A CLEARING HOUSE FOR SUMMER EMPLOYMENT OF TEACHERS A Progress Report STEPHEN 5. WINTER Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
IN
THE spring of 1955, NEACT members became convinced that New England was lagging in its effort to secure industrial summer employment for its science teachers. That year, two of the eight local A.C.S. sections had started programs, but had been able to secure only two positions for 40 applicants. The previous year, another section had found several openings but few applicants. A committee1 was therefore appointed by the NEACT to study means for facilitating contact between teachers and potential employers in the entire New England area. The results of this program suggested that the committee activities had greater long term value than the immediate relief of some teachers' financial needs. It was especially helpful in pin-pointing the need for teacher-chemist cooperation. I t is hoped that this evaluation may help others faced with similar problems.
PLAN OF ACTION
At first, the committee outlined broad principles to govern its actions: (1) The NEACT would request the aid and cooperation of the eight A.C.S. sections in New England. I n the localities where a member of the committee resided, this would be done by personal contact; in others, by mail. (2) The committee would compile a listing of openings available to teachers in each area, and would advise teachers of the existence of these positions by suitable means; e.g., NEACT Newsletter, A.C.S. publications, etc. (3) The committee would make no recommendations of persons or of salaries. (This stand was subsequently endorsed by some employers.) The committee would in no way intervene in the normal hiring process which is the sole domain of prospective employer and prospective employee. The function of the committee was limited to lending the prestige of the 'The original committee consisted of E. Harold Coburn, Bulkeley High School, Hartford, Connecticut; Standish Deake, Milton Aesnfemy, Milton, Massachusetts; Robert I. Ellin, Rhode Island College of Pharmacy, Providence, Rhode Isbnd; Mrs. Maryalice Moore, Stonehill College, Easton, Msssaehusetts; and Stephen S. Winter, chairman, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts.
NEACT to the effort of inducing chemical companies to consider high-school science teachers for summer positions, to making teachers aware of existing opportunities, and to preventing needless applications to firms that had no openings. (4) The committee member residing in each area would act autonomously, with the chairman serving as coordinator on a regional basis. (5) All science teachers, whether members of the NEACT or not, would be invited to make use of the facilities of the clearing house. These recommendations governed the over-all program. Actual operations differed considerably in the various sections but within the frame work of the above plan. Cooperation with A.C.S. sections was immediately and successfully established in the three sections in which a committee member resided. Efforts to cooperate by mail failed completely. Only one of the other five A.C.S. sections even answered letters. The committee was, therefore, enlarged2 with the result that three other sections started programs. Publicity was obtained in Chemical and Engineering News, in the NEACT Newsletter, and in section puhlications. Contact with teachers was generally estahlished through letters sent to the high schools. OPERATION OF THE CLERRING HOUSE
In the Northeastern Section of the A.C.S. (Eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire), the clearing house operated as follows: form letters, addressed personally to the presidents of about 85 industrial firms, were sent by the NEACT committee. Replies were generally received from the officials responsible for hiring technical help, although in some cases the presidents themselves replied. The companies to whom appeals for positions were sent included both large and small firms. Nearly 40% of the companies answered, with 13 firms offering one or more positions. An additional 'Donald C. Gregg, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont; Austin S. Kibbee, Jr., Lewiston High School, Lewiston, Maine; and Rev. Joseph A. Mmtus, S.J., College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massaohusetts.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
seven expressed their desire to cooperate in future years. Most replies contained commendatory statements concerning the efforts of the committee. Some answers indicated that the firms had made extensive efforts to locate suitable positions for a science teacher but could find none in their operations. All of the letters were answered by the committee, even when no position was offered. More than 350 letters were sent to high-school principals inviting science teachers to use the clearing house. Fourteen teachers applied, and were referred to five companies each. Ti1 t,hn Connecticut Vallev Section of the A.C.S.. the members of the A.C.S. Committee on Education undertook to solicit positions among industrial firms. Nine companies offered 17 jobs. A mimeographed list of these openings was then sent to chemistry teachers in the area. The big problem in this section is that chemical industry is located primarily in Springfield, Massachusetts, while the section includes such population centers as New London and Hartford, Connecticut. The chief disappointment in the operation of the clearing house was the reluctance of teachers to communicate their successes or failures in landing jobs. This made the keeping of statistics impossible so that there is no numerical evaluation of the success of the clearing house. In the Northeastern Section, only three responded. The others ignored the request to keep the committee informed. Two of those employed indicated that they plan to return to the same company this coming summer. The area-wide coordination had an interesting side effect. Three teachers from other states who summer in New England made use of the facilities of the clearing house. ~
