TEACHING OF GIRLS.

Waikato Times, Volume II, Issue 93, 3 December 1872, Page 3

TEACHING OF GIRLS.

(Krom rlie Sh-xtato::.) Wγ, f.'Mr tin: world will not g :t in much iVom the debate at .HrighltfiT before tho British Association on the Education of < J iris. It limy have been very instruct vc to those who heard it, but to those who only read tin, , report * of it in the daily papers- rcpoi'l.-i, which it must lie admitted, arc exceedingly bad --it would seem us if the women who spoke, .Mrs .L'aweetl, excopted, were unable to come to the point; while , tlie men who spoke, Mr Fitch and Mr Nturges cxcepted.had not an idea of the point to c nnc to. Most of the former wandeivd, nnd most, of the latter drivelled, till the reader is forced to the conclusion that while a good many women want education (o compress and, as it wciv, harden their brains, there are a good many men on whom education ha*, for want, of brains to harden, been utterly thrown away. What is the me of education to a ma:i vviio .-ays llure wi.l '" be an entire disintegration of society as soon as people are taught to think," or to a man who thinks it worth while to Ml the Uritisli Association that grade ought lobe settled by intellectual position, and not. by accidental circumstances: . Taken us a body tho women beat the men as debaters altogether out of *th<s lield, spoh: more eloquently, more vriisonablv, and more lucidly; but then it was *n contest between women certainly pirke I becail-r: they were so like competent, men, and im-ii apparently picked because they were so like wry ine.mipetriitt women. One man':) speech about Miss Shinvir.s pap'T was exactly tin , speech a silly woman would have mad", his point being that: the Princess iif Wales had made a, good match became >h<: w.'H preity, and Iheivfoiv Women did not. want much cultivation; and Mullle; , I alii 'il the rcgii'a" Paterfamilias nonsense about the daiger ofcdiic iting fcrn-ili , .-n-rvatils till they bivomc discontented with tln'ir p'>;;lio:!s, and wanted to he "helps" instca'lofhoii-cinai.ls. T'cc women at Ini-t spoke .-i.'rioiislv,but even they seem to us to hnv wasted half their power in arguing alMr.-ief. point,. We w ~dd put it to Mi.-s .Shirrclf and Mrs "rawed!, and ?,!iss Duvies, end all other of tin.' hcnsible and moderate advocates of woman's rights, ■whether it, i- not, time to give up arguing that, women benefit by education as well as men, have as much right to be 0(1 neat ci I, iu id can be educated ju-l in readily? Then; arc, we believe, many men left who do deny Ilio-e propositions, and po.»ili|y a, lew s.lio nre since.c in tin i: , denial, just as there niv niuiiy men to l>.• found who say that '■ the poor" are (.he '.wn-sc fir b'iug taught, and a few who honestly think they do not gain Iα teaching; bill, neither of them will lie (Miiviiii'cd by argument, and licit her of them can resist or delav 111- , impulse towards enlightenment. They mil-I, he rea-i'iued with, of course, at limes, and voted dowi: always; but tin; bmincsH of the Mrilish Association is (lie "advancement," of science-, not the assertion that, science is ii-icful, ami it is dreadfully tedious to li:,ien to arguments which, though perfectly true, advance nothing. 'Vlie As! roiiomcr.s would nol, listen patiently to a grave demonstration that, the world wan nol, l!al,;:nd we do not. sci , why the Kducal iomM-i should be bored with formal proof Ilial knowledge, even for women, is better than ignorance, or brightness than stupidity, or good education than bad. Tho,c things would In , true <-\\'n if Iho subjects wi->x Mean instead of the majority of the human race, and might, we really Ibiuk, if it were only to save time and ink, bo taken by a scientific association as granted on all hands. The discission railing iu society on which people want light, and in the hope of iMhronge Tin such crowds on Tuesday t;o listen ] In i\l ss Shin-ell', i.-i not whether girls should be wclNaught or not, lull win , re; the good leaching which the majority of ( Ihe classes addressed desire is to be obtained. They certainly 1 hive not got it now. The Slate is going to teach the female children of the poor as well as the male, and there is scarcely a. doubt, that iu a few years il, will teach them very well, much better, at all events, I linn the boys will be taught. ' There is a, hunger among women without proj>orty for , work which shall not be service, and shall be. respectable, ' mid shall bo comparatively secure, that, the School boards :md school managers will iu a year or two have any number j of female teachers at their disposal, who, as all American j cxpiviciicc shows, can In-, taught up to a certain point to ] Icaci'i exceedingly well, much belter than their rivals the ( (vrlilicaled scluiolniaslers. 'Bui. this is no help eillisr to the .

