Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-03-08

made by Waitsfeld is strong argument
in favor of the town system, and we be-
lieve the town has "got the worth Of the
money" it, has expended on its schools,--a
belief which is not warranted by reports
from some other towns. Chester appears to
have good schools, and secures them by hir-
ing well qualified and experienced teachers,
retaining them from term and maintaining
an efficacious supervision. 1t is worthy of
note that the superintendent of this town is
woman. Among the faults of which SUI
perintendents complain most loudly are
lack of discipline, want OF interest on the
part of parents, multiplicity of text books,
continual change of teachers and commit
tees, the too rapid advancement of scholars
in text books, especially in reading, and, the
most serious of all, irregularity Of attend
ance Frequent reference is made to the
deplorable condition of many of the school
houses. The Calais superintendent reason
ably says, "Committees should keep the
school-houses in repair, and not oblige the
teacher to keep stick of wood against the
door to keep il shut for want of latch or be-
cause the door will not shut in. There is
too much pocket logic in some districts"
The gross and offensive proximity of priv
les to school-houses and the lack of proper
seclusion of these necessaries in their use
by the different sexes is one of the most re-
voting abuses which "pocket logic " has en-
tailed upon school children, and it is the
fruitful source of blighting moral as well as
physical disease. The superintendent of
Chelsea schools, after noting some of the
faults common to many of the schools un-
der his supervision, says, with significant
force "There are other faults which can
hardly be remedied as long as so many of
our teachers are so young and unframed,
and better qualified ones cannot be obtained
for the wages paid. This applies especially,
but not wholly, to the summer schools"
Concerning the permanency of the Office
of town superintendent, Mr.. Hill of Mont
pelier very pertinently says:
that every person who had held the place had
dropped It, like something hot at the end OF the
first year OF duty. There are numerous reasons
why the office may appear undesirable, upon
which 1t is not necessary, in this place, to give
an essay. But it is plain to me that whatever
capacities for usefulness there may be in the posi-
tion would be next to neutrazed by being
shifted annually to an inexperienced person. As
things transpire, 1t takes nearly year for the
superintendent to learn what is required of him,
and how to do It, When that has been learned
the place has usually been vacated, for new in
cumbent to grope on for a single year in similar
manner. have expended so much time only as
seemed ndspensably necessary, and now begin
to have fair idea OF what my functions are and
what they have been made to amount to. A
faithful discharge Of the duties of the position
would require an average OF at least three days
per month. Such course would involve pro-
portionately large expense, but would make the
office of more practical use and the officials
opinion Of greater value"
Superintendent Randall of Rutland is
veteran school official in the largest town of
the state and he is also man who can
hardly be called an impracticable theorist or
one who has weighed lightly what he has
to say. Conceding that few schools have
done remarkably we'll, he expresses his re-
greet that others have not kept pace with
them, but finds in this fact no occasion
for surprise or disappointment" GAS a
whole, some improvement in teachers is
discernible," he says, "some of whom seem
to have taken hint from what has been
said of late relative to qualifications" OF
irregularity of attendance he says:
Few Of our people seem to realize the great
arpn MT pf inn in NJ
ance. The average time of attendance has been
but trfe over sixty per cent Of the actual time
which the schools have been in session, or, in
other words, only little over sixty per cent Of
the pupils enrolled have attended school. Full
attendance cannot be expected, but nothing short
of negligence the part of parents and guardians
can account for a loss Of forty per cent"
Respecting dstrict.quarrels and pruden.
tial committees:
"In a few districts the efficiency of the schools
is impaired by the want OF harmony as regards
the management of the affairs OF the districts,
and the efforts which should be put for the bene-
fit of the schools are wasted in determining who
shall manage Cor mismanage) them. The office
OF prudential committee seems to be eagerly
sought for, and yet in the two hundred and forty
two visits have made during the year have not
in a single instance been surprised by meeting
prudential committee in school"
Regarding supervision:
at is not pleasant task to ind fault and do
it reluctantly but ! say, Understandings, that
until public sentiment shall have undergone a
great change and taken an active form with re-
gard to our schools, no efforts of superintendent
can make them what they might easily be made
There is a vast amount of cheap talk and not
little cant about public interest in general educa
ton, but this interest very rarely reaches the
point of making a sacrifice in behalf Of common
Schools
These reports are fair type of the whole,
but Superintendent Randall from longer ex-
perience and habit of candor and indie
pendence speaks his mind more fully and
freely, and the defects and abuses which
he depicts characterize the ungraded
schools, the district schools" of the state
as whole. The WATcHMAN's review of
the condition of the common schools few
months ago was characterized by contem-
porary as "a heavy indictment" An in
dictment drawn in the light of these town
superintendents' reports would lose none of
its weight. The condition of the common
schools is a most fit subject for reformatory
legislation, outranking in Importance, in the
palmiest days of their abuses, that of taxa
tion and court expenses combined.
Tho rhinasa nuaotinn