The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-12-19

GOOD teachers III the rural districts I'M
der such dIscouTagIug conditions!
And here is another school that has
only II points out OF possible 100. IN
der the heading Buildings and Grounds,
the only point that can be credited Is
four for cleanliness-do you see the
teacher doing her best with poor, worn,
splIntery floor, and the plaster cracking
off the walls! Under equipment TINS
school actually has not enough modern
text books for every child, and only half
the maus and supplementary text books
they should have The credits here for
the "tools of the school, are only four
out of a possible -. This means no suit
able table or chairs in good condition
for the teacher, poor desks not suited
to the children. bad btackboards, insani-
tarY drinking arrangements, no flag,
nothing for the children s play-hours, no
clock, thermometer, soap, W. sh basin,
door mat, sCTaper, etc. The report goes
on to show that the teacher. though
without proper training, does her best
and attains what efficiency Is possible
under the circumstances, that the chill
! dren are of good quality. of human ma
| teral. and that the community has done
nothing worthy of credit for the school.
! 1t is touching to see how steadily these
reports show the children as doing their
! best to make up for the bad conditions
! we allow to exist around them. Too
many of our Vermont children, sturdy,
native born, naturally intelligent, ener-
getic. are spending a large part of their
working hours in battered, comfortless,
ill-equipped, unsanitarv schoolrooms.
/ Who is responsible for this state of
| affairs? WHY. we all arel Make no mis-
! take about that Every Nermonter is
/ responsible; Gu are, am. We need not
blame any abstract entity like ''the
! town., or 1.-the state. We ourselves
are the town and the state And in no
! other state of the Union has there been
| preserved more of the old American feel
. ing Of individual indenendence and re-
spOnsiblity. Town meeting is open to
any of us. and every one of Us is re-
I sronsible for action taken there. or ac-
! tion that is not taken there. Our Yer
mont towns arc proud of their local in
( dependence. Let us not neglect this i'm
poTtant part of our work.
Higher Taxes Unnecessary.
/ Now what can be done about it: Taxes
are high already, most of lis cTinge at
the thought of paying more, and most of
lis are more or less dubious about the
! value received for these taxes once
they re voted. To bring our rural
schools up to fair standard, must we
add heavily to our taxes:
Not a bit of it. 4 large part of the
deficiencies OF our schools are such that
we can personally 20 right out and re-
pair them with our own hands and by
the use of our own wits. A small sum
that would never be missed from the
taxes, II supplemented by our own NeTL
mont ingenuity, energy and competence,
would be enough TO Tegenerate our rural
schools. The very simple plan OF rem
OVatlng one SchoolhOusc each wear, If
more rapid progress cannot be made. viii
soon do the Job, and without a heavy
burden of taxation. The fact that IN
1920 100 towns IN the state reported
amounts spent for repairs less than Sl0O
each and % less than so each, shows
why many buildings are in poor condi-
ton. Money is needed. but much can be
done with comparatively little. But what
if for any reason enough money Is not
available Then we must rely entirely
upon thought. and work, and skill. and
pride, and conscience. and public spirit.
ANY group of Vermont farmers can
carpenter enough to help arrange decent
buildings that viii not endanger the
morals or health of the children; almost
any farm has WOod-lot on It. from
which enough lumber can be cut to make
such few repairs as are needed. and al
. most any Vermont farmer would be
Wiling to give a few trees TO help along
the school. Any group of Vermont wom-
en- can paint wood work. and kalsomine
walls: any group OF Vermont homes
could spare. one a door mat. one 4 chair
one a clock. one wash basin. one a
waste basket and so on. Better to have
such objects lacking from a seldom used
spare room, than to make the children
go without, day after day
ANY Vermont parent can see to it that
his children attend school rcgularlv. any
community can see TO it that the teacher
has a good place to board. and that she
gets a decent salary. ANY Vermont town
is required by law to provide enough
text books in good condition for all pu
nils. TO YOU know whether this is done
EpH n
before you 90 to bed tonight? ANY
teacher will tell YOU. Every Vermont
, town is required by law to provide
, American flags for the outside of its
schoolhouses and flag should also be
provided for the inside Are they flying
r in your town?
No, the trouble is not that good rural
schools in Vermont would cost Us more
money than we can spare. We have sim
Il ply neglected them. The point is, that
We cannot have good rural SCHOOLS with
out giving, ourselves, individually more
thought and care than we have been
willing 20 give. And yet, is there any
element in our life Uncommon which de
serves thought and care more than our
lis. or where the thought and care
'"@ulf he of mofv instant usefulness
We all want good roads as much as we
want good schools; but for most of us
where roads are concerned, we must
take II out i'm wishing or else pay heav.
lily in cash. Whereas in the n,a''or of
good schools. it counts largely towards
Improvement merely to provide a good
boarding place for the teacher. and to
show her some pleasant, friendly atten-
ton, merely to hem some towels. con
tribute some soap. to give a day s work
once in q while: to supply a few dol
lars worth of paint and the energy to
mt Il on: to take some personal respon-
-ibilitV about seeing that the town au-
.horities do sunnlv the Textbooks needed
on tine for the beginning of the term
% make some bean bags. or swing OF
Il soc-saw for the children s play time;
20 haul a load of sand for a sand-pile
Cap" Doesn't Like