Americans at Work - Educational Workers

[Music] time for school this morning today right now time for school for everybody school days time for growing time for knowing the sight of a good school with happy children being well taught gives us a feeling of security a feeling that things are as they should be most parents say they would do anything to give their children an education you've got to know all the answers to get along these days they say Times Gone by when you could just pick it up as you went along in almost every line of work the more education you have the better you do without it there's little choice in your life's work beyond the bread and butter aspect of living education is essential to wise citizenship and to the enjoyment of existence the point is not just how much you can get but how good is it if you can find a school where there's room for you and a teacher who has time for you it's still just the beginning and always more questions than answers education for what for how many for how long we like to think of our public school system as a living Monument to our democracy created and maintained by all men of good will but too seldom told is the part played by millions of Americans at work members of trade unions who have made free education Labor's first and foremost goal throughout the history of our country their motto is labor Omnia winit labor conquers everything if this is true the greatest conquest of all is ignorance conquered in a crusade that doesn't look like much in the doing but one finally to be carried on Everywhere by everybody Union people have always been open persuaders to sustain and expand the two-way aspect of learning and teaching in a system of Education available to all the way it's brought about is in a million little things like going to meetings and making speeches things that add up to making our part of the world a good or a bad place to live the subject can never be dropped the task sometimes seems thankless tiring leg work ringing doorbells button holing neighbors this work is its own reward the future shaped by doggedness and determination communicating writing lawmakers debating and convincing by every known means from the beginning the American worker has undertaken not just to produce Goods but to create a quality of life without which no other accomplishment is worthwhile expressing his faith that the strength of the nation is in the knowledge and beliefs of its people the union man never lost sight of what it was all about some of the first logs cut on this continent went into school houses the curriculum could be contained on a shingle called a horn book for individual use by the pupil before textbooks became common throughout the colonies School attendance was for the few but not for long as the time came for the organization of American workmen a new stage was set for enactment of the dream that was big throughout the land Freedom whose very nourishment was education it was the workers who asked for it the same intelligence that made skilled Artisans and Craftsmen made thoughtful citizens the first volunteer associations of working men and the formation of a working men's party in 1829 began the movement for what we know as a free Universal educational system for the first time on Earth no patriotic organization has a more venerable genealogy than that of American labor National Aid to education began before the time of the Constitution establishment and support for Frontier schools was provided in land grant ordinances our struggling democracy was not only able to afford such things it depended upon them by the middle of the 19th century the first great battle had been largely won but that was only the first battle there was opposition at every step voices that cried enough no more just because the schools were open didn't mean that all children went to them sometimes their parents had other ideas and so did some Factory owners the remedy was compulsory education and again it was the labor movement that led the fight the newly formed American Federation of Labor in 1887 demanded state laws whereby parents will be compelled to send their children to school so as to enable them to acquire an education fitting them to become intelligent and important factors in the regulation of the laws and the system of government under which they live and furthermore that the science of government shall be taught in every public school in the United States that was 1887 more than a generation would pass before all the states had workable laws compelling School [Music] attendance labor forged its program with a coordinated and continuing effort to make popular education a reality free Universal schooling as a matter of right and not of Charity free textbooks free night schools and vocational schools open the door wider from kindergarten to college there was always more to fight for there was the ideal that gifted youngsters should be able to go beyond grammar school Beyond High School in order to study kids have to eat yet some parents even in this country can't afford to feed them properly a school lunch program in which the federal government is the moving Force takes care of that need today it's not all a matter of problems in the oldfashioned sense we expect more of our schools today not just more Laboratories but more of everything but what has happened to our proud Monument what do we find if we go behind the scenes if we take a closer look we find serious weaknesses flaws developing in the structure of our Public School System defects that do not reflect a loss of usefulness in physical plant so much as gross inattention to the house of Education itself here is what members of Union committees on education joining other Civic groups have found as of now that of the 32 million already in school there are nearly 2 million more students than there are places for this is truly careless treatment of our primary National [Music] resource dare we declare such students [Music] Surplus we need more than 75,000 new classrooms to replace obsolete ones over 65,000 for the student overflow existing at this moment even if we caught up before the next school bell rang we'd still need 45,000 more classrooms each year for the new generations pressing in upon us how can we look today's high school graduates straight in the eye as long as a 100,000 of them in the top quarter of their classes cannot go on to college because of lack of funds and what have the true friends of Education learned about our teachers they have learned that the average salary is not a living wage that it is lower than that in any other profession requiring similar preparation more and more find they must supplement their incomes with other jobs or leave the profession with poor working conditions go lower [Music] standards organized labor feels that the free public school system for which it has fought for over a 100 years is in Peril until teacher standards are greatly improved let the house of Labor in Washington DC stand for all the AFL CIO unions as members continue their historic function of establishing expanding and improving the free public schools of America men of Goodwill May differ on the best approach to the educational problems of today for instance let the national Capital stand for all the legislative halls in the land as a great debate goes on many of us in the Congress have been maintaining for years that the only way this problem is going to be solved is through a broad program of Federal Aid to education no one denies the problem exists but I do not believe we need to get the federal government involved so directly in what has always been a state and local function but there are other voices too economy it would make taxes too high we don't need it we can't afford it the founding fathers wouldn't have agreed with that even though they didn't foresee the full range of the educational needs the years have created they believe that by one means or another our country could always afford to do what was necessary and what was right so do today's union members their homework is the cause of Education itself the lessons sometimes involve seemingly endless chores taking part in all kinds of discussions and decisions in educational committees being active in all Affairs of the parent Teachers Association voting in every election and referendum to take the children out of the corridors and boiler rooms out of the halfday sessions and out of the fearful fire traps union members realize they are but one part of the community that must pass this test and that the rewards of such an exercise in citizenship are [Music] immeasurable if the school system is functioning at less than full efficiency it will be to the detriment of our country's National Security now and in the future our our ability to survive will depend on our ability to give all citizens of this nation an equal opportunity to realize their Highest Potential through education all the members of the AFL CIO who with their families represent some 60 million of your fellow citizens support the broadest possible program of public education as the soundest investment in a democratic America and a free world World Americans at work for you Americans at work presented as a public service by the AFL CIO next week another story of Americans at work Americans whose skill and effort help keep our country great and strong for [Applause]