FEMALE INSPECTORS OF SCHOOLS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VIII, Issue 39, 26 September 1891, Page 422

FEMALE INSPECTORS OF SCHOOLS.

are certain subjects which are absolately necessary for girls to learn, but about the well or ill doing of which men are not F( °^^ en found competent to judge. Iffl We do not for one moment desire to see take the places of men as School Inspecters, but we do think that they might, with advantage, co-operate with them in the work. At one time there was a great deal said against the election of Lady Poor Law Guardians in England ; but now we hear little or nothing in its disfavour, for the place has been tried, and proved, as its supporters expected, eminently successful. It surely stands to reason that women must know and understand the work and requirements of their own sex better than men—the very cleverest of them—possibly can ; and for this simple reason, because they have learned from experience, and, as we all know, an ounce of practice is worth pounds of theory. Women are always appointed as teachers in girls’ and infants’ schools, and it has never been denied that they have done the work well and efficiently, and therefore it does seem rather absurd to have the work done during the term by girls, under the care and tuition of women, inspected and judged by a man. Take, for instance, the matter of needlework. It is of the greatest importance that girls should learn to use both scissors and needle well, if they are to become useful and efficient members of a household. Now, what do men know of the mysteries of measuring, stitching, and felling ? Howcan they judge of the beauties of a button-hole, or the elegances of an elaborate dam ? We very much doubt whether one man out of twenty can tell the difference between sewing and stitching, and probably the fingers of School Inspectors have never held a needle, except, perhaps, to sew on a button, a work upon which we have seen some men expend an enormous amount of time, energy, and temper. And yet men are considered by those in authority thoroughly competent to judge of the progress and proficiency made by hundreds of girls in this particular branch of their education. We have no wish or intention to exaggerate in this matter, ‘nor set down aught in malice’: we merely state facts that are apparent to all who choose to look and think for themselves.

Again, there is music. Now, very few boys, taking them generally, learn this. Of course, if any lad shows a particular taste or aptitude for it, he is taught, and nowadays it is becoming the fashion to teach boys to play some instrument, generally the piano or violin; but at one time music was very seldom taught to boys. We are not suie, but we believe that candidates for the post of Government School Inspectors are not required to show that they possess any knowledge or taste for this particular accomplishment, and yet they will have as one of their duties, to pass judgment and give praise or blame, as the case may be, upon the manner in which children have been taught, and the way in which they have profited by their tuition in music. Almost all ladies have been taught music, more or less, and therefore have some knowledge of the subject, and are to a certain extent competent, or at any rate more competent, to judge of the school children’s performances than a person who has been brought up in total ignorance of the subject.

In infant schools women are the best teachers. They have, for one thing, more patience than men with the ways and doings of the little ones. The secret of this success is, we think, that they are more in sympathy with them, for in the hearts of all true women there is the motherly element, which brings them into such close touch with the tinies, who require very careful treatment and management.

To keep the attention of small children without wearying them, and to develop their minds without straining them, is not an easy task, and yet it is one which every teacher of an infant school has to try and accomplish.

Those who have to do with forming the laws and regulations connected with the education of the young are beginning at last to awaken to the fact that teachers and pupils alike are not mere machines—the one to wind, the other to be wound up, to a certain pitch or standard of excellency, but individuals, with tastes and requirements alike to some extent, but still each differing from the other in many ways.

A teacher of girls or infants would work all the better if she found that the Inspector did not merely examine and criticise the work, but also took an interest in the method by which it had been done, and who would also show ami express sympathy with the hopes and anxieties that are inseparable from the work, if carried out honestly and conscientiously ; and this would be the case if, instead of as at present, the Inspector were an intelligent, educated gentlewoman, with a practical personal knowledge of the subjects she was called upon to judge.

A woman can speak more openly and plainly to one of her own sex than she can to one of the lords of creation, especially if that one be of a higher rank in life than her-

Are there not sub-inspectors as well as inspectors? if so, surely it would be an experiment worth trying to appoint a lady to the post, and give to her the inspection of the girls’ and infants’ schools and needlework, while her superior does the same duty for the boys’ schools. That the work would be done more thoroughly and effectually we fully believe ; and there would be no difficulty in getting competent persons to fill these posts, for there are many—too many, alas ! —highly educated, conscientious gentlewomen anxious to obtain employment in the present day, and this surely would give them an opportunity of using their talents not only for their own, but also for the good of their fellow-creatures.