Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-04-01
The Education Of noys.

Having published a criticism, from the
Watchman, of President Buckham's address
on the education of boys, it is perhaps no
more than fair that the following reply should
also be given
BURLINGTON, W., March IL, 1881.
Mr.. Editor: A recent number of the
Waterman contains an elaborate article from
the pen of DR.. Hoskins, criticising an address
of mine on the education of boys. 1t was
pleasant to me TO find that there was so much
on which we could agree. Indeed, the chief
fault have to find with the article is that it
imputes to me opinions which did not advo-
cate and do not hold, and then proceeds with
great controversial warmth to maintain views
which do hold and of which the university
has long been prominent advocate. 1t is
humiliating to find that, however much one
tries to express his views plainly, he conveys
to some persons precisely the opposite mean
ing from what he intended.
DIR. Hoskins assumes all through the arti-
Gle, and asserts in several places, that the ed
ucation advocated excludes the physical sci
ences. The fact is that have made large
place for these sciences at every stage of the
boys education except the primary, and ex-
press my regret that he cannot make begin
ming even there. If there is any passage in
my address more emphatic than another, il is
that in which amplify the value of the phys
ical sciences to the farmer. "a collegiate ed
ucation with the sciences left out" is crea-
ton of the doctors own Imagination. should
no more think of calling man well educated,
in this age of the world, without knowledge
of the physical Sciences than without knowl-
edge of the three RS. And in SO far as this
criticism passes beyond me and falls upon the
university il is wholly without force Every
one of the sciences he mentions is taught
here, and taught with as much emphasis and
honor as any branch of study. No student
can get degree in this institution without
having made creditable proficiency in each of
the sciences of botany, chemistry, physics,
ZOOLOGY, physiology and geology and, as a
matter of fact, the standing, even of a CLASH
cal student is as much affected by his rank in
these studies as in any of the other branches
in mathematics or Latin, or Greek, or htera-
ture. And of course the students in the sci
entifc classes carry the study of their special
sciences to much greater lengths. l am al
most ashamed to say this in print. 1t seems
almost like saying that we use the new and
not the old style in dates, or that we believe
in the Newtonian system of astronomy To
the same inventive imagination which led him
to deplore the absence of physical science in
our curriculum, must DIR. Hoskins be indebt-
ed for that other assertion of his that ''the
university has never had any classes in its
industrial department" am almost tempted
at this point to lay down my pen, and say
that it is of no use to reason with man who
deals SO unfairly with facts. received last
week from DIR. Hoskins catalogue of his
nursery and seed stock, If now, without ever
having been to Newport 10 inquire, or having
taken pains to get reliable information, were
to write to the Watchman that DIR. Hoskins
never had single tree in his nursery, or any
mn on lia farm pr mn far at h,,t
that the whole thing was bogus--a mere nur-
sery on paper, and nothing more-my per-
formance would be no more unwarrantable
than his. If he says, "the trees are there
come and see," SO l say, 'the classes are here
come and see." 1t is true that the classes in
these departments are not as large as could
be wished, but the students in them have usu-
ally been from one-fourth to One-third Of our
total number. They have, besides other in
struclion, the services of three professors
who teach nothing else than "branches of
learning relating to agriculture and the me-
chanic arts" If you were to drop into the
laboratory to-day, you would find q dozen
boys and girls at work under Prof Sabin, one
on the determination of fertilizer, another
on the problem of the "sugar-nitre," third
on the assay of piece of fools gold" and
so on. To-day, while the driving snow fills
the air and is covering the ground, you will
ma the engineers IN the drawlngroom, MAX
ing plans of bridges and calculating the strain
upon walls and arches but when the spring
comes you will find them with Prof. Barbour
in the field, surveying, leveling, laying out
railroad curves, and getting ready to under
take as they do almost Immediately ON grad
uating, practical work in superintendent and
construction. Prof. Perkins students you
would find one day Analysing grasses, another
day dissecting a bird or a quadruped, and oc-
casionally exploring with him the curious and
instructive transformations which abound in
this region.
But to what do these studies tend? Do
they train young men for the industrial call
ings9 Do they in any way contribute to the
diversion of talents and ambition from the
well stocked professions into the industries
through which the resources of this new con-
tinent are to be developed? / will confess
that when l sat down an hour ago and ran
over the list of those who have gone from the
college since l became its president, and
found that excluding those who are teaching
and have not yet chosen their life pursuits,
considerably more than half of the whole
number have gone into industrial callings, in
to agriculture, manufacturing, commerce and
] engineering, was myself little startled, and