Connecticut western news., 1909-06-17
SMALL COUNTRY
 SCHOOL MUST GO
DECLARES SECRETARY c. D. HINE
In Address at Canaan School he Con- graduates Citizens on Splendid New Building and Praises Years Work
 Other Schools Must do Likewise.

Other Schools Must do Likewise.
 The annual exhibition of the work of the local school was held Friday after noon and a large number of parents took advantage of the opportunity to inspect at the same time both the new school building and the work of the children i'll the different grades. Interesting talks was also given by State Secretary c. D. Hine and by J. Henry Roraback.
 Much favorable comment was Occa- stoned by the exhibition of the work of the pupils which was tastefully arranged in the several rooms. It included the neat, painstaking alphabet of the small est children and bookkeeping, geomet rlcal figures and other advanced work of the high school. In the course of MT. Hines remarks he took occasion to compliment the teachers highly on their work and that of the pupils and declared that it was on a par with the work done in the schools of Hartford and New Ha- ven. He also congratulated Canaan on having built such a fine school building so completely equipped with all ap- pliances used in instruction. He de- clared that the taxpayers of the town had shown themselves public spirited and alivesto their best interests by ap- propriating the money for the construc- tion of the school and that such an ex- hibition as was then shown could not but convince them that their money had been well spent.
 The topic of MT. Hines remarks ad- dressed to the parents was ''The Value of Good Citizenship to the Public Schools" and he proceeded to speak in part, as..follows
 Good citizenship contributes to the we'll beingIof our schools by interesting itself in regard to the problems of the school. One of these problems which confronts the schools throughout the state to-day has been solved by the Ca naan school and that is the building of a single building, convenient and com modious, which brings all the children of the community together into one building and thus makes it impossible for the teachers to work to the best ad- vantage.
 This centralization is also to the ad- vantage;of the community and especially to the taxpayer in that it substantially reduces the cost of education. In such school the approximate cost of educa- ting single child for one year is about SIS year or ten cents 8 day, which is the minimum cost.
 On the contrary it had been found that the most expensive method of education is that in the small country school where there are only few scholars. When such is the case the cost per pupil for single year to the taxpayers amounts often to $60 and sometimes goes as high as $1OO per scholar in this state. Those who are in control of such schools can generally not be brought to realize, how ever, that while the first expense may be larger, greatly improved results at a d C OSCIGdSCu COSb dI0 SCCuIGu through the centralization of the schools.
 MT. Hine explained that this is the trend of schools throughout the state to-day and that it's results are proving the wisdom of the change. One ob. jection which Is often made to the abol- ition of the small country school, he said, is that it removes the school so far from the homes of the scholars that they must endure privat1on and inconvenience in getting to school every day. This or jection has been rendered void by the fact that in cases where such centraliza- tion has taken place the scholars have been taken to the school in commodious vehicles, which, on stormy days, call at the scholars houses for them, and that the expense of maintaining such an equipage is a factor of expense which proved very small when compared to the greater expense of running the smaller schools.
 MT. Hine took occasion to compliment the village upon having a highly efficient school board winch has demonstrated it's intelligent public spirit by its work in having secured to the village the beautiful school building now occupied. He inspected the building while here and pronounced it model of its kind. With the most modern equipment, hygienic drinking fountains, perfect sanitary conditions, bright, pleasant study rooms, excellent heating and ven- tilating system, It is up-to-date in every way. Caretaker Kemp kept the build ing clean and comfortable throughout the year and the results of his care were