WHAT TO DO WITH OUR GIRLS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1875, 28 October 1887, Page 33

WHAT TO DO WITH OUR GIRLS.

A (MEAT AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE FOR THEM.

THE METHODIST LADIES' COLLEGE,

MELBOURNE.

Hitherto all the best things in the educational world have been reserved for boys. For them great colleges have risen; and wealthy endowments have been formed. But girls have been left io nature and ".select academies!" The old heathenish rjnd contemptuous idea of women, which made her, as far as man was concerned, ."something better than his dog, a little dearer than his horse," has stained through to our nineteenth century civilisation. But that stain will scarcely reach to the twentieth. All over the world the education of girls is being revolutionised. They arc entering freely into every realm of science and every walk of practical life, with the happiest results to themselves and the other half of the world.

This pulse of modern progress, like every other, beats strongly in Australia; and a

rids' college which will stand beside the best to be found in older lands has just been completed in Melbourne. The Methodist Ladies' College of that city' is one of the youngest of the groat schools of Australia ; but in scale, equipment, and methods, it represents the new order of things and not the old, and is itself a symbol of the widening thoughts of the age. It is decidedly in advance of anything yet attempted under Australian skies. It bears the name of one of the great religious denominations; but though wisely and earnestly Christian in atmosphere, it is practically undenominational in character ; and its staff and classes are crowded with representatives of every church.

Edu«ajLit»ji of Environment.

Vpon the building and grounds about £32,000 have been expended; and the

expenditure has been governed by ideas which give an unique character to the buildings and its aryftngements. The "education " of such a college is by no meaps confined to the lessons given in its classes. The whole v environment oif a girl is educational — the. 'garden in which she walks, the servic&of the table at which she dines 1 , the pictures t which look down at her

irom the walls, the furnishing of the,bedroom where she Bleeps. So the Methodist todies' College from end to end is furnished

*• to be found there from every Australian colony. Cheerfulness, biightness, and beauty prevail. The refectory is a beautiful .structure, s:s ft- long, 32ft broad, and 18ft high. The ceiling is a marvel of beauty. The room is well lighted by windows at both ends, and panelled mirrors along the sides. Choice oil paintings adorn the walls. To a bushnmn this was quite overpowering. After tea the members of the great household seated themselves round the beautiful and welllighted room, hymn-books were distributed, and we all engaged in the singing of hymns, Bible reading, and prayer. So the Wesleyans are taking cure of their girls as well as their boys. However, the scholars arc of all denominations ; many of them having been settled in the immediate neighbourhood of the college so as to become day pupils in its classes."

"The Methodist Ladies' College has no counterpart in England" is the verdict of another English paper. The Melbourne Age said : —

"The front fagade of the college iv the early decorated stylo, with its lofty baronial tower is very imposing. Nor aie the interior arrangements far behind, as little remains to do beyond furnishing the extensive dormitories and class rooms ; and when this is done the establishment will be the largest ladies' college in Australia. The new portion alone has cost fully £10,000, all spent purely on building. The principal addition to the - building, which has assumed per- ; feet shape, and which is now available for use, is the magnificent dining hall, 53ft by 32ft and 18ft high, with a deeply panelled timber ceiling, and walls decorated with paintings and mirrors. To those who remember the refectories of large educational establishments in England during the first half of the century, where the chamber was as bare as the menu, the former being as innocent of gold and ivory as the latter was of any delicacy, no difficulty will be felt at arriving at the conclusion that the times havo changed very considerably, whether or not we have changed likewise ; and the further reflection may be suggested that good John Wesley, whose portrait graces the painted window in the main staircase, might consider that his descendants were departing somewhat from Puritanical simplicity. Bathrooms aiid other requisites enter into the scheme,' and a cheerful apartment is specially devoted to convalescents should any sickness invade the college. The surrounding garden has yet to be created. " The title of the college is a little misleading, and, while not as notable a misnomer as the famous academy definition of the crab, is

calculated to convey a wrong impression. Not only is the college not in Hawthorn, but }sx Kew ; but it is not exclusively Wesleyan,

as the title might seem to imply. Ladies of. various denominations seek it advantages; the pupils including fche members of the Anglican Church as well as of other churches. The curriculum is varied and practical in its character ; the subjects including both dead and modern languages, elementary and higher mathematics, chemistry and natural science, writing, needlework, and gymnastics. The managers feel justly proud of an institution which, even in an age which has produced Girton and Newham, can challenge comparison as a female educational institution with anything in the colonies." The " Sound Body." j In such a building, of course, sanatory \ science is supreme over all arrangements ; and the building is a temple of health. It has the advantage, moreover, of standing in a suburbs which is declared by the Kegistrargeneral of Victoria to be "the healthiest spot in Australia." Modern Ideas in Teaching:, The class work of this college is so graded that, beginning at the very earliest stages of knowledge, it mounts in ordinary steps to the gates of the university. Without undergoing any "cramming" process, therefore, the j students reach matriculation and the Arts 1

course. The collego staff throughout numbers about thirty, and is university-trained. The efficiency alike of the methods and the personnel of the staff is proved by the brilliant success of the students. The college has already won a, high reputation, for its art; and its musical training, under the best teachers of Melbourne, is of the highest character. The class work of the college, however, imperfectly represents the training given to the students. A busy drillis carried on in what we may call practical arts, in the science of common life and of common things, The president of the college, the Rev. W. H. Fitchett, 8.A., recently took a tour round the world with the view, among other things, of studying- the best educational methods of England, America, and the European Continent. "They wanted," in his own uords, " to employ in the service of their girls the very best educational ideas and methods the wolrd possessed. He visited in Ameiica, Wellesley the most splendid ; Lasell, the most practical > and Mount Holyoake, the oldest and most distinctly religious of their girls' colleges. In England he visited Newnham, of which Miss Gladstone is the Principal, and Trinity Hall, the gift of Mr Fernley to the Methodist Church, In Germany he visited the great

