THE EDUCATION COURSES

The through reorganization of the Educational Department of the University which the announcement of courses for next year in the new School of Education signalizes, is worth of note. The establishment of a strictly graduate school for training both of inexperienced and of active teachers is a comparatively new departure; and one peculiarly interesting in view of the outcry which has been everywhere raised of late against the prevailing low rates of remuneration for teachers. This complaint is in large part justified. From one point of view, however, it is easy to understand why even the best masters and instructors have been unable to command advancing high salaries with the rising cost of existence.

Just so long as the teaching profession was every season flooded by hordes of college or normal school graduates, with only a modicum of experience and un-handicapped in most cases by family or dependents, so long was the teacher of more advanced standing held down to a state approaching penury. It was always simpler to replace with new material the teachers who could no longer make shift with the inadequate returns of the profession than it was to raise salaries.

The system inaugurated by the Harvard School of Education is one which has been found fundamentally sound elsewhere. The graduate of a recognized college or normal school, after several years work as a graduate student may attain the degree of Master of Education. This degree will mean not only that the holder has gained a mastery of the principles of pedagogy and their application, but also that he or she has had considerable, experience in the handling of classes. It will mean that the graduate of the Educational school will be in a position to demand and receive higher rate of pay than is granted to a less experienced instructor. If the school is as successful as its sponsors and supporters now hope, it will result in the creation of new standards of teaching and a new class of expert teachers.