Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-12-31
WHAT OUR NEIGHBORS SAY
IL Our Commonwealth Drifting. ma II
SO. in Whnt Dircction-Tine1y
Questions.
OFrom the Rutland Ncws.)

At this glad fcsta season it may be en-
tircly out of place to sound discordant
note. Just now happy thoughts of Christ
mas and the birth of a new year are alb
sorblng attention in most of the homsc
of Vermont 1t may be unwelcomc to di
rect attention into other channels-thc
needs of education in this State. The
News does it. however, believing that just
now, of all seasons of the year. a sombrc
touch Will stand out in all the greater
contrast and a disagrecable truth he
scared all the deeper into the minds of
thoughtful people who are asking the i'm
portant, the vital question, is Vermont
Drifting: II SO Whittier"
The alarming number of crimes-murdcr
and other henous offences, not to men
ton the less consequential msdcmcanors
shows that something is rotten. In
searching for the primal cause for all this
criminality, naturally the first direction
in which to look is ignorance. Ignorance
pre- cminently breeds crime. At first
thought and at superficial glance ono
would say that the intelligence and cul-
ture Of Vermont were of n particularly
high order. We are prone TO regard this
commonwealth, il not the flower of New
England, at least the peer of any of its
sisters But deeper investigation shows
the error of this. The iliteracy of this
State. as a whole. is alarming-and or the
increase.
According to the census statistics of
1860, the children in the state of school
age number S2.370 The actual enrolment
OF pupils is G5,531. while the actual average
attendance is only 5000 Thus. of the
Vermont children of school age who are
enrolled as pupils an average OF lT472 do
not attend. OF those of school age there
are 1855 who are not even ON school
rolls. And an average of 1870 out of the
total are not in actual attendance These
figures are astounding. Fully 81 per cent
of the children between the ages of and
Is years do not attend school OF course
the number of children who do not attend
school at all is somewhere between 17,i12
and 1870
AS the Rev. George w. Phillips Of
this city recently pointed out in a force
fun address upon the growing illitcracy
of this state the census reports place Yer
mont only next higher than North Caro-
lima in the matter of general education
of its population. We have always re-
garded North Carolina and some of its
sister States in the South as exceedingly
illiterate and as rich fields for mission and
educational work. That impression is
correct. But to think of our own state
as practically on a parity with them Is
dcagreeable. Disappointing and humiliat-
ing. Here. also, mnnifestly is a field that
| is ripe for the most thoughtful and earn
est and untiring efforts of intelligent PEG
pie and of the commonwealth itself
| In view of these Cold-bloodcd facts de-
duced from census statistics. is it any
wonder that we see the crime that we dc
! in this STATE? Is 1t not the time now
| without further dclay-to make mp oul
| minds that these conditions must he i'm
PROVED and the educational and mora
standard of our own beloved state be
| raised