Statement by United States Commissioner of Education Earl James McGrath to the New York Times

Statement* To provide sufficient teachers to take care of the tremendous increase in elementary and high school enrollment over the next ten years-and to cover ordinary losses through death, resignation and retirement-it is estimated that we shall have to train annually a minimun of some 130,000 young men and women. The year 1950-51 saw a top record of 123,600 normal school or college graduates prepared for elementary or secondary school teaching, but this was still well below the number needed. Moreover, the average for the years 1946-47 to 1950-51 was only 93,380, or less than 72 percent of the minimum number needed on the 10-year schedule of requirements. For elementary schools, the situation was even worse, since the ratio here was only one to three of the number needed. There is grave danger that these ratios will be further reduced under the pressures of defense mobilisation and the entry into our armed services of our potential teachers. Freshman enrollments in Teacher's Colleges for 1951-52 are already 16 percent below those of the previous year. The teacher shortage exists most acutely at the elementary level, though there is a shortage of teachers of some subjects at the secondary level. The shortage is due (1) to the heavily increased pupil enroll- ment, (2) to the fact that teachers are dropping out of the profession to enter other occupations faster than they are being replaced, and (3) to the fact that replacements and additions are becoming increasingly #By Earl James McGrath, U. S. Commissioner of Education, Federal Security Agency, Washington, D. C., on "Teacher Shortage-Factual Data," to New York Times, January 1952.