142 



CIVIL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Part II. 



EDUCATION IV VERMONT. 



SCHOOL FUND. 



In the several school districts in this 

 state a male teacher is usually employed 

 three or four months in the winter, and a 

 female teacher about six months in the 

 summer ; and as the greater part of the 

 money by which these schools are sup- 

 ported, is assessed upon the grand list, 

 that is, upon the property of the district, 

 the children of the poor enjoy, in them, 

 the same privileges as the children of the 

 rich ; and these privileges have hitherto 

 been so well improved, that a native of 

 Vermont of mature age, who could not 

 read and write, would be looked upon as 

 a prodigy of stupidity. 



The whole number of district and other 

 elementary schools in Vermont, according 

 to the returns of the census of 1840, was 

 2,402, and the number of children of suita- 

 ble age to attend them 07,.578. Several 

 of these schools, situated in the villages, 

 are supported by the tuition, charged upon 

 the scholars, and some of these are of a 

 higher order than the district schools gen- 

 erallv. But while Vermont is not, per- 

 haps, behind any of her sister states in the 

 general intelligence of the people, we 

 cannot help thinking that the general in- 

 terests of education have, for several 

 years past,been culpably neglected. While 

 other states have been rapidly improving 

 their schools and school systems, Vermont 

 has remained nearly stationary. Large 

 amounts of money are, it is true, annually 

 raised and expended for the support of 

 schools, but no means are provided by 

 which it may be known whether these 

 monevs have been advantageously ex- 

 pended or not. Nor is there any provis- 

 ion b}' which the defects of our present 

 system or the improvements introduced 

 in other states, are fairly presented to tiie 

 legislature ; and until these deficiences 

 are supplied, enlightened and useful leg- 

 islation upon the subject of education 

 cannot be expected. 



There seems to be in Vermont a very 

 general misapprehension of tlie subject of 

 education, and, particularly, with regard 

 to the relative importance of the different 

 grades of literary institutions. While 

 some look upon our universities and col- 

 leges, and others upon our academies and 

 hiii-h schools as more particularly deserv- 

 ing the patronage of government, the 

 great mass of the people seem to have 

 persuaded themselves that the elementary 

 schools are the only institutions for which 

 the legislature is bound to make any pro- 

 vision at all. The indulgence of such 

 partial views has had a tendency to pro- 

 dace an array of hostility among institu- 

 tions, which are designed to form one 

 harmonious whole, and which are abso- 



lutely necessary for the prosperity and 

 perfection of each other. The improve- 

 ments, which are introduced into our 

 universities and colleges, tend directly to 

 the improvement of our academies by 

 furnisliingthera with competent teachers; 

 and the improvements in the academies 

 are in tlie same way reflected back upon 

 tlie elementary schools. While on the 

 other hand the improvement of the ele- 

 mentary schools increases the number of 

 pupils, who will avail themselves of the 

 higher advantages of the academies, and 

 these in their turn are enabled to furnish 

 an increased number of students to the col- 

 leges. From this reciprocal dependence 

 of the different grades of schools upon one 

 another, it appears plain that, in order to 

 secure and advance the interests of one, 

 we should aim at nothing less than the 

 interests of the whole. To accomplish then 

 the great and desirable end of education 

 in this state, we must adopt a system of 

 education, which shall embrace all our lit- 

 erary institutions. We must have too a 

 more e^c\er\isupervision of education; and 

 must provide for bringing annually before 

 the legislature the true condition of all 

 our seminaries — and then, and not till 

 then, will the government be enabled to 

 act intelligently in this business and ex- 

 tend its patronage to all in due proportion. 

 School Fund. In November, 1825, the 

 legislature of this state passed an act, the 

 object of which was to create and estab- 

 lish a fund for the benefit of common 

 schools. By this act all the avails of the 

 late Vermont state bank, the sums derived 

 from the six per cent, on the net profits 

 of existing banks, all sums arising from 

 assessments for licences to pedlars, and 

 all other sums which shall be appropria- ^ 

 ted by the legislature for that purpose, 

 were set apart as a fund for the support ol 

 schools in the several towns in this state. 

 The treasurer of tlie state is constituted 

 commissionef of this fund, and it is made 

 his duty to loan it, or invest it in produc- 

 tive stocks. This fund is to go on accu- 

 mulating from the above mentioned sour- 

 ces and by the addition of the annual in- 

 terest, until the annual interest shall be 

 sufficient to defray the current expenses 

 ol keeping a good free common school in 

 each district, for the period of two months. 

 The amount of this fund on the 30th of 

 Sept., 1841, according to the report of the 

 auditor of the treasury, was as follows : 

 On loan to the state, $94,829 31 



Interest on the same, 24,807 88 



On loan to individuals, 40,551 03 



Interest on the same, 4,104 06 



Making in the whole, $164,292 28 



