Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1883-01-01
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

The annual reports of the state
of schools in Vermont
and New Hampshire alike show the
necessity for some radical change in
the public school system of these two
states. In both the district school
system of the fathers prevails, re-
galdless of the fact that the demands
and surroundings of to-day are mate
rally different from those of gen.
Grafton ago. In neither are the dis
trict schools accomplishing the work
demanded by the best interests of
the people. Mr.. Patterson's report
of the New Hampshire schools dwells
upon the limited ability and deficient
scholarship on the part of the teach
ers, bad methods of teaching, and
failure of the public schools to sat-
isfactorily discharge their functions.
Mr.. Dart reports substantially the
same discouraging condition of affairs
in Vermont. Unfortunately, the
likeness does not end here. The de-
crease in school population during
the last decade, and the constant
drifting from rural communities to-
wards business centers have led to
the same results in both states. In
| many places the once crowded dis
trict school-house is now nearly de-
serted, and bare seats and empty
desks have been powerful induce
ments for the lone committeeman tC
too frequently hire for the shortest
legal the "anybody can teach oul
school, you know" instructor. Oh
the $500 public schools of New
Hampshire 1,053, or nearly half
have twelve pupils or less enrolled il
each, and the number of such schools
in Vermont is even relatively create
than this. AS natural result, tn,
decrease in the average attendance
upon the district school has been fol
| lowed by an apathy which in tim
has led to a system of cheap school
with cheap teachers. The record o
Vermont in this respect is even wors
than that of New Hampshire, tn
latter paying the teachers, male an
female, the average sum of S7.35 pc
week, while the former takes a dis
graceful stand at magnificent dis
lance in the rear with an average {
S6.O7.
1t must be apparent to all thu
with such a record as this any schoo
; system must meet with homeopath
\ doses of success, to say nothing of
system weighed down with obsole
y ideas, and a lack of favorable a
. tending circumstances. The educ
{ tional problem is difficult enough
> itself to solve, without having co
temptible parsimony to contend wit
~ and it ought to be recognized ia
. by this time that lean purse pl
sents no more attractions to a go
IL teacher than it does to any other pl
% fessional or business man or woma
u A decided advance along the line
needed here, then, as one of the Fl.
ak steps toward better schools. Ano
:, er step, and a most important one
''." be taken in solving the education
problem in these two states, must
IL. in the objection of the town syste
"a. Mr.. Patterson recognizes this ia
al and most earnestly recommends
: abandonment of the prevailing S
h' TEN with its attendant evils of poo
Is, qualified teachers. small schools, g
Ipt still smaller results. What he
IN recommended for New Hampsf
,o4 can be applied to Vermont, and i
= TO be hoped that the district syste
hf- which has outgrown its usefulne
Ias may soon be a thing of the past
en- both states.-W Windsor Journal.