m SCIENCE PROGRESS 



the L.C.C., in connection with the threatened strike of women teachers, that 

 " some 400 women teachers were just entering the Council's service after seven 

 years' training, and ... at ,£108 a year they would be worse paid than any other 

 class of adult permanent employees of the Council, except the lavatory attendants 

 in the parks and open spaces, who were getting sixpence a week less " / 



The need for science graduates is not disputed ; the demand is another matter, 

 and it is unfair to attract students by numerous scholarships to pass through 

 a University or College course and then to leave them stranded, or with an 

 entirely inadequate reward, at the end. Before increasing scholarships and 

 increasing the competition for a bare livelihood in what, in pre-war days, was an 

 overcrowded profession, it is first necessary to educate the industrial world ; to 

 open a reasonable number of posts in the technical departments of the Government 

 to men who have specialised in science and to improve out of all recognition the 

 position of technical teachers. Once the public realises that first-class oppor- 

 tunities are provided by a scientific career there will be no lack of candidates. 



One other point demands criticism. In connection with the need for raising 

 the status of teachers in secondary schools it is stated that, " In no profession is it 

 more important that the members should have reasonable opportunities of foreign 

 travel and wherewithal to purchase books," and, again, in another place, " It is 

 essential in Technical as in other schools that there should be a considerable 

 raising of the status and remuneration of whole-time teachers, and that this 

 improvement should include a national scheme of adequate pensions." l When, 

 however, the stipends of University teachers are reviewed a different conclusion 

 is reached. It is admitted that "there is serious discontent with the salaries and 

 prospects of the Junior Staff in the scientific departments." (The exact signifi- 

 cance of "Junior Staff" is not defined, but from the context quoted it may be 

 presumed to apply to nearly all but Heads of Departments.) Also that "there are 

 many competent men doing responsible work at salaries far below what they 

 could have earned in other walks of life." The concession proposed is to allow 

 them at least two days a week for private research. Granted that these men do 

 not need "the wherewithal to purchase books," or "opportunities of foreign travel," 

 or to pay subscriptions to scientific societies, or to take any part in the social life 

 of the scientific world, nevertheless the Committee might at least have pointed out 

 that in many cases no small part of the " considerable time at their disposal for 

 original research " will necessarily be occupied in hack work required to make up 

 their salaries to a living wage. If there were a great demand for their services 

 elsewhere the procedure recommended might be defensible ; but in the years 

 immediately preceding the war such was not the case. Hence the discontent with 

 the prospects which the Committee admits but makes no effort to remedy. The 

 whole tenor of the report is the need for more students to pass to the Universities 

 and Technical Colleges. Apparently these are to gain their knowledge from 

 teachers whose sole interest, in very self-defence, must be the achievement of 

 research which will enable them to escape from their environment, and to whom 

 any time given to the improvement of their teaching, to the study of the difficulties 

 of their students, even to the preparation of their lecture experiments, is time 



1 Mr. Fisher " hopes to introduce a Bill relating to the superannuation of 

 secondary school teachers during the present session of Parliament." [The chief 

 clauses have been published. It is proposed to give all teachers in State-aided 

 Institutions pensions on the Civil Service scale. Teachers in Universities are 

 specifically barred !] 



