Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1913-11-05
FOR FATHERS TO CONSIDER
Matters That VIII be Presented for
County Board Adjustment

EDITOR CENSOR: With the annual session Of
I the County Board near at hs nd and with some
action on its part relative TO the Teachers Train
ing School an absolute necessity IL is proper that
s1n,e serious fhonght ~ .viSsn q a. sis
Of this mOoted question Articles have appeared
/ IN some county paper expressing the opinion of
certain individuals and as there Is more or less
misinfosmstion contained in them it is probably &
duty on some eitizt 10 give such information as
the people of Vernon county would desire to en-
able them to correct erroneous ideas which might
First of all. the people Of this county are salts
/ ned that the Training School has been q success
The demand for attendance at the school has all
ways exceeded its capacity and with few except
| ions its graduates have proven their worth No
one at all acquainted with the work Of the school
denies these facts Having thus met the wish of
the founders of the school. what reason Is there
for backward step IN Vernon cOunty's educa-
! tlonal SYSTEM The Department of Public In
struetion of the state the best authorities in ed
vocational matters in the state and the legislatures
for years past have voted the county Teachers
Training schools the best and in fact the only
way TO meet the rural school needs. Thoug 'itful
people in Vernon county will consider well ,efore
they leap at conclusions There is no arg rnenf
on these matters-this has been argued and set
tied IN the minds Of thinking people all over the
state Twenty-seyen such schools to be found
I IN Wisconsin and the last legislature made provis-
ion for three more. Does this to indicate
| that the system is failure
With these easily Interpreted facts before us
why further explanaton2 Because there is a ser
ious error Of opinion coming into the minds of
legislature intended to do away with training
/ schools and permit high schools to do their work
instead Did the legislature seriously provide for
| three more training schools and in another law
provide for their destruction? The law does pro-
vide that in counties having no training school
| one high school-and only one-may have such a
1 department This plainly was intended as a salve
TO those counties that help maintain other count
| les schools through state taxation but which
have no school of their own. The state pays the
salary "a the teacher hired for this purpose ex-
actlv ss in the case of training school
! So much for intention. Now for the matter of
expense for all concerned, Of either opinion. are
tax payers; and taxation is always a serious mat
| ter. Can Vernon county save any money BY fail
| ing to properly maintain training school? Can
| high schools do the work more cheaply? The peo-
ole OF Wisconsin believe that every person in the
state IS entitled TO education at the expense of
| the public, therefore provision is made that the
town or county must pay for the education of all
who attend high schools in cities or villages. or
| training schools in other counties This is done
| through tuition. II our county does not provide
school for teachers it must pay tuition for every
| student who attends elsewhere and please re-
member that after January !. 1915, every teacher
! beginning in her profession must have attended
some training school for two years or at least one
year in high school followed hy one year in train
/ ing school. This law viii practically double the
| demand for the training school work in this
| county. What does this amount to- Vernon county
| uses about sixty teachers annually. Many other
young people will attend training school to teach
| elsewhere. The new law prescrbcs "A two wear
course at least for everyone This makes at least
for many viii attend high school three or four
years of their own accord. and high schools are
putting this course IN their third and fourth year
thereby compelling all to stay this length Of time
\ to get the teachers course. This means tuition
paid on between 100 to leo people This s not ex-
aggeration in Vernon county tor ehave had more
/ than 100 applications before this for one year
without the new law and 10 more n summer SEES
| sion (which will now be discontinued) Tuition
charges is 81 per week or S38 for one person for
year paid hy the township 10 the village conduct
ing said high school: l2 times S3s euuas 24920 and
100 times $50 equals $500, This would be paid an
nually by the same taXpaye Ts and goes 20 main
tain schools not az all interested in preparing
teachers. Nor is this all In addition the salary
Of all teachers employed by high schools for this
purpore Is paid by the st2tc-aTain hy the same
taxpayers of Vernon county. These salaries will
not be the low salaries of inexperienced teachers
but regular training school sa aries TO t.uchers q
KID bv the state superintendent In addition to
this, il Vernon county disc0ntinues her training
school her taxpayers viii still continue paying
about two thirds of fc expense of all other county
training schools in the state and be receiving moth
ing in retlrn.
What does the training school cost Vernon
county now? Last year the county board voted
81 500 for the support Of this school, $500 of this
was for the summer session. This is only about
one. half what the tGiti0n of the same number of
students would lave cost the towns If attending
elsewhere. and the tuition is only a part Of the
expense. Taking IL all in all. it is plain that il is
a poor business man who will advocate discontin-
uing the training school. 1t Is not luxury and
is managed on the most economical basis possible
No school in the county can educate its pupils at
q lower rate per capita for such purpose.
The above is only one half the argument but will
suffice for all who take il into consideration The
school system of this state Is county system and
the county should control il. Surely the people
of this unity do not expect that cities and viii
lagos will educate the people of the rural districts
and further especially fit them for a profession
unless said cities and villages are paid therefore
There is a Niger in the woodpile."
ONE INTERESTED IN EDUCATION