GIRLS AND BOYS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3131, 9 July 1917, Page 7

GIRLS AND BOYS

SHOULD THEY BE TAUGHT

DIFFERENTLY?

A DECISIVE "NO"

INTERESTING SFEECH BY HISS M'LEAN

! In the Donrse of her roost interesting Vemarks at the meeting of oducationista 6eld. under the auspices of tho Society ■«T, the 'Protection of Womon and- Children A-ri the Concert Chamber on Weda.es,(J/- t y evening, Jlisa M'Lonn, principal 01 the Girls' High Sohool, touched firmly ■'«pd fascinatingly on-the vexed subject of i'yjfferentiation in educationJor boTS and •PEirls. She said it woo proverbial that ■uoctora differed, and it was not surprisfing that- education experts did. The Council of Education urged a marked differentiation,! basing..its requirements ;xm: (1) A difference in. bra in power, and ■<2)' a difference ia life-work. Ouco upon a. time a girl's education was completely .•different k> that given a boy. That for tho girl was of tho flimsiest description, .■chiefly thosb Jadyliko accomplishments which were considered to bo tho be-aJI and end-all of a young lady's education— >a httlo music, a littlo dancing, doporl;rnienl, etc. A$ Frances Cobbo relates in the , autobiography .of. her education, in MS3G, the subjects wore in tho inverse order of their importance—morals and religion at , tho bottom, music and dauc'ing at the top—and very poor music. Tho wee that women vrero very poorly 'equipped, arid when, inquiry was made ,'«s to why it was, that women and girlfl iwere always so wrotchedly paid; it was "found that their work was bad; and they wereworft no consideration in consequence, ' Thero came' n chaugo about •1850, when the idea took root that the Sir! might be given tho Kime education. us. ner brother,, in order to make her S3 as ho was. No differentiation 'was niadel They entered for the same jexajninatioDS, and often tho girls bent ,the boys. The improvement was noted ■s.t, once, and largo sums wero given for girls' schools and nnivorsilios. Sir Hil<dred Cadile gave ]00,000'guihoas to estab. tJish one of the biggest schools of the 'time. What had-actuated him to give \such a sum was "that only thoso.who can ;compare' tho l'cally educated woman of the previous generation can realise how fmuc£ has been gained in power and capa. jcity by this opening of tho university jto' young. people of • both Tluit ISncreased power and capacity of organi(sation had been an invaluable aisset to iHngland dnrinp this war. Did anyone •wonder that they wore out not to fax (anything the heroic workers for reform,have gained? (Applause.). Then;'Gqmb jrealised flat tho ideal eduoation for girls shad not .been rcachedj'and made eomo difffeTeutiation by including holuo-training jsnbjects, ~vrhilst to the . curriculum of iboya' schools vroro added woodwork and' 'caifeni;ry. ■ Council's Idoas Not New, I''That-differentiation existed now. Tho "opposition to tho oountil'e proposals was 'not a question of teaching home-training subjects such as cookiDg, dressmaking, ! bygiene, laundry, and theoretical and lexperimental home science, for they were .'teaching those subjeote now in tho.soc(ondary schools. But to somo of the projposed features ihero -were objections, esjpecially that every girl should take the ! course even if she had boon through' it (in a , primary school. The. reasons. given for the proposed differentiation wero: (1) Different mental capacity, and (2) different life-wort after leaving school. Ee.'first, .it is said that a girl Jβ not so original.as a boy—has not so much initiative. 'If that were so, then 6urely there should.bo less; and-not'more differentiation in. the education of the two. Then theTe was this talk of overpressure—that the girl was liioly to be overworked. If that were so, why projTiose 6xtra subjects for her to assiniitfate? To mate her more like her brother, jthe council said that they sWuld edu«ate her very differently—fo lighten her :work, give her extra 'compulsory subijects. (Laughter and applause.)

Mtre Girls Less Intellectual Than Boys?

