see a meaning and an order in them of which the boy, however well acquainted with the rules, is not always conscious. This observation applies no doubt strictly to modern languages. But a girl whose parents thought it desirable for her to learn Latin or Greek, would, I doubt not, bring the same keen perception to bear upon them. She would wish much more than we do in general to have the power of hearing and of speaking the words which she reads out of books. But she would enter, often much more than we do, into the force and life of the words. And their construction, however dry the explanation of it might be, would commend itself to her as a strange and wonderful order which relieved her own language of a great many perplexities, and threw light upon the French or Italian and any other which she had learned. I have dwelt longer upon this instance because it is the one most likely to occur to us as marking the line between male and female education. I have alluded to it also, because my remarks on it may show how much the musical education of girls-which I trust will never be less regarded than it is or has been, though one may hope that the method of imparting it will become less oppressive-may bear upon her other pursuits, this of language especially. One great means of making instruction in language effectual will be lost if it is divided from musical instruction. I trust some way will be discovered of bringing them into a closer relation to each other. I do not like to speak of physical science, being very ignorant of it. But I cannot help perceiving how much the study of physics through books without experiments, belonged to the monkish, celibate, scholastic age; how the pathway to discovery through the testing of facts was marked out by laymen who held free intercourse and communion with female intellects. Ever since that path was marked out, there has been the danger of experiment becoming empiricism, there has been the danger of the student retreating again into his cave. The taste of ladies for lectures on science may rather foster the first evil, tempting quacks to exhibit the results of painful investigations as inere glittering marvels; it may also promote the other evil by leading hard thinkers to exalt their theories in contrast to these outward displays. But if the aptitude for observation, and the taste for particular facts in girls, are cultivated by those who have the masculine habit of reflection and of combining facts, the benefit to both, and to the progress of inquiry itself, might be greater than we can at all imagine. My own lectures to girls have been either on history or English literature. I have alluded to the former subject already. I will say this much about the latter, that the liveliest female intellects are most likely to make Taste-which means their own taste, or the taste of the circle that surrounds them-the standard of what is good in writings past and present-are most likely, at the same time, to be entertained and moulded by a clever, fastidious criticism. They may meet with women whose tastes are pure and refined, much purer and more refined than those of most men; they may receive from them sensible and acute praises of the best writers, and warnings against the ill-nature of reviewers. I do not underrate the very great advantage of the examples and counsels of such friends; they are precious to the characters, as much as to the understandings of girls; but I believe a rougher masculine teacher who has been wont, even rigidly and pedantically, to subject his taste to principles, who regards criticism as a study and an art for all time-not as an exercise of wit and skill which may be taken up at a moment's notice, to gratify some particular fancy or spite-can do for the regular education of girls what the instinctive wisdom of the excellent teachers of their own sex cannot do. If, indeed, that were wanting, I should not expect much from his lessons. They can, I think, fill up what is deficient in the feminine wisdom; and in this case, as in others which I have noticed, the peculiar aptitudes of the pupil offer a most useful correction to the formality of the master, a most useful direction to his instruction. He must come down from his stilts, he must be personal and biographical; he must trust more to the words of his author than to his own explanations of them; if he is to have the slightest influence on the minds of the girls to whom he speaks. 2. That the male teaching of girls should be, when it is possible, in classes, I think no one can dispute. I do not overlook the disadvantages which are incidental to all class teaching; but I do not reckon among those disadvantages the comparative ignorance which the master must have of the particular temptations, even of the particular gifts, of his individual pupils. The ignorance, of course, will be least in the case of an experienced and sympathising observer of them, a careful student of their answers and their looks. But where it is greatest there is a compensation. He speaks to something which is common to them all. His words find their way to those for whom they are intended, without those devices to adapt them to special characters, which are often awkward, often dangerous, founded, it may be, upon false judgments in him who makes the experiment, promoting morbid self-consciousness in the subjects of it. On the other hand, I do not reckon it among the benefits of this teaching that it promotes rivalship or competition among the members of the class. Till I see more distinct good from that feeling among boys, I shall not desire greatly to stimulate it among girls. I hope that the learning in class may have exactly the opposite effect to this. I believe it encourages sympathy and fellow work. It gives a common interest in higher subjects, to those who would only have their narrow separate interests. It must make conversation less frivolous. One accidental evil I have found in my own class, to which I think those who understand class teaching better, and have more skill in making it catechetical, are less exposed. The girls appear to think that they shall improve their memories, at the cost of their health, by leaning over a desk and writing for an hour, as fast as their fingers can move, all that the lecturer says to them. The consequence is likely to be that, at an examination, they merely give him back his own sentences, sometimes with strange perversions or reversals of their meaning. That this result does not always come to pass-that they do very often render the spirit of his instructions faithfully, and wisely forsake the letter of them-that they even exercise their own faculties, and, to his great pleasure, show him that they have not arrived at his conclusions-I can testify. The vivacity of some minds is too great to be stifled by the most crushing processes; this scheme of perpetual note-taking I fear is a very crushing one. 3. The pupils in a college for girls ought to have the male instruction, which is its groundwork, supported by all possible aid from the counsel of cultivated seniors of their own sex. They should have the help of young ladies somewhat above their own age, who will be to them what private tutors are to young men at the Universities. And