A PRESENTATION

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 112, 15 May 1922, Page 8

A PRESENTATION

Miss Chaplin, 8.A,, hon. secretary of the New Zealand Women Teachers' Association, was presented by the Mayoress (Mre. R. A. • Wright), on ' behalf of the association, with a handsome pendant, sot with pearls and amethysts, as an expression of appreciation of excellent work performed. In thanking^the donors, Miss Chaplin spoke of the origin of theW.T.A., which grew out of a correspondence between Miss Phoebe Myers and herself, the need of association and meeting between women teachers being most apparent to them. The association had been in existence for about [eight yewe, and there was no doubt.as to its benefits and necessity. Miss Chaplin spoke feelingly about the interest of women teacliere in the proper development ofi'children, whom they regarded as of the first importance in the economy of the world. The development of character meant development oE race, and Miss Chaplin doubted if the State fully realised this fact. Women teachers were not free to do what they knew was best. If it were true th»t the best teaching for children lay along the lines of natural adaptability, the same belief should'be applied to the teacher. In the primary schools the woman teacher had been held back. If opportunities were given her for development, she would .develop, and that development would be good for the race. If she were cribbed, cabined, and confined,' her natural abilities allowed no expansion, it was impossible to get her best results. To give wider opportunities to the woman teacher to-day was',but to be in accord with the spirit of the times. •