Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-12-03
EDUCATION IN VERMONT.
Misrepresentation of the New York Post
Corrected.


To ne EditOr OF the Boston journal:
The New York Post is never slow to eX-
pose the apparent or actual shortcomings |
of New England and the Northern States,
and is especially pleased when an oppor-
tunity occurs to show that the Blair bill"
to aid southern schools is useless, even
pernicious. a correspondent from st.
JohnsbUry, "Nermonter,' misrepresents
our schools and people in II late issue He
says:
"ln 1910 the populat on of Vermont, accord
ing to the Federal census was 2Jl,9iS ; in 1850,
according to the same authority, it was 3d.
,S6 III $50 there were in the State 2i02 pub
nc schools with 91,5lS pupils in 1879 he num-
Der ui schools was 300, and oil pupuS the
whole enrolment between the ages OF five
aud - was ,G6i. Ia the 40 years, therefore,
there was a gain in population of iO'sIN, and
decrease in the number of school pupils Of
2j,52l-Hn enormous aud almost incredible
loss. 1t rs true that a large uumbcr of chill
J.cn are enrolled IN the Roman catholic pHrO-
cnial schools while our fOreigu-born popuia.
ton was very small in lSi0, before tn" buiid
ing of railroads, but no reasonable allowance
Oh this score viii account for the falling of
in our public school children"
Very true. but are there not several
other things to consider First of all,
while it is true that the population has in
creas cd 40 3:}S the number of children be
tween and - has decreased from 1915
in 1910 to gD463 in 1850, "A loss of 5454
which accounts for over one fifth OF the
loss of 25Sjl. As showing more plainly
the smaller proportion of children now,
let it be remarked that the number of
children under 10 years in 1910 was SO,2SS,
and in 1850 it was IS, pa, a loss Of 12,054
The 9i,5lS in school in 1910 included,
probably, very nearly all of the children
in all kinds of schools and OF ali ages, eX-
cept 43i6 in colleges. academies and gram
mar schools. In 1850 not far from 10000
were in attendance upon colleges acade-
mics and IN private and parochml schools.
| More than another fifth of "Nermonter's ;"
"inCredible' loss is here accounted for
! Though incredible to him he assumed it
would be credible to others.
! Again, it was customary in $40 to send
children to school when much Younger
| than Is now common, even before they
had reached the present lawful age, es-
| pecialIy in summer, and the summer
schools were chiefly made up of young
children so that another fifth or more j.
| found.
StIll further, in lS40it was customary for
children, or perhaps, ! should say, young
men and women, to continue much longer
IN school than at present, and about all
| The young unmarried part OF the pOpula-
| ton We're in attendance upon the winter
term, often till they We're p years old.
| They went. some to study, but more per
maps " nave IL SbN'l SbtItl lIllt, anu lHtN
had it. 1t seems to me that the loss has
been fully explained, but | Will add that
OF 1864 lOrelgu-b born children between five
and Is years of age III 1870, 5000 were not
in school, not that they had never been III
school and never would be, but that their
parents did not appreciate the value OF
schooling, and were willing their children
should 20 with little, with as much, per
hapS, a. children averaged in 1870
The fact is that in lS4O all the children
attended school enOughat least to learn
the rudmeuts of the common school
branches, and the same is true to-day. I'm
the year lSSj-6, II ,G6i scholars over five
and under 20 attended the public schools
an average of II and half weeks. 1t
Is not probable that the %, Sl1 of all ages
and in all schools save colleges, academies
and grammar schools, who had schooling
in 1910, attended on an average much more
than one half as much time. Their
schooling was spread over more time but
they received IN the aggregate much less.
The average length of the schools was
p ID weeks, or 1876 days in 1850, and the
true average length is really much great
er. as the small, short schools greatly re-
duced the average length of all schools,
while long, small schools which would
raise the length beyond the true average
are not so common. What the average
length OF schools in $50 was we have no
means of knowing, but ii was 81 = weeks
M l?"o ~ III l7o,, - III l'p0, ~ III op' anu
II III 1870, While IN lNNj 1t wa. - 10, rs
given above. The per cent OF average at
tendance to enrolment III lSS3-4 was Go,
while in New Hampshire it was IS hut
the length of schools in New Hampshire
was 30 days, while in Vermont 1t was
~ days and the children attend more
days IN Vermont, 81 III Vermont aud 60 IN
EeW Hampshire. Maine gave Gs per cent
OF attendance to enrolment but the chill
dren attended an average Of only - days
with an average length Of school OF ia
days In Massachusetts the average at
tendance to enrolment was % per cent,
and each pupil attended an average of 1870
days, but the proportion OF average at
tendance to the youth between five and
20 is about the same as IN Vermont. In
Connecticut the percentage of attendance
to enrolment was %, and the average
length of school was $50 days, which was
attended an average of III days, but the
proportion of attendance to youth be
tween five and 20 was much less than in
Vermont In Rhode Island the percent
age of attendance of enrolment was