EDUCATION OF WOMEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1156, 24 January 1874, Page 1

EDUCATION OF WOMEN.

It used to be said that the Social Science Congress was a gathering of dilettanti to ride hobby horses to death, without accomplishing any practical work for the world. Many of the subjects which occupied its time at the beginning of its career came fairly under th '8 heading. It was evident that the existence of the Congress depended upon its grappling with practical subjects in a practical way. Each year that these meetings have beea held it has become more and more evident that the members understood this fact, and were prepared to act upon it. Now a days no one speaks of the moral regeneration of the human nice, they speak of education higher or elementary; no one speaks of the elevation of tie masses, they treat of this or that specific for hindering drunkenness. Theobjectis the same, the method different. That this is the more wholesome plan will not be questioned. Evjn if it were not, it is quite ilear that the genius of the people of Great Britain runs so entirely in the practical groove that it is difficult to create interest, and impossible to stir up enthusiasm, except by a certain definiteness of proposition. The evil to be removed, and the plan proposed for its removal, must be stated clearly, if not logically, before people can be got to listen to it. For many yeirs, for instance, the sorrows of governesses formed a stock theme for tie declamations of those philanthropists who desire to remove the grievances of the whole human race, section j>y section. It was a shame that those (who were employed to instruct the yj>ung of a middle class household, whop labours, for good or evil, would resultjin giving ft tone, to a whole gqneratii), bljp.us

maid, and scarcely more than the page. It was a shame that they should live with the housekfieper, or he snubbed by the footman, and be turned adrift; in their old age to spend their declining years in an alms-house, or worse. It never seemed to occur to these good people that their lament might well have taken another shape, and led them to an enquiry whether the work of a governess did nob receive this apparently inadequate remuneration simply from the fact that the education given was in nine cases out of ten so indifferent as to be positively overpaid by the salary awarded. This is a fact which is now becoming apparent at home. k The friends of higher education, instead of wasting their energies in bemoaning the selfishness of the public in not paying governesses more, are taking up the question farther back, and seeking to supply more trained female teachers by supplying the means of systematic training. There can be no c|oubt that we in Otago will have to undertake the same ta^k on a scale commensurate with our requirements. In no part of the world, perhaps, is it more diißcult to get thoroughly trained teachers, both male and female, than in Otago. Let anyone try to get a good governess or a good school teacher, and he will find that the difficulty of supplying his need at any price amounts almost to an impossibility. The desire so widely expressed for an improved and improving education for our girls is constantly met by the want of getting lit teachers, is stunted by the scarceness of any qualified instructresses in the accomplishments or essentials that go to make up an educated woman. Mrs William Grey, at the Social Science Congress, goes boldly to the root of the matter. Of the ten objects which the National Union for Improving the Higher Education of Women proposes to itself, the third is as follows :—": — " To raise the social status of female teachqrs by encouraging women to make teaching a profession, and to qualify themselves, for it by a sound and li bpral education and by a thorough training in the art of teaching, to supplement training colleges by attaching, where possible, a class of pupil teachers to every large school, and by such other means as should be found advisable ; also to secure a test of the efficiency of teachers by examinations of recognised authority and subsequent registration." We have very frequently declared our opinion that the provision for education in this Province will never be on a satisfactory footing until we have an institution where aspirants to the noble profession of teaching can leai-n their business, It has become absolutely necessary both here and at home to endeavour to prepare a number of young women for the task of teaching. The Social Science Congress is doing good work in grappling with the most elementary matter in education ; unless we want to be a generation behind hand in th#race, we had better quickly follow the excellent example set us. Our method may, indeed must, be very different. Wo have not many schools fit to be*a training ground for future mistresses. A few there are, but in them a certain number of pupil teachers are already engaged, and to increase their number would be to dissatisfy the parents by allowing beginners to make experiments upon the children. There are one or two trades already in which the outside public acknowledges the difficulty of an apprenticeship. How dentists and hair-cutters learn their work is an occult mystery to a great many people. There should really be the same difficulty with a pupil teacher, only the public mind has not yet thoroughly recognised the fact. Young men and women are supposed to stand up and teach a class by a species of intuitive knowledge, just as soon as they are acquainted with the subjeots themselves \jpoa which they propose to teaoh

a sheep's head — a barber upon a block, i Pupil teachers throughout a whole school are really making their mistakes at the expense of the children they teach. Normal Training Colleges are the real i-eniedy for the want. The stamp of the education given here will always remain a low one unless we have a system for teaching the teachers. At present, when we are told of a large school, a multitude of teachers, male and female, a fine building, &c, we cannot but i^emember the old Latin proverb which bids us see — Quis custodiet ipsos custodes ? in other words, Who teaches the teachers ?