The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1870-11-08

loOf DU.0J -
&" 1865 1870
" 1866 1890 " ..
d" 1867 $3.50 " "
1865 40 - :.
These figures show that, of the number
OF pupils between the ages of 4 and 1s
years of age that actually entered school,
the attendance was from AZ 40 to SO
~ per cent. varying by few hun
dredths. Besides there is large num-
Der of children in the state who do not
attend scheol at all. In 1862 there was
in this State 1857 children between the
ages of I and IS that absented them
selves entirely from the common school.
In 1863 the number that absented them
selves was 24411; and the average num-
Der IN the State between these ages that
were entirely absent from the public
school from the year 1860 to 1867, was
l9,2O2. The whole number Of children
between these ages in the state during
these years averaged about $500
Hence from 1860 to 1867 over 90 per
cent Of the children of this State between
the ages of 1 and Is did not attend the
public schools at all a; and Of the remain
ing Z per cent. that did attend, the av.
erage varied but little from SO per cent,
showing that only 3S1 per cent. of the
children Of this State have been in regu
lar attendance upon the public schools
during these years The expense of the
common schools OF Vermont varies but
little from 100000 per annum, and of
this half million dollars but little over
one-third is of any practical value to the
State, because that children are allowed
to absent themselves from school whenev-
cr they please. In 1867 a law was pass.
ed that required the children of this State
OF certain ages to attend school three
months each year, but as the law did not
make it the duty of any one in particular
to see that it was enforced it has lain
dormant and useless.
The German states consider that the
children are the property of the state and
compel them to attend the public schools.
1t is almost impossible in Germany to
hhN q BNlSOh tudt NdIuOl lGuu anu MTlIe,
and the consequence is the Germans are
the most invinciblc people on the casth.
1t is exceedingly difficult to find German
beggar in any nation under the sun. 1t
is the ignorant that are found in the pris-
ons, houses of correction, and poor houses.
Out of 252,514 persons committed for
crime in England and Wales during
series Of years, over ninety per cent. were
iliterate. Less than one-half per cent.
were well educated. In the penitentiary
Of Ohio out of 216 inmates nearly all
were ignorant, and l15 were exceedingly
SO. In Auburn prison, n. Y, out of
244 inmates only 30 could read and
write. In Sing Sing prison out of 100
inmates only } We're literally educated,
and , of these were foreigners. In the
whole state of New York in lS4l, there
were % uneducated criminals to edu-
Gated one. Competence walks hand in
hand with intelligence. In the German
and Scandinavian nations where educa-
ton is compulsory and ignorance almost
unknown, pauperi>m and crime are almost
unknownalso.
While in England and Ireland, where
one-half the population are grossly ignor-
ant, pauperism has became an evil which
the wisest statesmen have given up as un-
manageable. TO to our Reform School
at Waterbury, and you will find that the
majority of those boys were grossly ignor.
ant when they We're sent there, and had
been educated i'll the streets wandering
here and there.
1t costs New York and VI, seven times
a much perannum toeducate a child at the
Rclerm School A. at the public school.
The humber Of inmates at the Reform
School is rapidly increasing, and we are
compelled to eXpend large sums each
year to meet the demand for room. The
school at Waterbury is a worthy enter
prise indeed, and has noble board of
managers and teachers but would it not
be well for Us to seek to arrest the tide
Of youth whose feet ale tending thither
II the street is the school where boys arc
fitted for the Reform School, should we
not strive to decrease the number pupils
in the former that there may be de-
crease also in the latter? Shall we
sqnander s300,000 yearly, because of
non-attendance ofpupils upon our schools?
Shall Massachusetts, obtain 76 per cent.
and we but 80?
If we fail to be instructed by the les.
sons of the Dark Ages, shall we still be
unmoyed when our blighting influence of
Ignorance has come to our very doors
Shall we allow % per cent. of the child.
rem of this State, who are to live and act
when we are sleeping beneath the shad
owS of the collins lid, to wander here and
there in idleness, protaning the name of
God, and wiping the slime and filth from
the face OF the lowest society? | adjure
the assembled wisdom of this State to talk
less about woodchucks, dog laws, fish
laws and railroads, aud turn their atten-
tion to the children of their State, to
whom they are soon to entrust the welfare
aud protection of all they hold dear. l
beseech them to enact a law that shall
compel pupils from to II years of age
to attend the common school six months
per year, unless otherwise provided with
Instruction, and make it the duty of some
ethcient officer to see that this law is en-.
forced. The wealth of State does not
consist in costly edi6ces, extensive com.
merce, nor the gold of its milionaires but
in living, loyal, industrious, and inteli-
gent population. Again. that evils that
arise from irregular attendance of pupils
are countless. 1t engenders habits of ir-
regularity that follsw the child to the
grave. The attention wanders, the chain
Of thought is broken, and nearly all
the true culture of the mind fails to he
attained.
A volume might be well well written
on this part of our theme, but we have
been more prolix than we intended when