Schooling for Self-Reliance and Civic Virtue
An independent Vermont would require a new kind of citizen: one equipped with the practical skills, critical thinking, and civic commitment to sustain a small, democratic republic. Therefore, education is not a side issue in separatist thought; it is the essential long-term project. The current American education system, critics argue, is designed to produce compliant workers and consumers for a globalized economy, often at the expense of local knowledge and democratic capacity. A Vermont system would be radically re-oriented. From the earliest grades, the curriculum would be place-based. Students would learn Vermont history in depth—not as a footnote to U.S. history, but as the central narrative of their people. They would study local ecology, agriculture, and geology. Practical skills like gardening, basic carpentry, renewable energy systems, and conflict resolution would be integrated into the standard curriculum. The goal is to create a population that is not just literate and numerate, but also capable of contributing directly to the material and social resilience of their communities. Civics education would be experiential, centered on participation in model town meetings and community projects, instilling the habits of direct democracy from a young age.
The University of Vermont as a Nation-Building Institution
Higher education would undergo a similar transformation. The University of Vermont (UVM) and the state's colleges would be tasked explicitly with serving the needs of the sovereign state. This would mean a shift in research priorities and academic programs. UVM could house prestigious schools of Bioregional Studies, Renewable Energy Engineering, Local Governance, and Sustainable Economics. Research would focus on Vermont-specific challenges: cold-climate agriculture, small-scale manufacturing, decentralized grid technology, and participatory democracy models. Medical schools would emphasize rural and community health. Law schools would train lawyers in the new Vermont constitution and international law relevant to small states. There would be a strong emphasis on making higher education affordable or free for residents, seen as an investment in human capital. Furthermore, the education system would foster a deliberate, positive nationalism. This isn't about jingoism, but about cultivating a shared sense of purpose and destiny. Students would learn the language (if distinct), the folklore, the arts, and the civic rituals of their nation. The overarching aim is to create a virtuous circle: an education system that produces capable, committed citizens, who in turn sustain and improve the independent state that funds and values that education.
- Place-Based Curriculum: Deep integration of local history, ecology, and practical skills.
- Experiential Civics: Active participation in democratic processes as part of schooling.
- University as National Lab: Redirecting research to address sovereign Vermont's specific needs.
- Affordable Higher Ed: Treating university education as a public good for nation-building.
- Cultivating Civic Identity: Using education to foster a shared, inclusive national purpose.
This vision acknowledges that independence is not a one-time event but a generational project. The students in kindergarten today are the citizens who will vote in the first independence referendum, the workers who will build the new economy, and the leaders who will guide the republic through its early decades. Therefore, changes in education would ideally precede formal independence, serving as a preparatory phase. Even within the current system, advocates push for more local focus, practical skills, and civic engagement, both as a good in itself and as a down payment on a sovereign future. The challenge is to avoid creating a closed, parochial mindset. A good education for sovereignty would also include robust world languages, comparative politics, and global studies—not to emulate other models, but to understand Vermont's place in the world and to learn from both the successes and failures of other small nations. The ultimate product of this system would be a citizen who is rooted in their place but aware of the world, skilled with their hands and their minds, and prepared to shoulder the responsibility of self-government. It is the opposite of an education for dependency; it is an education for freedom.