Treatment Of Primary School Teachers In Nanjing(1927-1937)

The modern education of China began to develop from Wu Hsu Reform, and then the theory of "saving the nation through education" became the intellectuals’ flag to save the nation from subjugation and ensure its survival. Education is not only the primary step to reshape the national character, but also the demand for social stability and economic development.Because of the wide spread of "saving the nation through education", the salary of the primary school teachers was the focus of attention. The Nanjing National Government held national education conference once it established, to discuss the pathways developing the education, to care for the salary of the primary school teachers and to commit relevant laws. However, troubles both home and abroad, poor economic foundations, omissions of manual operation, all contributed to the question of salary of the primary school teachers. Although the Government committed detailed laws, there were barriers in carrying out, even Nanjing as the capital was no exception.The paper explores the salary of the primary public school teachers in Nanjing, and its influence on teachers’life and development of the education. The thesis has three parts, which are arranged from shallow to deep, from macro to micro, from theory to practice, stating the question of salary of the primary school teachers.To start, the paper demonstrates the basic situations of the salary of primary school teachers in modern china according to texts, and argues the detailed process of the relevant laws to be made. Interpreting the texts, we can conclude that the salary of teachers improved step by step as required by regulations, not only the institution of the salary, but also consideration on other interests.However, law texts could be only taken as one reference, and there were many other factors interacting in the practice, so we explored the actual salary of the primary public school teachers in Nanjing. From longitudinal dimension, we evaluated the gap between the law regulations and the reality; from transversal dimension, we compared the salary of the primary school teachers in Nanjing with that of other districts, and moreover, we contrasted the salary of teachers with that of other professionals in Nanjing. Finally, the conclusion was that the elementary teachers of Nanjing ranked at the middle and lower classes of society economically.In order to explain the influence of teachers’salary on life and education, the paper researched the Engel’s coefficient of their life, socialized their ranks with the help of social stratification theory, and described their spiritual life finally. Analyzing all these aspects, we found that the elementary teachers of Nanjing just had adequate food and clothing and comparatively lower social status, which resulted in their doubts about self value, and changing their careers, etc. affecting the improvement of the education.Lastly but not the least, we put the elementary teachers of Nanjing into the background of Republic society, and connected with the special social surroundings, then positioned in accordance with the time and the place, aiming to reveal the dilemmas and solutions in the process of modernization of education. The thesis also drew out the lessons that could be learned nowadays.