Education in Vermont

VERMONT has set an example to the other states of the Union in being the first to make a comprehensive effort to study its educational responsibilities. In conformity to an act of the legislature, approved in November, 1912, the governor appointed a commission of nine persons ‘to inquire into the entire educational system and condition of this state.’ To secure the information essential for an intelligent and adequate report, the commission, which included among its members the President of Columbia University, Dr. Nicholas M. Butler, and the President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, Mr. Theodore N. Vail, invited the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to make ‘ an expert study of the school system, including the higher institutions of learning.’ Acting upon this invitation, the Foundation caused to be made a first-hand study of education in Vermont, embracing the whole system, from elementary school to university.

The detailed examination of the elementary schools was committed to Professor Milo B. Hillegas of Teachers College, Columbia University; of the secondary schools to Dr. William S. Learned of the Harvard School of Education; and of the normal schools and the state system of administration and expenditure to Professor Edward C. Elliott of the University of Wisconsin. Other expert service was employed for special fields, as the agricultural college and its relations to the farming industries, medical and engineering schools, library facilities in relation to the public schools, and the system in use of school accounts and financial statements.

The results of these investigations have been published in a Bulletin, the primary purpose of which is to place in the hands of the commission the essential facts which will enable them to form conclusions, to make recommendations, and to propose legislation. Accordingly, it is of great interest to all who have at heart the betterment of our educational system. For the conditions are not peculiar to Vermont; similar conditions prevail throughout the country, and the conclusions reached should be thoughtfully and carefully considered, even though one may not entirely agree with all the statements or recommendations. Many Vermonters think the Bulletin does not set forth the facts as accurately as they had hoped it would; while the recommendation of withdrawing the state financial aid from the colleges is decidedly and generally condemned.

A remarkable array of facts of every kind, from the course of study to the condition of the schoolhouses, is to be found in the report of Professor Hillegas on the elementary schools. It is interesting to note that in the proportion of children of school age enrolled, Vermont holds the first place among the states. His criticisms are mainly of the instruction given, the principal aim of which, he says, is preparation for the high school. Considering the fact that practically none of the ruralschool children enter the high school, he maintains that there should be two courses of instruction — one for the rural and one for the graded town school. With the present course, the children of the countryside are taught only to read indifferently, to write clumsily, and to make ordinary calculations with difficulty. The child’s interest in the life of his community is weakened, and either he is made an idler, because he has not been taught to do work that is based upon the acquirement of skill, or he is educated away from the life in which he has grown up. His face is turned from the duties and opportunities of his own home to the more tempting but more illusory ventures of a city. Many will agree with the conclusion, that ‘something is radically wrong with a school in an agricultural community that develops motormen, stenographers, and typewriters, and fails to develop farmers, dairymen, and gardeners.’

The recommendations of Professor Hillegas include the consolidation of the smaller schools, the transportation of the children by school barges, and new courses of study, which should be planned by experienced teachers and superintendents organized into committees. For the improvement of teachers already in service he suggests that a group of highly trained, capable women supervisors should spend their time in the schools, assisting the teachers and demonstrating proper methods. The absolute need of an increase in the salaries of teachers is emphasized by the fact that, according to a recent comparative study of the public school systems of all the states, Vermont stands in the forty-third place in the average annual salary of the teachers.

There is much valuable information in Dr. Learned’s report on the secondary schools. It is the outcome of a personal visit to nearly half of the high schools and academies, and a careful study of all attainable facts in regard to attendance, curriculum, and the training of teachers. A fact which stands out prominently and should be emphasized is that ‘almost without exception’ the teachers ‘gave the impression of being high-minded, naturally capable and painstaking men and women ’ who are doing ‘ honest and faithful work.’ It is a matter of regret that Dr. Learned has apparently had no experience as a teacher, for his position in regard to the instruction given in the high schools is largely that of a theorist. He reiterates, for instance, that the curriculum should have ‘greater freedom and elasticity in order to meet the individual pupil.’ It should be based predominantly on the pupil’s environment. Now this is admirable in theory, but it would be difficult to put it in practice.

The economic value of the school training seems to Dr. Learned to be of the first importance. ‘It is a pressing duty of the high schools in Vermont,’ he maintains, for instance, ‘to display fairly the power, resources, and significance of the farm.’ On the other hand little stress is laid on the old New England idea that the highest aim of the school is the development of the intellectual powers and the building up of character.

