The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1914-08-01
RADICAL CHANGES
ARE ADVISED IN
OUR SCHOOLS
Report Of State Educational
Commission
NO MONEY FOR COLLEGES
Advises Doing Away With All Incor-
porated Districts and Two Kinds
of High Schools
NO MONEY FOR COLLEGES

Montpelier, July 29.-The report of
the Vermont Educational Commits
sion has been filed with the COVER
nor. 1t is in the form of a massive
bound book of more than 2S4 type
written pages and is based very
largely on the report of the Carnegie
Foundation, which is made part OF
it, but the commissions report goes
even further in its findings and
recommendations
Reduced to the fewest possible
words, the findings of the commits
sion are as follows:
Commissions Findings.
Teaching in rural schools UNI
suitable for daily life for pupils and
mostly preparatory for secondary
schools;
Secondary schools still more un.
suitable and mostly preparatory for
institutions of higher learning, and
therefore of benefit to but one-tenth
of their pupils;
Length of school term insufficient;
Lack of adequate vocational train
ing for pupils and efficient normal
school training for teachers;
Insufficient emphasis on agricul-
ture;
Appropriations to institutions of
higher learning too large according
to states property valuation;
Duplication of effort in U. V. Nj.
Middlebury college and Norwich uni
versity, which are declared to be pri-
waite institutions and not entitled of
right to any state aid
Recommendation
The recommendation of the com.
mission are similarly condensed as
follows:
Consolidation of rural schools;
Establishment OF junior high
school in every town if necessary
to provide for pupils from IL 20 Is
years of age, including the 7th and
sth grades and the first two years of
present high school course;
These junior high schools to teach
science. manual training and ag sicul-
;ure, to the end that they may be
finishing schools for life in case
the pupil goes no further;
IN,tn ltcI, 81 4
senior high schools as the number
of pupils shall demand, the curricu.
lum to include special vocational
training as above and also high-grade
courses for pupils from II to 10
years of age who may be fitting for
college;
Abolish Incorporated Districts
These senior and junior high
schools to articulate directly with
each other for the purpose of in
creasing the percentage of pupils
who take advanced studies;
Increase school year to 80 weeks,
which is about the average of the
country, thus adding nearly two
years to present length of schooling
Dissolve all specially incorporated
school districts CSC in number) and
bring all schools under the general
law;
Instruction designed ito educate
youth toward the occupations OF the
communities in which they live:
This is the keynote of the whole re.
port.
Strengthen staff and equipment OF
state agricultural school, increase
appropriation and add manual train
ing;
No State Aid for Colleges
No financial aid TO University
of Vermont, Middlebury college or
Norwich university until state has
perfected its full constitutional duty
to public schools and then only in
return for some specific service;
On the theory that teachers train
ed within the state are more valu-
able than those trained without. state
appropriations to be expended by the
state board through arrangement
with the state agricultural college 20
train teachers for teaching agricul-
ture in the junior high schools; also
by arrangement with Middlebury col
lege to train teachers for teaching
the higher coursese in the senior
high schools;
Cooperation In federal extension
work in agriculture;
Discontinue Two Normal Schools
Discontinue normal schools al
johnson and Castleton: and develop
training courses in secondar,
schools to train teachers for elemen
tary schools and earlier years Of
junior high school.
This report deals very fully with
conditions at the university OF Yer
mont, about So pages being devoted
TO a careful review Of the foundinl
and history Of the institution in deter
mining whether il is a public OF priv
ate Institution.
After considering the brief submit