SEX DIFFERENTIATION IN EDUCATION.

White Ribbon, Volume 22, Issue 259, 18 January 1917, Page 1

SEX DIFFERENTIATION IN EDUCATION.

The Education Council has recommended, and the teachers have approved, that in our system of education we make a difference in the education g ; ven to girls and to boys. When we question the opinion of such experts we almost feel like the “fools who rush in where angels fear to tread”; and yet we cannot help asking why our children in schools should be classified according to sex and not according to ability. Englishmen of a bygone era (losrd all

(lovernment positions to nonconioiinists -i.e., io all vs ho would not conform to the rites and ceremonies of the Established Church. ’Tia little more than a century since these disabilities were removed from Jews and Roman Catholics. A Jew might be as wise as Solomon, with a genius for leadership like Moses; a Roman Catholic as capable an organiser and administrator as Loyala, but their religion barred them from using their gifts in the service of the State. Across the path leading to the (iovernment service stretched a fence on which was inscribed, “No Noncon-

formist need apply." Long after this fence was removed a second barrier of sex, bearing this inscription, “No woman need apply,” guarded the divine right of the male to all the well-paid professions. The records of the past tell how hard our pioneers worked to remove this fence, and at length a small breach was made, opening the way to the medical profession. In this new Dominion the breach was widened, and we are proud of the fact that the Assistant Editor of this journal was the first lady in the British Dominions to hold a University degree. And up to the pre-

sent tht* pathway to higher education has been opened to eveiy child in this Dominion without « ith« i « i,is> or sex distinction. Why then should we create artificial distinctions? Why not give every child an equality of opportunity? In citizenship, as in service, there should be neither sect nor sex. Our education could be materially improved by a closer linking together of its different parts. From the Kindergarten, through the primary school, on to the secondary school, and then to the University, there should be, as nearly as possible, a continuous course of study, . one preparing the way for the other. The Kindergarten should lead up naturally to the primary school. The course there might be much simplified by teaching fewer subjects, and those more thoroughly. Pupils should reach a standard approximating to the present Standard VI. between the ages of 12 and 14 years. After this the child should begin to speeiali e. Public money has been wasted and the time and patience of the secondary school teacher has been exhausted by trying to fit square pegs into round holes. The girl who is a born dressmaker, or the boy who is fitted by nature to reign as “chef” at some large establishment, is sent by the parent (who has the right to decide as to where the two years gained by the Proficiency Certificate shall be spent) to College, and there frets his heart out over the study of Latin and Mathematics, which he hates, and for which he has no natural ability. At the end of two years the child leaves, disgusted, his Proficiency Certificate wasted as far as preparing him for his life work. There is also great waste of money caused by overlapping ; we have colleges teaching Shorthand and Hookkeeping, and Technical Schools with classes for Latin.

When the required standard has been reached to leave the primary school then, on the report of the teacher, supplemented by the inspector's examination, the children should be divided broadly into two classes, those who are adapted, by natural gifts and inclination, for (1) a Technical Course, and (2) a University Course. The classification should be made by experts, and not left to the decision of a parent. At the secondarv schools thev could be further

subdivided, and every child be given an opportunity to develop the best in them, both for their own sakes and for the benefit of the State. At this stage probably a difference would be apparent between the courses selected for boys and those for g rls. C-iven a free classification according to natural bent and ability, few boys would select, say, cooking or dressmaking ; ’out if there is a Worth among the boys, or a natural born “chef,” by all mea..s let them be trained along those lines. On the other hand, probably only a minority of the girls would be drafted into a Mathematics and Science class. Hut should a Madame Currie be in our midst, give her the opportunity to develop her scientific gifts. Women have risen high as Scientists, and have excelled at Mathematics, yet these classes for some time to come would be largely composed of boys. But the classification should depend on ability and not on sex. Examinations should be reduced to a minimum. At the adolescent period neither boy nor girl should be worried much with ex n inations. So long as they are doing good and satisfactory work the State should allow them to go on without everlastingly wanting to examine them. The stress of examination affects the girl more than the boy. probably because she* worries more over the exam nation, and the nervous strain reacts on he r physically. Over and over again it has been demonstrated to a certainty that women have greater powers of endurance than men.

Especially now is there a need of women workers. “Woman’s place is in the home,’’ says the ordinary man, quite overlooking the fact that thousands of women have to earn that home for themselves, and should not be denied the training that fits them to hold their own in the industrial and commercial world. The State is clamouring for women workers to replace men who have gone to the front. Is this a time to impose a sex limitation on their education? Certainly not. Develop the talents of every girl for the service of the State. I heir ability as nurses was always allowed, and yet for centuries prejudice barred their entrance into the medical profession. The whirligig of Time brings many changes, and here is one. The country that

for long refused to allow women to qualify as doctors is now asking for women doctors, not only to replace male doctors wanted at the Front, but actually to go to Malta and other military hospitals. Hundreds of exteachers and University graduates throughout this Dominion are wives and mothers, and by their capable management of home and children give the lie to the statement that Higher Education unfits women for ordinary home duties. In the Victorian period girls were taught thatht was their sole duty in life to be some man’s wife. What followed? It became the sole aim and object of every woman’s life to “make a good match.” Wealth counted more than character. Could a woman do her children a greater injury than give them a drunken or immoral father? Would any amount of wealth make up to them for the deadly taint in their blood? And respectable, good women commixed this wrong because* they had never been taught to earn their own living, but only to keep some man’s home. From any return to such a state of affairs, good Lord deliver us! Chicago has a College course in motherhood, and every girl would be the better for such a course, but it only takes a few months pf their school life. Given a woman a,s mother whose brain has been trained and cultivated, she can always get expert advice. Plunket nurses and doctors are always willing to help, and she can intelligently follow their directions. Should we make a difference here between the sexes? Perhaps not. Girls to be trained as mothers. What about the fathers of their children should they n<n be trained also? Tin* average boy is as fond of a baby as his sister until he gets laughed out of it. Encourage that fondness. Don’t laugh at the boy who enjoys a game with his sister and her doll. Teach the b.oy the responsibilities of fatherhood, and then for love of the children who are to be his in the future, he will keep the present clean and unsullied, so that he may pass on a goodly heritage to those children. Sadly must we face the fact that for many girls this war has lessened their chance of a happy marriage. The boys who should have been their husbands lav stark and cold beneath the blood-red soil of France, or on Gallipoli’s sunny slopes. Shall we not give them the