"The Dilettante Spirit."

Horowhenua Chronicle, 6 May 1910, Page 3

"The Dilettante Spirit."

" GIRLS SIIoTLT) EARN 'MKtR

BR EAD."

[ii lu.'i' report on the year 190S). which was rend at the iiiiuiu.nl prizegiving ceremony, tin l headmistress of [in; A nek la u'L .Diocesan Girls' High School (.Miss M. K. Pulling) ex- ■ pressed dissatisfaction with the want ■of iir.'i'pi'iidi'lice and vigour in much of tin* upper school work, though slio had noticed ji injcideil improvement, especially in two forms, since the previous year. Kxamining the cause of tiie lack of vigour, Miss Pulling ascribed it partly to the want of a furious bracing "must" '.it home. "Probably we in Auckland," she said, "need some less prosperous years to convince us that a.* a matter of prudence, it would be wise to make every upper school girl face the question of naming her own living. If so, f could almost wish tlv.se. years might come, for our girls want .some such tonic to brace them, and to make them take their c.wn work in hand and assume tlie responsibility for getting on in it. as we have a hard fight at school against the dilettante spirit in which too many girls are apt to approach 'heir work. So long ns music, 'Irnwing, French, or whatever else J hev think serially useful, prosper? 4 hey seem contc.n.t passively to let themselves be pulled through the >>ore solid parts of their education 'i.v their teachers. Tam .sure we all agree tlia>t this is not good for anyiii:\ and therefore, as T know the .rdiool i.s doing all it can in the mater, I would ask parents to give it ;erious consideration from their own ;)oint of view, and T would .appeal, Mirther, to all who rare for edueaion tot liiuk whether piiihlic opinion is sound here, whether life's work ;.akes its right place in tho scheme i ! life we put before our more well-_u-do girls." The Bishop (Dr. Jveli;an) endorsed what Aliss Pullingtbad ..aid of the evils of the dilettante pursuit of what were called in the Victorian epoch "accomplish;uents" and were taught in a finishl.ig school. In .these days, and in a young country, wo did <not want a :'i nisliing school or a meretricious education. "Whether a girl had to -earn her bread or not, it Was a fine thing for her .to he brought up recognising the possibility (and, indeed, the rightness) that she Should earn her bread. Singing, . music, r.nd so on, were all right, but he would rather see a girl take a stailia rd author a.t night and read him i' >r her own pleasure, and keep herself n.u.fait with great movements passing in Kit rope, than devote lier"?lif to "accomplishments." Girls should have a serious purpose in iheir work, and no less in their play.