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When does an individual decide to become a teacher and how did she decide are questions perhaps difficult to determine and somewhat unrealistic in form. One hundred elementary school teachers were so questioned, teachers from grades one through six. Superintendents, supervisors and principals were asked in conference to name from their personal acquaintance and knowledge, those teachers in the elementary schools of that system, who liked and were enthusiastic about teaching and not only said so but behaved as if they were. These teachers had indicated to the administration they were so satisfied with teaching in the elementary classroom they wouldn't accept any other type of position. The administration of eleven different school districts were so contacted and interviewed. The study covered an area of the state containing a population of approximately 1000 elementary school teachers.

The faculty of Southern Oregon College of Education initiated, during 1953, an evaluation of the curriculum which educates elementary teachers. An exploratory committee was organized-to investigate the essential qualifications which would seem desirable in a good teacher. These qualifications, once determined, would then serve as guiding criteria in reorganizing the sequence and content of courses and in the elimination or addition of experiences for the teacher education student. Administrators, parents, teachers and students were personally interviewed during the year and asked five specific questions. Some thirty school administrators were solicited, who hired graduates of the college. Five were superintendents of systems consisting of at least ten school plants, five were superintendents of smaller school systems, of ten school plants or less, five were supervisors of large school systems, five were supervisors of the smaller school systems, five were principals of elementary schools consisting of at least twenty teachers and five were principals of elementary schools of ten teachers or less. Thirty parents were also interviewed. Ten of these parents had children in the first and second grades, ten had children in grades three and four, and ten had children in the fifth and sixth grades. Thirty elementary teachers were contacted; five teachers from each grade, first through the sixth. Twelve classrooms of children were interviewed, two classrooms for each grade, one through the sixth, giving a total of four hundred elementary children questioned. In all some two hundred elementary school systems were contacted. Finally one hundred twenty college students were interviewed, thirty from each year in college.

One requirement of any profession is its ability to select or screen those individuals wishing to enter its ranks. But teaching, as a profession, has long been noted for its laxness in screening those persons wishing to prepare for its portals. Many institutions are attempting valiantly to set up screening procedures to examine and select those candidates desiring to enter teaching-although with the terrifying shortage of teachers, results of such procedures are somewhat discouraging. Many administrators of the public schools system set up their own screening procedures through a system of tenure and supervision. But supervision is not always adequate and the tenure system not fool-proof, so many children might suffer in the process of the screening operation. Perhaps the principal agency for the screening of teachers should be the institution preparing teachers. In determining an adequate instrument for the selection and screening of its teacher education candidates the education faculty of Southern Oregon College of Education conducted a study to determine (1) what attitudes and opinions have practicing teachers and student teachers on screening procedures, (2) what procedures are presently practiced by other teachers education institutions in this country and (3) what procedures are presently practiced by teacher education institutions in Canada. The general conclusions of this study would seem to be as follows.

An examination of the newer courses of study for the social studies in the elementary school reveals a trend toward more complex content from a wider and more diffuse selection of social sciences.' True, for too long content from only history, geography, and some civics graced the skeletal framework of the social studies curriculum. It is as if seven years of famine are to be followed by seven years of overindulgence. In too many of the newer courses of study, content has squeezed out an emphasis on social living and adjustment, a democratic classroom environment and group responsibility which were so prevalent in the social studies syllabi of a decade ago. Yet, never has the need been greater for teaching and developing in young children the purpose of social responsibility and its behavioral techniques. Thirty-eight New York apartment dwellers witness a half hour murder scene but none calls for police rescue. In Atlantic City a crowd lets two nine year old boys drown despite cries for help. The bystanders, neutral respectable citizens, don't want to become involved to answer police questions or to appear in court. They don't want to commit themselves.

In commuting a teacher's worth to a community in terms of the monetary compensation she should receive, many laymen use as a criteria the amount of time the teacher spends on her job. They cite the shortness of her working day, her lengthy weekend, the long and plentiful vacations she receives. This argument was used recently, in one county, to refute a salary schedule, presented by the local teachers. To test such an argument, a project was organized to determine the number of hours of professional work in the week of the average teacher. Ninety teachers from the elementary school were interviewed; fifteen teachers from each of the respective grades, one through six. Forty-five junior high school teachers were interviewed, fifteen from each grade, seven, eight and nine. In all one hundred and thirty-five teachers were interviewed from six different elementary schools and three different junior high schools, each situated in a separate community. The teachers of the first, second and third grades were studied as one group. The fourth, fifth and sixth grade teachers were studied as a second group, and the upper grade teachers of the seventh, eighth and ninth grades, formed the third group. Each teacher was asked to keep a diary of her teaching duties and responsibilities over the period of a school year and also a time sheet on each of the following arbitrarily selected duties extending over the same period of time of thirty-six weeks.