All, however, will agree with what he says as to the special needs of training-classes for teachers in elementary schools, particularly in the country. His suggestion that this course should be introduced into more of the high schools will be welcomed, and, we trust, acted upon throughout the country. He maintains that, there should be enough high schools with these training classes, to enable all those who are desirous of becoming teachers in the elementary schools to attend the course without being obliged, as now, in most instances, to leave their homes. Another practical reason for the establishment of these ‘regional’ high schools, urged in the section devoted to the training of teachers, is that the neighboring village schools would furnish abundant opportunities for practice-classes for those who are in training. The establishment of a new central training school is also advocated, which should serve the needs of the state in providing teachers for its junior high schools.

The problem of trade-education — a pressing economic as well as educational question — is discussed in the report on the vocational school. This school is practically the only agency that society offers for the formal preparation of its youth for those fundamental and necessary vocations upon which stress must always be laid. The aim should be, not the preparation for a profession, but the training of youth for a trade. In this connection, attention is directed to a remarkable agricultural school at Lyndonville, which owes its existence to the generosity of Mr. Vail. It is strictly a farmer’s school and it aims to furnish a line of training that will be of immediate use in farming and its allied industries, as carpentry, blacksmithing, and masonry. Consequently, the students are trained to do farm work intelligently and also the repairing of buildings, wagons, and machinery. Thus they are made independent of any outside skilled labor, and are put in a position to assist their neighbors in these directions. For these special purposes the school has blacksmith and carpenter shops, as well as a horsestable, dairy-barn, poultry-house, and root-cellar, together with over one hundred acres of tillage land divided into upland and lowland.

The report upon the higher institutions of learning gives considerable information about the three colleges at Burlington, Middlebury, and Northfield. There is a brief historical sketch of each, with facts relating to their endowment, equipment, curriculum, teaching-staff, and students. The criticism is confined mainly to the Agricultural College connected with the University of Vermont at Burlington. The impression made by this part of the report is that it was written by one whose whole interest was in the schools of the state. The one thing needed for the improvement of both primary and high schools, he feels, is money to increase the salary of the teachers, especially of the primary schools, in order to secure better teachers, and to improve the schoolhouses and their equipment. Accordingly, with this need predominating in his mind, the one frequently repeated recommendation in regard to the higher institutions of learning is that the state subsidy should be withdrawn from them and given to the schools. And with this conclusion those who compiled the report agreed, for the last of the five recommendations which embody the results of the survey is, ‘Subsidies to higher education should cease, the colleges being given a reasonable time in which to rearrange their budgets.' This does not mean that the colleges are not helpful to the state from an educational point of view. Of Middlebury, for instance, it is said that ‘the work of the college is distinctly good,’ that the ‘fundamental work is now being admirably done.’ The one absorbing aim of President Thomas is that Middlebury College shall be a great instrument in the upbuilding of Vermont. ‘I propose,’ he said on one occasion, ‘to train as many students as possible to go back to their homes, filled with inspiration partaking of sublime religious faith in the destiny of the Green Mountain State, and there live and toil, and exercise an influence which no man may measure in advance.’ But what would be the effect upon the college if more than a quarter of its annual income should be withdrawn from it? Would not its usefulness be terribly crippled for years, possibly forever? Would the advantage to the three thousand school-teachers of the addition of a few dollars to their salaries, for that is all the Middlebury subsidy could give them, justify this withdrawal ?

All who know the conditions in Vermont recognize ‘ the urgent needs of the state in elementary education,’ but they do not feel that because of these needs, the needs of the institutions of higher education should suffer. Their needs are very great. To quote President Thomas again: ‘I see opportunities all over the state to stimulate enterprise and quicken the life of the people, if only we had the means to do the work.’ This feature of the report, together with the repeated strange statement that the state should not subsidize a college which ’it does not own and control,’ has aroused much feeling throughout Vermont, and it is sincerely to be hoped that the usefulness of the inquiry will not be impaired on this account.

For, regarded as a whole, it has undoubtedly a high educational value. All having at heart the training of our children to make the best of their place in life should welcome the light thrown upon the condition of the elementary schools, especially those in rural districts, and should act upon the suggestions for their improvement. It is to be hoped that the inquiry will give a new and vivid impression of the influence of the teacher. This new and fresh appreciation of the significance of her duty, second only to that of the parent, should lead to an improvement in her preparation for her task, and should increase the reward for her valuable and painstaking labor. Then, the emphasis laid upon the necessity of the development of agricultural instruction is of great importance. In view of the fact that we are seeking all over the world for food for our constantly increasing millions, it is not only an economic, but a national crime to let so much rich, easily cultivable land lie idle, not simply in Vermont but throughout our Atlantic states. And the simplest solution of the great problem is clearly shown in the Carnegie Foundation report. It is to make by stimulating elementary, but thorough, instruction an intelligent and interested farmer out of the bright country boy.