American Girls.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5282, 12 June 1895, Page 4

American Girls.

Mies E. L. Banks, in a paper in the Nineteenth Century on "American Impressions and Comparisons," holds that America sets an example to. England in the advantages she confers upon her girls. In the former country there is a general disposition to give the daughters the first chance in. education, as in everything else. Miss Banks writes* of course, only of suoh families ac find it necessary to practiae economy. In England a father whose means are limited, instead of sending his daughters to college concentrates his attention on an effort to "marry and settle" them, and reserves Buoh educational advantages as he can afford for his sons. In America the parent's attitude towards his offspring, if not exactly the reverse of this, is much more : favourable to the girls. " Thiß is particularly the case/ says Miss Banks, " among the sons and daughters of farmers, where the father's income is only such as will allow him to give one/ or two members of the family a higher education." At the age of seventeen or eighteen the boys are taken from school, and told that if they want a college education, they must " work their way " through — that is, earn money by teaching or clerking during one half the year to pay their own expenses for the other half. The daughters, on the other hand, are Bent away to boarding school, and the Btriotest economy is practised in the household in order to educate them. Miss Banks seems to attribute the American praotice to the father's tender solicitude for the higher welfare of his girls, bnt the Spectator, in commenting' upon the facts, points out that the comparative cheapness of educating girls in the States may have a great deal to do with the advantages they enjoy over their English sisters. In this country the education of both sexes is so oheap that there is no excuse for giving one opportunities that are not enjoyed by the other.