Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-12-29
agricultural Deparfmrnt
NATURES LESSONS.
The Costliness Of Ignorance.

Ignorance is always cheated" said SEN
ator Brown of Georgia, in his recent speech
in favor of national appropriation for
schools. "This government cannot be per
petuated as republic without the educa-
ton of the whole mass of the people," was
another remark of the representative of the
"New South" which is just as true north as
south. The west is now ahead of New Eng
land in its willingness to be taxed for
schools, and it would not surprise the wisest
observers if in a few years the same might
be said of the south. The negroes them
selves are more Jealous for education than
the people of many parts of New England.
Vermont is falling sadly behind in the
march Of progress as regards education. Any
advocacy of improvement is coldly received,
and any proposition to spend more money
for school purposes is frowned down. Our
normal schools are starved into ineffective.
ness, and then their ineffectiveness is quoted
as a reason why they should be abolished.
Not one district school in twenty throughout
the state is decently housed, or provided
with suitable implements of instruction.
Farmers who have plenty of money for
patent mowers, rakes, creameries, churns,
butter-workers and evaporators, can see no.
need of a school-teachers being supplied
even with blackboards, to say nothing of
maps, globes, or any of the better apparatus
for thorough instruction. Even prosperous
and wealthy villages with a graded school
or academy 1--WE mention our own at New
port as an example) have no apparatus of any
kind for teaching the natural sciences, and
no chemistry class is formed, for that rea-
son. Yet such an equipment can be bought
for less than the cost of good moving ma
chine. Every district school-house ought to
have such implements of instruction, but we
should be glad to see them in our higher
schools first At present it is probable that
even if they were provided in our district
schools most of the teachers such as we EN-
ploy would find themselves in the situation
of the man who was solicited to purchase
an encyclopedia and declined because "no-
body in the house could play on it,"
This won't do, brother farmers. We may
"know enough" as Brother Tinkham in
sists, but certainly our children ought to
know more than we do, for the world is
gaining in knowledge and Vermont ought
not to be left at the tail end of the process
sion of which she was once in the van. Let
us send up to Montpelier next time legis
lature that believes in progress and improve
ment. Let us have economy, but let us
economist in useless things that we may
spend more freely for useful ones. Aud let
us at least have clean, comfortable and con-
venient school-houses with blackboards,
maps, and the cheaper tools of instruction,
if we cannot yet get teachers who can
"play on " the higher educational instru-
ments And when we can get such teachers
let us fix them up to teach in as good shape
as we fix up our sugar places.
Nothing is so costly, or causes such waste,
as ignorance. Ignorance of our business
whatever that business may be, taxes us a
heavy per cent upon every days work we do
But book learning, say many, will not help
business. There is truth in this, and it is
sadly true, too, that most of our schools are
conducted with literary rather than a
practical object in view. Nevertheless, even
literary instruction is better than nothing.
For literary as Scr industrial purposes it is
alike necessary tist the pupil shall begin by
learning to read and write the English Ian
guage. This is not well taught in one Yer
mont school in a dozen. # anybody doubts
this statement, let him test the requirements
of as many as they can among the youth in
their own neighborhood who have got their
education in the common schools. If one
in five of them can write well-worded and
well-spelled letter, or Understandings read
any useful book, then they are in a neigh
borhood much more favored than the aver
age. We must have better schools if the
state is to prosper and hold her own. Far.
mers must take an interest in the schools
Let us discuss the question in our clubs and
meetings. Let us visit the schools and learn
more about them. Let us not be mean,
stingy or indifferent in regard to the greatest
of all our secular interests