Moravian College in Neuwied." Enriched with the harvest of ideas thus gathered, the .course of the Methodist Ladies' College includes some admirable features. It comprises studies which '.''may' serve' as occupations' and amusements' for v the rich, and as practical resources 'for the struggling"— shorthand, for example, type-writing, photography, wood carving, business lessons, the ABC of the sickroom, &c. An excellent course— lesson in sick nursing and the laws of health, by a lady specialist —is, for

example, just now in progress at the college. Who can doubt that training of this sort must prepare our girls for their true future-

wifehood, motherhood, and the "woman's kingdom " of home ?

Government Without Penalties.

Great pains are taken in this college to train not merely the heads of the students, but their whole character. The rule of the institution is not maintained by penalties. The method is to enlist the good sense, the self respect, and the conscience of the students themselves on the side of order and obedience, and thus to make the college a practically self -governed institution. In this respect almost unprecedented success has been attained, The standard of obedience and discipline is high ; yet (said the report of ] BSS) during the year not one line of "imposititions" has been inflicted. The only penalty has been the loss of good-conduct marks; and during 1884, out of more than 150,000 possible good conduct marks, only 98 were lost 1 In 1884, as will be seen from the head master's report for that year, " out of about 190 different girls whose names have been on our books during the year, more than 150 have not lost a single conduct mark, while many others have only lost one. During the year 1885 no fewor than 175 pupils, out of the 20G who for one or more terms attended the ordinary classes, did not lose a single conduct mark !

Study uf Human Nature.

There is, of course, a deal of human nature even in girls ; and this element is ingeniously appealed to by the college arrangements in a

score of ways. A generous list of scholarships is provided to reward the industrious. An " honour group," consisting of the portraits of the most successful students of each year is framed and hucg up on the college walls; and a place in the "honour group" of course represents fame to the competing students. The college has its literary organ, the Blue Bell, in which the youthful pens of the students exercise themselves. Social life is diligently cultivated ; and the study uf cheerfulness is elevated into an art. The college, for example, has its " Fun night. " at regular intervals ; while one night in ouch week, when the lessons are done, is turned into a "Newspaper night." The domt^ of the busy world are recited ; ai^l the jriil.-5 arc thus kept au fait with the pHlus and history of their own times.

Hmv the College Succeeds.

A college so organised and equipped is certain to succeed. The report of the committee claims that they

"Enjoy the distinction of having spent more money to serve the girlhood of Aus-

aspirations, much more so. thau was sometimes supposed, by thpao early associations of life wiv-oh, cenneotert them with home and mothers and sisters. In times of difficulty and temptation those feelings, which in youth had been almost imperceptibly iirplanted in their nature throngh those endearing associations would be calculated to keep them in the right path, and impel them to put aside those inclinations which imghfc lead them astray. They might thujs be saved! at a critic: 1 ,! period of their oxisldice, andleii on to, apblcv hopes, noliUw ambitions, and honourable sin;ce.ss fif>). The girl foreshadowed the v.ke and the mother; and' they weru aH aware of the potency of the inlluonce on man uxcicised by the wife anO, ■felie mother.

* ' No wonder that sjach a college ilrows Us pupils from every part of Australia. The managers of the college c)alna that its posk tion in Melbourne w central, and thav " amongst th.G the college oft'erw to stu/J^vs. in, other colonies are- a> hvaciuj;' olimate, the social training only possible in k

tralia than any other body. And if they had not grudged their coin they had not spared things more precious— care, thought, toil,

and prayer; and they had their reward in an amount, of public confidence and sym pathy from every denomination and from every colony which moved them profoundly, and which carried with it the highest responsibility. It was dot merely that their students streamed to them from the best homes of all Melbourne. They came to them from every colony in the Australian group; and they had no higher wish than to justify the generous trust put in them by so many parents."

No one will grudge this college its extraordinary success. Its success, in fact, is a public boon. His Excellency Sir Henry Loch, who presided at the last speech-day cf the Methodist Ladies' College, dwelt wisely and with much force on the important ics fluence exercised by the wise college ard home culture of girls on the character of men.

It was unquestionable (said his Excellency) that the sound training of growing girls, either at college or at home, would bo most important in its results on the future of the colony. When women were distinguished by a high order of culture, and all the noble qualities it brought in its train, the reflex influence on the men of their circle was very powerful indeed. Well-conducted ladies' colleges were therefore largely instrumental in moulding the national character cf a country; and they therefore deserved every encouragement and support. Men were materially influenced in their hopes ar A

great city, and the teachers in all accomplishments such as N can be procured only in a place like Melbourne."