Student Strike

Unexpectedly, the school gong rang, and at the signal (which teachers mistook for a fire drill) 260 students filed out of the brick schoolhouse. Gallused tobacco growers loafing around the country courthouse in Rogersville, Tenn. (pop. 2,018) watched the kids coming, gaped in surprise when they read the cardboard signs. The kids were on strike for something kids weren’t supposed to care too much about: they wanted more and better teachers.

Principal B. L. Hale had sought teachers from all over the state, found few interested in a job which required four years of college and five years’ teaching experience—paid only $149 a month. One volunteer hired to teach English had found that he was expected to teach home economics. What worried the students was the danger that state education officials would refuse diploma credits in subjects for which teachers were unavailable. For two days the kids picketed the school, carried signs: “We Want Teachers,” “Seniors Want to Graduate.”

Students, parents and faculty met to “arbitrate.” The town’s leading citizen, Appeals Court Justice Winfield Hale wired state officials, was assured that graduating students would not be penalized for their shortcomings in teacher-shy subjects. At week’s end Principal Hale had found instructors for all subjects except science, taught the class himself. Said brisk Imogene Allen, president of the student council: “Everything looks better.”