Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-02-16
TERMS $3.50 PER ANNUM

official head He bad known one Ia be
displaced simply because he had seen fit
to procure dictionary for the use of the
schoolroom
3. Dissatisfaction and grumbling were
frequent in districts. The town authori-
ties are often called in now, to keep the
schools going. Six good men can be more
easily found to manage educational affairs
than forty.
4. Taxation now exceedingly unequal;
far more so as between districts than as
between counties. Suppose school-houses
to be erected, lin one district five men
have the burden to bear, in another a
hundred. Taxes are often so heavy that
the district is unable, or at least refuses,
to hire good teachers and provide proper
apparatus. The town system would rem
edy all these inequalities and put the
large and small districts more nearly on
the same footing. Ii the district system
did not already exist, il could not, were it
properly understood beforehand, be forced
upon the people of the State, so glsring
was its injustice. AT present some sec
tions paid an educational tax of eight to
ten per cent, while Others paid as high
as so per cent. For all these evils the
town system was a complete remedy.
The Board of Education, and the educa-
tional committees, of the two Houses.
were unanimous in favor of the bill
Teachers should do much to hasten this
change to better order of things.
Mr.. @. w. Kennedy of Waterbury said
it was easy to form fine system in ones
room. He was not sure that the town
system would be found of practical utili-
- T. nT L. Ill. L.
students in the academies came from ru-
raj districts-,he small schools, against
which 50 much had been said. Certainly
in many cases the pupils would have to
go long way to school, if the districts
were abolished. And teacher, in cases of
difficulty. would often find no one at
hand with whom to take counsel.
In reply Mr.. Goodrich said that the
twenty-four reasons presented by Mr.
Rankin for making the change TO the
town system were eminently practical,
and such as all intelligent persons must
appreciate. He referred TO the gradual
change now working in Connecticut. and
already al but completed in Masss-
chusetts, and averred that no instance
was known in which a town had returned
to the district system after making fair
trial of the others. The town system was
alss to be administered by practical men,
who, no doubt, would use their common
sense in the redistricting of towns. aud in
the allotment of teachers. He alluded to
a statute of Massachusetts,, drawn mp and
presented by business man, which au-
tborizss towns te spend a part Of their
school money in conveying children to
and from school, and said that the actual
results were exceedingly gratifying.
Certain towns in that State now had het-
ter teachers, and longer terms of school
than before, and all ut less cost, though
the children were carried to and from
school The adoption of this plan in the
-parsely settled towns of Vermont wonld
open the way to a consolidation of dis
tricts and better schools.
Mr.. Spaulding said that in one district
in Barre. one man had offered 70 carry
the children to school and home again for
a term for SO. Here would have been
clear saving of the wages of one teacher,
and the interest," on cost of one school
house, or about 5000 in a single term.
The next exercise was an essay on
School Discipline, by Mi-s n A Holt. of
the graded school at Springfield. This
was clear, earnest and practical exhibi-
tion and enforcement of the topic dis
cussed.