WOMEN TEACHERS' REUNION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 156, 1 July 1916, Page 17

WOMEN TEACHERS' REUNION.

A very pleasant and sociable reunion of "the women teachers from town and ' country was held at the Training College ' on Wednesday evening, when over fifty • memoers und v L£i£ora "wore sxLttiered toI aether. The meeting was held under the I ' . auspices of the Women Teachers' Asso- \ ' ciation, and the president, Mrs. Foreyth, | ' was in the chair. Dr. Elizabeth McDonald, medical in- j specior of schools, who has a charming : j spoke to the teachers upon "The Value ! !of the Child." The doctor drew- attes- ! tion to the fact that the child is the ceu- j ; tral fact of humanity, and that the j future lives with the child now being I moulded in our schools. Unless we educate children wisely for life, to become ' good fathers and wise mothers, we should . j not pride ourselves on our schools. I Character building was the greatest fact. . [ Unless the teacher was enabled tcr study j the child being taught, with patience and i insight, ar.d as an individual, teaching; j became drudgery. The problem before | ,theiß as educationists was the study of their bodies In many homes, after the j : :ir--t baby days are passed, there is no;- ! fleet of the children's bodies and souls' I till they go to schot.l. It is necessary to provide mental food ju*t when the child j needs it, as this impulsion from without '■ xont of the child in schooli' was alxost ! impossible. Mothers want to know that jan unsympathetic attitude may makp a : great mark or. the child's developing cha- ' ijacter. Character was of more value ' J than scholarship. No two children ciui 'be treated exactly alike. Parents ought ' to train their <'hildren so as to make ■ their outlook "wider and their possibili- ' I ties greater. Meet mothers reel them- ; sc»vsa *i£ ono tirno or unotht?r put on one E side. The child looks at them" with can'idi.l eyes, and seems to say that if they "|h;lp and understand he will love them >| always: if not, he still must go on ■j along tis roa-, tBIa Vile, the only one he ? jcan live. We cannot prevent the child ■! growing; in every sphere be will be striv--1 ing after self -expression: and thy teacher ■ should provide the environment. If '• parents have not a sense of mental hon- i 1 esty they cannot teach a little child to j >be truthful. punL=h a≤ they may. This j i explains why some mothers do not need i '■ to teach their children to be truthful. ( ol Can anything finer be said of a. mother! - than that her children naturally grew up p good? i .-. At the close of the lecture the doctor , t was thanked for her fine address. A s I mtaical programme followed. Songs were oj given by Miss itoya Ventry-Snrith. and .-1 Mies Ettie Schneideman. while dracxui ■ r recitals by Misses Vida Wallace ar.J t Madge Stubbs were heartLly enjoyed. In o response to special request" Mrs. Forsyth d gave a masterly rendering of two Cocke ney characters, and was rewarded with •- hearty spontaneous laughter and warm c applause. Refreshments were handed ' round,, and an enjoyable reunion termi-