Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1914-07-10


training classes, to enable all those who
are DESTROYS of becoming teachers in
the elementary schools to attend the
course without being obliged, as now,
in most instances, to leave their homes.
Another practical reason for the es-
tablishment of these regional high
schools, urged in the section devoted
to the training of teachers, is that
the neighboring village school would
furnish abundant opportunities for
practice classes for those who are in
training. The establishment of a new
central training school is also advo-
Gated, which should serve the needs of
the State in providing teachers for its
junior high schools.
The problem of trade education
pressing economic as well as educa-
tional question-is discussed in the
report on the vocational school. This
school is practically the only agency
that society offers for the formal pre-
paration of its youth for those funda-
| llIGIIldl dllu ltNCSSdlN NONoblOIS hPOiA
which stress must always be laid. The
aim should be not the preparation
for a profession, but the training of
youth for trade. In this connection,
agricultural school at Lyndonville
which owes it's existence to the gener-
osity of Mr.. Vail. 1t is strictly far
mer's school and it aims to furnish a
line of training that will be of immedi-
ate use in farming and its allied indus
tries, as carpentry, blacksmthing, and
masonry. Consequently, the students
are trained to do farm work intelli-
gently and also the repairing of build
ings, wagons, and machinery. Thus
they are made Independent of any
outside skilled labor and are put in a
position to assist their neighbors in
these directions. For these special pur-
poses the SC hool has blacksmith and
carpenter shops, as well as a horse
stable, dairybarn, poultry and
root-cellar, together with over one hun
bred acres of tllage land divided into
upland and lowand
t The report upon the higher institu-
tons of learning gives considerable
> information about the three colleges at
Burlington, Middlebury and North
field. There is brief historical sketch
) of each, with facts relating to their
endowment, equipment, curriculum,
teachng-staff and students The crit
2 icsm is confined mainly to the Agri.
cultural college connected with the
: University of Vermont at Burlington
2 The impression made by this part OF
2 the report is that it was written by one
T. whose whole interest was in the school.
$ of the State The one thing needed
= for the improvement of both primary
2 to increase the salaries of the teachers
y especially of the primary schools, il
j order to secure better teachers, and t
n improve the schoolhouses and thei
e equipment. Accordingly with this
= need predomnating in his mind The
, one frequently repeated recommends
o tion in regard to the higher institution
g of learning is that the State subsld.
n should be withdrawn from them ant
e given to the schools. And with th
t conclusion those who compiled tn,
e report agreed, for the last of the fiv,
l. recommendation which embody tn
5 results of the survey is, Subsidies t,
5 higher education should cease, the col
n leges being given reasonable time il
It which to rearrange their budgets.
e This does not mean that the college
d are not helpful to the State from a.
IS educational point of view. OF Middle
e bury, for instance, it is said that tn
n work of the college is distinctly good,
e that the fundamental work is nov
II being admirably done. The one alb
4 sorbing aim of President Thomas
d that Mddlebury College shall be
a great instrument in the upbuilding o
ID Vermont. i propose, he said on on
r occasion, to train as many students a
possible to go back to their homes
m filled with inspiration partaking O
l. sublime religious faith in the destin
r of the Green Mountain State, an
n there live and toll, and exercise an ir
al fiuence which no man may measure i
ID advance. But what would be tn
he effect upon the college if more than
n quarter of it's annual income should b
,e withdrawn from it? Would not its use
x fulness be terribly crippled for years
n possibly forever? Would the advantag
r to the three thousand school-teacher
I'd of the addition of few dollars to thei
I'd salaries, for that is all the Middebur
ct subsidy could give them, justify TIL
i