The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1915-05-13
CARNEGIE VS.. VERMONT
A Verdict for the Defendant

A Verdict for the Defendant
tBy Professor Raymond Mcfarland
With the adjournment recently 0
the Legislature Of Vermont ther
came 10 a close period Of educationa
agitation without parallel in the his
tory Of the State. II may be remem
bered that in 1913 Governor Fletrhe
In special message to the Legislatur
urged that commission be appointe'
TO examine into and report upon tn
status of education in Vermont. Al
educational commission, composed
largely OF laymen, was subsequently
appointed and entered upon its worl
with vigor. The commission soon de
cided 10 transfer the functions OF il!
office to persons more experienced il
making educational surveys; accord
ingly, the Carnegie Foundation
through its experts, was invited to un'
dertake the work for the State com
mission. Experts in every phase OF
education from the kindergarten to
the university, visited the State, made
an examination Of conditions and en-
bodied their findings and recommenda-
tions in bulletin, Of the Foundation
entitled Education in Vermont"
Among the striking features Of this
report were recommendations that no
subsidies be granted to colleges not
under State control; that the two nor
NAL schools of the State be abolished; !;
that a system Of junior and senior
high schools, with perhaps eighteen of
the latter in the State, be substituted
in place Of the existing system of sec
ondary education; that local boards of
education be placed more completely
under the direction of the central edu-
cational system, and that a scheme Of
vocational education, essentially agri-
cultural, be introduced into the schools
from the primary school to the agri-
cultural college.
The State commission, after care
fully considering the Carnegie report
and having held numerous public hear
ings, in turn submitted to the Legisla
ture a report which embraced in modi-
fed form the essential features of the
Carnegie report. 1t is now matter
of history that the proposed educa-
tional reforms of the Carnegie report
and the commission, as Incorporated in
a bin in the Legislature, met with inn
mediate death in committee with no
voice raised in opposition to the kill
ing. A substitute educational bill was
and became an law, the
principal opposition to it being in the
nture of a protest against some fea-
lures of the bill which were similar to
of the Carnegie re-
port. The new law continues and
makes permanent the annual appro-
priations to the colleges, it puts new
life into the normal schools by increas-
ing their budgets and leaves other
matters essentially as they have ex-
sted. In fine, the new law continues,
IN some cases with emphasis, the edu-
,ational policy to which Vermont has
been committed for number of years.
Both what was enacted and what
'ailed Of enactment emphasize the !
allure Of the Carnegie survey. The
allure has been so manifest and COM
,lete that a statement of the causes '
4 failure may not be without value
o future educational surveys and 9th |
n commonwealth. They are causes {
4 omission, Of commission and causes {
ver which the experts of the Founda-
ion had no control. i
In the first place the Carnegie re- /
ort was unfortunate in some Of its C
lost ardent supporters. The governor {
'Ho pfupostu lile tuuSdtionai survey Il Z
( the State became so unpopular be- n
ore the close of his administration t
nat people and legislators alike fear t
to advocate his reforms. All meas C
res favored by the chief executive v
ere looked at askance, whether they n
,ntained merit or not. The Greek j,
as feared, even though bearing gift C
-om the Carnegie Foundation. Like &
Use the report received the praise and A
ipport of the State superintendent Of is
,hools, man whose work as educator
AZ often been impaired by his actiy- r,
v in politics. The two men, father M
I'd godfather Of the report, together W
ltcred upon an educational propagan- Il
/ throughout the State, ostensibly in d,
lppori Of the reforms advocated by II
e Carnegie experts. Unfortunately 5!
n the report as well as for the pro- al
,nents their act was interpreted by nj
C people as being in behalf Of their d
sn political interests. ri
Some Of the newspaper Of the pc