Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-04-02
VERMONT SURVEY SURVEYED.
A High Educational Authorit.
Condemns Report.
Journal Of Education Severely Arrnig n
the Carnegie FoundstiOn--"Stsn
ardixed" knowledge ana Its
Jokcrs.
F'rom tho Journal of Educatiom

millions are intended by him, undoubtet
ly, 40 nc os such real service to the caus
of education, and so many good men pre-
sumably have some say about the goo
work he intends to have done with h
millions that it seems ungracious eve
family to suggest that mistakes are pos
sible.
But is It conceivable that even goo
men may be led, Willingly or unwittinsl
into the misdirection of effort to sue
an extent that one may study the work 1
the Foundation without being n knocker.
Those who survey mercilessly cannt|
complain il thoy are surveyed mercifull
We hope to survey the Vermont survey 1
the best of spirit with so much Of RI
stialnt as to avoid any combative a ]
pearance.
When the announcement Of the appoint
ment Of the surveyors was made we toe
occasion To- commend the selection Of me
to those who asked about them, with u
restricted praise. but we did say to som
people on the first Of May, 1873, that "
would make a Yankee guess as to VIII
the report would be 1t was satd to ditfet |
ent persons, all of whom regarded III
guess as wholly absurd inasmuch q
nothing had ever been thought of by I'll
surveyors. There were reasons why IN
guess could oe safely made, and the RI
port has quite amazed some persons, wi
now say: How could YOU have known
That was easy, as we well knew in Ma !
| 1913.
Il,,+ - &c hn Ct,rx yav
We touch upon few high lines and leaY
unnoticed minor misfortunes in the repor'
First--Blighting the fair name of Vel
| mont. The report pretends to have oil |
covered that Vermont is little short of |
| degenerate State The surveyors failed
survey the facts which prove beyond tn
| slightest question that Vermont leads 4
America In the proportion OF native so !
who have made great success In invet
| ton In Industrial and commercial leadeI
ship, in law, IN medicine, in education,
literature, in the army, in the navy, All
in craftsmanship.
The Vermont survey reminds one of
survey OF New,York city without seeirj
wall street. Broadwa Fifth avenu|
Madison avenue the Riverside drvj
Mornlngside Heights, or Columbia IN
versity.
Vermont has met every national cris|
with a leader from Ethan Allen to Geor4
Dewey, from Justin Morrill, to Card
Page, from Thaddeus Stevens to Senat|
Edmunds. from Fairbanks to Vail, froI
Proctor to Harvey. There has never be{
an hour when America has needed leade|
that the Green Mountain Boys have nj
| o.. ,Or1,< ,1o,, hot ha a
have never been more goriouslv in eY
dence than in the 9th century. and VI
the Vermont survey surveyed the sewe|
| instead OF the water-works.
| Apologize for this If you choose on II
ground that these men were young ad
inexperienced and Were not expected
know big men who had gotten into lar1
games and then explain how they cou
have surveyed Vermont rurally and new
have discovered Bennington county m
Windsor county, two counties whose rur
schools are the wonder of all America
Bennington county has rural schools u
exceled In any State under the stars al
stripes, ana Windsor COUNTY has run
school ideals that challenge the ADM 4
ton of leaders the world over.
How any human being could survey WI
mont and not stumble even by accideII
upon any OF the scores Of glor1ously SUI
cessful rural schools passes all compr1
hension. The laws Of chance, leave a1o1
science and training. should have reveal
some of these schools about which 4
rest of the world knows.
| Apologize for them, If you please, on Il
ground that they played IN hard luck. b
that does not excuse them for being coll
blind In what they see when they see
There was a time when some other 81
perts got on the wrong siding becau
they were color blind on statistics. but l
know that these men whose color blin|
ness has been exposed are now enerset1
ally theorizing and philosophizing. al
that the stupendous hiunders, often 81
posed are now only made by humll
folks; but here in this famous-we hot
that Is the form of the word-rerort
mild form fortunately, Is the same stati
teal stupidity that has made other peo1l
ridiculous.
AS though it were not enough 70 IN
cover polecats instead OF blooded sheI
that lead the world they see every pol
cat double. triple or quadruple, For m
no one can with self-respect apologize
But are not these innumerable blunde
minor thingse Isn't II possible that the
men failed to know the truth because TIL
had visions for vermont's future m
Justify falsihcation9
| If 80, we will be the first TO excuse n(
for sprs aiding false Impressions Of vario
kinds In the survey. If the end tustit
the means But we are inclined TO thi
that the vision OF the survey is merely
wild nightmare,
| The entire survey centers on its recon
mendation for rural schools, For the
they would sacrifice everything. In IN
we agree with them. II the rural schod
can serve the children very much bett
than they now DO, and II in order to
it, II is necessary to sell tho state Capt.
TO the United States Steel company T
headquarters. we will Join in a pagea
to glor1fy the sale, but the recommend
) tons for the rural schools are tho wor
conceptions Of education over seen fro
Timbuctoo to Guam.
Educational leadership everywhere
Columbia and Chicago Stanford and &C
neil, Champaign and Orono, is hendil
every effort to vitalize rural education n
here comes a survey recommending tn
It be minifed,
The struggle OF educational lea 1ership
to make education better At the uni
and here the hands of the clock are tur
ed backward In a gigantic effort to sac
= fee the unit for the glory OF the ht.
; sacrifice the slow and unbookish boys al
, girls Of the Green mountains for t
, glorhcation OF the booklsh, the brigl
the "standa rdized' brains.
I Where would Nelly Stark and her
nous husband have been IL the surv