Benton County Educators Pledge War-Time Service
Teachers at a local institute resolve to prioritize food conservation and explain the causes of the Great War to their students.
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A ringing patriotic note was injected into the closing session of the teachers’ institute in Kennewick last Friday when two hundred public school teachers of Benton and Franklin counties pledged themselves to spare no effort to make clear to their pupils the great principles for which the United States is fighting and to emphasize the necessity for food conservation. Among the resolutions adopted, the teachers pledged their allegiance to the cause of democracy, expressed disapproval of state-selected debate topics that lacked available research material, and noted that the rising cost of living made an increase in teacher wages imperative to correspond to modern economic conditions.
“The rising cost of living makes imperative in many cases an increase in teachers’ wages to correspond to this advance in living expenses.”
Public school teachers in 1917 were grappling with the same central tension as educators today: the expectation to serve as the front line for civic and social initiatives while struggling with wages that fail to keep pace with the cost of living. The call for 'food conservation' under Herbert Hoover foreshadows the ongoing civic responsibilities placed on the teaching profession during national crises.
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