A GIRL AND HER VOTE
IMPRESSIONS AT SEVENTEEN “ I am seventeen, and when 1 am twenty-one I shall have a vote. This is rather an appalling thought, because I know so little about either _ politics or voting.” writes A.J., in the ‘ Woman’s Leader.’ “ This may be due to my own ignorance, but I feel inclined to blame the present system of education, which omits from all school curriculums any definite mention of modern politics, and except for debates organised by the girls themselves and often discouraged by the majority of the staff, modern schools do not encourage an interest in public affairs; and unless girls are taught to take an interest in national crises while they are at school many of them will not be inclined to study them after they have left, and will, therefore, when they have a vote throw it away in their ignorance of the parties and what they stand for.
“There is plenty of political literature in the house, but while I am still at school I have not the time to read it, because besides my actual school work there are so many other school interests that my time is completely filled. I don’t even know how the country is governed; by this I mean that my views are very hazy about local bodies, constituencies, and such things, and I find that if you question your parents on these matters their answers are so involved.
“ I know that many girls are interested in politics and are not given the chance to develop their interests, and 1 think that if schools disregard a political conrsc as an important educational factor it is up to the women themselves to give their daughters a fair chance, and to encourage any tendencies towards politics, and make the study of international affairs as interesting as possible, because in these days of jazz one is so inclined to let everything except pleasure go to the dogs. “ But however it is managed, if girl's of twenty-one are to have votes, some kind of arrangement must be made by which girls, if they are still at school, can take an interest in politics and use their votes when they get them.”
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Evening Star, Issue 19796, 21 February 1928, Page 5
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369A GIRL AND HER VOTE Evening Star, Issue 19796, 21 February 1928, Page 5
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