ON THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF GIRLS.

Press, Volume XXIV, Issue 3176, 4 November 1875, Page 3

ON THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF GIRLS.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE PRESS. Sir, —A perusal of some of the advertise- j ments which generally appears in our local papers in the beginning of a school term, will lead intelligent readers who take an interest in education to ask, where did all the heads of schools, more especially of ladies' schools, advertising their establishments, receive the training which alone can enable ihem to fulfil the noble task of teacher ? On finding, after inquiry, that of all the ladies who keep private schools in or near Christchurch, two or three only possess Government certificates, other questions necessarily arise : How is it that co many parents trust these ladies with tbe education of their children? and how ib it that the Government of this colony (which, it must be gratefully acknowledged, has established excellent schools for the laboring classes) does not adopt some measures to prevent those who are utterly unqualified for the work of education, from establishing private schools for the children of the middle and higher classes of society ? We sometimes hear it said that educated parents are responsible for the education they give their children, and that, if they think it right to send them to an inferior school, they have but themselves to blame on finding how little their children have learned, how deplorably they have been neglected. But does thia in any way lessen the evil consequences arising from a neglected education, from the loss of time and from misspent energies on the part of the young 1 Does this alter the fact that in too many cases the teaching they receive is not only indifferent and imperfect, but erroneous and unsystematic ? An old English divine used to say—" Ignorance is a blank sheet on which we may write, bnt error is a scribbled one on which we most first erase," and everyone who has had any experience in teaching will agree with mc when I say that the knowledge imparted, after the troublesome task of " erasing" or " unlearning" has been accomplished, is, like the second writing on a paper, seldom clear and distinct. Those who do not believe that the socalled "academies" and "select ladies' school" are of sterling worth, are sometimes told that the beads of these establishments are compelled to earn their living, and that no other sphere of work but that of teaching is open to gentlewomen. No true philanthropist, can reason thus ! It is not right that the future welfare of so many children should be sacrificed for the sake of the comparatively few who earn their daily bread by teaching them, merely because they must earn their bread, not because tbey have a decided calling to be teachers- We shonld like to see the sphere of employment for women widened, without assigning any work to them that might be called unwomanly, and we believe that any woman, placed under the necessity of earning her bread, can find work, if she will but seek it and make np her mind to labor in the true christian spirit, which, in its very humility, elevates her above the social prejudices of a cold bard world.

r A third argument used ia istar of the i numerotta-eehoole we are speaking of, is tbat ' instruction-is given there for a comparatively ; low remuneration. We may find a reply to i this in the answer given by Aristippna to a , wealthy Greek, who bad asked him his ' charge lor giving lessons to his son. The ; " terms rt seemed very high to him, and he i exclaimed " I could bny a slave for that i" " Do so," answered the master," and yon will gain a second slave in your son." Children brought up without a good education- run tbe risk of becoming slaves indeed —slaves to ignorance and all the sad circumstances of life arising from it. The terms of some private schools may seem very high to some parents with large families ; but if the competition caused by the large number of inferior schools were to cease, instruction in the higher schools might be given for a very moderate remuneration, owing to the larger number of pupils that would be sent there. The work of education is of such grave importance that it would be difficult, nay impossible, to overrate it. It is generally admitted that the education of girls has been much neglected in colonial schools, on account of the difficulty of obtaining trained teachers. This want has to a certain extent I been supplied in this province by the schools ! recently established by ladies, who not only possess certificates, but who, by their work, have given ample proof that they are trained teachers, and have a decided vocation to instruct the young. As far as I know, however, there are only three lady-principals of private schools in Canterbury who possess teachers' diplomas—two of these gained theirs in England, and one in a high school for teachers on the Continent of Europe. None of the others are trained teachers, nor have they, as far as I have been able to ascertain, any certificated mistress in their establishments. Nevertheless, the great majority of girls belonging to the middle and higher classes, are placed under the care of the latter 1 Whilst the most conscientious strictness is observed in the choice of the teachers who work in the district schools, the greatest laxity is permitted in private schools for the higher classes; and with due reverence for home teaching, to which the latter often resort, I would venture the remark that it is in most cases less thorough, regular, and systematic than an education in a good school. The evil consequences of inefficient teaching may be felt in course of time far more than they are row, for we must bear in mind that hundreds of women in this colony have been educated by their own mothers and relations, who received a superior education in English or continental schools before they came to New Zealand, The good influence exercised by the mothers in their own homes, as well as in society, has perhaps done more towards fostering indirectly the welfare of this colony than many a mercantile or agricultural enterprise. A gifted writer says :—" If we wish to know the political and moral condition of a State, we must ask what rank women hold in it. Their influence embraces the whole of life. . . .A man takes counsel with his wife, he obeys bis mother; he obeys her long after she has ceased to live, and the ideas which he has received from her often become principles stronger even than his passions." We ought not to undervalue a woman's work in this world ! We onght not to allow our girls co be brought up in schools where inefficient women • are permitted to teach I It would be a great boon to the colony, if the Government would take steps to remedy the evil I have pointed out; this might be done'graduaUy and without undue severity against any who, though they may not bave a teacher's certificate, possess sufficient knowledge and skill to teach. The measure to be adopted need not be retrospective; if it were only prospective the number of bad schools would very soon decrease. In almost every country on the continent of Europe, the law demands that everyone establishing a school or acting as a teacher should pass a Government examination ; in Germany and Switzerland a governess is not even permitted to teach in a family without having a certificate. Men and women who take the lead in matters of education in England, and through whose endeavours excellent colleges for the higher education of girls have been established, assure us that ere long a similar measure will be adopted there. Why should it not be done here with as little delay as possible ? Such a measure would not necessitate any expense. A diploma from any English or foreign high school, or a first-class Government or university certificate taken in this country, would suffice for the head of a school, and a second or third-class certificate for assistant teachers. I do not belong to those who imagine that a diploma or a degree of some kind enables a person to teach, and do not wish to foster the tendency to which some time ago Mr Fronde—the learned historian —referred in his inaugural address at St Andrews ; " the tendency to study for purpose and one purpose only, to make a show in examinations." The art of teaching, the love for teaching, cannot be acquired by study only. But a certificate of some kind is always a certain guarantee against that ignorance which we too often see displayed in •• Select Ladies' Schools," and of which so many girls are the victims. Their faculties, instead of being guided aright at the first period of their development, are by unattractive, injudicious teaching, too frequently left to sink into intellectual torpor. Thus the want of what is commonly called " a taste for learning " is created, and they are often for ever debarred from the highest acquirements which their time, their inclinations, and their powers might have led them to realise under more favourable circumstances. Yours, kc, A Friend op Education.