Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-08-29
To tie Editor of the Herald.

1h" ""J"o' ~ pldCtICt' AIhdIlh WI.
Wells for his polite reference to the
members Of the County Board of
Education and myself as it gives
me an opportunity to make some
necessary explanations. The refer
cnce to short visits in the schools at
CRANKY are partially true, with re,
gard only to the spring term, but
if allowed to pass unchallenged
would create false impression.
1t has been my usual custom 10
spend from two to three hours in
each school, a time sufiicien 10
hear classes in different studies and
make needed suggestions. l atten,
ded and participated in two Instl,
tutes curing the last spring term,
which was short term, and with
the exception of three days gave my
entire time from the last week in
April to the close Of the term TO the
work of visitation. Ny visits dur
ing the last week of the term were
necessarily hurried in some places.
The recent "School of the pro.
phets" at Orleans County united the
features of county teachers insti,
tntes and a summer training school
with tuition, and was n worthy and
successful enterprise. Essex county
has held an Institute with the lar.
gcst attendance of teachers and
most enthusiasm ever witnessed in
the county, and | regret to say
that only one of the three teachers
in CRANKY were present.
Is not Mr.. Wells aware of the
fact that the change of text books
was provided for under the old law
and would have been accomplished
had the new law not been adopted ?
lie says awe have had n set of
men appointed to make a radical
change Of school books, men with.
out experience in school matters or
regard for the tax payers"
Is Mr.. Wells ignorant of tho fact
the County Board were not appoin-
ted to make u radical change, but
were elected by direct vote of the
people Of the several towns, for the
purpose of making such changes
and such selections as in their opin-
ion were best?
Mr., Wells places himself on the top
OF some pine stump in CRANKY as
pedestal, overlooks the whole county,
assumes the large functions of cen.
sorship, places his own personal
Judgment OF men and measures in
the balance or against that of all
the voters OF all the towns, and
claims their chosen educational
representatives are q lot of fools or
knaves. How many of these gen
tlcmen are personally as well known
to your correspondent as to their
own townsmen? Such omniscience
as is here assumed should be cxten.
ted over the county, and be appro-
priated for public use.
The members of the County
Board need no defense. Let us
compare the former system of the
selection of text books with the
present system and see which is the
most economical and expedient.
Under the old law men elected for
the purpose from each town selected
the text books for that town, and
we were likely to have and did have
thirteen different sets of textbooks
in the County. The larger and
poorer families belong to that tran.
silent class who operate our mills
and camps, and every removal from
one town to another required new
purchase of textbooks, to conform
with the law, or endless variety,
confusion, and multiplicity of classes.
of classes, the natural
result of the town selection has been
one OF the greatest ilnpedments to
success in the schools. Under our
present law each town elects one
man and these representatives adopt
a list of school books, which may or
may not include books already in
use in some of the towns and which
shall be obligatory throughout the
county. Even voluntary state uni
Gormity has been partially obtained
IN History, Reading, Arithmetic,
Grammar and Geography. There
are some "iudicious educators" who |