The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1871-02-14
Correspondence.


boiaeN u The sa3i issue 81 NvAF paper
; brief paragraph from enc Of your +
eondemH5ng law which Z
wAs enacted al the last session Of the leg
isisturs for the purpose Of improving our
school system. Believing thai law 10 be
one Of the wiscst made al tina, session,
venture a few words 10 IT, defense.
Il allows towns by vote At the annual
meeting to take into their own hands the
educational affairs Of their several dis
tricts, and to control those affairs through I
= central board--the town 70 determine 10 /
this manner where and bow long in each 4
year schools shall be taught within their
limits. and 70 hire the necessary teachers
to build or repair school houses, and
equip them-all at the expense of the
town--in shor, to take upon the town the
school matters now managed, and, as a
rule, sadly mismauaged By the districts.
The following are some Of the evils un-
der the present system, which would be
removed or greatly diminished by the
change proposed in the above law.
/. A great number Of schools In the
state, too small to be Of much value
to those who enjoy their benefits %,
and in session only few weeks each
year, and kept, for the most part, by
/ young, inexperienced and thoroughly
incompetent teachers - and this at an
expense oppressive to the districts
and In the aggregate making heavy tax
: on the state. Eight hundred schools
more than one-fourth the whole number
In the state-haye an average attendance
of less than ten pupils, and another eight
hundred have less than fifteen.
The new system must, as part Of its
work, make this number of schools less,
at the same time improving their quality,
and diminishing the aggregate expense.
This would be a long step forward in ed
ucational reform and at the same time
save at least $4,000 every year to the
people Of the state.
4 ?. Our school houses are greatly in
need Of town control. A great number of
them are utterly ufnt for educational pur-
poses-unfit in structure and miserably
equipped for their work and no great
reform in this direction can be reasonably
hoped for, until the building, repairing
and furnishing of school houses is town
business.
5. The school taxes are very unequally
distributed under the present system. In
q small district, for small school, very
poorly kept, and for short time, man
pays Ave or ten times as large percent
age on his grand list, As that levied in the
larger district, where good school is
kept ninu or ten months in the year, This
is not equal. 1t is not democratic The
town system would levy the school tax
impartially.
4. There is no sufficient supervision
over our schools under the present sys-
TEN. The district committee seldom visit
the school, unless called in to help keep
order, The Superintendent takes his
hasty round once or twice term; but
only in Jest can this be called superinten-
dence; and yet this is all that is required
of him, and for this his pay is shamefully
meagre. This state of things is changed,
and invariably improved, when a town
takes these matters in charge. 1t APP
points competent men, gives them work
to do, lays responsibilities upon them,
pays them for their services, holds them
to a strict account, and keeps the best men
N these offices. At least thish has been done
wherever the town system has been
adopted. But who ever heard of dis
trict choosing its school officers after this
manner
5. The town system would secure bet
ter teachers than we now have. They
would be hired for their merits, not
through favoritism. A town board would
certainly reject many of those placed in
our school rooms by our district commit
tees. The board itself being more perma-
nent, would secure good teachers for
longer terms of service, thus diminishing
the evils of too frequent change of teach
ers.
i 6. Another evil which the town sys-
TEN would do something towards remov-
ing, is the multiplicity of textbooks and
the consequent great and unnecessary in
crease in the number of classes in our
schools. A town board could and would
regulate this matter, as il is not, and
probable cannot be, regulated under the
present system.
Without continuing this enumeration,
let me say, a. something in favor of the
law, which lam defending, that it secured
the hearty approval of every member Of
the Committees on Education in our last
Legislature and every member of the
Board of Education--that all the teachers
Of the state are enthusiastic in its favor;
that it is a prominent topic at every
Teachers Institute and Association, and
there is but one voice concerning ii.
| And finally, as experiment is more con-
yineing than theory, let me say, that in
other states, where the district system is
rapidly disappearing, there has not been
reported the first instance, in which H
town, after fair trial Of the town system,
has chosen 10 90 back to the other.
4 Whether the arguments have presc Mt
I ed are valid or not, there seems 70 me TO
be nothing wild or foolish IN law per
hitting towns to try an experiment,