WHY FEW WOMEN TEACHERS MARRY

Otago Witness, Issue 2860, 6 January 1909, Page 89

WHY FEW WOMEN TEACHERS MARRY

By Jack Hobneb. The first and most potent reason for the, chronic singleness oi women teachers is the prejudice held against them by the marrying man as useless members of a "household. Of all the ancient superstitions surviving to worry an up-to-date generation this is the most absurd. Whatever they may have been in the past, ■women teachers of to-day are on the ■whole thoroughly well qualified to become good housekeepers. Cookery — that most valuable and most successful of our Education Department's many experiments — is nowadays part of the teaching woman's ordinary course ; •while the habits of concentration and thoroughness and brain-use, so essential in teaching, produce golden results when turned to household duties. Besides, the old' stigma of uselessriess has cut so deeply into- the modern teacher's consciousness that she ha& long been determined to deserve something: better. So she takes every opportunity of learning the different branches of housework, and she silently observes and remembers even when she cannot practise. But the marrying man does not know this. The old superstition holds him, and he remains carefuEy aloof, < fearful of being caught by cleverness only to suffer later from bad cooking. He* has another fear, too. Deep in his heart lies the memory of that part of his childheod when for certain hours each day his will was neces- j ea-rily subservienf to that of " the teacher." j Bound his thoughts of the present teacher, , in spite of whatever charms she may possess, lurks the vague dread of dominance. From this he flies', ignorant of the fact that this very dominance is the thing of all things of which the woman, tea-cher is most heartily tired. Though necessary to her. position, it is usually the cause of her greatest nerve strain. She would most gladly part with it. But the mao is not responsible for all. The life itself, with its attendant circumstances, sets an almost impassable bar to marriage through the fresh years of youthfuLness. During that time, usually the brightest and gayest in a- woman's life, the girl teacher is studying, parsing examinations, attending classes, concentrating every power towards the attainment of the required certificates of proficiency. Other -girls, of her age have time j for concerts, dances, theatricals, picnics, and a thousand and one opportunities for forming friendships with, the other sex. The. teaching girl has little time for these things. Her days are spent in school ; her nights amongst her books. If she is conscientious — and s&e usually is — fehe has no alternative. To do well, to take a good place in her profession, she must sacrifice pleasure and cleave to her .studies. So the fresh sears slip by unnoticed. Often she is not thinking of marriage. She is wrapped heart and soul in her •work, engrossed by its difficulties, drawnout of herself by the needs of t]ie young lives • under her care. . Teaching, more than anything else, demands jjfce very lifethrobs of its follower. One day she awakes, looks round, and realises her isolation. She enters iuto social life, tries to become at home in it; but it is too late. She has read and studied and thought, and she can never return to that gay flippancy, that lighthearted, irresponsible casualness which is the chief stock-in-trade of the young colonial of to-day. Between her and the many young people of her acquaintance stands aa unseen but acutely-felt barrier of seriousness. She may try wistfully to ignore it ; she may beat resentfully against it ; it is still there. As the years go on she- submits to the conviction that it must be there always- She is cut off, set apart for her work by the effect of that work on her own character. j The solitary life of many a woman teacher is caused by her reading, t The majority of girls, who undertake the ! teacher's life, who are ready to face the necessary years of study, are bora booklovers. In their spare time_they read a great, deal — not necessarily foolish .hooks, often the best. But in foolish and in ! great books alike, love is etbereali&ed and man is idealised. Gradually, and quite unconsciously the girl forms, an idteal in her mind, and no man of those around her comes up to the standard she has set up. She refuses those few who offer themselves, looking past them for the finer man of her dreams. Too Lata &Ue .discovers that the men. around her are the only kind existent, and that in refusing them she has shut herself off from marriaee. Happy she who, recognising this, and realising, too, that in her youthful ignorance she entered upon the hardest life possible for a woman, yet settles clown to make the best of things, cherishing health and cheerfulness with the greatest care, fighting bravely against the terrific nerve strain of her work, and so filling her life with kindly interests as to become a blessing in her district ! That there are such women among the teachers of the Dominion is a fine thing. Their influence is far-reaching and powerful. But that they are not married i? a distinct loss to the country, for no better mothers could be evolved from any otheitraining. Their very choice of the profession shows fondness for children ; their work teaches them the necessity for discipline, for self-control for unlimited patience, for order and system, and their experiences with- other people's children give them the plainest understanding of the errors to be avoided in the upbringing of their own-

Throughout the South Watrarapa. haryesting op&rations ' are well forwaxd, and practically the whole of the crops are above the ordinary, reports the Da-ily News. The late sown crops will not Le anything startling, but nevertihedeee should well pay the £xo\refe