'•upper claws,'' <>r tin: "middle rinses," oi' the; "lower niiilillr i-lii .srs," wli.) are :il. (.lu'ii , wil.'s cud to lind competent jn.-l nielnrs fill , I heir <;irls, and cannot find them. Money • loon iiml. "tn-iiiLT them out. One speaker maintained thai, the iv.ismi win I hat women have no money, but the av<;"umen!. is onlv an c|Vi;raui, for if I'"' mothers liavo no money, the I'lll'ieiM h:ive, and are quite a> willing lo spend it on their daughters n< mi their soih. The onlv (liHereuce li, that as they e\|ie,-|. I lu ; : .i- huh l<> s;i))|)o t I lii'iu ■■elve-'. ami do not cKp'cel Iheir il!iu.;li(:er-, (hey regard ediiralion for boys in Uie liijlil of :i ivniimi'P.ilive iuve^iiieul, and education .for^'irls tn i'.)iii|i'!i-a!ivc!v iinii-)in>.|uelive. 'I'hev ::i'e, however, fairly willing In pav ; but liieii , is I hat outlay will not help ll:ein. ' Om> /iii!l" ~f tli.-lii, a!. le;t;| -we sjxak of Ihe rdiiVate'l only - object iiei- (o send (lietr to school, li.ip reasuiis iinconueelcd with education, and where are 11>,-v t d liml uooil at home. ? 'I'hev m:n lind (li-'iu by 'iccideill, but tliey liiive no security t hat they will, for (hi-v cannot, I'xaiiiint' ciindidati's t,lioinsolvc.<, tliere are ni trustwurthy ccrtilicates ol' a( tainmeiU, and lveimiiienilation-s are u.<uallv wortldi'ss except a.-t p;i».uran(ecs of characlcr. The nitijority of who ask siilaries :i;'e very worthy voimu; women, with ijveat flesim to do their duty, and some faculty for impart ing ncomplUhmeuN; but they very rarely know ;myl.liin<;ami c:m still more rarely teach it. Very lew of (hem are taught to iv.wh, still fewer could ]ias3 a 1 exaniinat ion, and fewest of all competent lo educate

t lint is, to develop I he whole of their pupils' mental powers. Am to (lie inferior kind.-? i>f governesses, they are, no doubt, in many ways nn oppressed and miserable class much more deserving of pily than domestic servants, but then they are also the most, incompetent class to be found in the world. They do not, as a ride, know any one of the many tilings thev profess to teach, not even music, the only thhig very often upon which the mother who employs them thinks herself competent to pass n final judgment; whi'e upon "general subjects'' -history, for instance, or geography, or English literal mv, they arc as ignorant as the children they iustruct ; constantly -'for as a rule they are conscientious, women enough—gelling up at night the lesson they are to leach in (lie iii<>niiii£. That is fidelity, but that is not competence. Those parents who are not unwilling to send their children to "good" schools are perhaps a little better ofl", because such schools employ masters who do uudorstaud what, iltev teach, whether they can communicate it; or not; but. even in such schools education must rest, mainly in the hands of governesses who do not educate because they are not able, who never wake np their pupils'minds, but are <.v>ntont to send nirls home varnished with accomplishments

