Report...Town Officers of the Town of Mendon

Historical excerpts always put today in perspective. The way language changes and the different way words are used or the forum in which they are expressed identify periods where social considerations were less.........well they were just less. Or were they? Did we just feel guilty of our own word associations and decide to change the label? Was it better when we just called a spade a spade? Thoughts?
In case the pictures of the 1879 Town of Mendon Report are not legible the excerpts mention The school for Idiotic and Feeble-minded Youth and in the report for school number one (of 5) the North End school starts with...."This school, one of the largest in town., has been taught throughout the year by Miss Flora Freeman. The scholars here are backward,and ,at the commencement of the year, seemed listless,unaccustomed to study or order.