Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1858-10-15
Educational.
VERMONT EDUCATION.


The Committee of the State Teachers AS
sodltion take pleasure in calling attention to
a short series of articles on Graded Schools.
The practical experience and well earned rep
utaton Of the writer as a faithful teacher
justly entitle his views to careful considera-
tiun.
E"ECTS IL OUR sYsTEN-GRADED SCHOOLS
no. l.
The first defect that is observed in the diff
farcat grades of schools connected with our
educational system is the rant Of harmony
Oui ancestors very wisely provided for three
grades Of schools, viz the District School,
the Grammar School or Academy, and the
College. The District School was designed
10 penetrate the remotest corners, and extend
it, blessings to the very hearth-stone Of every
household in the State. The Academy was
q hi cher grade, and less generally extended
designed to stand intermediate between the
Common School and the College. These two,
visa the College. seemed to cover the whole
ground. The first was provided for a small
section Of each Town, the second for each
County, and the College or University for the
whole State
Here the idea of graduation was fully de-
yclcped and if the design of the authors of
this system had been strictly adhered to, little
change would now be necessary to adapt it to
our present wants The introduction of a
Town School. forming an intermediate grade
b-tyeen tho District and County Schools,
would have supplied defect that always eX-
.cd in this system, and rendered it quite
sufficient for our times In attempting to
supply the place of this intermediate Town
School, the County School has lowered the
standard which it was designed to maintain ;
while, as population advanced and local inter
cs's became more distinctly marked, different
villages in each county began to supply them
selves with Academies.
Tins the County School has lost its dis
inotiye character. It's funds are divided un-
iii they amount to little or nothing its pat
ronage is limited by the existence of rival
Schools; and its sphere is degraded in the
attempt to supply the place Of the wanting
Town School. The County School, proper,
no longer exists. Hence the entire distance
from the District School to the College is left
to be occupied by these multiplied Village
Academies. And no one Of these will
consent to be out-dono by the others, they
all propose to cover the whole ground, each
in its respective region, from the District
School to the College. All attempt TO pre-.
rare Teachers for District Schools, to fit BOYS
world-n short, each one of these School,
processes to comprise within itself Teach
ers' Normal School, Latin School, and
Female Seminary. 1t requires no argument
to show that this is too much ground for one
grade of schools to occupy. But in the pres
ent condition of things the Academies mus
occupy this ground, or it will remain unoccu
pied.
Nor is this ALL The fact that Academic
are wholly, or almost wholly, dependent OF
their patronage for support, and that too from
limited field, seems to compel them, in self
preservation, to draw il from as many differ
ent classes of the youth as possible. Hence
they encourage parents to send in their small
children whose proper place Of iustiuVt,er, !
the public school. 1t may be they are we
instructed in the Academy; they are, if proI
erly classified and provided with appropriai
and thorough instructors. The evil consist
in deranging the system, in advancing scho
airs to an apparent rank, which they do ne
really oecupy-in withdrawing the intere'
of the most influential portion of communit
from the public school, and throwing it
favor Of the Academy. Indeed it is the pc
icy of some, who are deeply interested in II
welfare of the Academy, to labor openly an
actively to make the public school so pc,
tndb pcoplt Will W oihltAtu W hthu lut
children TO the Academy. 1t is matter of oil
servation that the poorest public schools al
those in the vicinity Of an Academy, or pc
haps the district nearest the Academy turr
the entire patronage Of its school into Il
Academy.
Obviously, it should not be SO. The frien,
of the Academy should not suffer their int
est in the public schools TO be lessonod in Il
least degree. They should observe that Il
Academy is dependent on the public scho
for its supply Of scholars, while the pub
school is dependent on the Academy for
teachers. Hence they are mutually Dope
dent, and can no more consistently war wi
each other than the members of one body
All friends Of education must Sec II IN,
view this matter rightly, that the interest
one grade is involved in that Of the othe
and that they cannot really advance or reta
the interest Of one without similarly inyol
ing that of the other.
Again, the same eagerness for patrona
induces the Academy to attempt to teach MAJ
branches that properly belong to the cole
course. Ii is not enough that it should d
scend below itself and absorb all the grad
inferior TO il. 1t must, also, force within
sphere the studies of the College. Thus Il
Academy extends its course, from the abec
darian to the graduate of College.
Evils grow out of our present system
schools, owing to the rivalries and ealousi
that arise between Academies that arc so co