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EVALUATION OF THE PROGRAM
The outstanding achievement of the committee's activities is the realization that industry wholly accepts the idea of technical employment for teachers. The immense amount of good-and goodwill- that can be achieved is becoming recognized. More directly, the committee feels that it has catalyzed active participation by a number of companies that previously had only "thought about" the summer job problem. Some excerpts from our files corroborate this: "We are heartily in accord with the effort you are making to bring the teaching of the science and industry closer together." "I have had our Operating Vice-president review our situation to determine whether we could constructively give summer employment to one or more chemistry teachers in this area, as suggested in your letter." "We employ several teachers from neighboring communities during the summer each year, and they are expected to return." "Your plan will undoubtedly result in mutual advantage to both teachers and industry." Some companies viewed this program as a contribution to assure the continued flow of scientific manpower. As a result of the committee's letter, they created summer positions for high-school teachers and invited teachers in their communities to apply. Or they gave preference to teachers in summer positions VOLUME 34, NO. 4, APRIL, 1957
previously filled by students. For other companies, the teacher solved an employment problem. A concern with a small control laboratory and a continuing production schedule required a replacement during the summer. Students, who had filled the opening previously, had to be trained each year. After the training he received last summer, the teacher whom they employed through the clearing house will return ready for his job in future summers. A second company used the teacher to instruct sub-professional personnel in subjects related to their work: chemical calculations, the use of the slide rule, etc. Their own employees are too busy to give this training. This teacher spent one-fifth of his time teaching, and is continuing one afternoon each week during the academic year. The relatively small number of requests for positions, and the failure to keep the committee informed, has made evaluation of the effect of the clearing house on teachers more speculative. That high-school teachers have been given a morale boost from the activities of the committee has been indicated by a number of teachers in private communications. Many, apparently, had felt themselves to be the forgotten chemists. Previous attempts to find summer employment in competition with college students had confirmed this feeling. Although many of them are graduate chemists, their chemical colleagues had never considered them as such, but rather as teachers! As one expressed it: "I was trained as a chemist and chose teaching. The better and more experienced I became as a teacher, the less was I considered a chemist. Suddenly I read that I am one of the keys to the future of chemistry, but only in the journals. To chemists I was still a teacher." The activities of the clearing house have certainly broken the ice in this unhappy situation. Some of the necessary rapport between industrial chemists and teaching chemists has been reestablished. At least, the teachers have become aware that some members of the chemical profession are willing to act as well as talk. The committee has wondered whether the somewhat meager response by teachers to the clearing house is not the result, in part, of previous disappointments. On the whole, the clearing house has succeeded in focusing the problem of employing high-school science teachers in creative technical jobs during the summer. In this effort, it has had the most cordial welcome and cooperation of the chemical industry. I t has succeeded partly in bridging the gap between industrial and teaching chemists, and it has helped to create a more congenial attitude between these two groups. I t has failed only in arousing great teacher interest for its program. That is the task with which it intends to concern itself in the future, because it believes that such jobs can be of great ultimate value in elevating classroom teaching and making science more attractive to the students. For 1957, the committee has been enlarged and is planning to cooperate more fully with the A.C.S. sections in carrying out its program. Without being solicited, some employers have already listed positions. Teachers, too, have shown greater interest. Above all, more effective cooperation with the A.C.S. sections means that industrial chemists are taking the lead in solving this problem of teachers.
