12 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute 



advanced work and preparing to do research. If we limit ourselves to 

 the upper ranges of University work, that is to say to the preparation 

 of research workers, Canada hardly compares with the United States 

 and Ontario itself is quite outclassed by certain States of the Union. 

 It may be remarked, however, that we in Ontario are getting under 

 way. 



I have referred to the assistance in the form of scholarships and 

 bourses extended to the poor boys in England and France. We have 

 nothing that corresponds to this in America. Our idea of a scholarship 

 is a comparatively small prize not at all proportionate to the keep of a 

 boy for a year, let alone several years in succession. Our nearest approach 

 to the English conception of a scholarship is what we call a fellowship. 

 This, however, is only available to a graduate student. The attached 

 stipend is usually a meagre one and the fellowship may or may not be 

 renewable for a second or third year. It is often utilized, too, as a pretext 

 for securing a certain amount of cheap teaching. 



The fundamental defect in the educational systems on the American 

 continent is the failure to make adequate provision for the training of 

 the exceptionally gifted. It is quite evident that funds must be pro- 

 vided for the care of the mentally defective. A proposition to help 

 those who are backward in their studies will receive a sympathetic 

 hearing. If, however, it were proposed that the State should spend 

 money in establishing a school for genius after the model of one or other 

 of those which are supported by the State in France, the cry of class 

 privilege would be raised. If there were question of extending financial 

 aid in their studies to one or other of two boys, the first of whom was 

 exceptionally gifted, the second of mediocre capacity, and if the man on 

 the street were consulted in the matter, he would more likely than not 

 advise that the money be given to the second boy on the ground that 

 he was already handicapped in competition with the first boy. 



With France we should learn to realize that the exceptionally gifted 

 individual is there for the good of the community. All the ameliora- 

 tions which we enjoy we owe in the last resort to such individuals. The 

 State, then, may well defray the cost of their training for it will ulti- 

 mately profit more from the expenditure than those on whom the money 

 is expended. One creative worker who adds an increment to the heritage 

 handed down from generation to generation ultimately means more to 

 the nation and the race than a hundred mediocrities trained to their 

 capacity. No number of trained mediocrities could compensate for the 

 loss of a Newton. 



Whether America has lost one or more Newtons no one can say for 

 certain. But that many, very many, who should have done creative 



