Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1911-10-06
MlDOuEBURY COLLEGE
Third Annual Report of President
John M. Thomas.

JoHU W. nomaS.
The third annual report of President
Thomas of Middlebury college is dis
cussion of the mission of the New Eng
land colleges. President Thomas main
tains that the colleges exist for the
service of their communities, in such
respects as the promotion of agricul-
education in rural schools as we'll as in
cities, and the building up of religious
life in the country churches.
Speaking of the complaint that col
lege students do not study he says
1.-The way out of our trouble is a return
to the original purpose of the New
England college, viz, service of the
State in the training of men for the
specific tasks in which the State stands
in need of workmen. Our New Eng
land colleges must serve New England,
the New England that has paid dearly
for the right to claim their service.
They must set to work to further New
England industry, to uplift New Eng
land schools, and to man with men of
power New England churches.
On agricultural education he declares: {:
''The backward condition of New Eng
land agriculture indicates breach of
trust in the administration of q per
cent of the educational capital of the
United States. That money was hand
ed to us for the uplift of New England,
to which end the saving and bettering
of the New England farm is an indis-
pensable condition. We are false to
our mission if we do not get under and
lift at this burden, and that no matter
how many sons of the rich from Chicago
and Pittsburg we send back with the
New England diploma pride. If by
accident our scientific laboratories at
Middlebury can turn out a man who
secures from his farm more profit per
acre than all the veterans of his county,
why should we not do it for others on
purpose? Might we not succeed by
that means in saving to honorable life
scores of youth who wander aimlessly
through the curriculum, prescribed and
elective subjects, not knowing what it
is all for, and very little what it is all
about? | believe we could do just that,
and | believe that nothing less is our
duty. Our college was not founded in
the interest of a particular curriculum !;
it was founded in the interest of Yer
mont, and what Vermont needs is our
duty"
He does not agree with the Amherst
idea of a classical curriculum exclu-
sively, but says TO force the entire
student body of New England college,
many of whom seek its halls for geo
graphical, or personal, or economic rea-
sons, to submit to the classical discip-
line, and to deny them opportunities for
education according to their bent, is to
ruin many promising boy and to re-
move the Institution which adheres to
such policy by gradual and certain
steps from the sympathy and affection
its environment. The only safe guide
in the determination of policy for an
educational institution is the principle
of service to a community constitu-
ency."
The treasurer's report shows exactly
what has been done in the college dur
ing the last fiscal year, where the money
has come from and how it has been
expended. The total income was $50,
80, of which S19, 6S7. 81 was received
from students, gain of $l3, 800. 81 in
the last three years. The gifts of the
year amounted to S44, ,7lS. The funds
of the institution are invested chiefly
in municipal bonds and real estate mort
cages.