The Middlebury people's press. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1841-1843, 1842-02-01
PEOPLES PRESS.
Tuesday Morning, Feb. /, 1912.
THE CAUSE OF EDUCATION.


The Education Convention, which assembled
week before last is among the signs Of the times
1t was a spirited meeting composed OF able men
Of the several professions and occupations, and all
acluated with an ardent desire 10 remedy the de
fects and elevate the standard of education in
Vermont. Many facts were elected to develope
the mperfectons of our common school sy stem,
arising from improper regulations and insufficient
and Incompetent instruction.. Our Academies
would seem 10 be reduced TO forlorn hope. The
want of suitable support for sufficient number
of teachers. and Of other facilities have converted
them into mere apology for what hey should
be, as the means Of afording a thorough educa-
lion, and without legislative patronage. they must
soon disappear from their spheie of usefulness.
Our Colleges too, hitherto sustained from the re-
sources Of private munfcence, which the haI Id
ness of the times has at length exhausted. and
destitute of the lacili les of education which the
Institutions of othrr States more iiberaIly supply.
are lingering out Pickering existence The cir
cumstance which impresses verify upon this
gloomy picture of cur literary condition, is the
want of Il well balanced system OF education, to
be sustained by Legislative bounty. The eff
cheney Of common schools depends upon the eff
cheney of our Academies, which in their turn
depend upon The efficiency Of our Colleges and
all upon the efficiency Of the means provided BY
tie Legislature for their support. ANY system of
education which does not comprehend these gra-
datiuns of learning must be essentially defective.
So thought our Puritan fathers rhan.whom, a
more learned and enlightened set of men never
trod the earth. They considered that the respon-
sibiliy of education rested upon the State and
sooner h they bowed the forest around them,
than they commenced simultaneously the estab-
lishment OF common schools, and the endowment
of Academies and Colleges. Common schools
lay at the basis. but Academies and Colleges
composed the superstrucure of the enlightened
system which their wisdom devised, and the wis
dom Of agas must approve. Their aim was 10
make every individual an enlightened citizen of
the State. capable Of sustaining its offices, and
guiding its destiries. And yet, in Vermont,
which boasts of her rich soil and the richer intel
ligence OF her sons, common schools alone have
been thought worthy Of public bounty. Good
democrats as We are, we have unwittngy adopted
an arislociatic policy. which limits the education
ofthe great mass of community to the mere ee-
ments of science taught in common schools. Tie
rich alone can seek more liberal education in
institutions abroad. No hanks TO the State that
a single College, or even Academy, exists in our
borders. But we are now suffering The penalty Of
our penurious and short sighted policy. It's Sc
verify is at length arousing all classes Of com.
munity 10 action; and let it be thorough, in
domitable aud persevering, until the means of at
least an academic education shall be brought TO
the door of the bumblest log cabin IN our vallies
or on our mountain-lops. Education is field of
improvement which The people of Vermont can
enter with peculiar advantage, and we trust she
will eventually show that she is as rich in the
exuberarce of her intellect, as in the productions
of The soil she cultivates.