—with, as Lady Lowring said, a. passable knowledge of languages in which thev have never read a book, with fine drawings which they cannot repeat in the fields, and with as high a. capability of instrument ion as is consistent with a complete ignorance of the science of music. These are feho failures which frighten fathers, who know quite enough to perceive if their girls are cultivated or only veneered into an ;!)>|ie:ivance of cultivation, and we do not see how Miss Shinv!l"s proposals for founding schools for women can remedy I lie evil. They are excellent as far as they go. though it is inW discreditable, to the country that we should have io appeal to the joint-stock principle, but they will not produce in decent time the needed leaching power. Wo do not sot; that any thing will except Mr Sturges' •proposal, which we understand to be desired, though not recommended, by Mr Fitch, and that is sure not to k>.accepted. If we could do as they do in Germany, and forbid any incompetent person from opening a school or taking a salary as governess, as we forbid any incompetent person from'administering medicine, or advising im legal transactions, or teaching in the Church, wo might in a few years, at a cost of a great mass of procure competent iiisfruet-iirs for our irirls, whether at homo, or at .school, or in college ; but Parliament wi l ! never, in the present state of opinion, be able to pass such a law. and without it we can see no device which will reach far enough, so as to cover the whole country, except that painstaking individual selection upon which we now rely, and whieli/moro or less breaks down. Good schools, such as Miss Sherreff proposes to found, are excellent institutions ; so are colleges like those of Harley street and Bedford square ; so are examinations such as those, established by the Universities ; but we want something more than all this. —a large class of women as competent as the heads of English grammar-schools and as able to prove their it pr!t»'i competence •, and this, as we. fear we shall not, without some considerable change in opinion, spccdily obtain. If Miss Shirreff and "The National Union for Improving the Education of Woman"—why "woman"' and not women? —could raise £100.000, as we heartily wish they could, and could produce the. required teachers, they would, unless protected by law, be beaten in the race for piofessional success by know-nothings, full of promises, jind proficients in the greatest and mosi dangerous of all the flourishing quackeries, the art of seeming to teach. 'The majority, "who are ignorant, -would still have no guides, j and the miuoritv who know, would have to engage com- ] petent, but dispuit\l and unsuccessful women. I

In the , section of zoologv mid botany at tlic meeting j of 1 lie British Association'at Brighton/' the Tall JIaU Gazette write , ?. " Sir John Lubboek exhibited a tamo wasp which had been in his possession for about three months, ■which he brought wish him from the Pyrenees. The wasp is of a social kind, and lie took it in its nest formed of 27 cells, in which there were 15 eg<:s, and had the wasp been allowed to remain there, by this time there would hare been quite .a little colony of wasps. Xone of the eggs, however, came to maturity:" and the wasp had laid no eggs s ; nce it had been in his possession. The wasp was now qnite tame, though at first it was rather too ready with its sting. It now ate sugar from his hand, and allowed him to stroke it. The wasp had every appearance of health and "happiness ; and, although it enjoyed an outing oeeasionlly, it readily returned to its bottle, which it seemed to regard as a hone. This wao the first tame wasp kept by itsjlf Joe em , heard of."

R-JtUNTR.moN OF Tkachkks.—A nation's weal depends upon tho mothers and 3c!iool teachers. This is an acknowledged fact iu the mat ter of mothers. The influence oi' t hose who have charge of theyouns:, and the responsibility of such, cannot be over estimated nor too highly appreciated. \\ ho ran tell how much the nation's honour and glory now, and in the coming time, may have been enhanced by the iniluence fthedbv such men as the late Ur Arnold und the present Bishop of Exeter over boyish minds at Kugby? All that those boys, now in their collegiate or life's course, hold noble, pure, manly, nnd Christian was implanted in their school days, and will remain with them and their children i'l-om generation to generation, to preserve the high and honourable name of the .'British Empire. Let good men have the training of our children, and we need not be very careful of those who may exercise iniluence over them in their mat ner years, ft will be seen at once, then, that the I eilliriL' of ii teacher is a very high and responsible one ; and i a people who value their natural status will estimate it as such, and will be very careful iu their selection of men and women for that oflleo : and, when selected, will pay them the respect due to lu->;n ; and should, moreover, make them such pecuniary recompense for their labours as should enable them to'maiutaiu a position in accordance with their high vocation, and such as should enable them to pursue their onerous dutk-s without one monetary anxiety. Many persHis, iu considering the position of the teachers and the reward clue to them for their services, too often forget another important thing, and that is, the long, expensive, and arduous course of training they have to umhr»<>. It. is not suilicient that teachers should be well educated in the subjects which they have to teach, but their knowledge and study must extend over a far wider and higher iield. P>ef»re any subject can become one to form part of voiithful education, it must be recoguued by all the world as true. Truth, in this sense, must be reflected from the world to the schools, and not from the schools to the world. The teacher's thought, therefore, has to range over the wide world of knowledge, and his eye must watch every .step in the progress oi civilisation. Seeing how great the responsibility attached to this office is, and how manifold and elevated must be its culture, it would seem to follow, as

