The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1856-11-26
JAiAhlrhurg Rrgister.
M I ID d l. T. B U Y:
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1855.
Common Schools.

evils oI Ou1 system OF OOWmOU DcuoOi
Education. From one end of the State
to the other, philanthropic gentlemen Of
various stripes, occupations and profess
sions are harareuing with more or less
zeal and JUNCTION on the grossly made.
quate provisions of our State laws for
the education Of the people Period.
ically, numbers Of these benevolent per.
sons congregate in odd corners, and in
sttute conventions, the object of which
is to elevate and inform the ignorant
masses of Vermont yeomanry on this
subject. In particular manner have
the Legislatures been from time to time
visited with walls Of wrath and over
wbelmed with foods Of eloquence, because
thos have not in their official power
done something" for the great cause.
Loud and long have the gentry. fresh MS
roses, from Normal Schools and other
intellectual hot beds, held forth with big
cheeks aud cracked voices. because the
Legislative functions have not from year
to year produced State Superintendent
and furnished Libraries and apparatus for
the precious youth growing up in ignor
ance among MS A grave body Of astute
persons to which was confled the bust
ness of proposing amendments to the
Constitution, have thought it their duty
to interfere and lecture the Legislature
for a riolation Of lac, in refusing TO
elect Superintendent as If the power
which held the law in its hands as pot
ter holds the clay, could not, as sucA
suspend and hold any particular portion
of that law in allegiance at its will, with.
out being cbargcablc fer its violation.
And fually year after year have these
gentlemen bcsieged the halls Of the Sem
eral Assembly with projects oe variou,
sorts, but oil aiming at tho establishment
of State Board VI Education with q
system Of Superiutendency and machine.
ry complicated, cumbersome and expen.
sive "a system borrowed from the DIES.
potisms Of the old world and requiring
all the executive powers of a despotism
successfully to carry out.
T. the mean time the people Of our
State in profound ignorance Of the pro
digious evils which infest ou7 system
or rather no system, have trudgcd along
about their business. Have had their
womanschool and winter school have
repaired and built school houses have
sent the children and paid the expenses on
the grand list Tho boys have grown
up into men and have swept off our hill-
sides into the broad channels Of the
world. The prairics of the west are
filled up with them, moral, intelligent,
enterprising and rich. The leading pull
pits of western cities tho leading press.
es of the ertiro country, the bench, the
bar, the forum, the laborA tory, the coun.
ter and the workshop through the length
and breadth of this country bear witness
to the results Of Vermont birth and
Vermont Education. by their fruits let
the schools Of Vermont be judged. If
it be possible, in these lines, let US con-
slider one subject fairly and without cant.
Are we then satisfied with the present
condition of these schools and are We op.
posed to any attempt to make them bet
teri BY no means. We differ from
these phlanthropic individuals as to the
methods Of reform. Much as the schools
have done, there is undoubtedly in many
quarters, great room for improvement
but it is not the want Of good laws or
the fault of the Legislature that they
do not come up to perfect standard.
If any school district has an inadequate
school master and a miserable school the
fault is their own and theirs only. The
laws are we'll enough; the mischief is
that they are not properly administered
by the people who have them in charge
Subject to examination by town super
intendent, the whole matter of selecting
and paying a teacher, directing the
studies and establishing rules necessary
for perfect school, is remitted-as it
ought to be in q government like ours
to the Districts themselves. If the PEG.
pie do their duty they have good school;
if they neglect it, from carelessness or
false notions os economy, they take the
consequences. Were then should the
appeal for elevation and Improvement be
made2 Clearly, to the people, and not
to tie Legislature.
Multitudes Of those who inhabit this
fayoral La