Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-06-04
LETTERS FROM THEf(
The Carnegie Report Helps, but Rec
ommcdations Are Not wise.

omnedations Are Not Wise.
To the Editor Of the Free Press:
In recent issues of your paper you
have made reference to the Carnegie re-
port, certain figures and statements Is
sued by the census bureau and the
bureau OF education regarding rural
schools. / am glad to see the wide
spread discussion now going on in our
! state over the school question. Whether
we think the Carnegie report wise or
foolish, we know our rural schools arc
not what they should be and are not
what they must be If we are to keep
farmers with growing families on our
/ farms. The Carnegie report is extremely
valuable in showing the weak spots in
our schools. 1t puts the matter before
US in tangible form
On the other hand, the report, as
| whole, is not wise in its recommenda-
tons 1t is positively harmful and we
should show ourselves lacking in good
sense If we embodied its ideas in legis-
| lation. Vermont is not dealing with
theory, but a condition. In a recent
paper you showed the decrease in the
number Of rural schools in various States
| brought about by consolidation. This
was given as an instance of the better
! schools brought about through consol-
idation. But the same census showed
that the rural population in many Of
our States had stood still or decreased
during the preceding ten years. am
| perfectly well aware that IL town has
10 pupils, the school work can be more
economically administered in one school
than it could if the 40 children were in
three schools, but l know also that when
all the children are placed in the one
school, compelling a large portion to be
transported a considerable distance that
the farms from which the children are
transported begin to depreciate In value
and are deserted by their owners. as
soon as possible, that they may live near
a school. If Vermont should buy her
vacant farms and offer them as free
gifts to settlers having children of school
age, she could not find farmers who
would accept them unless, that along
with the farm went the guarantee that
q school would be maintained within
walking distance for the children. The
question before US Is not How to Make
An deal School," but How to Place
Schools, in Which Boys and Girls May
Learn to Read Write, Spell and Do
Simple Arithmetic in Such a Way That
We Shall BE Able to Keep Families on
Our Farms" We are not going to teach
farming or the trades in our elementary
schools, for the simple reasons, that chill
, dren in these schools are too young;
they will need all their time on the
three RS, and men who know enough
about farming to teach 1t will not spend
their time attempting the impossible.
AS 7 said above il is a condition and
not a theory with which we must grap-
lple. The majority of our people are
owners or occupants OF farms and It is
time We awoke to fight with all our
strength to prevent a further consolida-
ton of the back schools and to reopen
those that have been closed, wherever
: 1t is wise. Consolidation OF the schools
} spells shrinkage in farm values, with its
consequent depreciation of the grand list
! farm desertion and fertile lands again
becoming forests.
For 90 years I have been engaged In
education as a teacher or a supervisor
In schools ranging from a ten-pupil, one
room, backwoods school to the best type
of the large city school, / have full
sympathy with the ideals and aspiration.
Of our most progressive school men. Blu
greater than my pride of profession OIL
adherence to any theory is my love fol
, Vermont. ! feel 1t is time to view thi:
problem from it's effect on the community
, In retaining families on our back farm.
and not from the point Of view OF th'
theorist. 1t is definitely settled wha
constitutes a good school so far a. tn
| common English branches are concerned
I, which are all our elementary school
, should attempt. In the days which pro
4 duced Colamer, Morrill, and Edmund
: | schoolhouses We're located every mile O
= two in various parts of the town In thos
= days our back farms We're occupied b,
:. prosperous farmers. Our larger place
= need the support of thriving farmin!
communities If they are TO continue L
= grow. Let us get back to the ways o
z our fathers to the extent of bringing tn
o school near the home.
y Very truly yours,
e IDE G.. SERGEANT
Granville, Vt.