12% a day. The effect of the financial depression of 1908 has been to send many women out to work for a living who were being supported at home. As soon as the work of visiting thh county institutes is finished Dr. Aley will devote his attention to preparing exact, statistics on the number of teachers and the number of places in the state with an effort to find the real reasons for the discrepancy of teachers and positions. Dr. Aley will speak this week at Auburn, Ft. Wayne, Warsaw, Plymouth, Crown Point, Danville, Greensubrg, Newcastle, Richmond, Liberty and Connersville. E. G. Bunnell, the assistant superintendent, will also give his entire week to visiting county institutes. Down goes the price on the best flour made. “Aristos” and “Gem of the Valley." Only $1.50 a sack.

JOHN EGER.