The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1915-03-18

.
and the cheaper he can hire that
5 teacher, the lower will be the expense
Of his school.
) Every intelligent man and woman
} knows that the chief inspiration Of
, youth often has come, not from
, books, but from some grand teacher
under whose influence we have studied
at some time, and who stands out and
above all others in our lives "like
/, church mid village cots You recall
, how some teacher east books aside and
! showed you how TO analyze a sentence
so as to see the real connection Of each
part to the whole, where ever before
there had been blind and parrot-like
repetition Of mere rule. You came
under the influence of some teacher,
who led you for the first time TO ap-
preciate the real meaning and value
of education, opening up to you an
entirely new world. Some soulful
teacher from an institution of higher
learning came into your little district
school and soon you and a few others
became ambitious TO get into that
larger sphere for yourselves. Books
were wholly lost to view. The per-
sonal equation became the dominating
factor in your young lives.
Put into control of your schools
fathers and, yes, mothers who have
realized something of all this for
themselves, and who know that "A
small sum added to the present aggre-
gate spent for teachers wages may
bring into your service a teacher
whose influence win wholly transform
the character Of your school, and you
will do more to overcome the defects
of our common schools than any ther
one thing you can undertake
A poor teacher is the worst possible
investment you can make. The teach
er stands next TO the parent in mold
ing the lives Of our children, yet some
men go about the employment Of
teacher with less care and thought
than they would exercise in hiring
common farm hand, for they would
want to know not only whether the
hired man could work, but also wheth-
er he would be kind to the dairy cows
and the lambs and 50 on and whether
he would have a debasing effect on the
children Of the home.
AS regards the vocational feature "
schools, there are many sides to the
problem. If you want your children
to learn farming in our public schools,
that may be all right. Suppose, how
ever, that you are living in a granite
or marble region and want your chill
dren to learn quarrying and granite
cutting and be in touch with their
communities Have you not as much
right to insist upon one vocational Cd
ucation as the other?
Carry the thought little further.
1t is well to have carpenter shop in
with public schools as has
been tried in Burlington and else
where. But our boys want to become
Your boys are ambitious
10 become painters. Your neighbors'
boys aim to lay brick and stone as
nasons and still others want to be
II we are to have a carpenter shop
conducted at the expense Of the tan
payers, must we not also have a gar
lge for the auto workers, and a paint
hop and a smithy for the boys who
lesire that sort Of vocational educa-
ion, What shall we do in the common
ehools for the future stone masons,
md the electrical engineers and the
'oys who want TO be plumbers, mould
rs, skaters, merchants, doctors, law
'ers, ministers, and so on through
he whole category? The answer Of
curse, is that the common schools
an not undertake all this technical
raining.
You are brought back TO the funda-
rental principle that the schools CON
ucted at the expense Of the taxpayers
s whole must deal almost exclusive
Z with those fundamental studies that
Q at the basis Of good citizenship and
seful manhood and noble womanhood.
omestic science, for example Is need
in every household, and good house
oeping is one Of the most important
,ctors Of the home, which is recogniz-
as the foundation Of the State.
verybody should know something
,out keeping accounts, and 70 on.
You can not do everything in the
lblic school, but you can make It
can much more than at present for
q boys and girls who are % be the
turo home makers Of Vermont and
ho ia turn are to be the fathers and
others Of future generations Of
reen Mountain boys and girls.