WOMAN'S SPHERE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1754, 20 May 1913, Page 4

WOMAN'S SPHERE.

AND THE TRAINING OF GIRLS., ■'i''. - 1 bayo read with great interest Woman the Rebel," an article in youi issue of May 17. I heartily agree witji tho writer that woman should bo allowed "to choose that career for which liOr abilities lit her. Nature only lias the right to say with any finality how far woman may go . . . and that filial word has not yet been said." It is also true that as many a woman has to work for her living she must under these circumstances bo trained : "to hold her own in the turmoil of competition," where she has been pushed into the stream of industrial activities and.cannot turn, back, the only thing for.her to do is, as tho writer says, "to make herself as efficient as possible." But the women who are forced by circumstances to take their place in the world of men arc very few in comparis-m with those who live dependent lives, and whose bills are paid by father or husband. And these are the women whose education I was considering in my report on tho Richmond Free Kindergartens.Educational experts always seem to mo to consider tho unusually 'gifted, or unusually industrious boy or girl, and provide them with every facility for development. But ordinary children of both sexes are treated on- tho same lines and growth is checked. Educationally, we people of this Dominion are far advanced. We pre able to hold our own with the best. Our Rhodes scholars are not behind the rest of the world, and Professor Rutherford honourably represents us amongst tho leading scientific men of the day. Where wo are failing is with the common people, and by the common people I mean the majority of our citizens, who are only gifted with the ordinary run of faculty. I maintain the average boy or girl is not properly catered for under cur present arrangements. I think the boy is just as badly .off as the girl, as. far as effective preparation for active life goes, but tlia consideration of his case is for tho present beside my purpose. I wish tj plead for the ordinary girl, tho majority of the homes in this country will ba in her control and under her guidance in a very few years. This is not. a theoretical probability, but a practical certainty. 1 Do not offer her au academic training, which she will certainly refine if she has any choice in the matter. If it is forced upon her, she will receive it with dull resignation, joyfully accept her release when the school period ends, ai.d enter life quite unprepared to face the pioblems that await her, but with a rooted and enduring hatred for instructive books and instructive people. I have worked amongst school girls and boys for twenty years, not as an onlooker, but as a teacher, and the thing all along that I found most .difficult to fight was

tho boredom and deadly dullness induced by forcing upon the child mind matters ■ with which it had no concern, and which therefore did not interest it. Ctivo the ordinary young girl an opportunity of dealing with young children. Let it be part of. tho ordinary school class work. In nine cases out of ten tho girl will show herself extraordinarily capable! In the tenth case, tho abnormal girl will simply do what is being continually done now with the academic course'; as sfloir as tho training period is over, fling it aside and forget all about it. But a living experience is harder to forget than a series of mental ideas, arbitrarily induced. She will be nioro humane and more womanly l'or her training, in spite of herself. Economic conditions aro said to be at the back of the social unrest which disturbs tho world. But these conditions aro formed by the combined action of individuals, and to reach these individuals there is only one way—the way of education. But it must be an education which touches reality at every stage. Theories about things wont do—tho things themselves must be handled. Notions about people wont do, the people themselves must bo encountered 111 daily life. Ideas about tho nurture of babies won't do. These small citizens must bo washed and dressed and fed and taught in order to acquire any knowlcdgo about them wcrth having. This is my educational creed, and that is one of tho reasons why I support the institution of tho kindergarten, as much for the sake of the girls of tho Dominion as for tho children. No doubt politically it may be possible for women to do valuable work. A good man is useful where ever ho is—so is a good weman. With regard to social and industrial problems, she is at the Drcsent moment taking a distinguished place. Tho names of Mrs. Sydney Webbe and Miss Margaret Macmillan and many others are known to us all. All honour be to thorn. But wo cannot all qualify for such a career. Let us see that wo equip our girls for the everyday duties which fall to most of us;, certain that if we do this honestly, effectively, and intelligently, nothing but good can come of it—good to ourselves individually, and good to tho State.—l ain, etc., ' MARY E. RICHMOND. May 18.