COOKERY LESSONS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 6, 2 October 1917, Page 3

COOKERY LESSONS

TWO POINTS OF VIEW

A LITTLE RIDICULE

: Another opportunity wns afforded to Mr. Hindmai'sh. .in tho House of Kepreejjculativcs last night. to. refor to the teaching ol domestic science in tlio secondary schools of the Dominion. Mr, llindnmrsh persisted in speaking of tho subject, as it* it meant cooking simply, and bo made a reference to tho difficulties ot teaching cookery in the Wellington Girls' College. Generally ho ridiculed the idea of attaching" very much importance to tho subject. Mr. Isitt took Mr. Hiudmarsh to task for not being, practical and not being consistent.

Mr. Hindmnrsh: On tills tripo and onions proposition! '

ilr, Payne also . took Mr. Hindmais. to task. He said that the argumen seemed to bo that it was mora import ant for a girl to be able to do an equ& tion than to cook a potato. Mr. AY. H. Field spoko seriously -of Hie question as'affccting tho Wellington Girls' College. He said that the Wellington Girls' Collego was a.very out-of-date institution, and that the teaching tliero waq rendered unsatisfactory by the conditions in which the work had to bo done. He assured the Minister that the governors of the college, of he was one, were anxious (o have tho instruction of domestic science carried on efficiently in the ecliool, but they were cramped for room, and their greatest difficulty was tho lack of teachers qualified to teach the subject. Mr. Forbes had been hearing tilings from Ms own or somebody else's little girl, about "home science as she is taught. He told the Minister that the thing could not be done unless proper accommodation and proper utensils wero provided. The girl wlom he quoted had complained of having to cook in "messy little. tins," with such quantities as "a quarter of a chop," with "patty-pana to cook meat in." "You might be able to call it a course in homo science, but as a cooking lesson it is an absurdity," said Mr. Forbes. He thought that at least every pupil should have a whole potato, and no.t a quarter of a potato! Mr. Parr said that in the Aiickland School tho facilities for'the teaching of this subject were good.

. Air. Payne: We don't havo any pattypans up there! ' Mr. Parr said that he thought the tilhe had come lor overhauling tlie curricula of secondary schools, lie thought too much attention was i£ow given to classical subjects.

.. Miv M'Combs said that he .was rather surprised that a Parliament of men should say that the aim and object of every woman was to learn to cook. His experience was that an educated woman, a wsjman with a trained-'mind, very quickly learned the simplo arts of cookery' if she needed to jmictiso them, and very many girls went to work in factories and to earn their living- in other ways, so that they had no need to know anything about cookery/ Tho Minister said tliat ho was responsible, i'or the idhi that domestic science should be made compulsory for -girls, aud ho would go as far as ho could in insisting that, the regulations ho had caused to. be jtlrawn up should bo carried out.-, Tho subject had been made compulsory in iingland and in Ireland. He did not believe in forcing boys and girls through the same educational sieve. JKs belief was that hitherto we' had educated girls too -much along the lines defined for boys. To those who had spoken of the subject, ho-wished to say tliat domestic science included more than cookery. Mr, Hindmarsh: What does it include? Scrubbing? v * '• ■ Mr. Hanan ignored the jibe, and talked seriously about giving girls an "all-round" and not a "loy-sided" education. And he quoted the well-worn example of the woman who has au }I.A. degree who may not be an efficient homemaker. Referring to tho case ot' Wellington, bo said that tho fact was. that, domestic science was taught in Wellington Girls' School. The, lady principal was rather proud of the. work done there.