Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1916-05-19
that the women of Maryland can doS The

| tudt tue WOIlen OI mdEyidnu Cdu uOt liz
law will not function of itself. How cal
the women assist it to function as it wal
meant to functienS There are some, thingI
that the women of Maryland can do ant
ought to do. There are some things thai
they ought not to try to do.
What they can do is to interest them.
selves in the personnel of the State and
county boards of education. Everything
that comes out of the new law from this
moment is going to depend upon individ-
uals. The law is there. AS far as we can
tell it contains all that it ought to contain.
The Legislature passed it as it was drawn.
1t was intended to give the State as nearly
a complete educational system as could be
given at one step. Of course it can be
bettered as conditions improve, but for the
next few years all that can be done is to
put it into effective operation.
1t must be operated by persons. 1t comes
down to a question Of persons. If the
women of Maryland can in any way as
sist the Governor in securing for the State
and county boards persons of intelligence,
ability and disinterestedness, they will
have accomplished all that outsiders can
accomplish in the first instance. Unless
these bodies are properly constituted, the
new law will prove disappointing. With
these boards properly constituted the new
law will function properly
| know too little Of your organization to
give you specific advice. II you have a
State committee should think you might
begin to scan the State for men and wom-
en- possessing the proper qualifications,
The new law leeislated no one out Of Office.
In consequence changes will be made
gradually 1t is very hard to get people
interested in one appointment out of seven
and yet the new State Board is going to
be built up block by block. man by man.
Unless good men are appointed, no great
improvement may be looked for at this
central point and the entire scheme may be
prejudiced because of this failure.
The same thing holds true in county
boards. do not know whether there is a
club in every county-there is not There
ought to be. Every county club ought to
make 1t its business to find the best man
in the county to recommend to the Gov
ernor for service on these local bodies. In
my judgment you cannot begin too soon
to make yourselves felt in this direction.
Governor Harrington is profoundly inter-
ested in the new law and will, am sure,
welcome your cooperation. for its passage
was largely due to his interest.
There is one other service which the wo-
men of Maryland can perform. They can
help to create public sentiment which will
make it possible to enforce the new law.
1t is one thing to give the State Su-
perintendent large powers. 1t 10 another
thing for the State Superintendent to exer-
else these powers. Precisely the same
thing is true In the counties. The new law
makes it possible to select good teachers.
1t will be possible for county superinten-
dents to appoint to teaching posts the best
teachers available. Whether they do il
OR not will depend not only on their own
desire but on the desire of the county. If
the people would rather that Sally This
and Mary That be appointed teacher
than that someone be brought from an
othes county, it does not matter how COM
petent the county superintendent is-he
will not be able to exercise effectively the
power which the law puts into his hands.
The women of Maryland must see to ii
that the personnel is sound and that pub
lie sentiment is developed which will sup
port the State and county superintendents
in the proper execution of the law.
Some things the women Of Maryland
cannot do. They cannot run the schools
| suppose the women of Maryland are not
different from the women of other States.
| have had more or less experience in
school management have known very
few mothers who did not want me to do
something which was contrary to my judy
ment. shall not deny that sometimes
they may have been right and wrong.
but think on the whole was more likely
to be right than they. My advice to you
then is not to try to determine the details
of educational policy to be pursued and to
deal patiently with those who are charged
with making the Improvements.
A short time ago was in Hampton.
Virginia, on an occasion not unlike the pres
ent one. Governor Mann, one of the edu-
cational Governors of Virginia. after max
ing an extremely able address, told the
following story: Governor Mann said he
knew boy who got a whip one day and
went out to kill bees. AS he went along
he saw bee on q blade of grass. He
killed that. A little further along he saw
another and another. and he killed them.
He went further until he came to an old
stump on the edge Of which he saw a bee.
He killed that. One or two more bees
came out and he killed them. He seemed
now to have started an internal agitation
so that more and more bees came out. At
first he succeeded in killing them. Finally.
twenty. thirty, forty and more came swarm
ing out of the stump. He withdrew in
haste. When he was nursing his swollen
head he began to ask why he had had no
difficulty in killing single bees. while he
had had so much trouble at the stump.
Finally the truth dawned upon him. Them
bees at the stump is organized"
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