The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit TUESDAY, MAY 20, 1884. Female Education.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1258, 20 May 1884, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit TUESDAY, MAY 20, 1884. Female Education.

Nothing has shown the rapidity with which what are called “ liberal ” ideas have spread during recent years more plainly than a cable message that came to us the other day, to the effect that the University of Oxford has decided to confer degrees on women. The theory of government at the present day appears to be that any demand made by a section of the community, however absurd it may be, has only to be persisted in and at last it will be granted. The battle for 5“ women’s rights ” has been hardly fought, but the fact that the most Conservative institution in the world has had to lower its flag is proof that the victory has been won by the “ shrieking sisterhood.” One cannot help wondering if the dream of the Poet Laureate is near its fulfilment, and whether the present generation at Oxford will live to see their

... old halls . . . change their sex and flaunt With prudes for proctors, dowagers for deans, And sweet girl graduates with their golden hair.

There can be no doubt, that when the agitation for the higher education of women started there was real ground for complaint. Twenty years ago it was considered sufficient that girls should be taught what are known as “ accomplishments.” They must learn to strum on the piano, obtain a smattering knowledge of one or two foreign languages, be initiated in the mysteries of fancy needlework, and, in short, prepare themselves for what was regarded as the highest ambition of a woman’s life, namely, marriage. We should. be sorry to assert that the nature of that ambition has greatly changed, but it was unfortunately discovered that in the civilised portion of the universe the female population far outnumbered the males. The problem therefore had to be faced as to what was to be done by the redundant six per cent, as the balance of womankind was rather ungallantly termed, unless Mormon or Mahomedan institutions were adopted, which, it need scarcely be said, was entirely out of the question. Then the cry arose for the emancipation of women, and the world learnt for the first time that for centuries tyrant man had been holding the weaker sex in thraldom. The agitation went through the phases incident to all novel theories. First it was ridiculed, then taken up by one or two members of Parliament in search of a “cry,” and at last the women have got their own way, as they always will do if they persevere, and henceforth they will reap the reward for having been carefully stuffed with knowledge, by being allowed to write BA. or M.A. after their names. What they will do with this privilege now they have obtained it is not so easy to determine. A se is not of much use to a man unless he intends to become a parson er a schoolmaster, while to a woman it is still more a superfluity. The majority of the male sex have a decided aversion to « clever ” women, “ blue-stockings,” as they were called in days that were earlier, when the genus was not so common as it is now. It is to be feared that the reaction agamst the « accomplishment ” theory has carried us too far in the contrary direction, and if the higher education of girls is to be continued the next generation will find that womanhood has lost all its charm and much of its usefulness. Mr Herbert Spencer, who is certainly a philosopher of the “ advanced school, has entered his protest against the present system of female education. He argues that in order to secure the survival of the fittest, it is the physical rather than the mental qualities in womep that should be developed. Unquestionably the appearance of a healthy girl, who has lived an outdoor life, is more pleasant to the eye than is the typical student, with bent back, shallow chest, and sallow complexion. All things considered, we scarcely think that the ability to tell the igoorant what is the exact meaning of the quantification of the predicate, or to discourse learnedly upon the doctrine of the enclitic De t useful as such accomplishments may be in their way, compensate us for the loss of those qualities which in old times were considered to be characteristic of womankind. It may, and indeed is, argued that the object of the new school is to make women altogether* independent of men, and if this idea gains strength there may be established in the future a colony similar to that of the Princess Ida, where male society was so thoroughly unknown that the cockcrow which called the learned damsels to early chapel was done by an accomplished hen. The only thing is that if such a view came to be embraced universally, the over-population of the world, which to some philosophers is a matter of grave concern, would soon crowd itself into space. However, the present generation has the consolation of knowing that the residue of stupid women, whose chief merit is that they make good wives and kindly mothers, is so vast that it is not likely to be exhausted for many years to come.