Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-12-29
GnrrtsppudfufE.
Farmers ana Common Schools.

The Romans long ago found out that il is
good to learn from your enemies; and much
may also be learned from those who, though
not really enemies, have interests diverse,
and sometimes, seemingly al least, antagou-
istio 10 our own. ...
The active interest that has arisen among
American farmers, within the last few years,
not only in the improvement Of agriculture,
but in their social and political relationships
10 other classes, has attracted the attention
Of lcadiag men in those Glasses. Some have
expressed lively fears that the numerical su-
premacy Of the farmers would become Sc
rious disturbing element, hitherto unknown,
in soOiety and politics, and one calculated. 10
act prodjudicially upon other interests. On
the other hand loug-headed observers have
reasoned that though the farmers are numer-
Gus, they arc so isolated, so ill.educated as
q rule, so accustomed to being led by promi-
neut men in the learned professions, and so
jealous Of each other, that no attempt to
weld them together as one, even for self.de.
fense, can succeed.
The question between these two views of
the subject is now in process Of practical so.
luton. But every farmer who is thinking
man must be willing to admit that the FAR
mers movement" 30 called. is heavily
weighted by the causes named, aud most Of
all by ill.educatiou. 1t is useless to minco
the matter, the district schools on which
most of our farmers must depend for all the
book learning they will have, are wretched
shams, barely better than no schools at ALL
In them the average scholar will not learn,
in six years, the elementary rules of arith-
metlc SO as to be ready and accurate reckoner
in common business transactions. He will
not learn to spell with any approach to cor
rectness, to read either understandingly or
fuently, or TO write neatly or legibly. Iu
fact large majority Of the teachers in these
schools are sadly deficient in these primary
elements Of learning. We refer for proof,
if any proof on a matter SO notorious is
asked for, to the reports Of the boards Of cd
ucatiou, or the school superintendents, Of
this and every other agricultural state.
Why are our schools in this unsatisfac-
tory condition, and why are the public gen.
orally, and the farmers especially, so indiier-
ent to the fact? Who can tell Its said
that the emancipated slaves of the South,
and the Irish immigrants Of our cities, are
far more anxious to have their children well
educated than the average Yankee farmer.
Perhaps people are wrong on this last
point 1t seems strange that it should be
so, yet all our school reports are filled with
complaints of the incompetence of teachers,
and the Indifference Of parents throughout
all the farming districts. AS far as our
own opportunities of judging go, land they
are not very small) We are inclined to be-
lievo that the feeling that prevails is not SO
much indifference as discouragement. The
parents, many of them at least, would be
willing to pay more money if they could see
any certainty of getting better schools.
"But," they say, las long as We can get
no better teachers, what is the use Of paying
them more money!"
The village schools are somewhat better
than those OF the agricultural districts; but
not sufficiently SO, as is proved by tho &c.
knOwledged incompetency Of the teachers,
most of whom are the product of the village
schools. The difficulty 10 tho rural schools
runs back to these village schools, and to the
academies, and even to the colleges, from
which teachers are supplied. There is q
lack of thoroughness and practically that
runs through them all. The time of the pu-
pills is wasted because the teachers arc ILL.,.
trained and deficient alike in knowledge, and
in the art Of instruction. .....
Our primary district schools should be
able to make any and all of their pupils that
are not mentally deficient, prompt and accu-
rate reckoners in the simple rules Of arith-
metic, and to thoroughly train them in read
ing spelling and writing our common Eng
lish language, AS a matter of fact, not
half the graduates of our academies and
graded schools possess this knowledge, and
by no means all of our college graduates.
One only needs to be the editor Of a coun-
try paper to be painfully aware of the truth
of this statement.
Now to say that the average boys and girls
Of our farms cannot be well taught to this ex.
tent in the usual term of their attendance in
the district school, is to delame them. II
can be done easily enough by competent
teachers The question, then, is narrowed
down to "Iow shall we get the teachers n
And that question asks itself Of our college
authorities, since the colleges are the foun'
tain heads of popular education. This il
their claim, aud the wretched state of oul
district schools is really au indictment Of thu
colleges. For from the colleges do come thu
teachers of our high schools and academies
and from these the teachers Of the common
schools. And from the colleges come aIsC
our text books. What influence have th,
farmers over the colleges2 Very little, W,
fear. For farmer to offer a suggestion t,
the authorities Of college is regarded, per
haps rightly, as great presumption. Blu
if the colleges and their patrons are satisfied
with their present methods which give
smattering of much and no thoroughnes
even in the elements of scholarship, are th
farmers helpless Is there no way for then