. But after all, were girls really less 'than boys, or was it tho ro- . *sult of centuries of Dad training and bad (education? Think of .some Denighted |ideas about girls aad the result. A girl , ! could not throw a cricket ball. Why? Because it was once said that she had a shallower shoulder-joint than a boy, . and that to throw a ball with force was likely to put it out of joint. But tho joint is tho same, and' the girl will in Itime bo able to throw a cricket ball with (force, but it would taVo time. Tho (author of "Tho Intelligence of Woman" said (after mentioning tho intellectual ■ ■'differences and defining intelligence as '("seeing life soundly , and 6ooing ot •whole ):—"I believe that those differences are superficial -and I' temporaij, traceable to hereditary and local, influences. I believe that will not endure for ever; that they will tend to jvanish as environment is modified, as old {suggestions ceaso to be made. At present there were divergences. Ono of the 1 [sharpest lies in woman's: logical faculty. 'This may be due to her education (which !is seldom- mathematical or scientific).' (It may proceed from a habit of mind; it ifflay be owing to a withdrawal of respon-'ei-bilitiea other than domestic." , ! Narrowing the Difference. • '. ■•■ A more equal educatioa had already iuarron-ed the difference in totellectual ■Ktatns bstween. men aad women, and the latter have shown a capacity for matters once considered- unsuited to them. Some of. their.girls had been elected aa assistant to the professor in mathematics at the University. 'Kumerous instances would occur to her. hearers—one Iwas a lady demonstrator in physics. Then, if the life work wsre different, tlie qualiities needed for siiccess were the same—' . clear reason, concentration, perseverance, 'good judgment, good taste, high prin-. 'cinles, and a. drnthfuJ, . reverent, .-nd ,ihumble epirit, the list was not oxnaus;tive, tut those , were humanities aecossary hi success in mathema.tics and science. Strangely enough, the eubjeots mentioned •hy the Council of Education loft nmthcjmatics out altogether. If girls were dc-i-ficient in reasoning power, .surely that was more, not lws,-, aeceseary.'. Ma.t.heJnaatics were not.like n. drug for which something also could be substituted. One pbjection was the compulsory clement, jflnd. the greatest of these was cookery "in . 'all cases." All girls, jivere not going "to be viooke. Then "they would .need an army .■of teachers to teach all well. Where ,ivere they going to get them from ? Hho fcould not say. ■ Then, as there was no (corresponding addition to the boys' curIriculum, all the scholarships would full \to the boys. There was lnoro need at t jprcFent to increase ±ho efficiency of.com- ■ jinercial work, ne cfirl clorlts wcro ursont:ly. needed everywhere (o tako the places of the young men who. had rono to the 1-war.a.nd wero still to (?o. Taking info [consideration thn 'limitwl .time .--nd strength of the pupil, which subjects . were to go to mako room for the new tompulsory ones? Tt must not be lost Fight of that the majority of New Zealand girls did help at home, and very many were good cooks, thanks to tho training they got frorq their.mothers. She knew-that owins to 'the number of nlv sences from schools on tlie F.corc that they ihad to "stay at homo to help." jind in some cases she knew tha.t girls often took upon themselves the whole burden of a home, and that without thinking it Rny great hardship. Such work was very largely instinctive with girls. Vocational' training in England was usually taketi after the ordinary school life was finished, for it belonged properly to a group ,of subjects, Mich as hygipne, Eewijis;, dressmaking, laundry, household management. In the caso of some girls they had to earn a livelihood as footi as pi)?fible, and really could nnt spare the time whilst at school for additional subjenU of special educational or commercial .value. Ono teacher had told her that -phe would have etarj-ed if delayed, in I'.er icourco by taking extra subjects. The 'danger that existed was that subjects ■to do with higher education wero boing Telegated to a. second place. She would put, the humanities first. Rho wished it clearly understood that she was.not o»'.Tiosed to tho introduction of such sub■JDcts, but the requirement that all must take it during their secondary school course w-as unwise. Though they needed rood oookini;, all girls need not b© coote. They should avoid lik'e poison a. fixed 3n-

etead of a free. fOaijtic curriculum suitable aa far nn possible to tha le-quivo-mento of each. They oiigiit, in conclusion, ask. themselves how they determined the right oi' a eubject to a place in gonoral education. Tho wisest pronouncement eno know ivbs in Burnett's "Common Sense in Education." Aα one of tho "warnings from, tho history of education," he laid it down tihat the origin of some of tho aims and organisation of education, i<! fo bo fouiid in tho conception of man an n. mero citizen. It i$ noxt worst to tho military standard. It lays greater stress on what; a man products for .the community than what he is. The education should be concerned not with what a pupil can do or maio, but what ho ir> becoming. Tho teacher would not make good inon . cr women of his pupils by thinking chiefly of their future powers of production. The State, whioh is organic-od mainly-on an iflduetri al basis, will oducatowsiduonsly those for (jutilities most apt, for industrial production. That was why tho girls in our primary and in some secondary schools were occasionally taught, without protest, .not a few subjects which, except on commercial nud industrial grounds, have' nothing to recommend them. .It is nola good standard in education. Women havo a. grudge flgainut it. for .they gut least consideration when irither' a military or civic standard in adopted. . "I tliink," said Miw Jl'Lean m conclusion, "that; I eoo eigne in this country of mere utility outweighing true psychological value. Let us beware of crowding out subjects of the highest educational value in our secondary cchoolfl. I don't know what lesson you havo learned from lho;war. I have learned that ideas rule the world for good or evil to a greater degree tnati industrial eucCC66 As we teach onr children to tliuik -to will they lie." (Ap-pl.-iu.se.).