a matter of common sense, that the remuneration accorded to ih inn si, l)e most liberal. But what is tho fact? Let :mv- one examine, the newspaper advertisements, and he will set! school authorities seeking teachers, and offering the inunilieent salaries of 300 dollars, '100 dollars, and 500 and iu some very rare as much as 700 dollars. This is not right. We put a man with a responsibility second to none, and an education far above )he requirements <>l." ordinary occupations, on a level with second rate clerks, with day labourers, with, young men who are just commencing their career, and who would no more think of bohr,' contented with such salaries as a permanency than they would think of iiying in the air. How can an educated man unite, himself to one who can be a true help-meet to him in his threat mission, on such salaries as prevail in this country'; , ' Li, may be said that some schoo's are so small that more cannot "be paid. This objection will not hold in the least; because, in the first place, small schools 'should "never I>« made tho standard of payment; and, iu the second, the consideration should not be what the number of pupils may be but tho great importance of the work. A few pupils\nay be under instruction at one time, but tho master or mistress of even the smallest school will have a vast number of pupils under training in the course of twenty years or more. Lot it be remembered, then, that all these are going forth into tho world for good or evil, und if we desire- it. for good wo must take care that those entrusted with their tmiiiinp; are qualified to inspire them with nobleness of purpose. To attain this end we must increase our teacher's salaries to something far beyond what they are at present. — Toronto Ttdej/n/pii. Ki:i:i'i.v<r Fruits. —The following rules for keeping fruit are from the proceedings of the Eoyal Horticultural Society : -—I. As the flavour of fruit is so easily allbctcd by heterogenous odours, it is highly desirable that apple and pear rooms should be distinct. 2. The walls and iloor should be annually washed with a solution of quick lime. 3. The room should be perfeetetiy dry, kept at as uniform a temperature as pratieable, and bo well ventilated, but; there should not, bo a through draught. The utmost care should bo taken in gathering the fruit, which should be handled as little as possible. f>. For present use, the fruit should bo welt ripened ; but if for long keeping, it is better, especially with pears, that it should not have arrived at complete maturity. This point, however, requires considerable judgment. i>. No imperfect fruit should be stored with that which is sound, nnd every more or less decayed specimen should be immediately removed. 7. If placed on shelves, the fruit should not lie moro- than two deep, and should be used. S. Where especially clear and beaut fill specimens are wanted, they may be packed carefully in dry bVan, or in In vera of perfectly dry cotton wool, either in closed boxes or in largo garden pots. Scentless sawdust will answer the same purpose, but pine sawdust is apt to communicate on unpleasant taste. 9. With care, early apples may be kept till Christmas ; while many kinds may be pre-u.M-'vi-il in nerfection to a second year.

The An/us- of .Nov. myi >—Our English # telegram this morning well illustrates the advantages wo enjoy from direct communnication wilii tlio mother country. The election -of a President of the United States of America took place on Tuesday, !iuil the result was on Wednesday transmitted from London to Australia, the intelligence of General Grant's re-election reaching Melbourne soon after 8 o'clock last night. This achievement miiv be properly- recorded amongst the lelegi'uphio triumphs of the age.