TEACHING AS A PROFESSION FOR WOMEN.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 167, 8 April 1908, Page 3

TEACHING AS A PROFESSION FOR WOMEN.

There are not so many careers into which the educated New Zealand girl can throw her energies that in making choice of her .life's work sho can afford-to disregard tho biggest career of all, and unless she has a strong distaste for the work, or some natural disqualification, she will do well to consider the advantages and disadvantages of teaching in all its branches, kindergarten work,, teaching as a governess, oi - in a primary,' secondary, or private school —unless sho has a natural'disqualification or distaste, for this is a point that is not perhaps considered as often as it might be bv parents in making up their minds that their daughter, being clever shall teach. . It may, be remarked, in passing, that this 'career is chosen for a- girl bv her parents' more often than any other. A girl decides for herself whether she shall go into an office, factory, or -shop, but it is the parents of a bookish girl who begin to make up their minds early in her school course that she must be a teacher, though she may be quite unfitted for the position. There may he physical disqualifications.. Tho girl may bo delicate, he,r voice may be weak, she may '.be abnormally shy, self-conscious, or diffident, in which case teaching would 'bo a torture to her, unless indeed she taught tiny children, or slio may bo slow of speech arid dull in ,hpr way of imparting _ information, 4iad 'tempered, .irritable, or impatient,, with children, i" either of -which 'cases- her teaching would he .a terror to her pupils. But leaving such considerations - aside, - aiid taking tho case of an ordinary bright, intelligent, well-educated : gifl,V interested, in;pco'--ple, fond of children, and of the subjects sho would have .to teach, and one can hardly think'of a. more useful or.more congenial career-than this,- bringing * her; as it'does, into constant and helpful association with children and young girls. "It is essentially a woman's work,.'more so .than any other one can think of, unless it be . nursing. Boys, .grown boys, should'i ;bb taught by men, hut young children of; both sexes 'and girls of all ages by a woman.. She understands children, and especially does she .understand'the girls, with whom a man is apt to -bo too- severe or too lenient. (Did anyone ever know a man teacher in a girls' high school who could maintain discipline?) Tho woman teacher can sympathise with tho girls' aims, sho understands their wishes and their difficulties, and,'which, is ;very impor-, 'taut, she can see through'their little nrtful : ways. The pvorago woman has motherly instincts, and the average, woman.,teacher is. much more concerned with tho affairs' of her ' pupils than thoso defiant young people, ever imagine. It is not till the schoolgirl grows up. and mixes : on:'. items' of/equality with •teacKpjte, and'h'eafs tliom talk 'among' themthat sho has any ' idoa what her pupils mean to a teacher, how. sho studies the weakness and the strong points of each; and how she 1 delights in tho success of the clever, .the little triumphs and progresses of thV backward. ■' To a woman her pupils are her children,' and in her own sphere she is perhaps less liable oven than a mother to misunderstand or have feelings of partiality. Sho is genuinely anxious to do her best for all, not; from any feeling of professional pride, but from a real love and sympathy for those on whose account she bears so much responsibility.; The teacher's life may be harassing, ill fact there is. little, doubt ,about that; it .is not dull. In varying degree,each/,of her pupils provides her with a live interest, and according to her capability she leaves oil the plastic child-nature an influence that will last through life. :It is this permanence of her work that makes it of such'vast importance, that gives to* the work of a good teacher an intrinsic value higher almost than that of any other, worker in tjie State, .for she moulds the life of little citizens, and may give a mental bias that shall help.or impede ' the' work of future generations. The tendency of the modern parent is ti> leave too much_ in the way/of nioral -influence andteaching to the teacher, and tho teacher has . to shoulder, the burden, 'though unfairly placed. It is; also'increasingly, the tendency of men to leave this work-to women.! There are so many careers opening '.out: for men, it is only an exceptional mail' wlio. will choose to confine himself: iri a schoolroom all his days. This difficulty/-which,, is being felt, in many countrios, threatens to become, acute in New Zealand. There is-one, educational district here,: " 'where, in ten years, only four youths have, bccome pupil teachers. It is to be hoped that, as this fact is recognised it will also bo recognised that the womonwho undertake an important duty, relinquished by men, will deserve to be adequately paid for their ser- , vices, and this is not the case at present. Certain it is that teaching, is an occupation worthy of tho best intelligences, and■one that, unlike many others, affords to those who undertake it an' opportunity of progressive development. ' .