A DUTCH HOUSEKEEPING SCHOOL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 74, 20 December 1907, Page 3

A DUTCH HOUSEKEEPING SCHOOL.

The'housekeeping schools of Belgium have long been renowned, but it is probably the difficulty of the language that has prevented English people from knowing . the Dutch schools; equally well. In point of time Belgium led the way; most of the Dutch housekeeping schools have been recently established. * .The sort of housekeeping school that is often found in- Holland is -a day school for girls who have attended up to the age of thirteen or fifteen, or even seventeen, what we understand'by. an upper grade school, or a middle-class secondary school, or, in tho latter case, a high school; tho three ages roughly , indicate three classes of. girls. First thero are those who have been to the ■ elementary schools, .and who in the common course of events would leave at thirteen. But they are not the children of the very poor,-and their parents are able: and. willing to keep them at school longer; at the same time, they, do not think of sending .them on to the high .school or the university; they do not belong to the learned classes, nor do they propose to live by learning. Thoy will lead useful, busy, middle-class lives, looking after their own households, certainly earning handsomely their "right to live,"- though not in all cases earning what is called their "living" or wages. Then there are girls from the secondary schools, who commonly leave at fifteen.- Many of these go home and help their mothers, some have to earn their living in business. But this housekeeping education prevents them from over becoming the helpless sort of home-mothers that our business young women too often are.- They may also in this housekeeping school be trained for business as needlewomen anc as dressmakers; but meanwhile they arc also taught cookery, housewifery, and elementary hygiene. To one school in North Holland' a creche is attached, aild the pupils take their turn to mind the babies. The remaining girls, who enter at seventeen,.come from tho high'schools, and belong to well-to-do families. They learn for the sake of managing their own households, or they may intend to be teachers in a similar school, arid a few go oil'to a nurse's hospital for which this is considered a good preparation. , It will be seen that the first and last pupils above mentioned are much like those to whom' we teach domestic economy in England ; but we have not yet done very much towards, instructing the girls of the lower middle class, business girls, and girls from Small,_ struggling homes,, by whom such teaching seems to bo specially needed. The. full. course of instruction lasts two years, and at the end of that time pupils •;f thay pass the examiiation, get a diploma. Many com mly for year, and many mor« attend special classes in the afternoons Dr ':V9nirgs .H this selml :here were in all 249 pupils, who cost therefore, on an averago, 50 gulden each (£4-25.). 1 The subjects of instruction are. cookery (each girl lias to cook a 'dinner for the examination), housekeeping and bookkeeping, washing and -laundry work, tho use of all household materials, whether for furniture, cleaning, or, food; dressmaking, cutting out, and machine work (the diploma pupils being obliged to cut and fit a full-sized costume); fancy work, and art needlework. They are slso instructed ill French—the idea having first for the dressmakers to learn as much: French as would enable them to read the Fashion journals!—in arithmetic, in drawing and designing, and in Dutch grammar and dictation in the elementary classes. In some important points the schools differ from English ones. They do not profess to train servants. There are servants' classes, ™t a girl who has attended the school even from thirteen to fifteen years of age can do better for herself than that if she must begin to earn at once. She can get a post as assistant matron in one of Holland's numerous public institutions, or she can go as housekeeper in a family. The servant djfiicultv is less acuto in Holland than with" us;''but wages are much lower, a good maid being lontent with £9 or £10 a year. Servants work under the mistress, who trains them, and the necessary, thing in school is rather to train her. . Everything is exceedingly neat, orderly,, and clean; the metals arc polished to the last degree of brilliancy, the tiles are shining white, every plate and pot has its place, and is ill it.' Perhaps there is a corresponding absence of alertness and rapid accomplishiient. One wonders how these calm, loilurely cooks would turn out a big dinner ihort-handed. One is inclined to ask if thoso shining utensils are. meant primarily for use or Ornament. But the charm of Holland lies in its leisureliness, and this is the trainmg ground of Dutch 'h'omc-makcrs. There ire, besides, a good many servants who do the rough work of tho school and keep the spacious building clean. In a housekeeping school at home we are apt to set the pupils to work at cleaning. It is less necessary here, because servants aro not so scarce. In spite of excellent, cheap, and universal education, money in Holland will still buy the services of those who are ready to do the rough work of the' world. ' But the main difference no doubt lies in the general instruction given; in the fact of its boing designed as an alternative course for, girls of icliool age, who have chosen it as a boy might choose tho modern rather than, the jlassical side of his school, or might attend & commercial rathor than a grammar school. —B. A. B. in the "Queen." /