CHILD WELFARE

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 14, 16 July 1918, Page 2

CHILD WELFARE

HOME AND SOCIAL EDUCATION

Miss Myers gave a thoughtful and well-considered lecture last evening at a meeting of the Women's National Council (Wellington • Branch), when Miss England (president) was in the chair. True education, said Miss Myers, ■was the harmonious development of individuals in body, mind; and spirit, and she mentioned some j)f the influences which were at work early in the infantile and child life;.emphasising'the extreme importance, of early training, and the laying of foundations; of character, to be built up and developed .later 6n in life. Home and society reacted on each other, and nations were built up, of individ. uals whose training in each case was of national importance. Miss Myers traced the varied developments of home - life from, early times, and said that the true home ideal was evolved by woman for the safety and protection of her children. Up to a century ago homes were factories in miniature, ,where each' child bore a part. Alfred Russell; a co-worker with Darwin, deplored competition and suggested co-operation, and this wag being suggested by the . keenest and deepest thinkers of' to-day, who found evidence of the great success of proper co-operation on the part of men a-nd women in the business world. Competition with them simply pushed women down to less wages and. less good position.

To-day, Miss Myers remarked, home life appeared to be non-existent. If women w-ers determined to reform the home so that it Would be able to per-' form its work in influencing national life as it should, then they must be prepared to adapt it to modern conditions by enlarging its scope until it embraced every subject that concerned the home—which meant every subject under the sun—and deal with it as man did with his work. It had to cease to be purely individual, and become instead all-embracing. The results of the in' efficiency of the home and of social life wero apparent everywhere, particularly in the children as revealed in the reports of the medical inspectors of schools,: hospitals, health officers, etc., and more strikingly in the reports. of the recruiting officers in the early days of the war, -when forty per cent, of the pick of our manhood were rejected for physical defects alone. ' ■ In reference to the qualities necessary for successful 'home makers, Miss Myere mentioned health, both physical and mental, and ability to resist disease and temptation, and the lecturer dealt with, the various aspects of these necessary qualities. . :

For the past forty years girls lia-d been educated on the same lines as boys; had taken 'the' same examinations*,, but had not been prepared' for life. For more than twenty years women had had the franchise-and were still unrepresented in Parliament. Examinations had been regarded as the end of education, and they had not produced efficiency because education hacl been'narrowed to the school and its Work. If children were to be prepared ■ for life, and not merely to pass examinations, or to be merely workers, home and social training must begin in infancy; must be continuous and progressive.' The remedy was Pto be found in.adopting, a -wider.outlook and extending the scope of the home and making it include all the j homes of'the nation, arid so getting the'/ideayof the national home and studying'its Welfare.' We had to teach that every. citizen was responsible for.all, and owed a duty to society., and. the State., The importance of the home was now recognised in industry by the infa-oduction of welfare work. Home conditions and home atmosphere had to be taken into all institutions, and.thus humanise them. This was the work of women. The training for this purposehad to begin in infancy, and, must be carried on throughout life. Hen and women' were responsible for. different sections, and had approached the'work from the point of view of their separate needs, and if we were to build soundly tliis fact should not be overlcSoked. Both needed the fullest development of their resources, and - eaoh. would respect the work of the other. .}■'■.,

A discussion followed upon some of the* points raised by the lecture, in which Mrs. Harverson, Mrs. J. A. Hainan,. Mrs.' Anderson, Miss Edith Howes, . Mrs. Donaldson, and others took part. 'Miss Myers received a .hearty vote of thanks for her lecture, and thanks were also .given to the Y.W.G.A. for the use of the room. '•■■■■