These statistics have been so accurate and complete, for many years, as
to furnish a safe basis for legislation; and they have at the same time
been employed by the friends of education as means for awakening local
interest, and stimulating and encouraging the people to assume freely
and bear willingly the burdens of taxation. It is now easy for each
town, or for any inhabitant, to know what has been done in any other
town; and, as a consequence, those that do best are a continual example
to those that, under ordinary circumstances, might be indifferent. The
establishment and efficiency of the school-committee system is due also
to the same agency. There are, I fear, some towns that would now neglect
to choose a school committee, were there not a small annual distribution
of money by the state; but, in 1832, the duty was often either
neglected altogether, or performed in such a manner that no appreciable
benefit was produced. The superintending committee is the most important
agency connected with our system of instruction. In some portions of the
state the committees are wholly, and in others they are partly,
responsible for the qualifications of teachers; they everywhere
superintend and give character to the schools, and by their annual
reports they exert a large influence over public opinion. The people now
usually elect well-qualified men; and it is believed that the extracts
from the local reports, published annually by the Board of Education,
constitute the best series of papers in the language upon the various
topics that have from time to time been considered.
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