Rutland herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1823-1847, 1840-05-12

/ upon INC public treasury. II is aiding those
"hoss means are too limited to pay high tu-
Hioh' rs much or more than IL AL the money
were bestowed upon the common schools.
an happy To say, that all. or nearly all, the
incorporated academies OF Massachusetts, nave.
+ ~ ule outset, received more or less pecuniary
aid from the state. This is well: and | am
persuaded itwould be greatly for the com.
mon good, were she TO make some perma-
hch' prov SION for dcltayng, in part, the ex-
pcnscs pi instruction, apparatus, &c.
90 nc, plead for large endowments. For
reasons which have given in former paper.
! 'hha ibem rather Injurious than benelicial.
ltui our academies cspnots flourish and f1a :
\ isc sz;isls of sIspsni Idling and lower classes
as nirfc prIrdte srmihdries. Somebody mus,
give them money to erect the buildings, and
keep down Tie tuition bills. They must be
oi'cI, either by private donations and be-
quests, or by public liberality. The main
reason why SO many of them lunguish, and
even run down, after few years, is not that
ticg arc not wanted, nor that they become I'M
popular. bu, that they have no funds to sustain
them. Ii must bc admitted, perhaps, that in
some cases, they are Multiplied beyond the
public dcms nd-ihere not being scholars
enough 10 fill them. This is an extreme
against which the friends of education should
guard Every town cannot have an academy
OF It's own; but great many Of them are
needed in every section of the country; and
they ought 10 be aided from the public treas
ury.
Consider how wide space in the great field
they occupy. In the first place they open
their doors To that numerous class of young
men who wish TO get more thorough En-
elish education, than can be had in any OF the
lower schools. Here they can prepare them
selves, 10y study and mental culture, for any
branch of business they may wish to follow,
and for highly responsible stations in the com
muniiy. English Grammar and Composition,
Elocnion, Natural History, all the more
practical branches Of Ma,hc matics. the ele-
mcnis Of Political Economy, of Logic, Of
Material, Moral, and Intellectual Philosophy
these and other branches of a thorough pri-
va,o education, can be pursued with great
advantage, in a first rate academy, an thus,
in a very few years, it may send out hundreds
to bless the church and the country in all the
useful walks of life.
Secondly; every good academy has clas-
steal department, aud is capable of being
made an exceedingly valuable auxiliary TO the
higher scminaries of learning. 1t is in the
academies that most of our young men fit for
college. With few exceptions this is more
Convenient than TO pursue their preparatory
studies any where else; and were these semi
nares properly endowed, would be much
cheaper. Some of the oldest and most dis
iinguished academies in New England, are
almost exclusively classical, and no literary
Institutions with the same limited means,
have done more good. Many of the most
eminent shollars and statesmen in the coun
try, look back to them with filal gratitude, as
the schools where they first imbibed taste
for liberal studies, under able and indelatiga-
bic masters.
Thirdly; academies, unless greatly mis-
| lake, are desuned 10 act a more important
part, then they have ever yet done, in eleya-
ting and keeping up the standard OF popular
education, by sending out thorough and accom-
pshed teachers. Many of them have enter
sd upon this high career of usefulness. alredy,
BY tho establishment OF new department for
the exclusive trluning and benefit of teach
ears; and tire common schools are beginning
! to fee! the quakenng impulse. Many more,
| am sure, viii follow on in the same track, as
soon as the necessary arrangements can be
made; and doubt not, that the time Is al hand,
when school committees and parents will de-
mand a professional education for teaching,
as well rs FOR the discharge OF other public
| trust. II may not be expedient 10 attach
teachers department 10 every academy
think it win NOT. TIE public good may be
better promoted by combining the needfu IA
clllies to the more hourishing and important
of these seminarics, but still SO as TO furnish
one such place to educate teachers, for every
seventy five or hundred common schools.
One teachers department for every hundred
schools ia Massachusetts, would require more
than thirty for tie whole state, and more than
a hundred for the state Of New York Let
the Normal schools, ana other seminaries Of
that class. do what they can, TO raise up emf
men, teachets--the more the better; but there
will still be room enough left, for the acade-
mics to embark in the same enterprise, and
without their strenuous aid an adequate num-
Der OF good teachers cannot be furnished
In assigning so high rank as have done
! 10 our academies, ia tho sysiemoi general J.
ucaiion, ! have all along proceeded upon INC
snpposiiion that they should be judiciousy
I managed and ably instructed Nothing can
/ be expected from an ignorant and inefficient
teacher. Iworc better TO break Up the school
/ at once, than TO le, il linger OUT consump-
1 live existence, under such mllign auspices
| And one grand reason why so macy oil our
! academies pass through seasons OF langnor
and decay is that they fall into incompetent
( hands. The teachers are not III for their
business, and tho propreiors arc not Wiling
10 give such salaries as would command men
Of hinh qualifications. If somebody can be
found TO take the school for 50 much; or TO run
his own lisaue, veIy well-and somebody al
WAYS can be found; but what is a poor, sickly
academy good fori II cannot answer one OF
the nurDoses for which IL was, or ought 10
have been, established. Wiihou, able in
s,rurters il cannot educate young men for
business. nor fl them 10 enter college, nor
nrcnare them TO DE active and useful teachers