GIRLS' SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13336, 30 January 1909, Page 10

GIRLS' SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

THE STRAIN OF STUDY

AX EXPERT OPINION

A few days ago the members of the University Senate held a warm discussion, on a motion brought forward by tho Rev. A. Cameron, suggesting that with a view to lessening the strain in Girls' Secondary Schools, tho 3lin-ister for .Education should be requested to provide fifteeni Senior National Scholarships for girls only. Various speakers in the debate spoke of tho havoc workod by the strain induced by competitive examinations, and several contended that domestic science should bo made one of tho subjects for girls. Miss M. V. Gibsonj the Lady Principal of the Chrisrtchurch Girls' High School, "was approached for her views on tho general subject, and she ret'ponded with a comprehensive review ol tho whole matter, from tho standpoint of tiio secondary school teacher. '■I do not think.that to give separate ■ioholarships tor girls would really pre-v-ont the strain at all. If tho present standard of worJc v/ero maintained, there would be just as inj-urious competition among the girl themselves. A girl does not exert herself to beat the boys; she exerts herself to gain a scholarship. If the standard of girls' work were lowered I think -the strain or the University Colleges would bo disastrous for the girls, becauso they would go there lcs.s woll -prepared than the boys with whom they -would have to compete. I think that tho work required for the Junior Unrversity-Sc-holarship Examination should be- reduced on some lines such as thoso suggested by the Secondary Schools' Conference in their recommendations to tho Senate in 'May of last year. The work should bo reduced- for boys and girls alike, but I don't think there should bo any dividing of scholarships or making any special conditions for giris. Such cluinges would! not lessen the evil. There are. however, two or three things which could be done. I think that the strain', when it is present in girls' secondary schools, is almost entirely dmo to weakness in the teaching staff. It is only in recent years that any women at all have been educated, v.) to the standard required to touch tha subjects for the Junior University Scholarship examination, and the choice of suitable teachers, properly qualified!, is still extremely small. The> teacher, to be clear In her explanations, and to answer possible enquiries from her pupils, needs a Tory much higher .acquaintance with her subject than the standard up to which she has to teach. It ie not the difficulty of the subject, but the lack, of clear explanation on the part of the teacher that is frequently responsible for strain. When a boy sits down to dio home work, andi has not understood Itis teacher's explanation, he lays the blame on. the right shoulders, and considers that it is the teacher's dfuty to make him understand. Hβ either lays the matter aside to argue it out with the teacher, or bothers no more about, it. The giri is apt to think that tfoo failure to undterstanxi is due to her dullness, nndi worries herself in an attempt to understand. She spendb probably a long time over it. If she succeeds, she certainly has gained a groat point in the acquirement of knowledge, but has done it at the expense of her constitution. Tho difficulty, I thinJi ; is that the girla , secondary schools in New Zealand have not got strong enough or sufficiently highly qualified to do the teaching required. The Christchurch Girls' High School is particularly well staffed in that respect. Tho teachers who teach the Junior University Scholarship students arc all speciaiisrts in their own lines, and I think that is one reason, why we don't find such an injurious strain on the pupils -as some of the other schools complain of.

"What I would suggest as far better than giving scholarships for girls would be that the Education. Department and tho_ Senate should try to make the teaching staffs of the second*ary schools more thoroughly efficient and effeotivo first of all, by paying salaries that would induce really clever and we_ qualified women to teach .in tho secondary schools, give them facilities for post-graduate work, and free attendance at courses of college lectures. I think that' teachers ore bound to keep up to tho standard) of modern work, especially in science, and it is< very difficult for them to get the instruction. They have to pay the fees out of tb<*ir own pockets, and! have very small salaries to do it from. The teacher- in the gecond_ry schools who teach this work are really paid lower salaries than the teachers in tlie primal.' schools. Further, I think that tlie Girls' Schools, which ■' are generally rather badly off, should have sufficient endowments to keep a large enough staff to allow proper specialisation- so that the -teacher -who is specially r-ual-ifiod to teach ono subject should ti-acb that one only. Thero should- also be smaller classes, which would allow more time for the preparation of tho work on tho part of the teacher. "I think it would be to the advantage of a school if a sensible, thoroughly qualified medical visitor were appointed, who would hold a parade of tbe girls once or twice a term, and .whom the Principal could consult about the physique and constitution of somo of the girls.'.' Asked whether any cases of strain "had come under her observation in the Christchurch Girls' High /School. Miss Gibson said that she had not, during the ten years or moro that she had l been in charge of tlie school. A large number of girls had gone through the College, probably a larger number than from any other girls' school in the Dominion. Nearly all the girls jhad entered for the Junior University Scholarship Examination had gone on to College, and taken their degrees. Many of them had' been students at the Normal Training College at tho same time, and most of them were now teaching in different schools in the country. The absence of "break downs" she -attributed to the efficient staff which was at the school.

As to whether the subjects were suit able for girls' classes to study for tne University .course, Miss Gibson had somo interesting remarks to offer. "I think every woman has the right to decide "what her vocation will be. Someone say- that they should be bound"to take a domestic science course. There will always bo women who will not be called upon to take up domestic duties, just as there will always bo men who are tailors, cooks and; dressmakers. I do not think that a University training injure- a woman's domestic instincts at all, if she has any. It rather makes her more capable, and a woman who has trained her mind and intellect. I think, can always successfully take up domestic life more easily than a woman who has been trained only in domestic science can take up an intellectual profession afterwards. The Rev. Mr Cameron said that it would' do good to the school and the girls if the latter were compelled to take as one of tho subjects domestic science. I don't think that all girls of the Secondary Schools should be compelled to take domestic science as one of their subjects, but I would like to see 1 those who wish to do so encouraged by its inclusion in tlie curriculum of our Secondary Schools and Colleges. This will follow naturally if the University makes it a degree subject. I should very much ljke to see a Domestic

Schccl OAtablished at Canterbury College, to stand in tho same relation to the female student as the School of Engineering stands to the male student. It -hould not in any way shut a girl out of the arts or other courses, but give her an alternative. I would not exclude the male student from the School of Domestic Science any moro than I would exclude the girl student from tho School of Engineering. However, in a few years' time there will probably be a School of Domestic Science in connection with the University Colleges."