Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1896-10-22
WIN vermont Step Backward !
From the Boston Transcript

Vermont has placed herself on rec.
! ord handsomely once this year WIN
her tremendous Republican majority,
which we expect to see emphatlcally
repeated in November There Is
another issue at stake ia the Green
Mountain State this fall. however.
which friends of education are watch
/ inc closely. even in other states Thir-
tv wears AGO. or Whereabouts, Vermont
/ established three state normal schools.
/ Previous to that time the teachers OF
1.-THE state particularly in the district
schools. went 10 their work with no
training. and almost amy boy or 9lrl
/ who could answer the exceedingly rud-
! imcntary questions which the minis
ter or doctor or farmer who served n
town superintendent put to them could
oct license TO teach; too often, in
deed, license was granted 10 candi-
dates wholly unit, on account OF iaml-
" connection or personal friendship.
sometimes even the bright boy or Girl
was mentally far ahead of the Junction
airy who filed the superintendent
chair. and eases have been known
where these have been refused certiii-
Gates to teach a small school because of
strange beliefs and heresies hitherto
unknoWnt 20 the superintendent regard
inc such yagarics rs predicate nomi-
natives and the wrong form of verbs.
The normal schools have changed
all this. not only in furnishing hun
dreds Of trained, graduated. disci-
plned instructors, whose certificates
guarantee their fitness To teach in any
common school in the state and signed
by Well-known authorities on educa-
tional topics. aiier two years course
OF study and most thorough and eN-
hauStiye examination; but with the
spreading these young, well-equipped
and enthusiastic teachers throughout
the state. like leaven, the standard OF
the public schools. which in Vermont
are largely district schools still, has
been wonderfully raised. Today even
the smallest country schools in Yer
mont, on the crossroads and i'm the
backwoods districts, are of a better
grade than were the larger ungraded
heterogeneous village schools OF thirty
years ago; and the state normal in
NAlNNti'ltN wv iNN l'puNANAt iti int NtNl
Improvement
But for some reason, as yet unsatis-
factorily explained, there is TO be an
effort made in the legislature at Mont
pelier this fall To abolish these normal
schools entirely. Similar efforts have
failed in the past, and 10 those who are
familiar with the progress of public
education in Vermont for the past
quarter-ccntury it seems hardly credi-
blc that such a movement could sue
coed now Nermontcr>. ifa little dis
posed 10 niogardlincss. are usually
pretty clear-hcat cd and willing 10 see
and grasp amy situation that promotes
the public welfare. 1t is not necessary
nj this stage of the worlds education
al progress to prove the wisdom of the
state normal schools. New York Mas
sachusetts and every other state in
New Englandpoint with pride to theirs.
and are even inci easing rather than di-
minishing the number of them. To
outsiders it looks rs though Vermont
contemplated "A step backward in cdu-
cational matters: that is, ii there is any
real strength i'm the threatened move
ment. 1t is to be hoped that if the
Green Mountain State finds ANYTHING
wrong with her normal schools She
will, instead of abolishing them, vote
Il large appropriation to put them on
plane with these all around her.