The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1914-12-22
Member of the Associated Press.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER %, 1914.
NEEDED SCHOOL CHANGES.


The more we study the report of the
appointed two years ago
by Governor Fletcher to investigate
the states educational system the
more convinced we become of the wis
dom of the recommendations, radical
though they may seem. The big elemen-
tai fact of which the commission has |
taken note, and at which its recon- |
are aimed, is that the bulk |
of the money spent by Vermont for
educational purposes does not give
practical, applicable education. Cours |
es of study are not framed with a
view to equipping the youth of the
state for the work which 90 per cent
of them take up. There is too little
enlivening Of school-room problems
by connecting them with problems OF
everyday life; too much effort devot
ed to the teaching of subjects for
which the average pupil has no use
whatsoever in after life and on ae
count Of which school is likely to be
come distasteful to liiRis-.-------s
Less than ten out of every loo pu
pills who attend Vermont high schools
ever go to college, and yet, as the com
mission points out, our high schools
are chiefly preparatory schools for col
lege instead Of finishing schools for
life. In view of this condition alone
is it any wonder that the people of the
state are dissatisfied with its educa-
tional system? Is it strange that many
parents fail to see the advantage of
putting their children through course
of study preparatory for something
which circumstances make it impossi-
bic for them to have! No one can be
accused of belittling the value of col
lege when his only request is that his
children have the opportunity to ac
quire useful mental training in case
college is inadvisable or out of the
question.
The fundamental requirements Of
Vermont with regard to its schools
according to the state constitution
are that they be competent in num-
Der and in instruction convenient for
the youth In the opinion of the
commission the defects in the state s
present system are due almost wholly
to the failure to adapt such require
ments to modern conditions. As a
remedy for these defects the commits
sion recommends in bricf:--
| CD That rural elementary schools
be consolidated and the courses of
study revised to the end that the in
struction given may be suited to the
daily life and environment of the
pupils.
| CD That the secondary or high
schools be recognized with a view tC
making them agencies for the conven
lent instruction of all, instead of 8
small per cent, of the youth of the
state; this reorganization to include {
change in the point of division be
tween the secondary and elementary
ischooIs, and the addition of vocationa
opportunities.
/ 90 That the length of the schoo
term be increased to SO weeks.
a. That all specially incorporates
districts be dissolved and that suel
districts be brought under the opera
tion of the general laws of the state
co That vocational education sb
directed chiefly to the instruction o
scientifically practical agriculture, sine
the vocational needs of the state ar
chiefly agricultural.
(6) That the normal schools. at Gas
tleton and johnson be discontinue
and that training courses for elemen
: tary teachers be substituted in second
AIRY schools, with provision for tn
training of secondary school teacher
: by arrangement with Middlebury CO.
'lege and the University of Vermont