Page:Some Account of a Proposed New College for Women.djvu/1



FEMALE EDUCATION. Some Account of a Proposed New College for Women. By.

inviting the attention of the public to any new undertaking, it is necessary to show, First, that there exists a real want; Secondly, that the new thing proposed is calculated to meet that want; Thirdly, that there is a fair prospect of its being carried into effect.

1. That there is no provision made for the systematic carrying on of a girl's education after she leaves school, analogous to that afforded for men by the Universities, is a fact which all admit; but it is one thing to show that a thing is absent, another to show that it ought to be present. There are those who maintain that superior education is provided by private and domestic tuition: and others, who admit that some improvements are needed in the existing system of girls' education, believe that the object in view might be attained by means of higher examinations, by the improvement of girls' schools, the extension of the school period, and by courses of lectures.

In regard to the first remark, we should remember the difficulty of pursuing studies at home,—the homes being very often in the country, beyond the reach of masters; while the universal admission that "something is wanted for governesses," and that there is no existing provision for the formation of such a class among them as would in any way answer to the masters in public schools, proves the existence of a want; for if there is no adequate provision for the superior instruction of governesses, manifestly there is none for women in general.

With regard to examinations, it must be remembered that they are a means of testing what has been taught, not of teaching—of stamping the sovereign, not getting the gold: the test or stamp cannot serve as a substitute for the thing to be tested or stamped.

The proposal of a longer course of training in schools is best answered by reference to a memorial presented to the Educational Commission in July, 1867, and signed by 521 teachers of girls, in which they state that "it is not in the power of private teachers, however able and zealous, to supply adequate means and inducements for continuing study beyond the school period." The need of