Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1911-11-03
PRES. THOMAS CRITIC OF
LIFE.
Middiebury College Head on Con-
ditions in Rural New ngland.

SotiG9G FVGa0 OF OoU
ditions in Rural New England.
Boston, Oct. %. "A Boston audience
last week heard severe arraignment !
of rural conditions by President John
M. Thomas of Middlebury college, YER
mont. His subject was 1.-THE Mission
of the New England Colleges" and he
had not gone far in his talk before he
took occasion to criticise the feeling of
distrust against the scientific cultiva-
ton of the soil, distrust that is ap-
parent all over New England, and
which is not found in the agricultural
sections of the West.
"Our farmers should realize" he said,
THAT science is only facts clarified and
systematised, and just as long as there
is this feeling New England agricul-
turally is going to lag. There also is
much to be done through the spirit of
cooperation. Having good thing the
New England farmer wants to keep it
to himself, which is not so in the West.
Rural education in many respects is
very defective today, and the little red
schoolhouse of which we used to hear so
much, is not what it formerly was.
Today it is without proper ventilation,
proper supplies and is often presided
over by poorly paid and inefficient
| teachers. 1t is a shame that the
descendants of such fine stock as New
England has produced should not have
better opportunities.
| President Thomas referred to the re-
port of commission sent out by Yale
University to inquire into rural educa-
tional conditions, and he said that the
photographs taken of the school build
ings were of such a character that they
could not be sent through the mails.
He also spoke briefly of the country
church and the part it ought to play in
moulding conditions, and he declared
I that no community could rise much
higher than its churches. He instanced
the case of two hamlets in the Vermont
hills, one of which had not had case in
court in long time, largely because of
the influence of the church, while the
other place across the mountain con-
stantly was before the public eye
through its infractions of law.
He thought that the present-day COL
lege does not pay enough attention to
the present needs of the community,
and the men going into college or leav-
ing it should be actuated by the de-
sire for service. There has come about
a subdivision in education because of
changed condltions there has been an
attempt on the part of New England
colleges to become sort of fifth wheel
to the coach of education.
However much we may teach to en-
rich the mind Mr.. Thomas declared,
land to make one familiar with the
best of the past, it should not be for
gotten that efficiency is of first consider
alton. There needs to come over each
college the spirit of service, and the
safeguard of these institutions lies in
adapting themselves to the material and
conditions that tie about them, and not
axe educational ideas from across the
sea. Consider the actual life of the
people about you and try to see how
best you can serve these conditions.
"The decadence of farm life and of
the Yankee spirit is bad for the nation;
you can't put New England out of the
history of the country. and to meet the
needs of the times means some change
in the curriculum of our colleges, but it
means more change in the spirit. Our
young men are not at college to learn
the profession of gentleman, but they
are there for the hard training of service
of our own New England. Huntington
News.