That good advice of 90+ years ago remains sound today.  Place-based education is invaluable in providing young people with a sense of both personal identity and community.  “Without our history, how will we know it’s us,” says one of the Okies reluctantly leaving for California in John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath,” and that concern is one for modern Vermont as well.  Through a knowledge of their local history, kids learn that their town is distinctive, not just Anywhere, USA.  Add in a grasp of our state’s heritage, and they build an awareness of being Vermonters that will last throughout their lifetimes.  That’s good for our children, good for our towns, and good for Vermont.

            Woodstock is fortunate indeed on this front.  The Woodstock Historical Society is one of the best local history organizations in Vermont, with collections and programs most towns envy.  Billings Farm and Museum is an extraordinary educational resource, and under David Donath’s leadership the Woodstock Foundation has become a national leader in heritage issues.  The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park’s successful collaboration with Woodstock Union High School last year on the impressive “Woodstock’s Civil War: A Speakchorus“ CD was a collaborative venture that should serve as a model for similar historical initiatives all over Vermont.

            And the statewide picture is encouraging as well.  At the Vermont Historical Society, the Freedom and Unity exhibit at the Pavilion building in Montpelier hosts thousands of Vermont school kids every year; Vermont History Expo features the exhibits of some 100 local historical societies at Tunbridge each June; Vermont History Day engages hundreds of students and teachers at schools from Brattleboro to Burlington; and the Community History Partnership brings schools and local societies together to work on self-designed historical projects.  The State House, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Bennington Museum, Shelburne Museum, other Vermont institutions, and such state-operated historic sites as Mount Independence are favorite destinations for history field trips.  Many of the 197 town historical societies in Vermont work closely with their school systems to put local heritage content into coursework at various grades.  The Center for Research on Vermont and the Vermont Studies Program at the University of Vermont offer a range of Vermont courses and background to the UVM education majors who will become the Green Mountain teachers of tomorrow.

            With all of these factors in place, there’s terrific potential to get more Vermont content into our schools.  Vermont teachers contact the Vermont Historical Society frequently in search of information they can use to advance this goal, and VHS is recruiting now for a position that will work with schools and the state Department of Education to create new Vermont-based curriculum materials.  If we can teach our children about Vermont’s history, literature, music, geography, environment, and other distinctive aspects of our state, we’ll enliven education for our kids and build their awareness of the issues and challenges facing Vermont today.  Give them a local and state identity, and we’ll set a foundation for building a better future for them.  “Teach Vermont to Vermont children” was a sound strategy 90 years ago, and it still is today.