there should be houses, under the care of experienced ladies, which can be safely recommended to parents who send their daughters from a distance. But all these necessary provisions do not make up for the want of the actual family where it can be had. Day schools for boys are rather contrivances to meet a necessity. For those who are to work abroad in the world, a tolerably early experience of it with home as the reward of their toil-may be reasonably desired, let the trial be as great as it may. I do not see how a similar trial can be desired for those whose business is to be chiefly domestic, whatever is of another character being additional or exceptional. For the sake of their studies, no less than of their characters-if they can be contemplated apart-I should wish them to be surrounded with home influences whilst they are at college. They have need to be continually reminded of the connection between their books and their life, that both may not become dreary and unmeaning to them. A short statement of what I have learnt from experiences, however partial, would, I thought, be more acceptable to the meeting, than any speculations of mine about the education of girls in the upper, middle, or lower classes. The institution with which alone I have any acquaintance, has nothing which limits it to any class. Its success or failure does not affect the maxims which I have been considering. They have been applied in various places; each application of them ought to be carefully watched. An authorised inspection of colleges for girls should be desired by all who take any part in them; an examination of those whom they send forth they have asked for. If it proves unsatisfactory, so much the more need is there for it. But I have not spoken of examinations, lest I should confound them with education, or should countenance the far too prevalent opinion that the education, either of boys or girls, is to be shaped into conformity with them. Examinations, as a test of what an education is, may be most precious; if they determine what it shall be, they destroy the sincerity of the teacher and of the pupil. And we cannot too often impress upon ourselves the doctrine-which none would deny in terms, which all are tempted to T deny in act that any education which is not sincere, and which does not aim above all things else to make those who receive it sincere, is a curse, not a blessing, to men and women, boys and girls, The Ladies' College at Cheltenham. By DOROTHEA BEALE. I MAY take it for granted, at least in this Association, that the question has no longer to be argued, whether education, in the fullest sense of the word, is desirable for girls, but that the aim is simply to discuss what methods are best. One great object of such associations is, to bring into activity and render available for the good of the community, all resources hitherto comparatively unutilised, acting upon the conviction that nothing has been created in vain. Hence we believe, that if woman has been endowed with mental and moral capacities, it was intended that these should be cultivated and improved for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate;" that we are bound to render to Him" both thanks and use." And here let me at once say that I desire to institute no comparison between the mental abilities of boys and girls, but simply to say what seems to be the right means of training girls, so that they may best perform that subordinate part in the world to which I believe they have been called. First, then, I think that the education of girls has too often been made showy, rather than real and useful-that accomplishments have been made the main thing, because these would, it was thought, enable a girl to shine and attract, while those branches of study especially calculated to form the judgment, to cultivate the under standing, and to discipline the character (which would fit her to perform the duties of life), have been neglected; and thus, while temporary pleasure and profit have been sought, the great moral ends of education have too often been lost sight of. To the poorer classes the daily toil and struggles of their early life do, to some extent, afford an education which gives earnestness, and strength, and reality; and if we would not have the daughters of the higher classes idle and frivolous, they too must be taught to appreciate the value of work. We must endeavour to give them, while young, such habits, studies, and occupations, as will brace the mind, improve the taste, and develope the moral character. They must learn, not for the sake of display, but from motives of duty. They must not choose the easy and agreeable, and neglect what is dull and uninviting. They must not expect to speak languages without mastering the rudiments; not require to be finished in a year or two, but impatiently refuse to labour at a foundation. The object of the following paper being to elicit not only a theoretical but a practical answer to the question proposed in this Department, I will speak as briefly as possible of the matériel principles and method pursued in our college. I am sure it is but little suspected by many, how greatly the mere rudiments of education have been neglected, whilst a fair external show has been made. I will illustrate my meaning from my own experience. I must premise that it is my practice, when a pupil enters, to ask her to write on some historical or geographical subject. I set an easy sum in the last rule which she professes to have learned, and give a few tenses of French verbs, &c., as the case may be. These papers, for the last few years, I have carefully preserved, and arranged them according to the age of the writers. I will not speak of those written by junior pupils, from whom of course we expect many faults, but take those written by pupils above 15 years of age; of these I have 47. I turn first to the arithmetic, a subject professedly taught in all schools, with what success you will judge by the following table : No. of Pupils who professed to Fractions Rule of Three or Practice Comp. Long Division Comp. Short Division 10 wrong. 1 4 both right. We next take the French, a study which, in a girl's education, occupies an important place, and may therefore fairly be considered a test. Three were not to learn the language, and we may charitably hope they were perfect, for only three out of the remaining 44, were able to write correctly the few tenses set. One of 17 years old, and another 15, failed to write a single word correctly; nine failed, even in "avoir" and "être." Lastly, as regards English spelling, I think there are only five of the 47 papers which contain no error, four are marked as very bad, five as bad in this respect. We must remember, too, that these errors appear, not in a dictation containing difficult selected words, but in a few lines written on a given subject. Those who are unacquainted with our college will of courso think that our pupils must come from a very low class. To show that this is far from being the case, I add a list which I drew up from our nomination book, a few months ago, for Her Majesty's Commissioners. Daughters of officers in the army, about •27 Various, as merchants, manufacturers, surveyors, &c. 5 1.00 |