The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1853-05-04

Last week, we gave some of the rea-
sons why we believe the Office of State
Superintendent is indispensable 20 the
vitality and efficiency of our common
school system. In any matter of ordi-
nary business. an intelligent man would
at once, in similar circumstances, recog.
nize this necessity, and act according
ly, without delay or hesitation. No man
| of common shrewdness would for q mo-
ment suppose that business of such a
magnitude could take care of itself, or be
regulated by numerous irresponsible,
chance agents, without any central SUI
perintendcnce. Had not the law abso
lutcly required the election of Supcrin-
tendcnt, therefore, it was the manifest
duty of the Legislature to make provis
ion for such an officer The omission to
make an election, then, according to the
law already existing, seems to us pecu-
liarly reprchensiblc. We have now to
do with the future, however, and not with
the past
Shall the present state of things con-
tinuo Shall our schools be suffered to
90 on deteriorating until they become
worthless, and curse rather than beL-
eft That this is the tendency of things
must be evident to every one who cares
TO examine the subject. AS the case
now stands, dozen individuals assemble
once or twice year at the schoolhousc
in their respective districts, hurry through
the election of officers as best they may
vote tax, adjourn-the prudential COM
mittee attend to the rest, through the
year, as their time or inclination may al
low-nobody attends to everybody's bu-
sincss, and the school is just what a
teacher, hired, perhaps, at random, and
qualified, it may be, in scarcely a single
respect for his task, shall happen to mako
it, The irresponsible schoolmastcr, in
nine districts out of ten, very likely, is
the leading "power," and has everything
in hi. own way.
Town superintendent might accom-
plish something, no doubt, had they Ell
thcr legal power or inducement to act
effectively. Unfortunately, both are
wauting,a and only those whose devotion to
the work is ardent and jealous will spend
much time in field where so little can
be accomplished. Isolated efforts of this
sort, where they are made, do nothing
towards giving systematic LIES growth
to the schools of the State at large.
1t is for the people to decide whether
the hundreds of thousands of dollars an
nually expended on our schools shall be
productive of important results, or i'm
providcrtly wasted. 1t is for them to
say whether tie law as it is shall be fair
ly tried. There arc crumblers who say
the two thousand dollars year appro-
priated for the support of a State Su-
perintendent and of Teachers Institutes
in each county, has been prorcd an I'M
profitable expenditure. Such is not the
fact. The system-adopted in Novem
Der, lS49,-aud nullifcd by one branch
of the Legislature for two years past
has had no fair trial. Under a suitable
and competent Superintendent, it must
and will succeed. No other practicable
system can be devised that will be more
economical than this. The question, and
the only question as it seems to us, is,
Shall the law as it is be insisted on and
enforced, or shall our schools remain
without supervision, and without life