My Theses Are Feces (pt. 1 of a million)

Skip this if you want. I'm working on my thesis and want to prove that I've accomplished something. Somehow posting it is more enjoyable than finishing more. Right now I'm looking through The Little Red Schoolhouse , a newsletter from 1929. The thesis may simply complain about the asinine diction and grammar skills of these enlightened rural school advocates. Here's a sample paragraph. If you can explain to me how they've proved whatever point they're making, I'll give you a gold star:

"According to our information, the whole legal force of the State Department of Education, in co-operation with the legal talent of the State Attorney-General's office and numerous other legal lights in the city of Rochester are apparently engaged in a determined effort to bind these districts tighter to Brockport village and thus not lose the big assessed valuation of about $4,000,000 which the poor village of Brockport needs to help it build its Central Rural High School, since the village has, with the other districts which comprise the Union School district, only the meager amount of $4,000,000 for its own assessed valuation."

Does Brockport have a "big" assessed evaluation or a "meager" one? Is Brockport "poor," or overbearing and influential, as the paper described in an issue just one year before? And here's a pile of info I typed up, almost as bad (456 words) Comment if you feel like it.


The Normal Schools act of 16 April 1866 created four Normal Schools. One proposed school would be at Brockport, with a pricetag of forty to fifty thousand dollars. The pre-existing Baptist College, however, was later determined to be in a poorer condition than Brockport described it. The state shelved the new school and gave the property to Brockport to pay off local debts. Dedman describes the events leading to the Normal School's creation as the "Normal School War." At the center of the argument, as with most local issues, was the threat of higher taxes. The village held a referrendum for taxpayers only and school supporters lost, 139-102. The Village Board also examined the amount of property owned by the voters, and found that schools supporters own a majority of taxable land: $185,800 to only $106,460. Clearly difference of opinion could be designated by class. The village board, based on this information, re-voted on 10 May 1866 to supercede the referrendum and petition the Normal School Commissioners again for the school, and limited funds raised through taxable income to $37,000. The majority of voters righteously felt cheated.

Consistent commotion demanded yet another public vote on 1 August. This time both male and female taxpayers could vote, though the women by proxy, and the school clearly won 165-131. Once Brockport began to support a Normal School on their land, they noticed they had competition. Nearby Clinton County, the village of Cortland, Fredonia, St. Lawrence Academy, the Antwerp Insitute, Central Academy in Megrowville, the Delaware Academy, the Newark College Institute, Fort Edward Institute, and the Seminary at Charlotteville in Schoharie County are all recorded as proposing land, buildings, and other facilities to win a new Normal School. Brockport proposed $100,000 for land and the former Baptist Institute as well as $3000 more for furnishings, and won one of the four new schools (Binghamton, Potsdam, and Fredonia were the other three).

It should be noted that a number of inhabitants, some prominent, refused to pay the new taxes in the next year.
E.P. Root complains to Board, saying that raising the property values around the new school has benefitted those elected:
"The chief question involved in the matter has been made one of pecuniary interest. You obtain the schol independent of the town, not asking us to participated in your action. You did it as a matter of business. Sume thought it would give increased salaries, others increased rent, still others increased trade. The motive was gain. You thus assumed the responsibility of agreeing to erect these buildings. Now you call upon us to assist you, and have secretly secured the passage of a special act which gives you the legal power to levy this tax on the town."