On the Skids

How well off financially is the modern U.S. teacher compared to his counterpart in 1904 or 1929? Last week, in a special report, the Fund for the Advancement of Education gave an answer: the higher his rank, the worse off the teacher is.

Between 1904 and 1953 the salary of the average small-city elementary schoolteacher went up from $547 to $3,682, with an increase in actual purchasing power of 101%. But the purchasing power of the big-city elementary teacher rose only 60%, while that of the big-city high-school teacher dropped 1%. Big-city high-school principals got a raise from $3,552 to $9,156, but this actually meant a decrease in purchasing power of 30%. University presidents and full professors were 2% poorer than they would have been 50 years ago.

Comparing the educators' progress with that of other professionals makes the picture even gloomier. Since 1929, the average physician's income has gone up from $5,224 to $15,000, which makes him 48% the richer. But, in spite of a jump of from $11,000 to $16,500, large-university presidents are now 26% poorer while their full professors, making $7,000 in 1953, are 10% worse off than in 1929.

Warns the Fund: "The American society is deteriorating in the sector most critical for future progress and well-being . . . The best talent of the younger generation finds that education is not so highly valued by its seniors as law, medicine, advertising, or many technical skills . . . The talented members of the younger generation choose to enter law, medicine, advertising, the mechanical vocations or the arts."

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