TWENTY-FIRST ANXVAL MEETING. 



159 



man. The thing is a growth. It is the conimon sense of the 

 masses that produce it. It is the co-operation of the people 

 that is going to make good schools and not the dictum of 

 some man or woman who has thought a good deal about it, 

 and who, perhaps, has a lot of new ideas that he or she 

 would like to see adopted. It is people like you through 

 the states that have got to determine how the schools shall 

 be administered, and how they shall work in order to attain 

 the best results in the future. I think the most serious dif- 

 ficulty with the schools today, and particularly those in the 

 smaller towns, is the fact that they are so uneven. The 

 schools in the less thickly populated districts are adminis- 

 tered by teachers, who, as a rule, are not paid as much as 

 those in the larger places, and, therefore, do not, presuma- 

 bly, give as thorough attention to their preparation and to 

 their work as given by the teachers in the larger centers of 

 population. Now there is just one answer to that, I venture 

 to say, and that is the establishment of a state system of 

 schools. We are rather handicapped in our attempts to 

 bring about that by that instinctive opposition which seems 

 to be so strongly established in the breasts of many Connecti- 

 cut citizens. We like to do things in our own way. We like 

 to be our own boss. We want our particular corner of the 

 village to be absolutely independent. We want to do things 

 in small units. I think that is the local feeling that is 

 holding us back. I will tell you frankly that I should like 

 to see a state system of schools, schools just as good in the 

 little small villages as in the cities, and where the teachers 

 are paid just as much, and where the boys and girls are get- 

 ting as good a chance. I think it is true that there has been 

 some drift over the country in that direction, and the ten- 

 dency has rather been, especially on the part of young par- 

 ents, who are anxious that their children should have the 

 best advantages, and the tendency upon their part is to go 

 where the schools are better. I believe you know that. Now 

 I do not expect to see the next session of the General As- 

 sembly pass laws which would compel the towns to put their 



